LEONARDTOWN — First-time buyers priced out of a $400,000 house and older residents looking to downsize could eventually have a smaller option in St. Mary’s County, if an idea raised at the end of Monday’s Planning Commission meeting turns into zoning rules.
The commission’s chair asked colleagues and county staff on Nov. 9 to set up work sessions on tiny houses, and the discussion quickly widened to include accessory dwelling units, the backyard cottages and garage apartments that state law now requires local governments to allow. Staff agreed to propose afternoon dates in January and February.
Nothing was proposed or voted on. No ordinance is drafted, no site is in play, and the chair framed the effort as exploratory. But it puts small-footprint housing on the calendar of the body that reviews every major subdivision in the county, at a time when that body is also being asked to rethink where gas stations, vape shops and discount stores can go.
What the chair asked for
The chair said he has seen interest in tiny houses on social media and from county residents who have begun working on the idea, and he wants the commission to learn whether developers could build them here. He named first-time homebuyers and empty nesters as the people he has in mind.
He was careful to separate the idea from subsidized housing. He described the target as someone starting out with a decent job who does not need a $400,000 house, and floated incentives, such as allowing more homes on a parcel, so a builder would not lose money on smaller units.
“Not necessarily opening the gate,” he said near the end of the discussion. “I’d just like to walk them around the track a little bit.”
One member pushed back on the order of operations, saying the commission should understand what a tiny house is and what might be proposed before it holds a session, since the commission itself would not be the one proposing a 100-home subdivision. The chair agreed that research comes first.
Backyard units are a separate question
Commissioner Patricia Robrecht raised a different use: a small home in the backyard for elderly parents who need to live near their children.
That is an accessory dwelling unit, not a tiny-house development, the deputy county attorney told the commission, and the state has moved into that field “in a big way.” He said St. Mary’s was affected less than some other jurisdictions.
The law he referred to is House Bill 1466, passed by the General Assembly in 2025. According to the Maryland Department of Planning, it required every county and municipality with zoning authority to adopt a local law by Oct. 1, 2026, authorizing accessory dwelling units on lots with a single-family detached house. The act defines such a unit as a second dwelling on the same lot that is no more than 75% the size of the main house.
Elsewhere in Southern Maryland, La Plata adopted new accessory dwelling rules in September, and early interest under the law has produced more phone calls than applications.
Land Use and Growth Management Director Jessica Andritz told the commission that work sessions on accessory dwelling units are already tentatively set for January, and that staff will have to avoid overloading commissioners and the public with meetings.
‘Attainable’ housing and an aging county
Andritz tied the request to the county’s newly adopted comprehensive plan, which uses the term attainable housing. She reminded commissioners that the county’s director of aging and human services had told them the population is getting older, and said smaller units could let residents stay on family property with relatives nearby to help.
The same plan is the backdrop for larger projects still moving through review, including Stewart’s Grant in Great Mills, whose first phase is 179 single-family homes.
How the sessions will work
Andritz said staff will check when the commissioners’ meeting room is free for afternoon sessions and send members a list of dates; the commission has used a 2 to 5 p.m. window before. The department’s deputy director is assembling a schedule covering the next three to six months.
Commissioners were invited to send staff any research or examples from other jurisdictions ahead of time so the material can be posted for all members, and staff offered to gather information the commission requests.
Any change to what can be built would have to come later as a zoning text amendment, which requires a public hearing before the Planning Commission and a final decision by the Commissioners of St. Mary’s County.
