Maryland Land Use Code §3-203 requires a local planning commission to hold at least one formal public hearing before recommending adoption or amendment of a comprehensive plan. That hearing…
According to the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, Governor Wes Moore announced on August 11 that Maryland has achieved nearly all of its…
A tree-removal project can look small from the driveway: a few leaning trees, a strip of overgrown brush, perhaps a plan to widen a yard or stabilize…
The Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development has committed more than $2.2 million through the Maryland Housing Counseling Fund to…
Crisfield’s commercial blocks are deteriorating in plain sight. Paint is peeling from brick that has not been tuckpointed in decades. Storefront…
Per Southern Maryland News Net, the proposed ordinance would suspend approvals while the Department of Planning & Zoning reviews zoning text…
Under Maryland’s Land Use Article, a planning commission and a board of zoning appeals are not interchangeable bodies. One develops and administers…
Somerset County loses measurable marsh acreage every year to erosion along the lower Chesapeake and its tidal creeks — and a substantial share of…
A historic renovation in Princess Anne can become complicated before the first wall is opened. A new porch, replacement windows, exterior paint, roof…
Maryland’s Land Use Article establishes the comprehensive plan as the principal policy document for local growth, land use, transportation…
Somerset County sits under five feet of elevation across most of its landmass, and roughly a third of the county falls inside the Chesapeake Bay…
According to The Maryland Wire, Maryland counties and municipalities with zoning authority must permit Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) on…
Crisfield’s Low Income Housing Initiative illustrates the central problem in municipal revitalization: the city must select a development partner…
The Charles County Planning Commission convened to consider changes to review boards, according to SoMdNews.com. The August 8 session signals a…
According to the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development, the Fiscal Year 2027 application round for the Catalytic Revitalization…
The Somerset County Planning Commission does not broadcast its meetings. There is no YouTube channel, no public access feed, and no Zoom recording…
A field can remain productive for years and then begin changing faster than a property map can keep up. Ditches hold saltwater longer after a storm…
Maryland Land Use Article §3-102 requires Princess Anne and Crisfield to include municipal growth elements in their comprehensive plans. Beginning…
A planning hearing can turn on a few lines of draft text, a map boundary, or a notice that most residents never read closely. That is the physical…
If you've stood on the bank of the Wicomico or the Manokin and watched a foot of marsh quietly disappear between last summer and this one, you…
A qualifying homeowner in Somerset County may claim a Maryland state income tax credit equal to 20% of eligible historic rehabilitation expenses.
The Wicomico County Council voted unanimously on August 5, 2026 to impose a one-year moratorium on data center proposals, according to Bay to Bay…
Maryland Land Use Code §3-203 requires a local planning commission to hold at least one formal public hearing before recommending adoption of a…
In Somerset County, a septic system can fail long before the tank reaches the end of its service life. The weak point is often the soil beneath the…
Maryland Land Use Code § 3-203 requires a local planning commission to hold at least one public hearing before recommending adoption of a…
According to the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development, the state has launched a new process designed to weave energy efficiency…
A notice about a septic upgrade, a wetland project near Crisfield, or a new Chesapeake Bay restoration effort can feel like three separate stories.
Somerset County received $350,000 in Fiscal Year 2026 federal Community Development Block Grant funding for a countywide housing rehabilitation…
A notice about a proposed subdivision, a new solar facility, or a zoning amendment can arrive in a form that feels designed for people who already…
A Somerset County tax ditch maintenance request cannot be routed correctly until the drainage system is classified. The county’s jurisdiction…
Neighborhood BusinessWorks loans in Somerset County come with two dates and a hard ceiling. The competitive application window opens August 17, 2026…
More than 360 residents responded to Somerset County’s initial Comprehensive Plan survey, exceeding the county’s target of 300 responses. That result…
The SFY27 competitive round closed on Monday, July 6, 2026, at 2:00 p.m. sharp. Once that deadline passed, the submission window was closed; a late…
A proposed use can fit the general character of a Somerset County property and still require more than a standard zoning certificate. That is the…
Per The BayNet's reporting on the meeting, the application was due at the Department of Housing and Community Development by Aug.
A Somerset County public records MPIA request is not a casual email sent into a general government inbox. It is a written records demand directed to…
If you've stood on your own property here on the Eastern Shore and tried to make sense of the shaded strip running along the water's edge — or…
Maryland's economic development framework operates on a layered incentive architecture. At its foundation lies the Priority Funding Area (PFA)…
“Grandfathered zoning” sounds permanent. It is not.
That notice in your mailbox, or the small line in the back of the local paper, telling you that a developer wants to put a 40-unit project on the old…
Somerset County adopted its Critical Area Program on September 10, 1988, pursuant to the Chesapeake Bay Critical Area Act. The program's regulatory…
Three downtown Crisfield businesses secured inaugural Project Restore 2.0 grants in March 2025, drawing from a $150,000 state block grant subgranted…
You got the postcard in the mail—the cream-colored envelope from the county, the one with the map on the back and the meeting time in fine print.
Somerset County Ordinance No. 93 establishes a Flood Protection Elevation (FPE) defined as the Base Flood Elevation (BFE) plus one foot of freeboard.
The Washington County Division of Planning & Zoning announced on August 7 the permanent preservation of a 256.57-acre farm on Taylors Landing Road in…
You’ve probably been there: you walk past a house on your street in Princess Anne, the one with the wraparound porch and the dentil molding along the…
Section 8.15b(3) of the Somerset County Zoning Code mandates site plan approval for every new commercial development within the unincorporated areas…
A public hearing in Somerset County is not a single moment when residents either speak or stay silent. For many zoning, legislative, and land-use…
If you've driven down to the bay lately and watched the marsh grass pulling back from the waterline—foot by foot, season by season—you've probably…
Section 8 of the United States Housing Act of 1937, as amended, establishes the framework for tenant-based rental assistance nationwide. In Somerset…
One hundred point three eight acres of Somerset County land sat on the wrong side of the zoning map for years. In January 2020, Gary King filed a…
You pulled the building permit packet off the counter, and somewhere between the cover sheet and the third sub-folder, the word "stormwater" started…
For a Somerset County homeowner, the first question is not whether the roof leaks, the wiring is unsafe, or the house needs an accessibility…
Seven lots. That is the hard line drawn in Somerset County's Subdivision Ordinance between a process you can handle administratively and one that…
According to the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, the Maryland Board of Public Works approved more than $6.38 million in grants for…
If you're running a nonprofit on the Lower Eastern Shore and you've sketched out a plan to expand a community kitchen in Crisfield, rehab…
Maryland Land Use Code §3-203 mandates that a local planning commission hold at least one public hearing before recommending the adoption of a…
The 100-foot Buffer does not negotiate. Neither does the possibility of a fine of up to $10,000 per day when Somerset County treats a Chesapeake Bay…
In Somerset County, a zoning variance is not a general request for permission to build something the zoning code does not allow. It is a narrowly…