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

Wicomico County Code § 125-18, Water-dependent facilities, governs where boat docks and piers may go in unincorporated Wicomico County. New buildings and activities that are not water-dependent must locate outside the 100-foot Critical Area Buffer along tidal water and tidal wetlands, but the section carves out an exception: boathouses, community piers, individual private piers, docks and launching ramps are allowed in the Buffer. For community piers in a subdivision, only slips, docks, piers, launching ramps, access roads, paths and loading/unloading areas may sit in the Buffer, and if the subdivision was approved after October 13, 1989, the number of slips is capped at the lesser of a shoreline-based ratio (one slip per 50 feet of shoreline in the limited development and intensely developed areas, one slip per 300 feet in the resource conservation area) or a sliding density table keyed to the number of platted lots or dwellings, ranging from one slip per lot for up to 15 lots down to 15% for developments over 300 lots.

New commercial marinas are permitted only in the limited development and intensely developed areas, and expansion of an existing commercial marina in the resource conservation area requires a showing that the project will not harm water quality and will produce a net water-quality improvement. The Wicomico County Department of Planning, Zoning and Community Development administers the Critical Area Program and reviews site plans for water-dependent facilities; private piers are treated as an as-of-right accessory use within these limits, subject to any state or Critical Area Commission conditions that apply on a given parcel.