Caroline County planning staff report: county adopts property maintenance code; commission raises solar screening concerns

Planning staff briefed the Caroline County Planning Commission on recent department activity, including hosting the Maryland Department of Planning’s Upper Shore regional roundtable and an update on local solar projects and county code changes.

Commission member (speaker 6) said Caroline County hosted the MDP roundtable on May 19 and led a walking tour in Denton; staff reported strong turnout and positive feedback for local sites such as the fiber arts center and the culinary center.

Staff also described rising activity on community-scale solar projects and said several are progressing through state review and local site-plan steps. Commissioners discussed complaints about a recent solar project that appeared wooded in aerial imagery but lacked visible on-the-ground screening; staff said that discrepancy has prompted consideration of ordinance changes to require earlier planting of screening or landscaping "before you break ground."

Staff reported that the Caroline County Commissioners adopted a property maintenance code yesterday to address accumulation of rubbish and garbage. The code is complaint-driven; staff said a first notice gives property owners 10 days to abate, and a repeat offense within three years carries a 72-hour compliance window before civil citation (with citation penalties increased for second offenses). The county code enforcement provisions are scheduled to take effect July 25.

Commissioners emphasized enforcement will be complaint-driven rather than based on county-initiated road patrols; staff said the code language removes yard trimmings from the definition of rubbish and borrows definitions from the International Property Maintenance Code. Planning staff said they will consider ordinance edits to require earlier screening planting for solar projects and will work with the county attorney on enforcement timing and permit sequencing.