Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Statewide Legislation topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Council hears overview of Housing for Jobs, regional transport authorities and tax-differential proposals
Summary
Council received briefings on three major statewide proposals — the Housing for Jobs Act, a bill creating regional transportation authorities with dedicated financing, and enabling legislation for county tax-rate differentials — and identified technical and local-authority concerns to track with Mako and state delegates.
On Feb. 24 Council staff and county departments briefed members on three statewide proposals that could reshape housing approvals, transportation financing and local tax authority.
The Housing for Jobs Act would trigger review standards when a jobs-to-housing ratio exceeds 1.5, require approvals unless denial factors clearly outweigh housing need, and apply broadly to project applications (site plans, conditional uses, variances and building permits). Lisa Gavoni of the Planning Department said the Planning Board "is supporting this bill with significant amount of amendments and questions for clarity" and emphasized concerns about methodology, definitions and implementation. Barbara Jay, representing the Board of Appeals, warned the legislation changes legal review standards and appeals processes for many land-use actions, noting it raises the review standard from "substantial evidence" to "clear and convincing evidence."
Staff also described a bill that would create three regional transportation authorities (Baltimore, Capital including Montgomery, and Southern Maryland) with financing mechanisms including portions of retail sales tax, hotel tax and transfer taxes to fund debt and projects; the measure would be a significant change to infrastructure finance in Maryland. Finally, staff summarized legislation authorizing counties to adopt differential property tax rates with exemptions or crediting systems to address mixed-use properties; revenues would be restricted to transportation capital and special districts and require enabling local ordinances to implement.
Council members asked staff to continue coordination with Mako and the County Executive's office to develop amendments or clarifications and to return with more analysis when bills advance.
