Definitions. In this Article, the following words have the meanings indicated:
Certified General Real Estate Appraiser means an individual who is certified as a certified real estate appraiser for general real estate under Title 16 of the Business Occupations Article of the Maryland Code.
Climate Related Improvements or Improvements include measures that address:
(1) renewable energy;
(2) energy and water efficiency;
(3) environmental remediation;
(4) grid resilience; or
(5) property resilience.
Commercial property means any real property located in the County that is either not designed for or intended for human habitation, or that is used for human habitation as a multi-family dwelling of more than 4 rental units.
Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy Program or Program means a program that facilitates Climate Related Improvements and requires repayment through a surcharge on the owner’s property tax bill.
County designated program manager means a person who may be selected by the County through a competitive process to provide administrative and management services for the Program.
Department means the Department of Finance.
Director means the Director of the Department or the Director’s designee.
Energy efficiency means any equipment, device, or material that is intended to decrease energy consumption or use less energy to perform the same task.
Environmental remediation means any project that is intended to remove environmental or health hazards, including addressing indoor air quality and building material contaminants.
Grid resilience means any capital improvement investment that addresses reliability improvements during electrical service disruptions and that are consistent with Public Service Commission regulations on interconnection and franchising.
Private lender means a lender selected by the property owner to provide loan funds to the property owner for an Improvement.
Property owner means a person who owns qualified property or has a ground lease or a long-term lease of 8 or more years on qualified property.
Property resilience means any built or nature-based improvement that increases the capacity of a property to withstand natural disasters and the effects of climate change.
Qualified property means any new or existing commercial real property that meets the eligibility criteria for the Program.
Renewable energy means energy that naturally replenishes over a human, not a geological, time frame and that is ultimately derived from solar power, water power, or wind power. A renewable energy source does not include petroleum, nuclear, natural gas, or coal.
Surcharge means the annual repayment of a loan, including principal, interest, and related charges, that funds an improvement and is collected through the real property tax billing process. (2013 L.M.C., ch. 33, § 1; 2015 L.M.C., ch. 16, § 1; 2016 L.M.C., ch. 23, § 1; 2019 L.M.C., ch. 9, § 1; 2022 L.M.C., ch. 9, §1; 2023 L.M.C., ch. 21
, § 1.)