This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the "St. Michaels
Zoning Ordinance."
This chapter is enacted under the authority granted by the General
Assembly of Maryland, as provided in the Land Use Article, Annotated
Code of Maryland, as amended.
This chapter has been prepared in accordance with the St. Michaels
Comprehensive Plan. It is designed to control congestion in the streets;
to secure the public safety; to promote health and the general welfare;
to provide adequate light and air; to promote the conservation of
natural resources; to prevent environmental pollution; to avoid undue
concentration of population; and to facilitate the adequate provision
of transportation, water, sewerage, schools, recreation, parks, and
other public requirements. Such regulations shall be made with reasonable
consideration, among other things, to the character of the district
and its suitability for uses and to conserve the value of buildings
and encourage the orderly development and the most appropriate use
of land throughout the jurisdiction.
It is hereby declared to be the intention of the Town Commissioners
that the sections, paragraphs, sentences, clauses, and phrases of
this chapter are severable. If any such section, paragraph, sentence,
clause, or phrase is declared unconstitutional or otherwise invalid
by any court of competent jurisdiction in a valid judgment or decree,
such unconstitutionality or invalidity shall not affect any of the
remaining sections, paragraphs, sentences, clauses, or phrases of
this zoning chapter since the same would have been enacted without
the incorporation into this zoning chapter of such unconstitutional
or invalid sections, paragraphs, sentences, clauses, or phrases.
Official Critical Area Overlay District Maps shall be prepared
and maintained in force as part of the Official Zoning Maps of the
Town. They shall delineate the extent of the Critical Area Overlay
District that shall correspond to the Chesapeake Bay Critical Area.
A. The Official Critical Area Overlay District Map is maintained as
part of the Official Zoning Map for The Town. The Official Critical
Area Map delineates the extent of the Critical Area Overlay District
that shall include:
(1) All waters of and lands under the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries
to the head of tide as indicated on the state wetland maps, and all
state and private wetlands designated under Title 16 of the Environment
Article of the Annotated Code of Maryland; and
(2) All land and water areas within 1,000 feet beyond the landward boundaries
of state or private wetlands and the heads of tides designated under
Title 16 of the Environment Article of the Annotated Code of Maryland.
B. Within the designated Critical Area Overlay District, all land shall
be assigned one of the following land management and development area
classifications:
(1) Intensely developed area (IDA).
(2) Limited development area (LDA).
(3) Resource conservation area (RCA).
C. The Critical Area Overlay District Map may be amended by the Town
Commissioners in compliance with amendment provisions in this chapter,
the Critical Area Law, and the Critical Area Regulations.
D. The Critical Area Overlay District supplements other land use regulations
by imposing specific standards and requirements as set forth in the
Critical Area Law and the Critical Area Regulations.
E. Notwithstanding any provisions in this chapter or the lack of a provision
in this chapter, all the requirements of the Critical Area Regulations
shall apply as minimum standards. Where any standard of this chapter
is less restrictive than any comparable standard imposed by the Critical
Area Law or Critical Area Regulations, the standard which is more restrictive, or which imposes
a higher standard or requirement, shall control.
Where uncertainty exists as to the boundaries of zoning district
as shown on the Official Zoning Map, the following rules shall apply:
A. Boundaries indicated as approximately following the center lines
of streets, highways, or alleys shall be construed to follow such
center lines.
B. Boundaries indicated as approximately following platted lot lines
shall be construed as following such lot lines.
C. Boundaries indicated as approximately following Town limits shall
be construed as following Town limits.
D. Boundaries indicated as following railroad lines or former railroad
lines shall be construed as following the center line of the existing
or former right-of-way.
E. Boundaries, as indicated as following shorelines, shall be construed
to follow such shorelines, and in the event of a change in the shoreline
shall be construed as moving with the actual shoreline; boundaries
indicated as approximately following the center lines of streams,
rivers, canals, lakes, or other bodies of water shall be construed
to follow such center lines.
F. Boundaries indicated as parallel to or extensions of features indicated in Subsections
A through
E above shall be so construed. Distances not specifically indicated on the Official Zoning Map shall be determined by the scale of the map.
G. Where a lot is divided by one or more zoning district boundary lines:
(1) For a lot of one acre or less in total area and where at least 50%
of the lot area lies within a single zoning district, the owner may
apply for and receive a zoning certificate to use the entire lot for
a use permitted in the zoning district which covers at least 50% of
the lot area. This subsection, and any zoning action or use of property
pursuant hereto it shall not constitute a rezoning, evidence of mistake
or change in the character of the neighborhood. This provision shall
not apply to any lot created or reconfigured after the date of the
enactment of this provision.
(2) For all other lots of record divided by one or more zoning district
boundary lines, each of said divisions of the lot shall be subject
to the regulations of the zoning district in which it is located,
but, in any event, the entire lot shall contain only one principal
use except as may otherwise be permitted by this chapter. This subsection,
any zoning action or use of property pursuant thereto, shall not constitute
a rezoning or evidence of mistake or change in the character of the
neighborhood.
H. Where physical or cultural features existing on the ground are at variance with those shown on the Official Zoning Map, or in other circumstances not covered by Subsections
A through
G above, the Board of Zoning Appeals shall interpret the zoning district boundaries as provided in §
340-134.