Planning board pushes amendments as delegation considers governor’s housing‑certainty bill

Montgomery County staff and planning officials briefed the delegation on SP325, the Housing Certainty Act, a bill aimed at providing developers predictability by fixing the law that applies to an application once it is deemed substantially complete and by creating a five‑year vesting right after approval.

Planning Director Jason Sartori and the Planning Board outlined four primary concerns: (1) subjectivity in the term "substantially complete," suggesting a shift to "complete application" to reduce ambiguity; (2) lack of clarity for multi‑phase, multi‑application projects about what parts of a project are locked in and when; (3) legal sensitivity around the word "vesting" given case law and requests to instead specify that local jurisdictions cannot impose new standards during the protected period; and (4) the desirability of extending the effective date so local governments have time to adjust zoning rules without running afoul of election moratoria.

Council members expressed a mix of support for the bill’s intent and concern about late arrival of detailed amendments; several asked for more time to digest Mako (regional) amendments and recommended that the delegation support the concept while requesting planning‑board and legal amendments be incorporated. The chair indicated the delegation could support SP325 with the Planning Board’s recommended amendments and asked staff to coordinate further with the governor’s office and the delegation.

Next steps: staff will follow up with the Planning Department, the governor’s office, Mako representatives and delegation members to reconcile amendments and the delegation agreed to track committee hearings and testimony deadlines.