New Howard County building codes are a win for environmental advocates, concern for some industry groups

New construction in Howard County is poised to be more energy efficient, after Howard County Council approved a new set of building codes this week.

It's been years in the making for some advocates, who describe the new codes as a victory.

Meanwhile, opponents of the effort say the impacts of the new codes could do more harm than good.

What the new codes do

The new building codes were adopted in a 4-1 vote during the Howard County Council's legislative hearing on Monday.

Councilman David Yungmann was the sole vote against the measure.

The adoption included the 2024 edition of the International Energy Conservation Code, among others. New homes will need to be built solar and electric-ready, as will new commercial buildings.

New commercial buildings will also need to be EV charging-ready.

Howard County Council deferred the implementation of some other measures, though, waiting until the U.S. Department of Energy makes some software updates.

County Executive Calvin Ball still has time to veto these codes. If he doesn't, then the codes will go into effect in a couple of months.

Doug Siglin, from Highland, was among the number of advocates who have been trying to get more energy-efficient building codes for the last two-and-a-half years.

"If you're really interested in getting at climate change, or you're interested in getting at saving people money, the energy efficiency of buildings is important," Siglin said.

He also said there's still work being done to ensure all new buildings have all-electric appliances, which is what advocates originally wanted.

Potential consequences

The Howard County Association of Realtors, or HCAR, was one of the industry groups hoping the building codes would've been tabled.

Steve Miller, HCAR's board director, said the new codes eliminate choice for homebuyers and raise costs in an already expensive housing market.

He said the codes could even be costly to existing homeowners who want to renovate down the road.

"By forcing them -- as some of these amendments would do -- to convert from gas to electric for their heating because they're changing a certain percentage of their livable square footage...it's an unnecessary expense on the consumer," Miller said.

Miller's biggest issue, though, is Howard County Council voted on the codes with amendments, HCAR, and other industry groups weren't able to provide comment on before the vote happened.

Yungmann brought up that concern before the vote during the hearing.

"I don't understand," Yungmann said. "Why waiting a few weeks to hear from [stakeholders] is so scary."

Miller called the move "galling."

"Legislation such as this that affects different industries should have those industries at the table," Miller said.