Are you having work done on business or residential property in Baltimore City? If so, will it be up to code? As of June 5, 2017, you might want to check your permit application.
On Monday, June 5, 2017, Baltimore’s new zoning code went into effect. Accordingly, per the Baltimore Department of Planning, the new zoning rules may apply to you if you are doing any of the following:
- “Doing work on your property”.
- Examples: “adding an addition or a roof deck”
- Changing how you use your property.
- Examples: “opening a new type of business” or “adding a new apartment unit in your building”; or
- “Building something new” on your property.
Full text of the new Code can be found here: http://ca.baltimorecity.gov/codes/Art%2032%20-%20Zoning.pdf
If you are doing any of the above activities, then which zoning code applies (the old or the new) depends on when you submitted your permit application — and if you modified that application. See table below. If you aren’t doing any of the above activities, then “changes under the new Zoning Code will not affect you.”
| Are you doing work on, changing how you use, or building something new on your property in Baltimore City? | When did you submit your permit application for this activity? | Is your application considered complete the way you submitted it, or did you modify your application after submitting it? | Which zoning code applies: old or new? |
| Yes | Before June 5, 2017 | Complete as submitted | Old |
| Yes | Before June 5, 2017 | Modified after submission | The Zoning Administrator will decide. |
| Yes | On or after June 5, 2017 | New | |
| No |
For the text of the new zoning code and accompanying maps, visit the Baltimore Department of Planning’s Transform Baltimore page.
Derrick Wang, Esq.