Washington County, MD Building Setbacks & Zoning: Lot Coverage Limits (2026)

Article 5E of the Washington County Zoning Ordinance governs the "RB" Rural Business District, a floating zone the County Commissioners create only through a rezoning case applied to land already zoned Agricultural Rural (A(R)), Environmental Conservation (EC), Preservation (P), or Rural Village (RV). 5, "Bulk Regulations," sets the district's development envelope: a 40,000-square-foot minimum lot, a 40-foot front setback from a minor collector or local road (50 feet from a major collector or arterial), 50-foot side and rear setbacks from residential land and 25 feet from non-residential land, a 35-foot height limit, and, at subsection (e), a maximum lot coverage of 65 percent.

That 65 percent ceiling covers buildings, parking, and paved surfaces on the parcel and cannot be waived administratively. 2 requires the owner to obtain a zoning permit from the Zoning Administrator; the application must include scaled plans showing lot dimensions and the location and size of proposed and existing buildings, plus the required filing fee, and the Administrator must approve or disapprove within 60 days or the permit is deemed approved by default. Article 5E was renumbered from the former RB-N District (Article 5F) effective September 1, 2015 under RZ-14-002/ORD-2015-20.

The RB District cannot be approved for a parcel unless the Planning Commission finds it lies outside a designated growth area, has safe road access meeting the county's road-adequacy policy, can handle onsite sewage and stormwater, and is compatible with surrounding agricultural, historic, or residential uses.