Montgomery County advances updated building energy code; seeks $10 million IRA grant to aid compliance

The Economic Development Committee on July 21 advanced Executive Regulation 13-24, a set of building-code amendments that would move Montgomery County toward performance-based compliance and a long-range net-zero energy goal.

Raviya Sabacan, director of the Department of Permitting Services, told the committee the county is updating local amendments to align with the 2021 International Code Council cycle and the county’s climate goals. "We had our public hearing last week, and that went well. Nothing substantive came out of that," Sabacan said.

A central change is a shift from the International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) to ASHRAE 90.1 as the preferred compliance method. Mr. Boehmer, the DPS presenter who led the energy-code briefing, said the change reflects industry feedback and the county’s experience: "We went ahead and just transitioned completely over to ASHRAE based on the feedback from the committee and from other, experts in the industry." He described the move as part of a multi‑cycle roadmap prepared with New Buildings Institute and local experts.

DPS also outlined a technology- and equity-focused implementation plan tied to a pending federal grant application. Mr. Boehmer said Montgomery County is negotiating for an Infrastructure-related grant and expects an award letter in early January for what he described as a $10,000,000, nine-year grant. "We're about 97.5% sure," he said when asked about the award's likelihood. DPS described a proposed allocation of roughly $5,000,000 for a direct technical-assistance fund aimed at projects serving predefined social-equity groups and $5,000,000 for outreach, education, data and marketing to support both commercial and residential compliance.

Committee members pressed DPS on what would happen if the grant did not materialize. Sabacan said the county has already begun internal work and hired program managers and that the department would continue to pursue the net-zero objectives with available staff resources, though implementation could be slower without external funding.

Members also asked how the code changes would coordinate with the county’s Building Energy Performance Standards (BEPS). Sabacan said DPS sits on BEPS advisory committees and is coordinating with BEPS staff; DPS is modeling its technical-assistance program on existing BEPS formats and working with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) to ensure alignment.

Council Member Glass urged better outreach to building owners, owners’ associations and co‑ops that may lack technical capacity. Sabacan and other DPS staff said outreach, multilingual materials and a guidance document would be part of the implementation package, particularly if the grant is awarded.

The committee approved Executive Regulation 13-24 by unanimous consent. The chair said, "With no objection, we accept the Executive Regulation 13 24." The regulation will move forward for formal adoption per the county’s executive regulation process.

What’s next: DPS said it will notify the committee by email when it receives federal grant award confirmation and will begin work with the Office of Grants Management to issue related RFPs; additional meetings on implementation were discussed.

Sources and attributions: All direct quotes and attributed remarks are drawn from the committee work session briefing and question-and-answer period, including statements by Raviya Sabacan (DPS director) and the DPS presenter (Mr. Boehmer).