Land Use, Zoning & Critical Area

On the water in Maryland the question is rarely whether you own the land. It is what the Chesapeake Bay Critical Area program will let you do with it — and, often, whether what is already built can stay.

Practice Contacts
David A. Katz

We represent waterfront property owners, developers and homebuilders in Critical Area and zoning variance proceedings before the Anne Arundel County Office of Administrative Hearings and the County Board of Appeals, and we advise buyers, builders and lenders on what a property's approvals actually permit before they are committed to it.

Chesapeake Bay Critical Area

The Critical Area program is the hardest overlay in Maryland to obtain relief from, and as of October 1, 2026, it is narrower still. Chapter 79 of the 2026 Laws, signed in April 2026, adds a rebuttable presumption that an owner with an existing accessory structure already has reasonable and significant use of the property; bars variances that would authorize a use not otherwise allowed in the designation or alter required mitigation; and requires a board of appeals to hear an appeal from an administrative hearing officer on the record, deferring to that officer's findings of fact. The Act carries no transition provision for applications already pending, so if you have one on file, which standard governs it is a question worth asking now.

Our work includes:

Buffer and expanded buffer disturbance
Steep slope disturbance in the Resource Conservation Area
Critical Area lot coverage
Resource Conservation Area, Limited Development Area and Buffer Modification Area designations
Buffer management plans and mitigation
Project notification to the Critical Area Commission
After-the-fact variances and the resolution of open code violations
Contested hearings, including cases opposed by the Office of Planning and Zoning, the Health Department, the county Critical Area Team and the Critical Area Commission together

If you have a variance application already on file, the Act's silence is the practical problem. Chapter 79 contains an effective date and nothing else — no applicability section, no savings clause, nothing addressing applications filed, hearings held or appeals noted before October 1, 2026. Which standard governs a case in the pipeline is therefore an open question, and it is worth raising before your hearing rather than after it.

Zoning variances and administrative relief

Setback, height, lot coverage and area variances
Special exceptions and conditional uses
Nonconforming use and grandfathering determinations
Zoning verification letters
Pre-file consultation with the Office of Planning and Zoning
Letters of explanation and justification to the Zoning Administrator

Appeals

Appeals to the Anne Arundel County Board of Appeals from decisions of the Administrative Hearing Officer — entering appearances, continuances, qualifying and examining expert engineers and land planners, and building the record.

Diligence and feasibility

Not every land use question needs a hearing. Much of this practice is telling a buyer, a builder or a lender what a property will actually support, before they are committed:

Zoning due diligence and entitlement review on acquisition — what is approved, what is conditioned, what has lapsed and what is transferable
Feasibility analysis comparing regulatory routes, including when a legislative text amendment is faster and cheaper than a special exception and variance
Adequate public facilities and school capacity testing
Development timelines — how long the path actually takes in that jurisdiction
Water and sewer category changes and allocation
Forest conservation and stormwater obligations as they land in the contract

Government relations

We advise property owners and businesses on legislative and regulatory matters affecting their projects, presenting a client's position to regulatory agencies and to local and state government.

Representative Matters

Represented a waterfront property owner in a four-part Chesapeake Bay Critical Area and zoning variance case to legalize storm remediation work on a two-acre Church Creek property in Annapolis, winning approval of the retaining walls stabilizing the eroding coastal bluff over the opposition of four separate agencies, and carrying the balance of the case to the County Board of Appeals.
Advised a Roman Catholic parish on the zoning pathways to redevelop a nine-acre private school campus in Annapolis for early education, school and residential use, and recommended a legislative text amendment as a faster and less costly route than the special exception and variance the County Code would otherwise require.
Represented a waterfront homeowner before the Anne Arundel County Board of Appeals in a Chesapeake Bay Critical Area matter, entering the appeal, securing a continuance and filing the project notification with the State Critical Area Commission.
Represented the owner of a Severn River waterfront lot in a Critical Area driveway variance, taking the matter from pre-file consultation with the County through the letter of explanation to the Zoning Administrator and the hearing.
Advised on the proposed conversion of office and hotel development sites to residential use, addressing prior approvals, infrastructure capacity and site plan requirements.
Provided local zoning analysis supporting national affordable housing developers' applications and projects.

To discuss a Critical Area or zoning matter, get in touch.