Somerset community surveys: the right channel for your feedback
More than 360 residents responded to Somerset County’s initial Comprehensive Plan survey, exceeding the county’s target of 300 responses. That result…
Reference sections
Land Use & Zoning13
- Critical Area Growth Allocation: Maryland Rules Explained
- Agricultural easement applications: a pre-filing checklist
- Right to Farm Disclosures: Common Somerset County Errors
- Municipal Growth Element: Maryland planning rules explained
- Special exception permits in Somerset: application checklist
Community Development12
- Housing site selection: choosing the right Somerset location
- Somerset historic property tax credit: five application steps
- Somerset community grants: choosing the right funding
- Neighborhood Business Works loans: Somerset application steps
- CDBG application errors: how to save Somerset projects
Infrastructure & Environment12
- Salt marsh migration: how it works on the Eastern Shore
- Chesapeake Bay restoration: project prep checklist
- Septic design errors in Somerset flood zones
- Maryland Watershed Implementation Plans: A Simple Guide
- Tax ditch maintenance in Somerset: five request steps
Civic Engagement12
- Planning commission broadcasts: how to watch Somerset meetings
- Public comment errors in Somerset planning hearings
- Planning workshops in Somerset: choosing the right format
- Somerset County town halls: five steps to request a meeting
- Citizen-led planning initiatives: Somerset prep checklist
News
- Wicomico County Implements One-Year Freeze on New Data Center Projects
- Maryland Mandates Energy Efficiency Standards for Affordable Housing Developments
- Prince Frederick Pursues Main Street Maryland Status to Boost Local Revitalization
- Washington County Secures 256-Acre Farm Under Rural Legacy Program
- Maryland Board of Public Works Allocates $6.38 Million for State Recreation and Land Preservation
Somerset County zoning variance: five application steps
Under Somerset County’s February 2024 Zoning Ordinance, a Somerset County zoning variance application is not a request to disregard the zoning code.
The feed
Public records in Somerset: MPIA request steps
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…
Resource Conservation Areas: Somerset County RCA rules
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…
Somerset business incentives: Enterprise Zone or PFA?
Maryland's economic development framework operates on a layered incentive architecture. At its foundation lies the Priority Funding Area (PFA)…
Grandfathered zoning in Somerset: avoiding abandonment traps
“Grandfathered zoning” sounds permanent. It is not.
Somerset planning commission meetings: speaker checklist
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…
Chesapeake Bay critical area permit: application steps
Somerset County adopted its Critical Area Program on September 10, 1988, pursuant to the Chesapeake Bay Critical Area Act. The program's regulatory…
Crisfield revitalization grants: application steps
Three downtown Crisfield businesses secured inaugural Project Restore 2.0 grants in March 2025, drawing from a $150,000 state block grant subgranted…
Citizen advisory committees in Maryland planning explained
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 flood mitigation: choosing the right method
Somerset County Ordinance No. 93 establishes a Flood Protection Elevation (FPE) defined as the Base Flood Elevation (BFE) plus one foot of freeboard.
Princess Anne Historic District: Pre-Application Checklist
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…
Somerset County site plan review: a step-by-step guide
Section 8.15b(3) of the Somerset County Zoning Code mandates site plan approval for every new commercial development within the unincorporated areas…
Public hearing testimony in Somerset County: submission steps
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…
Living Shorelines: How They Protect Somerset County
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…
Affordable Housing in Somerset County: How to Choose
Section 8 of the United States Housing Act of 1937, as amended, establishes the framework for tenant-based rental assistance nationwide. In Somerset…
Rezoning petitions in Somerset: the change or mistake rule
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…
Stormwater plan submission in Somerset: a pre-filing checklist
You pulled the building permit packet off the counter, and somewhere between the cover sheet and the third sub-folder, the word "stormwater" started…
Somerset County Housing Rehabilitation: Step-by-Step Guide
For a Somerset County homeowner, the first question is not whether the roof leaks, the wiring is unsafe, or the house needs an accessibility…
Somerset County Farmland Subdivision: A Step-by-Step Guide
Seven lots. That is the hard line drawn in Somerset County's Subdivision Ordinance between a process you can handle administratively and one that…
Rural Development Grant Checklist for Somerset Projects
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…
Somerset MD Public Meetings: Workshops vs Hearings
Maryland Land Use Code §3-203 mandates that a local planning commission hold at least one public hearing before recommending the adoption of a…
Critical area buffer mistakes in Somerset County
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…
Somerset County zoning variance: step-by-step guide
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…