Let's lower housing costs through ZOMod now!

On September 17th, Chesterfield County Supervisors will vote on ZOMod -- the zoning update that could open doors to more affordable housing of all shapes and sizes. ZOMod would make it easier to build the homes we need for the people and families who make Chesterfield a special place to live.

 

Tell your supervisor why you support this major step to end the high-price status quo and boost quality of life for hardworking families.

 

Enter your address below, and then select your district where you see the word "group." Not sure which district you live in? Find out here.

 

Not sure what to say? Consider these points as inspiration -- pick one or two, and rewrite to make them your own.

 

We need plenty of homes in all shapes and sizes. That's simply not possible with current zoning codes. But ZOMod would open that door.

Working families struggle to afford living here. Teachers, firefighters, police officers, paramedics--more and more, those working in Chesterfield County are driving from farther away. That's unfair, and it adds to traffic, pollution, sprawl.

ZOMod will help make sure that when we build new homes, we build near where we already work, live, eat, and play. It will rein in sprawl, preserving green space.

ZOMod would open doors for nonprofit builders to construct homes ordinary people can afford. Currently this happens only at a very small scale.

Many types of homes simply aren't legal to build in Chesterfield today. ZOMod would legalize the homes people want in the places they want to live.

ZOMod is one solution to a complicated problem--the housing shortage and affordability crisis is wrapped up in so many other issues that it simply can't be fixed by one brilliant solution. We'll have to chip away at it, working locally as well as at the state level. But ZOMod is part of that process. It's a brick in the affordability wall.

Right now, most new development requires "special use permits," tedious applications requiring lots of time, money, and attorneys simply to build what most of us would consider normal homes. Why? Because our zoning codes, more than 50 years old, don't reflect how we live today. When almost every new build is "special," it isn't he development that's the problem--it's the outdated rules. ZOMod would mostly get rid of all this wasted time and money.

Things have changed in Chesterfield. It's gotten more expensive to live here. Fewer and fewer of the people working essential jobs in our communities are able to afford living here. Development clustered in narrow zones has created too much traffic. That's the status quo--that's what we can expect without a plan, without ZOMod.