Hummer and Councilwoman Allison Pickard, a Glen Burnie Democrat, highlighted three measures:

• a law that requires developments over 10 units to designate 10% of units as “moderately priced."

• a law that allows developers to build more than zoning allows if they include residences for the county’s essential workforce.

• a law that encourages redeveloping run-down commercial properties with housing.

“We’ve done a tremendous amount since 2018 compared to the decades before,” Pickard said. “We have persevered over the last seven years in some ways in representing that silent voice that aren't in the chambers banging their fists on the table giving their two minutes of testimony: 'Not in our backyard.'"

But on the other side was Councilwoman Allison Pickard, a Glen Burnie Democrat and proponent of bolstering the county’s housing stock. She expressed frustration that residents seem to push back every time a housing project is proposed in or near their communities.

“When does it stop? Why do we, the stably housed and financially secured, get to stop the next generation from owning homes?” Pickard asked. “And that’s what we’re doing. We do it at every turn.”

“County Councilwoman Allison Pickard, a Glen Burnie Democrat, said rolling back the workforce housing incentive could alter the county’s future irrevocably. She called on her council colleagues to reject Volke’s measure. 

“We are denying an entire generation homeownership and the American dream,” said Pickard, an Anne Arundel County executive hopeful, about the bill’s potential. “We just need the political courage to change the narrative around this issue.”

More than a year away from the primary election, three people already are running to succeed Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman in 2026. Councilwoman Allison Pickard, who represents the Glen Burnie area, was the first to declare her candidacy, in December.

Created in the late-1980s, the plaza was designed to be a community hub, walkable from some neighborhoods in Glen Burnie, County Councilwoman Allison Pickard, a Democrat who represents the area, told The Banner.