Enacts the sustainable affordable housing and sprawl prevention act

Showing the cosponsors who are on Agora, A to Z. The official record may list more.

• Democratic15

Shown in neutral colors by design; Agora is non-partisan.

◆ The sponsor's argument

Why Rachel May says this is needed

The state's environmental review regulations help prevent or improve projects that would otherwise have harmful impacts on the environment. However, with housing, these regulations unintentionally make it harder to build dense housing. This harms the environment while also increasing housing costs. Dense forms of housing built in areas where there is already infrastruc- ture, services, and a community, or "infill housing," has numerous bene- fits. It can help reduce the amount of time people spend in cars, makes public transit service more accessible, and can help prevent costly infrastructure installation and maintenance like sewer, roads, and water service. Our current environmental review process for housing takes years on average, adding to costs and reducing predictably for any enti- ty attempting to build housing. It also rarely reviews serious matters of environmental importance, more often focusing on topics covered in other areas of planning processes such as neighborhood character. This results in less housing, feeds ever-expanding sprawl, and prioritizes more low-density housing. This bill streamlines the process for dense infill housing, while specifically protecting environmental concerns like drinking water and wetlands. It also requires high standards of building quality using accredited environmental certification programs. By creating a more streamlined and predictable process, it will also reduce costs and allow for more affordable housing production.

This is the sponsor's own case for the bill, quoted from their memorandum. It is not Agora's description of what the bill does.