I am very concerned about the pro-development advocacy group, “Greater Greater Washington,” endorsing Martin Mitchell to succeed County Councilmember Tom Dernoga. GGW was a leading proponent of Governor Moore’s “Starter-and-Silver-Homes-Act-of-2026” (SB36/HB239), ostensibly promoting affordable housing.
While affordable housing is needed near Metro stations, SB36 would have had terrible consequences for the Laurel-Beltsville area: effectively eliminating single family residential zoning, allowing any residential lot to (1) be developed with townhouses or duplexes; (2) have up to eight small single family homes per acre; (3) subdivide into three lots; and (4) be free of limits on lot coverage, which surely would exacerbate flooding.
With over 600 acres zoned for low density development between Laurel and Beltsville, this bill threatened serious overdevelopment, loss of trees, and much more congestion. The City of Laurel has already recently built numerous townhouses and apartments, and Konterra is moving forward with its long-planned Town Center. When Dernoga raised this SB36 proposal at a packed Town Hall meeting on future development, not one person raised their hand in support of it.
The County Council tasked Tom Dernoga to take the lead in steering the Governor to other options and stop SB36. Working with officials and activists from around the region, he was successful. But what happens next year, if the bill reappears and GGW is advocating to eliminate single family residential zoning? I sure don’t want to rely on GGW’s endorsee, Martin Mitchell.
-Barbara Sollner-Webb, chair of West Laurel Civic Association ‘s roadways subcommittee
Streetcar Suburbs publishes letters to the editor from area residents concerning our coverage, in our discretion, and reserves the right to edit them for clarity and brevity. For more information on the County Council District 1 race that this letter refers to, see our voter guide for the June primary.