Pole barns and barndominiums in Wicomico County, Maryland.

In unincorporated Wicomico County, building permits come from the Permits & Inspections office of the Wicomico County Department of Planning, Zoning & Community Development, Room 201, Government Office Building, 125 N. Division Street, Salisbury, MD 21801 (410-548-4810). It handles residential and commercial permits, pole buildings, additions, electrical, plumbing and floodplain permits. Applications can be submitted by email and fees paid online, and no separate online portal is listed. Zoning approval is built into the same process: no structure may be built, moved or added to without a zoning authorization.

A permanent pole building, barn or detached garage needs a building permit whatever its size; the only accessory exemption is a portable, one-level structure of 250 square feet or less outside a floodplain. The county’s Application for Residential Building Plan Review lists Pole Building, Shed and Garage as project types and asks for two complete sets of drawings: site plan, foundation, floor and framing plans with member sizes and spans, cross sections, front, rear and side elevations, and insulation and window values that meet the 2021 IECC. The pole building checklist adds septic reserve areas and the well location to the site plan.

Wicomico does not exempt farm buildings from permits, only from fees. Under the county’s building code amendments, farm accessory buildings that are necessary to operate a farm, used for agricultural purposes and classed as Group U “require a building permit and all inspections,” but farm buildings and farm accessory buildings are exempt from the county’s permit fees. Zoning still applies, though farm buildings and silos are exempt from district height limits. We found no separate agricultural affidavit or form on the county website, and the application carries an Ag Preservation sign-off for preserved farmland.

Land within 1,000 feet of tidal waters is in the Chesapeake Bay Critical Area (Chapter 125), and Critical Area review is a sign-off on the county permit. The Buffer runs at least 100 feet from tidal waters and tidal wetlands, and state rules keep new structures out of it. The county has been working on an updated Critical Area map, so we confirm waterfront parcels with county Planning staff (410-548-4860). In a mapped floodplain, a county floodplain permit comes with the building permit, the flood protection elevation is the base flood elevation plus 2 feet, and in A zones an accessory structure that is not raised or floodproofed is limited to 300 square feet and to parking or limited storage.