Bill Would Give PG Cities Control of Home Construction
March 9th, 2007 | by Rob Goodspeed | Published in General College Park, Housing, Politics | 5 Comments
A bill being considered by the Maryland legislature would give the City of College Park — and all incorporated cities in Prince George’s County — new controls over construction in neighborhoods zoned for single-family homes.
Under the proposed bill (HB 668 and SB 581) cities will be able to regulate the following variables for both new construction or remodeling work in single-family residential areas: fences, walls, parking, residential structures, setbacks, the bulk, massing, and design of structures, and lot coverage.
The bill is modeled after a similar bill for Montogmery County passed in response to teardowns and mansionization in residential neighborhoods.
March 9th, 2007 at 2:01 pm (#)
If these bills pass, we can kiss Smart Growth goodbye.
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March 9th, 2007 at 5:11 pm (#)
Are the similar bills in Montgomery County really stifling smart growth there? I see these bills as giving local municipalities the authority to prevent “harry homeowner” from creating an eye-sore on his property in order to fit his entire extended family and all of his friends under one roof.
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March 9th, 2007 at 6:33 pm (#)
The County already agrees that controls are needed and is moving to have some controls in place next year. I don’t see a significant impact to “Smart Growth” ideals. We are talking only about McMansion regulation.
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March 9th, 2007 at 7:19 pm (#)
Doesn’t really seem like a big deal for the kind of things we talk about on this site.
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March 10th, 2007 at 10:19 pm (#)
Yes, it should be clear the law only applies to neighborhoods where the underlying zoning is for single family homes.
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