Anne Arundel County requires a building permit for retaining walls over 4 feet (measured from footing) or any wall supporting a surcharge. Walls in the Chesapeake Bay Critical Area or in a floodplain face additional review and often require a Maryland-licensed PE seal.
Anne Arundel County Inspections & Permits enforces the 2018 IBC (as amended by Maryland) for retaining walls. Walls 4 feet or less from the bottom of the footing to the top of the wall, without a surcharge, are exempt from building permit. Walls over 4 feet or any wall supporting a surcharge (driveway, pool, structure, or slope above) require a permit with plans sealed by a Maryland-licensed professional engineer. Drainage (weep holes, geotextile, clean gravel backfill) is required for all walls. Walls in the Chesapeake Bay Critical Area 1,000-foot buffer (tidal waters of the Severn, Magothy, South, West, Rhode, and Patuxent Rivers, Chesapeake Bay, Stony Creek, Bodkin Creek) must meet RCA/LDA impervious-cover caps and disturbance limits, and often require Critical Area Commission or county Office of Planning and Zoning review. Walls within a FEMA floodplain must comply with Article 16 floodplain standards and not displace flood storage. Setback: a minimum 2 feet from any side/rear property line is typical; front-yard walls over 30 inches may be limited by sight-triangle rules.
Unpermitted wall: stop-work order, sealed engineering letter required post hoc, double-fee permit, and fines up to $1,000 per day. Critical Area impact: mitigation at 3:1 planting plus penalties up to $10,000 per violation under NR §8-1815.
Anne Arundel County, MD
Anne Arundel County Code §12-4-101(36) defines a dog that continuously barks, howls, or whines causing unreasonable annoyance to neighbors as a public nuisan...
Anne Arundel County, MD
Anne Arundel County restricts commercial vehicle parking in residential zoning districts. Vehicles over 10,000 lbs GVW may not be parked in residential areas...
Anne Arundel County, MD
Anne Arundel County requires building permits for new driveways and curb cuts. Driveways must not block pedestrian access or sight triangles. Impervious surf...
Anne Arundel County, MD
Anne Arundel County requires electrical permits for Level 2 EV chargers and follows the 2018 IBC/IRC EV-ready provisions adopted statewide. Maryland RP §2-12...
Anne Arundel County, MD
Anne Arundel County does not have a countywide overnight parking ban. Annapolis restricts overnight parking in residential permit zones and prohibits on-stre...
Anne Arundel County, MD
Anne Arundel County is not in a mapped high-wildfire-hazard area under Maryland DNR Forest Service assessments. Defensible-space rules are not codified local...
See how Pasadena's retaining walls rules stack up against other locations.
Help us keep this page accurate. If you notice an error or outdated information, let us know.