Developers could build more housing if they meet green standards, an incentive County Executive Ken Ulman is pushing for more environmentally friendly development.
“Now that we?ve been moving on green buildings, the next step is going further and looking at neighborhoods,” Ulman said.
Ulman said Tuesday he plans to file legislation June 21 to support his green neighborhoods initiative.
The legislation would take 100 housing units, such as houses and apartments, set aside each year in the rural West and put those units in a pot as incentive for developers who use certain green techniques when designing neighborhoods. Those units could be built anywhere in Howard, as long as the roads and schools are open for new growth. The county allots 1,850 units countywide each year.
The environmentally friendlytechniques include fewer impervious surfaces, proper stormwater management and reforestation.
Ulman also wants to require all new buildings of 20,000 square feet or more to be certified in nationally accepted Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, techniques.
Developers who build silver-, gold- or platinum-certified buildings ? levels of LEED standards ? would receive 25 percent, 50 percent or 75 percent tax credits, respectively, Ulman said.
Publicly funded buildings of 10,000 square feet or more will be required to be silver LEED certified. The legislation will not include school buildings.
The tax credits, which would affect site plans filed after July 1, 2008, would be granted for five years to offset the upfront costs of building green, he said.
The county would budget for the tax credit, which Ulman said could cost less than $1 million each year.
The legislation is business friendly, since it provides for tax credits, said Peter Garver, a director at COPT Development & Construction, the largest owner of office space in Howard. The company adopted green standards four years ago.
“Some companies are resistant to change,” Garver said.
However, Councilman Greg Fox, R-District 5, said he was concerned with moves to mandate standards, rather than allowing the market to continue tending toward green construction.
“If we incentivize it, why is there a need to mandate it?” Fox said.
