Allegany County, MD Code Violation Reporting: Response Times (2026)

Chapter 400 lays out a specific timeline once the Health Officer issues an order to abate a nuisance in unincorporated Allegany County. Under § 400-5(A), an order follows only after informal efforts at voluntary compliance under § 400-4 have failed, and it must state a compliance deadline and warn that administrative penalties apply if the condition is not corrected, along with notice of appeal rights. Section 400-5(B) lets a party who receives the order request a hearing to modify its terms and instead enter a written voluntary consent agreement with the local enforcement official.

If the party appeals rather than negotiates, § 400-5(C) fixes three deadlines: the aggrieved party must submit a written hearing request to the Health Officer within five days of the order; the Health Officer or a designee must hold that hearing within 10 days of the appeal; and a written decision must follow within five days of the hearing, delivered to all parties. Ignoring the order entirely, per § 400-5(D), triggers administrative penalties under § 400-6, starting at $250 per day for a first offense and $500 for a second.

A party can still take a related District Court civil-citation decision to a higher court under § 400-8(B), but the five/ten/five-day clock in § 400-5(C) governs the county-level administrative appeal itself.