For Immediate Release: Monday, June 25, 2007
Councilmember Leventhal to Propose Ending MPDU Buy-outs in Montgomery
Legislation To Be Introduced on Tuesday, June 26, Also Would Set Aside Specially Equipped MPDUs for Disabled
ROCKVILLE, Md., June 25, 2007—Montgomery County Councilmember George Leventhal on Tuesday, June 26, is scheduled to introduce a bill that would eliminate the ability of developers to “buy out” of the County requirement that a certain percentage of units in new developments be set aside as “Moderately Priced Dwelling Units” (MPDUs). The legislation also would call for certain specially equipped MPDUs to be set aside for eligible disabled persons.
The legislation is scheduled to be introduced during the afternoon portion of the County Council’s legislative session that will begin at 1:30 p.m. in the Seventh Floor Council Hearing Room in the Council Office Building at 100 Maryland Ave. in Rockville. The session will be televised live on County Cable Montgomery (CCM).
The bill, which would amend the current MPDU law, is scheduled for a public hearing at the Council Office Building at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday, July 19.
The last time the County Council considered significant amendments to the MPDU program was in fall 2004. At that time, Councilmember Leventhal proposed an amendment to ban “buy-outs,” but the amendment was not adopted by the Council. The Council did restrict the possibility of buy-outs only to those circumstances where the condominium or homeowners’ association fees were so high that the units would become unaffordable for MPDU buyers or where environmental constraints at a particular site would render the building of all required MPDUs at that site unfeasible.
Although dozens of buy-outs had been approved each year prior to the 2004 changes, the County’s Department of Housing and Community Affairs (DHCA) has approved only one buy-out in the last 12 months.
“I believe the time is right to totally repeal the buy-out provision altogether,” said Councilmember Leventhal. “The law allows a developer to build the required MPDUs at a separate location, and I believe this provision will address the potential problems posed by excessively high condo or homeowners association fees as well as the possibility of environmental constraints at a particular site. Elimination of the buy-outs will help strengthen our commitment to make sure affordable housing continues to be built everywhere in Montgomery County.”
The Montgomery County MPDU law requires that a minimum12.5 percent of new housing units be set aside for moderate- or low-income potential buyers. In some circumstances, developers have been granted permission to make alternative payments to the County’s Housing Initiative Fund in lieu of building MPDUs.
The law allows a developer to build less than the number of required MPDUs in a new subdivision if the Alternative Review Committee—composed of the director of DHCA, the Housing Opportunities Commission executive director and the director of the Planning Department (or their respective designees)—finds special circumstances relating to high homeowners’ association fees or environmental constraints. This requirement replaced a provision in the pre-2004 MPDU law that had been implemented more liberally.
Councilmember Leventhal said he proposed the set aside for disabled-accessible MPDUs at the suggestion of the Commission for People with Disabilities.
“My intent is to give disabled residents the ability to buy or rent a specially fitted-accessible unit if it becomes available, rather than see the unit go to a non-disabled person who may be higher on the MPDU waiting list,” said Councilmember Leventhal.
Release ID: 07-063