(a) In this section, "County building" means any building for which the County government finances all or part of the cost of construction.
(b) All County buildings contracted for design after September 1, 1985, must meet the energy performance standards required under this section.
(c) The County Executive must adopt regulations under method (2) to establish:
(1) Minimum building energy performance standards that meet or exceed the energy performance standards established by the State of Maryland under State law;
(2) A procedure for evaluating and monitoring the appropriateness and effectiveness of the standards;
(3) A procedure for evaluating building life cycle costs during the design development phase; and
(4) An incentive program which gives the County Executive the discretion to award bonuses if the building actually performs better than the energy performance standards required under this section.
(d) The Director of General Services may grant a variance or modification of an energy performance standard if:
(1) The architect applies for the variance or modification in writing; and
(2) The Director gives notice of and a chance to comment on the application to:
(A) The County Council;
(B) The Department of Permitting Services; and
(C) The energy conservation advisory committee. (1985 L.M.C., ch. 47, § 1; 1996 L.M.C., ch. 20, § 1; 1998 L.M.C., ch. 12, § 1; 2001 L.M.C., ch. 14, § 1; 2002 L.M.C., ch. 16, § 2; 2008 L.M.C., ch. 5, § 1.)
Editor’s note—Section 8-14 is cited in Manian v. County Council for Montgomery County, 171 Md. App. 38, 908 A.2d 665 (2006).
See County Attorney Opinion dated 10/16/96 discussing an executive regulation that applies to any building for which the County finances all or part of the construction.
2008 L.M.C., ch. 5, §§ 2 and 3, state:
Sec. 2. Any responsibility or right granted by law, ordinance, regulation, delegation of authority, contract, or other document to the Department of Public Works and Transportation in connection with designing, building, and maintaining County facilities (except maintaining or renovating public parking facilities under Chapter 60, as provided for under Section 1 of this Act), maintaining County vehicles and equipment, acquiring and disposing of real property not associated with roads, bridges, and other related transportation facilities, and operating mail, printing, and duplication services, is transferred to the Department of General Services.
Sec. 3. Any regulation in effect when this Act takes effect that implements a function transferred to another Department or Office under Section 1 of this Act continues in effect, but any reference in any regulation to the Department from which the function was transferred must be treated as referring to the Department to which the function is transferred. The transfer of a function under this Act does not affect any right of a party to any legal proceeding begun before this Act took effect.