Within the span of two recent weeks Carroll County moved to the fore of local governments in Maryland striving to reduce our carbon footprint by enacting the first law in the state authorizing wind turbines and by causing a new Green building property tax credit to be authorized.

Wind Turbines Permitted

On May 6, 2008, the Carroll County Commissioners unanimously voted to allow the installation of small wind turbines to generate energy.

The amendment to the zoning regulations, makes wind energy systems with a generating capacity of not more than 50 kilowatts, an accessory use in all zones and permits no more than two “small wind energy systems” each consisting of a single tower not to exceed 150 feet in height.

The new enactment contains a minimum of restrictions, including simply that a tower be “set back a distance equal to its total height plus an additional 20 feet” from property lines and overhead utilities.

With small wind turbine systems costing as little as $10,000 to $12,000, it can be anticipated that current economics will spur the erection of turbines that will also connect to the power grid such to sell back energy that exceeds a property owner’s needs.

Green Building Tax Credits

And on April 24th, only days before the wind turbine enactment, Senate Bill 823 was signed by the Governor, authorizing the Carroll County Commissioners to grant a property tax credit against the county property tax imposed on nonresidential property on which a person installs environmentally friendly or “green” technologies.

It is anticipated that in advance of the October 1, 2008 effective date, the county will set the amount of the credit; define eligibility criteria; establish the type of work that qualifies for the credit; delineate the type of environmental technologies that will qualify for the credit; and, set forth regulations and procedures for the application and processing of requests for the tax credit.

Environmentally friendly technologies include conserving water, incorporating recycled or recyclable materials, and incorporating renewable and energy efficient power generation (yes, including wind turbines).

By way of background, this is an expansion of the authority granted in 2004 by the Maryland General Assembly to all counties to provide a property tax credit against the local property tax for specified “high performance buildings”. A high performance building is defined in that enactment as a building that achieves at least a silver rating according to the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System or achieves at least a comparable rating according to any other appropriate rating system.

This new tax credit is applicable only in Carroll County and allows the tax credit to be given to a broader group of projects (i.e., not just LEED silver rated), but those that are environmentally friendly or utilize “green” technologies.

Conclusion

It is clear that, with the failure of the federal and state governments to act, efforts of environmental stewardship will, for the foreseeable future, be at the local government level. Carroll County now leads local governments in Maryland in striving to reduce our carbon footprint by acting locally with real estate industry-friendly, green-tech entrepreneurial oriented environmental and energy incentives.

If you have questions about qualifying for the Green building tax credits or if we can be of assistance with wind turbine and Green building issues, generally, please feel free to contact Stuart Kaplow.