Charles County, MD Home Business: Signage Rules (2026)

Section 297-322A sits in the 'Signs requiring permit but no fee' list of Article XIX, the middle tier between signs that need neither a permit nor a fee and signs, like most freestanding and building-mounted commercial signage under § 297-324, that need both. A home occupation sign is capped at four square feet in area, must be nonilluminated, meaning no internal lighting, backlighting or spotlighting, and must be attached flat to the building rather than mounted on a pole or post in the yard. Because the sign still needs a permit even though there's no fee, the applicant has to go through the same review the Zoning Officer applies to every sign permit under § 297-319D: submitting the application in the form the Zoning Officer prescribes, and, once the sign is up, requesting an inspection from the Department of Planning and Growth Management under § 297-319D(6).

The permit becomes void if the work isn't completed within six months of issuance, though the Zoning Officer can grant an extension for reasonable cause under § 297-319D(3). Because home occupations by definition operate out of a dwelling, the four-square-foot cap here is far tighter than the 32-square-foot allowance the code gives freestanding 'A' signs or event banners elsewhere in Article XIX, reflecting the County's intent to keep home-based business signage residential in scale.