Tag: Takoma Park Minor Master Plan

Democracy Dies in Darkness (in Takoma Park)

We are living through the collapse of local media, nationally.

And, this crisis is all too evident here in Takoma Park.

We have almost no independent local news anymore: no Gazette, no Takoma Voice, and the loss of local coverage by the Post and others. All we really have left is a publication put out by the City staff, the “Takoma Park News.”

But this month, we had a stark reminder that this paper newsletter is not an actual news outlet, but a public relations organ. 

Residents have a right to expect factual accuracy in the city newsletter.

Unfortunately, the article on page 4 in the May issue, on the Takoma Park Minor Master Plan Amendment (“the Plan”), is filled with spin and misinformation. (The Plan has now been approved by both City and County Councils).

The Plan upzones to increase land values, incentivizing building owners on Maple and Lee Avenues, and around the former hospital site, to tear down old affordable buildings and build new (larger) ones with higher rents. Someone who did not follow the process closely would be left with the reassuring impression that the Plan ensures that in this gentrification process there will be no net loss of affordable housing, and a right for current residents to return if their building is renovated or replaced.

And yet, the stark reality is that the plan does not ensure either of those outcomes in any way.

City spin: The article contains a quote stating that the plan “explicitly calls out the right to return.”

Reality: What does the ambiguous term “call out” mean here? Perhaps it simply means the right to return was discussed, or mentioned? Because the truth is that the plan does not ensure any such right to return. It says only that priority should be given to eligible residents to return. So, what happens if a building owner tears down a building and builds a new one? If they define “eligible residents” as those with ability to pay what we know will be a new higher market rate rent, then those residents will be displaced.

City spin: There’s a reference in the article to having “strengthened plan language around no-net loss of affordability.”

Reality: The plan calls only for preserving affordable housing “where practicable.” What if the developer does not deem it practicable? And the plan calls only for “striving for no net loss.” Striving is not ensuring.

City spin: The article casually mentions the idea that “tenant displacement laws appropriately meet the needs of our residents.”

Reality: The Plan only “recommends…strategies to minimize displacement.” A recommendation to develop strategies is not the same as a requirement to prevent displacement. And when the plan talks about minimizing displacement, it is acknowledging, as the Planning Board vice chair acknowledged, that there will be displacement.

ACTION ITEMS

  1. At least one large building filled with affordable housing in the Plan area is already up for sale. How is the City ensuring no residents are displaced with each sale or renovation? Stay alert. Ask questions.
  • The Planning Board, County Council, and City officials have all mentioned the possibility of reconsidering Takoma Park’s strong rent stabilization policy. This policy helped create our exceptionally affordable housing stock, and has kept Takoma Park an exceptionally diverse city. Now there is pressure to weaken that rent stabilization policy. Stay alert. Ask questions.
  • We have no more local independent press (most of the remaining local press is dependent on real estate and development advertising). To stay informed, we must demand complete and timely accuracy and transparency in the City’s newsletter. Anything short of this creates further erosion of trust. Stay alert. Ask questions.

Equity Review of the MMPA

UPDATE: Despite the fact that the City Council was on spring break and held no public meetings on the Equity Review, the Mayor wrote a letter to the County Council supporting the MMPA. The County Council then voted to approve the MMPA on April 2nd.

Our City is being ignored and disrespected by the County Council, which is rushing to approve a plan that could displace vulnerable city residents, gentrify Maple Avenue, and reduce the socioeconomic and racial diversity of our City. 

  • On Monday, County Executive Marc Elrich released the long-awaited independent Racial Equity and Social Justice Review (attached below) of the proposed Takoma Park Minor Master Plan (MMPA). It found the Plan “could lead to real harm” to vulnerable City residents. 
  • The next day, the County Council went ahead with a unanimous “straw vote” that set up approval of the Plan. 
  • The County Council gave themselves, their staff, our Mayor, our City Council, and residents less than 24 hours to absorb or weigh in on the new equity review before that vote. 
  • The County Council has now scheduled a final vote on the Plan at their next meeting, immediately after spring break, on April 2nd. 
  • The City’s last chance to try to improve the Plan and prevent displacement of residents is in this two-week window, unless the County Council postpones the vote. 
  • The City must write a very clear and specific resolution to prevent displacement, now. 

ACTION STEP: Write the Mayor and City Council, to urge them to demand a delay of the final County Council vote, to give the City Council time to write a stronger resolution to prevent displacement, in response to the critiques by the County Executive, the County Housing, Transportation and Environment departments, and the equity review. 

ACTION STEP: Write the County Council, especially our rep, Council Vice President Kate Stewart (Councilmember.Stewart@montgomerycountymd.gov), to demand that they make changes to the Plan in response to the equity review, and await the City’s review and input before voting on it.

Racial Equity and Social Justice Review findings:

  • “It does not appear there is a clear rationale provided for why a large swath of multi-family properties are included in a Minor Master Plan aimed at addressing the redevelopment of a hospital campus.”
  • Residents on Maple “were not informed or asked about zoning changes impacting their place of residence.”
  • The Review warns that “when you upzone it increases land value and speculation, which can trigger market reactions that lead to displacement of vulnerable residents.”
  • The Plan lacks the “teeth” to protect our deeply affordable housing.
  • “No net loss does not go far enough” when newly-built Moderately Priced Dwelling Units (MPDUs) are more expensive than the units they replace. 
  • We should be “looking to increase the affordable housing inventory, not just replace the existing inventory.”
  • We should ensure that “as the area changes, residents are able to remain, even during the construction phases.”
  • “Declaring people’s fear of displacement as a ‘perception’ while directly stating that the biggest issue is ‘concentrations of poverty’ that need to be ‘diluted’ with new development is exactly the type of rhetoric that justifiably stokes the fear of displacement.” 

The Review points out that “If done well, this could be a successful case study of how to do development without displacement, which would be celebrated as a best-practice and earn the municipality and County positive recognition.” 

As a reminder, the County Executive had to order a racial equity review because a racial equity study repeatedly promised by Planning staff turned out to never exist, and the County Council failed to order one. For the County Executive’s critique of the Plan, read his analysis, or watch the video of our Affordable Housing Town Hall.

TPMMA-Equity-Analysis-to-CC-3-18-2024-1Download

Affordable Housing Town Hall

CVT’s Takoma Park Affordable Housing Town Hall, March 10 2024

Over 85 people came out on a Sunday for our Takoma Park Affordable Housing Town Hall at 7510 Maple Ave (Piney Branch Elementary). The panelists were CVT’s Jessica Landman, CVT’s Denise Jones, and special guest, County Executive Marc Elrich. Takoma Park’s Mayor and two Councilmembers attended. It was the first chance in the entire Plan process for people to ask questions and get immediate answers.

Takoma Park has an unusual density of affordable housing, especially on Maple Avenue. But the County Executive just issued a warning that the proposed Takoma Park Minor Master Plan Amendment (MMPA) will reduce, rather than increase, our stock of affordable housing, and displace residents. The Planning Board and County Council failed to demand an equity study. And planning staff repeatedly promised an equity study that never materialized. So the County Executive finally ordered one. It should be completed very soon. (UPDATE: Find the equity review HERE).

Nevertheless, the County Council housing committee pushed the MMPA through last Monday (March 4) without waiting for the equity study. And the full Council will begin considering it this Tuesday (March 12), apparently without the equity study, and over the objections of residents.

We ask, what is the rush to push ahead without an equity study?