Washington County, MD Parking Rules: Loading Zones (2026)

13 of the Washington County Zoning Ordinance governs commercial loading areas countywide. Subsection (a) requires a developer to design loading areas to accommodate the anticipated demand and maneuverability of delivery vehicles relative to the site's overall traffic flow, and to build a circulation system that minimizes delay on-site and prevents trucks from backing up onto the adjacent public street. Subsection (b) restricts where a loading area can go: it may occupy any yard on the lot except the front yard, keeping truck activity away from the street frontage.

The ordinance does not set a curfew or specific hours during which loading and unloading must occur; that omission means Washington County regulates loading through site design and placement rather than a time-of-day restriction, unlike an incorporated town that might impose its own noise-based curfew within its limits. 12(f)(10)(ii) requires that loading and unloading areas be paved with a durable, dustless surface in the RT, RS, RU, RM, MX, BG, BL, HI, ORT, PB and SED zoning districts, with the Department of Land Development Engineering determining acceptable surfacing materials.

Loading facilities are reviewed as part of the same site plan process used for the rest of an off-street parking facility under Article 22, Division I.