City council and mayor get behind green housing retrofits proposal

As College Park city council candidates have joined students in their call for the city to adopt new programs to incentivize green housing retrofits, outgoing Mayor Steve Brayman is eager to take up the initiative before he leaves office.

The student group, Clean Energy for UMD, pitched a plan last night in which the city would partner with a company to provide loans for residents who wish to add environmentally friendly features — from energy-efficient appliances to solar panels — to their homes at no upfront cost.

Proponents of the plan, including District 1 Councilman Patrick Wojahn, who arranged for last night's presentation, have said these loans encourage residents to make their homes more energy efficient.

The city heard from Edison-Wright, a company that arranges private financing for homeowners through loans that are repaid in property taxes.

Council members liked the sound of the low risk involved in the project — banks or private businesses, not the city, put up the money for the loans. Many council members said they hoped to move quickly to adopt such a project.

Brayman took them up on the proposal last night.

"I'd like to move forward on this and wrap it up this fall, and take it out of the election," Brayman said. "I don't know why we wouldn't work on this."

Students from Clean Energy for UMD had called for the city to set up its own energy efficiency fund so it could control the interest rate charged to residents. Under the Edison-Wright plan, the company profits from charging a higher interest rate to residents than its own financing from banks.

City officials were drawn to the security of the loan plan — "insulating the city coffers" as well as city homes, Brayman said. And with Brayman looking to implement the plan soon, the green initiative won't become a part of the upcoming campaign.

The Edison-Wright plan has an advantage over a loan an individual homeowner would take because it is repaid through taxes tied to a property rather than a property owner, said Peter Mellen, the company's co-founder and CEO.

This way, he explained, if the house is sold, the new owners would be responsible for the remainder of the loan as they reap the benefits in lower energy costs. The loans would be paid back over one to two decades, and the city would sell homes at a tax sale to recoup any losses.

However, city finance director Steve Groh said he was concerned about logistical issues involved in the tax collection. The council instructed him to study the issue and report back periodically over the next few weeks.

bholt@umdbk.com