Pole barns and barndominiums in St. Michaels, Maryland.
Building in St. Michaels.
A long, narrow neck of land along the Miles River holds St. Michaels, and MD 33, which runs through town as Talbot Street, is the only state highway serving it. The harbor waterfront, the inns and the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum make it a tourist destination, and both the St. Michaels Historic District and Saint Michaels Mill are on the National Register. Building here means working with the historic district and, near the water, the Critical Area.
St. Michaels is a 90-minute drive from our Dover office, about 57 miles, so we make each trip count. We draw the to-scale plans and site plans the town asks for, take care of the historic review and the permit, and our crew builds once the construction card is in hand. Final payment comes after the final inspection.
- County
- Talbot County, Maryland
- Population
- 1,049 (2020 Census)
- ZIP code
- 21663
- From our office
- About 1 hr 30 min (57 miles) by car
- Permits
- Town of St. Michaels Office of Planning and Zoning
- Main roads
- MD 33 (Talbot Street), Mulberry Street, Mill Street
Permits and rules in St. Michaels.
If the property is in the historic district, Historic District Commission approval comes first, and the town says it must be obtained before you apply for a building permit. The district dates to 1972, and the commission reviews most exterior design changes, additions, new construction and demolition. Then the application goes to the clerk at the Town of St. Michaels Office of Planning and Zoning, 201 Boundary Lane, 410-745-9535, with the fees, two to-scale paper sets of building plans, stamped when applicable, two to-scale site plans and PDFs by email.
Inside the Critical Area, add the impervious-area and disturbance worksheet. Middle Department Inspection Agency does all plan review and inspections for the town, since St. Michaels conducts no building inspections itself, and the clerk calls when the permit and construction card are ready. The 2026 application packet lists a $45 permit fee plus $90 in building and inspection fees for work up to $49,999, or $9.00 per $1,000 of cost at $50,000 and up.
Who issues the permit
Town of St. Michaels Office of Planning and Zoning
- Address
- 201 Boundary Lane (P.O. Box 206), St. Michaels, MD 21663
- Phone
- 410-745-9535
- Website
- Permit information(opens in a new tab)
Where this comes from
- stmichaelsmd.gov (opens in a new tab)
- stmichaelsmd.gov (opens in a new tab)
- stmichaelsmd.gov (opens in a new tab)
- mdgeodata.md.gov (opens in a new tab)
Permit details checked October 2026. Rules change, so we confirm the current requirements for your parcel before anything is drawn.
What people build around St. Michaels.
In residential districts, sheds, detached garages and other detached accessory structures need 3-foot side yards and 5-foot rear yards, and a lot with a rear alley needs no rear setback. Lot coverage counts too: in R-1, structures can cover 35% of a lot of 6,000 sq ft or more and 40% of a smaller one, with impervious limits of 55% and 60%. On those lots, a compact garage, small pole barn or storage building is usually the right size.
St. Michaels questions.
Have a question about your property? Call 302-399-4420 and we’ll look it up.
Does a garage in St. Michaels need historic review?
If the property is in the St. Michaels Historic District, yes. The Historic District Commission reviews most exterior changes, additions and new construction, and its approval has to come before the building permit application. We design with that review in mind from the first drawing.
Is St. Michaels in the Critical Area or a flood zone?
Some of the town lies in the Chesapeake Bay Critical Area, and some in FEMA Zone AE. Inside the Critical Area, the permit needs the town’s impervious-area and disturbance worksheet. We check your parcel’s mapping before design, since it can change what fits on the lot.
Will you build as far out as St. Michaels?
Yes. It’s about 90 minutes, roughly 57 miles, from our office at 575 N Dupont Hwy in Dover, well within our service area, and MDIA’s inspection calls go through us as the build moves along.
Let’s plan your building in St. Michaels.
Tell us what you’d like to build and where, and we’ll come back with drawings and a free quote.
- info@pbuincde.com
- Office
- 575 N Dupont Hwy, Dover, DE 19901 (opens Google Maps in a new tab)
- Hours
- Mon to Fri, 8:00 am to 4:30 pm
- We build in
- St. Michaels and all of Talbot County