Worcester County, MD Environmental Rules: Flood Zones (2026)

The floodplain subtitle (§ BR 2-301 to § BR 2-310) rests on the Flood Insurance Study for Worcester County, Maryland and Incorporated Areas dated July 16, 2015, or its latest revision, and the accompanying Flood Insurance Rate Maps, which are on file at the Development Review and Permitting Office (Room 1201) in the Government Center in Snow Hill. Ground that field surveys show below the base flood elevation counts as special flood hazard area even where the maps do not draw it. The Building Administrator/County Engineer serves as Floodplain Administrator.

Section BR 2-303(d)(1) makes it unlawful to begin any development or construction wholly within, partially within, or in contact with a flood hazard area until the County permit is issued. The list includes filling, grading, new structures, substantial improvement, manufactured home placement, temporary structures and alteration of a watercourse. A state permit does not substitute: § BR 2-303(d)(2) advises applicants on non-tidal waters to contact the Maryland Department of the Environment, and the County permit is still required in addition. Extensions beyond the one hundred eighty day start window must be requested in writing with justifiable cause, in periods not exceeding ninety days each.

Substantial improvement means work costing fifty percent or more of the building's market value before the work starts, and substantial damage is damage whose repair cost reaches the same fifty percent. The Floodplain Administrator makes substantial damage determinations, notifies owners of the need for a permit and prohibits non-compliant repair except temporary emergency protective measures. Along non-tidal waters, § BR 2-305(b) limits new buildings inside the flood protection setback, which is one hundred feet where the watercourse has mapped special flood hazard areas and fifty feet where it does not. In coastal high-hazard V Zones, § BR 2-306(b) prohibits structural fill to elevate buildings.