Align MoCo Zoning is a coalition of residents, homeowners, and civic organizations from across Montgomery County who believe the County’s zoning code should protect the rights of people with disabilities to integrate to residential neighborhoods, while also maintaining a zoning scheme that distinguishes between residential and institutional land uses. 

While Maryland state law is designed to achieve these goals, MoCo’s zoning of recovery housing and addiction treatment is not yet aligned with state regulations. We are asking our County government to address this gap.

What We Stand For

• Access to Care. We support recovery. Maryland guarantees halfway houses a place in residential neighborhoods, and we ask that this right is explicitly protected in the Zoning Ordinance.
• Consistency. County code and State law should speak the same language. When they define operations differently, it creates legal uncertainty for residents, operators, and the County itself. 
• Clarity. Higher-intensity addiction treatment facilities are not residential land uses per Maryland law, so they deserve deliberate zoning regulation to locate in appropriate MoCo areas.
• Sound Planning. All residents in MoCo benefit from a Zoning Ordinance that protects residential rights and guarantees a sensible zoning scheme.
• Equal Treatment. One set of rules for every operator, in every neighborhood, in every part of the County.
• Transparency. Zoning decisions should happen in public, through the Council’s normal Zoning Text Amendment process, which includes hearings, Planning Board review, and a recorded vote.

How We Are Organized

The Coalition is an unincorporated association of volunteers. We have no salaries or paid staff and any money collected in future fundraisings will go to retaining specialized legal counsel. 

A Growing Coalition

Residents and civic organizations from across Montgomery County support amending the zoning ordinance.