Committee of Origin: Standing Committee on Commerce
This bill prohibits any county or municipality from enacting or maintaining any ordinance, regulation, or other policy that requires an owner, builder, or developer to comply with energy efficiency or other energy related standards or requirements that exceed those permitted under this Section in the construction, maintenance, or renovation of townhouses, multiunit apartment buildings, or commercial or industrial buildings, with the intent to improve energy efficiency, and other standards specified in the bill, that threaten the affordability of the construction, maintenance, repair or renovation.
The bill prohibits any county or municipality from enacting or maintaining any ordinance, regulation, or other policy that prohibits a building of less than six stories with a Group R-2 occupancy, or its equivalent, under certain conditions described in the bill.
This bill requires a political subdivision to approve or deny a "request", as that term is defined in the bill, within 30 calendar days. If no response is received by the applicant within 30 days, the request will be deemed approved and the applicant is authorized to proceed with construction.
If the request is approved, the political subdivision cannot later impose additional requirements on the applicant related to the request.
If the request is denied, the political subdivision must state the reason for denial in writing to the applicant. Details that are required to be included in the written denial are provided in the bill.
A request can also be denied as incomplete. In this instance the political subdivision must also state in writing why the request is incomplete, with required details described in the bill. A political subdivision will have 20 days to deny a request as incomplete.
Currently, municipal clerks are required to keep at least three copies of the published book of the general ordinances of the municipality on file in the office of the clerk and available for inspection by the public. This bill allows municipal clerks to keep only one copy of the published book of the general ordinances on file if the ordinances are also available online for inspection without cost by the public.
Statutes affected: