The Calvert County Planning Commission voted unanimously to recommend six separate amendments to the county’s zoning ordinance at a public hearing Sept. 16, sending the package to the Board of County Commissioners for final adoption. No members of the public spoke on any of the six items.
The amendments are intended to fix issues that surfaced after the county’s comprehensive rewrite of its zoning ordinance took effect March 1, 2025, with additional amendments already adopted since then in September 2025 and July 2026. Planning staff, including Planner Will Hager, presented the six proposals — labeled text amendments 2625 through 2630 — to commissioners Wilson Freeland, Chris Gadway, and their colleagues on the panel.
Electronic signs at public recreation areas (TA 2625). The amendment allows existing reader boards at public recreation areas to be replaced in-kind with electronic message centers, mirroring a policy the county already adopted last year for signs at places of worship. The size of any new electronic sign would be limited to whatever the existing reader board’s size restriction already allows. Staff confirmed the county and county school properties are already exempt from these sign rules; recreation areas not owned by the county, such as the county fairgrounds, would fall under the new policy.
Extended deadline for exception lots (TA 2626). This amendment pushes back the sunset date for obtaining preliminary approval of “exception lots” by one year, from March 1, 2027, to March 1, 2028. Staff said recent weather conditions have made it difficult for property owners to complete required perk testing, and the extension is meant to give them a fair chance to finish that testing before the option to create these lots expires.
Relaxed replanting rules in the Critical Area (TA 2627). For properties in the Limited Development Area, the amendment would cut the amount of replacement vegetation required after clearing 30% to 50% of a lot’s natural vegetation from three times the cleared area down to two times the cleared area, for clearing limited to what’s needed for a home, driveway, septic system and minimal yard. Staff said the county secured buy-in from the Critical Area Commission for the change, arguing the current three-times replacement requirement had become “too burdensome” and costly for property owners.
Special exception requirement for home kennels (TA 2628). The most closely questioned amendment clarifies that in-home daycares and home-based commercial kennels are not required to operate entirely inside a home or enclosed structure, acknowledging dogs need outdoor access. In exchange, home occupation kennels would now need special exception approval from the county’s Board of Appeals — a public process that notifies neighboring property owners and gives them a chance to comment or ask for conditions like minimum setbacks. Commissioners pressed staff on the distinction between a “home occupation” kennel, capped at 600 square feet of indoor space within an occupied home, and a separately defined standalone commercial kennel building, which requires a site plan and its own setback rules. Staff noted zoning rules don’t address noise directly; a kennel generating excessive noise complaints would instead fall to Calvert County’s police-enforced noise ordinance or animal control.
Housekeeping cleanup tied to farmland preservation rules (TA 2629). This amendment removes provisions from the zoning ordinance that duplicate rules already being updated separately in the county’s agricultural preservation rules and regulations — expected to go to public hearing for adoption in October — including references to the Agricultural Preservation Advisory Board and transferable development rights. It also removes a special exception requirement for sand, gravel or mineral extraction without processing on agricultural preservation districts, since Advisory Board approval already covers that use.
Correcting a setback omission in Dunkirk (TA 2630). The final amendment restores a setback policy for New Lots and the Dunkirk Town Center that existed before last year’s zoning rewrite but was inadvertently left out of the updated ordinance. Staff described it as correcting an omission rather than a substantive policy change.
All six amendments passed on unanimous voice votes with no discussion beyond commissioners’ clarifying questions. The recommendations now go to the Calvert County Board of County Commissioners for final action.
The hearing follows the county’s broader zoning overhaul, which the Board of County Commissioners adopted last March to update rules protecting Calvert’s rural character.
