Category: MAC zoning

Updated 7/24/2018 to reflect new information posted on the Town website.

Despite the huge crowd and uniform public opposition to the 444 Maple West/Tequila Grande proposal at the July 9 2018 Town Council meeting, my guess is that the Town Council still intends to allow 444 Maple West to be developed pretty much as the builder proposed: Footprint bigger than a football field, more than 60′ tall, 160 apartments, no affordable housing, and essentially no usable open space.  Basically the complete opposite of everything the “Maple Avenue Vision” called for, and unlike anything that currently exists on Maple in Vienna.

That decision will be made at the August 20 Town Council meeting.

In the meantime, on Monday July 30, at 8 PM, in Town Hall, the Vienna Planning Commission will consider amendments to the MAC law.  These likely WILL NOT AFFECT the 444 Maple West/Tequila Grande proposal, but they WILL affect all future MAC development.   The meeting notice and agenda are here on the Town of Vienna website.
Continue reading July 30 Planning Commission Meeting, updated 7-24-2018

I realize that zoning laws traditionally limit density based on the count of dwelling units per acre.  But treating all dwelling units alike strikes me as a wrong-headed way to go about this, for the simple reason that smaller dwelling units will typically have fewer people living there. Continue reading Why dwelling units per acre is not a good way to limit apartment buildings

I have been hearing that affordable housing is one of the desirable goals of MAC zoning.  But, now that I look closely, it surely looks to me as if MAC was literally written in a way that prevents the imposition of any affordable housing requirements on the builders. Continue reading You can’t legally implement an affordable housing program under MAC

In theory, MAC zoning is a privilege that the developers must pay for in some fashion.  The main way they are supposed to do that is by setting aside 15 percent of the lot as “open space”. Continue reading The completely ineffective “open space” requirement, updated 7/12/2018

This is the old page, and now redirects to /list.

 

I finally renamed this page.   It’s trite, but maybe it’s true. Continue reading It’s the taxes, stupid. Major rewrite 8/7/2018