Zoning & Land Use
The Council Members serve as the Zoning Board, the county's zoning authority. The Zoning Board guides the future growth of the County in accordance with a General Plan which is developed to ensure the most beneficial and coherent relationships among the county's residential, nonresidential and public areas. The county's zoning regulations guard the character, social, and economic stability of the County. The Zoning Board makes decisions on requests for individual zoning map amendments, and preliminary development plans.
Liz Walsh, Chair
Opel Jones, Vice Chair
Deb Jung
Christiana Rigby
David Yungmann
DPZ prepares and implement comprehensive plans and programs to guide County growth and development. Employees provide assistance and information to property owners, businesses, community groups and citizens about development activity, policies, regulations and procedures that direct and manage growth. DPZ develops long range policies for land use, transportation, zoning and environmental planning; prepares the comprehensive plan for growth and development; maintains demographic data and census records; administers and updates Zoning Regulations, Subdivision Regulations and other development regulations; and, promotes preservation of agricultural, historic and environmental resources.
For more information on the Department of Planning and Zoning, visit this website.
The SRC is composed of County and State agencies, meets to review subdivision and site development plans and gives written comments recommendations about the proposals to DPZ.
The PB has five residents, nominated by the County Executive and confirmed by the Council, who serve five year terms on a volunteer basis. They make recommendations on petitions for rezoning, the County’s Capital Budget, and amendments to the General Plan. They render final decisions on selected subdivision and site development plans. The Planning Board is staffed by the Department of Planning and Zoning.
To find out more information about the Planning Board and their schedule, click here.
The Hearing Examiner, appointed by the County Council, may hear any cases falling within the authority of the Board of Appeal. The hearing examiners hears and decides variances, conditional uses, nonconforming uses, and appeals of departmental administrative decisions. Decisions of the hearing examiner may be appealed to the Board of Appeals.
The Board of Appeals consists of five residents appointed by the Council serve overlapping, five-year terms. The Board of Appeals hears appeals of administrative decisions and certain zoning matters. The Board may authorize variances from the zoning regulations, may hear appeals where a party alleges an error was made, and may authorize land uses provided by the Zoning Regulations. They hear appeals of decisions by the Hearing Examiner, and will hear and decide cases when the Hearing Examiner’s position is vacant or the Examiner has a conflict.
The Zoning Counsel is employed by the County Council on a part-time, contractual basis. The Zoning Counsel appears at all Zoning Board hearings concerning piecemeal zoning map amendments for the purposes of producing evidence and testimony in support of the comprehensive zoning classification of the property and to facilitate the compilation of a complete record. The Zoning Counsel may present evidence and witnesses, examine and cross-examine witnesses, and present argument, however, does not represent the County, is not a party to a case and does not have a right of appeal in connection with any case. The Zoning Counsel may advise citizens individually and is available to speak to any group regarding zoning procedures in Howard County, but cannot engage in the practice of law or render legal advice. Eileen E. Powers is the current zoning counsel.