LA PLATA — Builders in Charles County’s busiest growth areas can now put single-family homes, duplexes, townhouses, small multiplexes and cottages as small as 400 square feet inside a single planned neighborhood, after county commissioners unanimously passed the Mixed Residential Community Use bill Oct. 27.
Proposed Bill 2026-10 applies only to the county’s medium-density (RM) and high-density (RH) residential zones, and only within the Development District and Priority Funding Areas, the state-recognized growth areas where the county directs public investment. It also lowers the smallest allowed footprint for a single-family detached house from 1,250 square feet to 960 square feet, according to a county news release issued Oct. 29.
For buyers and renters, the change opens the door to smaller, lower-cost homes that have largely been missing from a market built around larger detached houses and townhouse rows. For developers, it adds a density reward for building homes that working households can afford.
What the law allows
Under the new rules, a mixed residential community must be laid out as one unified development. The law permits:
- Single-family detached homes, now with a 960-square-foot minimum footprint
- Duplexes and townhouses
- Multiplexes, small buildings with several units
- Cottage dwellings of 400 to 960 square feet, a housing type the county code did not previously recognize
A project needs an approved unified development plan and approval of an alternative design and development code, so neighbors and planners will see the layout before ground is broken, according to the release.
Bonus for affordable homes
Developers can earn extra density when at least half of a project’s units are affordable to households earning no more than 60% of the area median income.
Charles County is part of the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria metro area for federal housing purposes. In that region, the 2026 median family income is $166,100, and the 60% limit works out to $99,660 for a family of four and $69,780 for a single person, according to federal income limits that took effect June 1. The release did not say whether the bonus requires the units to stay affordable for a set number of years.
How it got here
The bill went to public hearing at the commissioners’ Oct. 27 session, and commissioners passed it unanimously the same day. The Chronicle laid out what the proposal would allow and how residents could weigh in ahead of the hearing.
The vote comes as Southern Maryland governments look for ways to add housing without new sprawl, and as local officials weigh what different kinds of growth cost to serve.
In La Plata, a town study released last month found that housing roughly breaks even for the town budget while commercial development pays its way, a factor local leaders weigh as they decide where denser housing belongs.
Same night, other business
The Oct. 27 meeting was a busy one. Commissioners also voted 3-2 to introduce the county’s collective bargaining bill, set a Nov. 17 hearing on a pretrial release program and closed the county’s $93.2 million bond sale.
The release did not say when the mixed-housing law takes effect or whether any developer has a project ready to use it. Meeting video, the full bill and vote records are posted on the commissioners’ meeting archive.
