Pole barns and barndominiums in Talbot County, Maryland.

Outside Easton, St. Michaels, Trappe, Oxford and Queen Anne, permits come from the Talbot County Department of Permits and Inspections, 215 Bay Street, Suite 3, Easton, 410-770-6840, open weekdays 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Applications are filed on the county’s OpenGov portal, and uploaded plans must also be delivered in hard copy. Zoning, Critical Area and floodplain review sit with the separate Department of Planning and Zoning in Suite 2, 410-770-8030. Before a permit issues, the building official collects sign-offs from Planning and Zoning, the State Fire Marshal, Environmental Health, Soil Conservation, Public Works and MDE.

A detached garage, carport or other non-farm building goes through the Building Permit with Trades, a full building permit, while a one-story storage shed of 300 sq ft or less needs only a zoning certificate through the Shed Permit. An accessory building generally needs a house or principal use on the lot first; otherwise it takes a Board of Appeals special exception or, while the house is being built, a temporary-use certificate. Work must start within 9 months and finish within 18, with up to two 120-day extensions. The county’s code supplement lists a 30 psf ground snow load and a 24-inch frost depth.

Farm buildings are exempt from the county building permit but need a zoning certificate before construction, and they remain subject to IBC Appendix C for agricultural buildings. The county’s Agricultural Structure Permit covers buildings that are strictly agricultural; one mixed with a home or a business takes the regular permit. The county’s guide calls for a stakeout inspection before the certificate issues and a final inspection at the end. Stables and dairy barns need 100 feet from property lines, poultry and hog houses and manure structures 200 feet, and farm buildings can reach 40 feet. Farm buildings over 6,000 sq ft within 500 feet of a town boundary need site plan approval.

Talbot’s Critical Area program dates to August 13, 1989. In the Resource Conservation and Limited Development areas, lot coverage is capped at 15%, and no new structures, sheds and garages included, go in the Shoreline Development Buffer, which runs at least 100 feet from tidal water and widens on steep slopes and sensitive soils. A building outside the Buffer on a lot that includes it triggers Buffer planting equal to the added coverage. In a flood zone, new buildings sit at least 2 feet above base flood elevation or at 7.0 feet NAVD, whichever is higher, and a garage of 300 sq ft or more left below base flood needs a variance and a recorded nonconversion agreement.