A. 
The County Council may, from time to time, amend the provisions of this chapter, the approved Wicomico County Critical Areas Program and the land use management classification of properties in the Critical Area District. In addition, the County Council shall review and propose any necessary amendments, as required, either to the program or to the land use management classifications in the Critical Area District at least every six years.
[Amended 8-2-2011 by Bill No. 2011-07]
B. 
All such amendments shall be approved by the Maryland Chesapeake Bay Critical Area Commission pursuant to § 8-1809(g) of the Critical Area Law, Subtitle 18. Standards for Critical Area Commission approval of proposed amendments are as set forth in the Critical Area Law, Subtitle 18, § 8-1809(h) and (i). The Critical Area Commission process for approval of proposed amendments is as set forth in the Critical Area Law, Subtitle 18, § 8-1809(d).
C. 
When the County submits a request for review and approval of changes to any element of the County’s Critical Area Program including, but not limited to, the Zoning Ordinance, Subdivision Regulations or Critical Area Maps, the request for review shall include all relevant information necessary for the Chairman of the Critical Area Commission and, as appropriate, the Commission, to evaluate the proposed changes. The Chairman and, as appropriate, the Commission, shall determine if the request for program changes is consistent with the purposes, policies, goals and provisions of the Critical Area Law and all criteria of the Commission. In accordance with this determination of consistency, the Chairman or, as appropriate, the Commission shall:
[Added 8-2-2011 by Bill No. 2011-07]
(1) 
Approve the proposed program refinement or amendment and notify the County;
(2) 
Deny the proposed program refinement or amendment and notify the County;
(3) 
Approve the proposed refinement or amendment subject to one or more conditions; or
(4) 
Return the proposed program refinement or amendment to the County with a list of changes to be made.
A. 
The County Council may, from time to time, elect to amend the Critical Area District boundary to delete areas of the County from the Critical Area District when it can be demonstrated that the critical area, as mapped on the Official Critical Area District Maps, is incorrectly drawn. The amended Critical Area District boundary shall, at a minimum, encompass all areas as set forth in § 125-3 above. Evidence sufficient to warrant a determination of a mistakenly drawn critical area boundary line shall be based on, and substantiated by either:
(1) 
The Official State Wetland Maps;
(2) 
The amended Official State Wetland Maps adopted by the State of Maryland after a formal public hearing; or
[Amended 6-26-2001 by Bill No. 2001-11]
(3) 
The written concurrence by the State of Maryland that the Official State Wetland Map is incorrect.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: Former Subsection A(3), which required a survey by a registered land surveyor, was repealed 6-26-2001 by Bill No. 2001-11. Said bill also redesignated former Subsection A(4) as Subsection A(3).
B. 
The County Council may also elect to add areas to the Critical Area District at any time. Addition or deletion of areas from the Critical Area District shall be processed as amendments to the Critical Area District as per this article.
[Amended 6-26-2001 by Bill No. 2001-11]
The Wicomico County Council may exempt an area proposed for development from the Buffer provisions of this chapter only by program amendment, where it can be sufficiently demonstrated that the existing pattern of residential, industrial, commercial or recreational development in the critical area portion of the site prevents the Buffer from performing its function. All such amendments shall require a public hearing by the Planning Commission and the County Council and approval by the Critical Area Commission. In order to approve a Buffer exemption amendment, the County Council shall find and require, at a minimum, that other measures for achieving the habitat and water quality protection objectives of the adopted critical area criteria have been met.
A. 
Proposed amendments to the text provisions of the adopted program or this chapter may only be initiated by the Wicomico County Planning Commission or the Wicomico County Council.
B. 
All program amendments and any map amendments involving specific properties requested by the property owner shall be submitted to the Department of Planning, Zoning and Community Development.
C. 
For all proposed amendments, the Wicomico County Planning and Zoning Commission shall first hold a public hearing related thereto, at which parties of interest and citizens shall have an opportunity to be heard. At least 15 days' notice of the time and place of such hearing shall be published in a newspaper of general circulation in the County. For amendments involving only one specific property, the Wicomico County Planning and Zoning Commission shall post notice of its public hearing on property(ies) for which amendments are requested and, to the extent possible based on the best available information, notify all property owners immediately contiguous to the applicant of the hearing date, time and place. The Wicomico County Planning and Zoning Commission shall also furnish these property owners with a copy of said application.
D. 
The Wicomico County Planning and Zoning Commission shall then forward proposed amendments to the Wicomico County Council. The Council shall hold a public hearing on the amendments and, if approved, shall submit said amendment(s) to the Chesapeake Bay Critical Areas Commission.
E. 
After receiving the approval of the Critical Area Commission, the County Council may, in its discretion, hold a second public hearing on the ordinance enacting the proposed amendment, at which time parties in interest and citizens shall have an opportunity to be heard. Notice of the time and place of such public hearing shall be published in a newspaper of general circulation in the County once each week for two consecutive weeks.
[Amended 6-26-2001 by Bill No. 2001-11]
F. 
Requirements for amendments.
(1) 
Land use management classification. When proposing a change of land use management classification, i.e., intensely developed area (IDA), limited development area (LDA) or resource conservation area (RCA), other than by changing a land use management classification through granting of the growth allocation bonus density, the County Council shall not approve amendments unless it is found that there was a mistake in the original classification based on the application of the method for delineating land use management classifications contained in Section 1 of the Wicomico County Critical Area Program and that the amendment is approved by the Critical Area Commission. Changes to the land use management classification using growth allocation shall be as prescribed in Article V.