Pole barns and barndominiums in Queen Anne's County, Maryland.

Outside the incorporated towns, permits come from the county’s Permitting/Zoning office: the Zoning & Permits Division of the Queen Anne’s County Department of Planning & Zoning, 110 Vincit Street, Suite 104, Centreville, MD 21617, (410) 758-4088. Applications can be filed through the county’s online portal or by email, and the office is open weekdays from 8:00 am to 3:30 pm. A garage or pole building needs four plot plans showing property lines, roads, driveways, well, septic and existing and proposed structures, plus two sets of building plans with the floor plan, footer and foundation plans, cross sections and elevations.

Accessory buildings under 200 square feet outside the 100-year floodplain need only a zoning certificate. Larger ones need a building permit, charged at $0.08 per square foot for garages and accessory structures under the February 2026 schedule, with a $90 minimum; a zoning certificate is $55. Middle Department Inspection Agency inspects the footing, foundation, framing, insulation and final stages, and electrical and plumbing work needs separate permits with county-licensed trades. Permits are good for six months, and the county’s code amendments call for footings below a 24-inch frost line on buildings of 200 square feet or more, or 10 feet or taller, which we confirm against the current code.

Farm buildings are exempt from the county building code and from the building permit. The code defines a farm building as one that stores farm implements, hay, feed, grain or other farm products, or houses poultry or livestock, with no habitable space, no processing or packaging space and no public use. The exemption stops at zoning: each farm building needs its own $55 Zoning Certificate, the county may ask for a current Farm Plan, and electrical or plumbing work still needs its permits. A county example from August 2025 shows a 120 by 80 foot equipment and hay building in the AG zone issued on a Zoning Certificate.

Inside the Chesapeake Bay Critical Area, all land within 1,000 feet of tidal water and tidal wetlands, county Planning & Zoning reviews lot coverage, capped at 15 percent in Limited Development and Resource Conservation Areas, and new buildings generally stay out of the 100-foot buffer. Farms in the Critical Area need a soil conservation and water quality plan. In the floodplain, buildings go at least 2 feet above base flood elevation or to 7.0 feet NAVD, whichever is higher, accessory buildings in A zones are limited to 600 square feet, and Public Works needs an Elevation Certificate before the framing inspection.