Comprehensive Rezoning

The City of Hagerstown adopted a new Comprehensive Plan in April 2008. That plan provides direction for the growth and development of Hagerstown for the next 20 years. One of the major initiatives of the Comprehensive Plan is the future land use map. This map makes recommendations on how the City should develop in terms of land use types and makes many recommendations for a change to the zoning in various areas of the City. The Plan also makes recommendations on the creation of some new zoning districts and the modification of some of the City's existing zoning districts.

The City recently completed a comprehensive rezoning process - the first since 1977 for the City. This process involved analyzing the entire city with an eye towards implementing the Future Land Use Map in the Comprehensive Plan and also to "clean up" some areas around the City which need zoning line adjustments to reflect current conditions and realities of land use occupation. The City staff and Planning Commission divided the City into multiple phases for this process in order to make the review a more manageable endeavor.

This four phase process concluded on Nov. 25, 2010. Phase One also involved creation of three new mixed-use zoning districts: Downtown Mixed-Use (D-MU), Neighborhood Mixed-Use (N-MU), and Industrial Mixed-Use (I-MU). The D-MU district replaced the existing C3 zoning district.

Please direct any questions to the Planning Office at (301) 739-8577, ext. 138 or at planning@hagerstownmd.org.

Land Management Code Text Amendments

Land Management Code
On September 26, 2008, amendments became effective to combine all of the City’s development review ordinances into one unified ordinance called the Land Management Code, Chapter 140 of the City Code. The LMC includes zoning, subdivision and land development, flood management, and forest conservation.

New Mixed-Use Districts
On June 26, 2009, amendments became effective to create three new mixed-use zoning districts: Downtown Mixed-Use (to replace the C3 zoning district), Neighborhood Mixed-Use, and Industrial Mixed-Use.

Revisions to Commercial Districts
On November 26, 2009, amendments became effective to create comprehensive revisions to the commercial districts section of the Zoning article.

New Overlay District
On January 21, 2010, amendments became effective to create a new overlay zoning district called the Local Conversion District. This overlay allows for small commercial operations in the residential districts in buildings of a certain size that were constructed prior to October 1, 1956 for a non-residential purpose.

Home Occupations
On February 25, 2010, amendments became effective to allow “home workstations” as an accessory use to all residential properties. The “home occupations” language was struck from the ordinance.

Residential Care Facilities
On June 22, 2010, the Mayor and City Council adopted amendments to un-bundle “hospitals and nursing and residential care facilities” and to provide for locational and capacity restrictions for “residential care facilities.”