The Talbot County Planning and Zoning Department has been working with a consultant to develop a new overlay zoning district, a Working Waterfront Overlay District (WWOD) to develop zoning regulations that encourage and incentivize maritime commercial and maritime support commercial uses in desirable locations of Talbot County; as recommended in the Tilghman Village Master Plan adopted by the County Council in September of 2017.
An overlay zoning district is a special zoning district that is placed over an existing base zoning district (such as Village Mixed or Limited Commercial) which identifies special provisions in addition, or as an alternative, to those in the underlying base zone. Regulations are included in the overlay zoning district to protect specific resources (such as historic structures) or to provide incentives within targeted areas to achieve certain County objectives. They also offer an effective way to implement community-specific plans while maintaining common base district regulations, The mapping of a property or properties with an overlay zoning district can only occur by legislative action of the County Council following procedures contained in Chapter 190 of the Talbot County Code (Section 190-55).
A meeting to provide an update on the progress of this initiative is scheduled for Wednesday, December 19, 2018 from 6:30 – 8:00 p.m. at the Tilghman Island Volunteer Fire Hall.
The meeting will include a summary of the research conducted by the consultant and their recommended format and location in the zoning Code for the new district. Staff will also present the results of the recently-conducted on-line survey related to the working waterfront.
If you are unable to attend this meeting, we anticipate holding one or more additional meetings in January of 2019. Of course, please feel free to call or email Miguel Salinas, Planning and Zoning, (410-770-8030 or [email protected]) for any questions or comments that you have. We are also always willing and happy to meet with you in person.
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