Public Comments on the Attainable Housing Strategies

On November 19 the County Council received a summary, prepared by Council staff, of residents’ comments on the Attainable Housing Strategies.  The report included a total of 3,252 comments submitted to the Council through its AHS portal [2,308 comments], emailed directly to Councilmembers [629 comments], or made by attendees at one of the Council’s six listening session [315 comments].  The full report is here.

The report grouped the comments from all sources into three categories:  PRO, CON, and QUESTIONS/SUGGESTIONS [Q/S].  The breakdown was as follows:

PRO:   15% [494 comments]

CON:  82%  [2,662 comments]

Q/S:       3%  [96 questions and suggestions)

Examples of the most common themes [top 3] expressed through each of the sources follows.  For more details, see the full report.

COMMENTS AGAINST AHS

Listening sessions [202 comments]

1. Insufficient infrastructure and resources (46 comments).
2. Won’t address affordability challenges (39 comments).
3. Loss of neighborhood character and/or single-family detached neighborhood [22 comments].

Portal [1,928 comments ]

1. Insufficient infrastructure and resources (water, sewer, schools).
2. Insufficient parking and more traffic.
3. AHS won’t address affordability challenges.

Emails to Council [532 comments]

1. The environmental impacts such as loss of tree canopy and green space, stormwater management and septic issues.
2. An increase in traffic.
3. That the initiative will not address affordability.

COMMENTS FOR AHS

Listening session [92 comments]

1. Promotes attainability and/or affordability (46 comments).
2. Promotes diversity (14 comments).
3. Supports “aging in place” (9 comments).

Portal [321 comments]

1. Promotes attainability/affordability;
2. Pro – no specific comment.
3. Benefits younger residents.

Emails to Council  [81 comments]

1. Promotes affordability and/or attainability
2. Increases diversity of neighborhoods and makes the County more welcoming.
3. Encourages transit.

QUESTIONS/SUGGESTIONS

Listening session  [21 comments]

1. How the pattern book will be developed and/or enforced (4 speakers).
2. Suggestions to provide tax credits for maintaining smaller home and/or higher taxes on larger homes (3 comments).
3. How ADUs will be addressed, whether AHS will provide for the protection of historic properties, how AHS recommendations will impact property values, and whether limits can be placed on investors buying homes (2 speakers each).

Portal  [59 comments]

1. Can the County provide tax credits for keeping houses small or tax larger homes more?
2. Has a fiscal impact analysis been done to look at cost?
3. How would the AHS recommendations impact property values?

Emails to Council [16 comments]

1. Questions about the information that would be provided in the Pattern Book.
2. Suggestions to lower taxes instead.
3. Questions about affordability and renting versus owning.
4. Questions and suggestions to hire experts.