Caroline County

The Caroline County Department of Planning and Codes (established 1985) administers zoning and building-permit review for unincorporated Caroline County from offices at 403 South 7th Street, Suite 210, Denton, MD 21629. The department operates a unified planning, zoning, and codes-administration function; it also handles erosion and sediment control, forest conservation, stormwater management, Critical Areas, floodplain management, and addressing. Applications are submitted through the county's online portal at https://caroline.onlama.com/. Inside the eight incorporated municipalities (Denton, Federalsburg, Goldsboro, Greensboro, Henderson, Hillsboro, Preston, Ridgely) the town issues its own building and zoning permits; the county's authority covers only unincorporated territory plus any town that has contracted county services.

Process overview: Caroline County publishes a Building Permit Application Checklist and site-plan specification. A complete first submittal lists a building permit application, a site plan to county specifications, and architectural plans. After intake the application is routed for concurrent review against the zoning ordinance (Chapter 175), the adopted building code, stormwater and erosion-and-sediment-control rules, Critical Area rules where the parcel lies within 1,000 feet of tidal waters or wetlands, and floodplain rules where the parcel lies within a mapped SFHA. The county's stated goal is to generate comments within 15 working days of a complete submittal; partial or inaccurate submittals extend the cycle. Issued permits remain valid for one year, with extension available before expiration.

Impact fees: Caroline County has a development impact fee ordinance on residential development (Caroline County Code, Chapter 75); fee amount is set by date of application and is published in the Planning and Codes Department fee schedule. The schedule itemizes building, electrical, and plumbing inspection fees separately from impact fees. Whether an ADU is subject to a full new-dwelling impact fee or a reduced accessory-use fee is set at intake against the current schedule.

Caroline County does not operate its own assessor's office. Under Maryland Constitution Article XV and Tax-Property Article Title 2, real property assessment is a state function performed by the Maryland State Department of Assessments and Taxation (SDAT). The Supervisor of Assessments for Caroline County is a SDAT employee (the county partially funds the local office but does not direct its work). Caroline County's own Tax Office, located in the County Office Building, handles billing and collection of property taxes once SDAT has set the assessment. ADU improvements are captured on the host parcel's record through permit data shared by the Department of Planning and Codes with the Supervisor of Assessments, and the added improvement value is phased in on Maryland's three-year reassessment cycle.

Assessment policy: Maryland reassesses each parcel once every three years, with the assessed value phased in over the three-year cycle. Owner-occupied principal residences are eligible for the Homestead Tax Credit, which caps the year-over-year increase in taxable assessment regardless of underlying market growth (the county sets its Homestead percentage annually). New improvement value from an ADU is added to the parcel record at the next regular reassessment after the certificate of occupancy is issued; the Homestead cap shields existing assessed value but does not exempt new improvement value. Property owners may appeal an assessment between July 1 and December 31 of any year for the following tax year.

Caroline County administers three overlay regimes that materially affect ADU project feasibility: (1) the Chesapeake Bay Critical Area, which applies to all land within 1,000 feet of the Choptank River, the Tuckahoe Creek, the Marshyhope Creek, and their tidal tributaries; (2) FEMA NFIP floodplain rules, with floodplain overlay districts established as overlays on the Official Zoning District Maps; and (3) Forest Conservation Act review for projects that disturb 40,000 square feet or more. The Critical Area regime is the most distinctive Caroline County overlay: substantial portions of the southern and western parts of the county (and a corridor along the Choptank through Denton, Greensboro, and Federalsburg) fall inside the 1,000-foot Critical Area envelope, and the Maryland Critical Area Commission's IDA / LDA / RCA classification of a parcel controls density, impervious-coverage caps, and buffer rules for any new structure including an ADU.

• Chesapeake Bay Critical Area (Caroline County) — Contact Matt Kaczynski at the Caroline County Planning and Codes Department (410-479-8100) for Critical Area determinations.
• FEMA NFIP Special Flood Hazard Areas in Caroline County — A new ADU in a mapped SFHA must be elevated to or above the Base Flood Elevation; cost impact on the project is often material on this low-lying Eastern Shore county.
• Forest Conservation Act review (Caroline County) — Most single-ADU additions on existing residential lots stay below the FCA trigger; verify at intake for larger parcels.