Members of the Anne Arundel County Council have introduced revised inclusionary housing policy that requires developers to make a percentage of new units affordable to moderate income residents several months after a previous bill failed.

The Essential Worker Housing Act legislation was spearheaded by County Executive Steuart Pittman, but rejected by a 4-3 margin in December 2023. At the time, he called the vote a slap in the face and vowed to come back with alternative legislation.

County Council member Allison Pickard, the deciding vote, said she feared the legislation would not amount to much, given the county’s low building rate.

“I’m looking for results that will give us the biggest impact and the most housing opportunities for our families,” Pickard said at the time. “I’m disappointed that this is where we are with this bill.”

Now she and other lawmakers are back with a different bill they hope will have a better chance of gaining support.

The council’s Democrats — Lisa Rodvien, Pickard, Julie Hummer and Pete Smith — introduced the Housing Attainability Act on Sept. 3. Pittman is a co-sponsor.

The biggest change is it allows for more density, or for developers to be able to build more units on a parcel of land. By allowing more units, developers say they can recoup the cost of having a certain number of units below market rate.

“The County Executive strongly supports the Housing Attainability Act and is urging the County Council to unanimously pass the bill to ease the shortage of housing in our county,” Pittman’s spokeswoman Jenny Proebstle said in a statement.

The old and new bills would require qualifying new rental developments to allocate 15% of their units to individuals earning 75% or less of the area median income.

Additionally, all new for-sale developments with more than 20 units would need to set aside 10% of the units for those earning no more than 100% of the area median income. Based on the county’s sliding scale, this equates to about $82,875 for an individual and $118,313 for a family of four.

Here’s what’s different about the bill

• If the project reaches more than 100% and up to 115% of the allowed base density — defined as the maximum number of units allowed per acre of land — 25% of the extra “bonus” units built above the base density must be set aside as moderately priced dwelling units.

“What we learned during the debate of the first bill is that residential housing projects typically could achieve somewhere between 60 and 80% of maximum allowable density,” Pickard said. “Without tinkering with other regulations, there’s no way that bill was going to get you to a bonus density, which you really need if you’re going to mandate that developers bill and sell or rent below market rate. They have to have some sort of incentive to recoup that cost.”

• Development densities are calculated using the total site area or the entirety of the property, rather than the net site area, to provide greater development capacity for moderately priced housing units.

Net site area is defined as all developable land within a project site, including thoroughfares, but excluding areas designated as civic zones, according to Law Insider.

“Maximum allowable density is calculated by the total site area. A project is then allowed to build to that number subject to all the environmental constraints, environmental and building regulations inside that buildable envelope,” Pickard said.

• The bill introduces several new dwelling types and permits them across various zoning districts to expand housing options in different sizes and styles throughout the county, including duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes, multiplexes and stacked townhomes.
• Requirements for open space, open areas, and recreation areas have been combined and modified to offer more flexibility in site design, providing better opportunities to reach the allowable density on constrained sites.
• Minimum parking requirements for multifamily developments have been reduced to prevent the overuse of land for excessive parking.

A public hearing for the bill will be held during the next council meeting on Oct. 7.

Banner reporter Hallie Miller contributed to this report.