Queen Anne's County

Queen Anne's County issues building, zoning, and accessory-apartment permits for parcels in unincorporated territory through the Department of Planning and Zoning's Permitting & Zoning office in Centreville. The department administers the County Zoning Ordinance, the Critical Area Ordinance (Chapter 14:1), subdivision regulations, and the forest conservation regulations. Inside the County's incorporated towns (Barclay, Centreville, Church Hill, Millington, Queen Anne, Queenstown, Sudlersville, Templeville) the towns issue their own zoning approvals, but the County still administers building-code review and floodplain review through county staff in most cases.

Process overview: Typical workflow for an accessory apartment in unincorporated Queen Anne's County: (1) zoning verification confirming the parcel is in a district that permits an accessory apartment and that owner-occupancy and 1,500 sq ft caps are met; (2) Critical Area review if the parcel sits within 1,000 feet of tidal waters or tidal wetlands (a large fraction of the county - Kent Island, Kent Narrows, the Chester River, Wye River, and Eastern Bay frontage); (3) Health Department septic-system review when on septic (most rural parcels); (4) Department of Public Works floodplain review if the parcel intersects a FEMA Special Flood Hazard Area; (5) building-code plan review under the adopted Maryland Building Performance Standards (IBC/IRC-derived); (6) issuance, construction with inspections, and certificate of occupancy. An Elevation Certificate is required prior to CO for any structure in a flood zone.

Impact fees: Queen Anne's County does not levy municipal-style ADU impact fees as a separate line item. The relevant permit charges are: building permit fee (per square foot), zoning verification fee, plan review fees, on-site sewage permit (when on septic), and floodplain development permit fee (when in SFHA). Confirm current fee schedule on the county's Building Fees page or at the permits counter.

Real property in Queen Anne's County is assessed by the Maryland State Department of Assessments and Taxation (SDAT), not by a county assessor - this is the Maryland-wide model. Reassessment runs on a three-year cycle by geographic group; the Queen Anne's County reassessment areas are published by SDAT. ADU additions are captured as improvements via permit data and are added to the parcel's assessed value at the next regular reassessment. The Queen Anne's County Finance Office handles billing and collection of the resulting real-property tax. The Maryland Homestead Tax Credit caps year-over-year increases on the principal residence's existing assessment but does not shield the new improvement value from an ADU.

Assessment policy: ADU improvement value is captured by SDAT at the next regular reassessment for the parcel's geographic group (three-year cycle). Homestead Tax Credit caps apply only to the existing assessed value on the principal residence; new improvement value is not capped by Homestead. Phase-in over three years applies to any assessment increase, mitigating year-one impact.

Queen Anne's County is dominated by two overlay programs that materially affect ADU feasibility: the Maryland Chesapeake Bay Critical Area Program (every parcel within 1,000 feet of tidal water - which covers the bulk of Kent Island, Kent Narrows, the Chester River and Wye River frontages, and Eastern Bay shoreline) and the FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (the county has 414+ miles of coastline and 29.2 sq mi of water area, making large portions of the inhabited county flood-prone). Forest conservation and a historic-resources inventory also apply across the county.

• Chesapeake Bay Critical Area (Queen Anne's County Chapter 14:1) — An ADU proposed inside the Critical Area Buffer is the single most common reason a Queen Anne's County accessory-apartment project fails feasibility. RCA parcels carry density caps as restrictive as 1 dwelling unit per 20 acres in some configurations; an accessory apartment that is not counted against density (per Article VI) still requires Critical Area review and Buffer compliance.
• FEMA NFIP Special Flood Hazard Areas in Queen Anne's County — For a detached ADU on a shoreline parcel, the cost impact of BFE+2 elevation, foundation engineering, and flood insurance premium increase typically exceeds the cost of the structure itself. An in-dwelling accessory apartment inside a primary structure that is already elevation-compliant is far easier than a new detached unit on the same parcel.
• Forest Conservation (Queen Anne's County) — Forest Conservation Plans, when triggered, can require afforestation or fee-in-lieu payments. Most single-unit accessory-apartment projects are below threshold but should be confirmed at intake.
• Queen Anne's County Historic Resources — Confirm whether a parcel is in a designated historic district or carries an individual listing at the Planning & Zoning intake before designing.