(a) The Director may approve an MPDU agreement that allows an applicant for development of a high-rise residential building, instead of building some or all of the required number of MPDUs on-site, to provide MPDUs at another location, only if the Director finds that:
(1) the public benefit of locating MPDUs at the proposed alternative location outweighs the value of locating MPDUs in each subdivision throughout the County;
(2) building the MPDUs at the proposed alternative location will further the objective of providing a broad range of housing opportunities throughout the County; and
(3) the alternative location agreement will increase:
(A) the number of MPDUs; or
(B) the number of bedrooms in the same number or fewer MPDUs, provided as a result of the development.
(b) The alternative location must be in the same Planning Area unless:
(1) the alternative location is in a Planning Area designated by the Planning Board in which at least 45% of the United States Census Tracts have a median household income of at least 150% of the County-wide median household income; or
(2) the Director first provides the Council with:
(A) notice of the intended alternative location in a different Planning Area that does not meet the requirement in paragraph (b);
(B) good cause for the alternative location in the different Planning Area; and
(C) at least 30 days to comment.
(c) To satisfy the requirements of this Section, an applicant may:
(1) build, or convert from non-residential use, the required number or percentage of residential floor area of new MPDUs at a site approved by the Director;
(2) buy, encumber, or transfer, and rehabilitate as necessary, existing market rate housing units that meet all standards for use as MPDUs; or
(3) return to MPDU use, and rehabilitate as necessary, existing MPDUs for which price or rent controls have expired.
(d) Each agreement under this Section must include a schedule, binding on the applicant, for timely completion or acquisition of the required number of MPDUs.
(e) The Director must notify the Council in writing within ten days of approving an alternative location agreement under this Section. (, § 1; , § 1.)
Editor's note—2004 L.M.C., ch. 29, § 2, states in part: "The amendments to Chapter 25A made by Section 1 of this Act which extend the control period for sale and rental MPDUs do not apply to any MPDU for which a sale contract or rental agreement was signed before April 1, 2005."
