Howard County, MD Environmental Rules: Boat Dock Permits (2026)

Section 3115 of the Howard County Building Code, added by amendment to the 2024 International Building Code, spells out what can and cannot be built once a lot falls inside a delineated floodplain under Title 16, Subtitle 7 of the County Code. 1 states flatly that new residential or nonresidential construction shall not occur within a designated floodplain. Exception 2 to that ban is the provision that matters for waterfront property owners: transportation networks, utility installations, piers, open pier structures, and open decks approved by the Department of Public Works are allowed to proceed, along with streets, sidewalks, pathways, and utility systems built to the Howard County Design Manual.

In practice, a boat dock is not automatically barred just because the shoreline lot sits in the mapped floodplain, but the pier design has to go through DPW review and approval before construction, rather than the standard building-permit path used outside the floodplain. The same section separately requires substantial improvements to existing nonconforming residential structures in the floodplain to be elevated at least two feet above the 100-year flood elevation, and bars the reconstruction of a destroyed nonconforming structure unless work begins within 12 months and meets the elevating and floodproofing standards.

711 of the County Code. Because Howard County's floodplain maps run along the Patapsco and Patuxent watersheds and were revisited after the 2016 and 2018 Ellicott City floods, a shoreline dock or pier proposal near those corridors should expect DPW to confirm the floodplain boundary before approving pier plans.