Land Use - Residential Housing - Oversight and Approval (Building Affordably in My Back Yard Act)
SB267, the “Building Affordably in My Back Yard Act,” is a broad housing production and land-use reform bill aimed at speeding approval of residential development, especially affordable housing. It creates new statewide policies for housing oversight, including annual registration of entities that own residential rental property, local administrative review options for housing development applications, and statewide housing production targets for the Governor to set and report on for the State, counties, and municipalities with zoning authority.
The bill also establishes new rules intended to create regulatory and construction certainty for housing projects. For qualifying residential and mixed-use applications, local governments and the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission must determine completeness within 30 days, process complete applications under the rules in effect when the application is deemed complete, and avoid imposing new development standards during the approval period, subject to public health and safety exceptions. It further requires local design guidelines and pre-approval processes for standardized model home designs, and it authorizes counties to reduce or exempt certain housing-sensitive taxes and fees for qualified affordable housing projects.
SB267 amends multiple articles of Maryland law, including Housing and Community Development, Land Use, Local Government, Real Property, and Tax-Property. It adds a new Title 12 to the Land Use Article governing housing regulations, targets, and affordability; authorizes new local administrative approval processes; creates housing production target reporting and alternative-target procedures; and gives counties and Baltimore City new authority to use special property tax rates, transfer taxes, and fee reductions to encourage development. It also restricts who may make offers on certain single-family homes during an initial 30-day marketing period, and it requires state studies and internal reviews of housing-related barriers, infrastructure constraints, and tax disincentives to downsizing.
The bill appears to have generally favorable momentum in the Senate, passing third reading 42-3. The committee report was favorable with amendments, suggesting broad support for the bill’s housing-supply goals while also refining its provisions. No committee transcript excerpts were provided, so the available record shows strong legislative backing but limited detail on debate.
The main points of contention are likely to be the bill’s reach into local land-use authority, tax policy, and development review procedures. Local governments may object to state-set housing production targets, limits on changing standards after applications are deemed complete, and new reporting or process requirements, while housing advocates and developers are likely to support the bill’s streamlining measures. Potentially controversial provisions also include the authority to impose transfer taxes on owner-occupied properties that cease to be owner-occupied, special tax rates on nonprincipal residences and vacant or underused land, and the restriction on early offers to certain buyers during the first 30 days of a home listing.