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Somerset attorney outlines three Maryland housing bills, flags stormwater and local-authority concerns
Summary
The town attorney briefed the council on three state housing proposals — the Starter and Silver Homes Act (SB36/HB239), the Maryland Transit and Housing Opportunity Act and the Housing Certainty Act of 2026 — and warned the town to watch for impacts on setbacks, lot coverage, stormwater capacity and local design controls.
The town attorney presented a summary of three housing proposals moving through the Maryland General Assembly and told the Somerset Town Council that at least one — the Starter and Silver Homes Act — would change local land-use rules for single-family zones.
The attorney said the Starter and Silver Homes Act (published as Senate Bill 36 and House Bill 239) would allow townhouses as of right wherever single-family homes are allowed, lower minimum lot sizes to 5,000 square feet, prohibit local lot-coverage maximums, and reduce conventional setbacks (front to roughly 10 feet, side to 5 feet and rear to 10 feet). “Townhouses would be allowed as of right in single-family zones,” the attorney said, and municipalities could not maintain certain design rules that effectively block townhouse construction.
Why it matters: Councilors said those changes could substantially increase buildable envelopes on lots in Somerset and create more impervious cover in a jurisdiction already concerned about stormwater. The attorney flagged a practical tension: the state proposal expands buildable area for some housing types while the town’s stormwater regulations still require on-site capture of runoff. He cautioned that the bill, as drafted, does not explicitly address stormwater management and could leave municipalities with less room to meet existing runoff-capture requirements.
Council members asked for clarification about several drafting issues the attorney said will likely appear in hearings and amendments: whether the law would apply to duplexes/triplexes (it would not grant them the same as-of-right treatment), how historic-district exemptions are defined (properties designated historic by 01/01/2025 are exempted in the draft), and whether local height limits remain enforceable (the attorney said local height limits would still apply).
Next steps: The town attorney said municipal representatives are organizing a regional conference call to consider a coordinated comment strategy and that Somerset should monitor the bills and consider submitting formal comments as the measures proceed through committee hearings.
