Prince George's County, MD Environmental Rules: Boat Dock Permits (2026)

County Code Subtitle 5B, the Chesapeake Bay Critical Area chapter, governs water-dependent facilities including marinas and other boat docking structures in the Critical Area Buffer (Sec. 5B-118(a)). The section expressly excludes individual private piers installed or maintained by riparian landowners that are not part of a subdivision providing community piers, so a single homeowner's private dock outside a shared community system falls outside this regulation. 02 and must establish a way to minimize discharge of bottom wash water into tidal waters (Sec. 5B-118(g)). Community piers must be community-owned, built for the benefit of a platted riparian subdivision's residents, may not sell food, fuel, or goods, and must disturb the Buffer only enough to provide a single point of access; if community piers or moorings are provided, private piers in that development are barred (Sec.

5B-118(h)). The number of slips is capped at the lesser of a shoreline-length formula, one slip per 50 feet of shoreline in Intensely Developed and Limited Development zones or one slip per 300 feet in Resource Conservation zones, or a schedule tied to the number of platted lots or dwellings, ranging from one slip per lot for up to 15 lots down to 75 slips or 15%, whichever is greater, for subdivisions over 300 lots (Sec. 5B-118(i)). Applicants must show the proposal will not significantly alter water circulation or salinity, that the water body has adequate flushing, and that disturbance to wetlands, aquatic habitat, and shellfish beds is minimized (Sec. 5B-118(e)).