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Baltimore County’s Comprehensive Zoning Map Process (“CZMP”) starts August 2023.
The County redraws its zoning maps every four years through the CZMP. This is done by the Baltimore County Council, in conjunction with the Planning Board, and the Department of Planning. The process lasts a full year, ending with the County Council’s vote on the new zoning maps in September 2024.
Furthermore, any citizen may request a zoning change on any property in the County. Unless a change is proposed during the CZMP, the existing zoning stays in place. The County Council decides for each request whether to retain the existing zoning or enact new zoning. The decisions can affect a single property or may cover large tracts of land. The CZMP zoning decisions are reflected in the new zoning map.
The timeline for the process is as follows:
August 14-30 – Public Online Pre-Filing
September 1 – October 13, 2023 – Public Filing and Mapping
December 2023 – February 2024 – Agency and Planning Department Review
February 1-28, 2024 – Planning Board Public Hearings
April 2024 – Planning Board Work Sessions
June 2024 – County Council Public Hearings
July 1 – September 2024 – County Council Review
September 16, 2024 – County Council Vote on all rezoning issues
The process:
First, the public can file an online application to for a CZMP rezoning request through the Department of Planning’s online portal. The Department of Planning will schedule an appointment to map all requests. All rezoning requests will be reviewed by the relevant Baltimore County agencies as well as the Department of Planning. The agencies include: Department of Economic and Workforce Development, Department of Environmental Protection and Sustainability, Department of Public Works, and Department of Recreation and Parks.
Next, property owners seeking a rezoning must post a sign on their property, in compliance with County requirements. In addition, Baltimore County will send a notification letter to each property owner impacted by, or adjacent to, a zoning request.
Soon thereafter, The Planning Board will hold a series of public hearings on the rezoning requests, one in each district beginning in February 2024. After these hearings, the Planning Board conducts work sessions to discuss the zoning requests. The Planning Board will make recommendations on each rezoning request to the County Council. In June 2024 the County Council will also hold hearings to address all zoning requests. The public can request to provide testimony on any of the zoning requests at the hearings.
Lastly, the County Council will review each zoning request, based on recommendations from the Department of Planning and any public testimony at the hearings. After the County Council’s vote to adopt the zoning requests, the County will create the new zoning layer map.
