Greenbelt staff advance city code recodification with Municode; zoning updates require county approval

Greenbelt officials on Monday briefed council on an ongoing recodification of the city code with Municode, the outside publisher, and outlined edits required to bring building, erosion control and other sections into compliance with current county and state standards. Staff said zoning changes will need separate county council approval before finalizing the city code.

City Clerk Bonita Anderson said the city engaged Municode in June 2024 and provided ordinances through May 2023; she told council the vendor incorporated those ordinances into a proof and the city has since transmitted additional ordinances through April 2025. Anderson said Municode’s work is searchable and will be published digitally once council adopts the final code.

Why it matters

A current code on the city website reflects older compilations (2012 and prior). Recodification updates obsolete references, standardizes cross references and lets the city publish a single, searchable online code. Council and staff emphasized that some edits are editorial or compliance changes (for example, replacing obsolete references to older construction standards with the International Building Code) while other items — chiefly zoning — require county review and cannot be adopted by the city alone.

Key points and timeline

- Scope and proofing: Municode produced a proof of the recodified code after the city supplied ordinances. Staff are reviewing the proof; the proof includes editorial notes indicating where municipal language must be updated to reflect state or county codes.

- Chapters flagged for compliance edits: Staff said current chapters that need revision are the city’s “building/property maintenance” rules and erosion and sediment control (legacy Chapter 4 and Chapter 14 in the existing code numbering), plus the zoning ordinance (legacy Chapter 20). The zoning update will need review and approval by Prince George’s County council before the city can adopt the recodified zoning text.

- Charter language: Staff noted gendered and other charter language would need separate charter‑amendment proceedings; those changes cannot be incorporated into the city code adoption without following charter amendment steps.

- Timeline and costs: Municode and city staff said the overall project was planned as an 18‑month effort; staff said they are about 11 months into that timeline and expect to complete remaining edits and publish within the next several months if county review proceeds on the zoning pieces. The city clerk reported an initial contract amount of about $14,000 for the vendor’s work on the proof; additional page edits incur per‑page costs as staff add or modify content.

Public access and review process

Staff offered to publish the recodification proof and provide a single collaborative review document so council and residents can mark editorial or substantive comments. Municode’s searchable platform will provide section histories indicating the ordinance and adoption date for each change; staff said older hardcopy code books (1971, 1984 and 2012) exist in municipal archives and could be scanned for historical reference.

Council questions and next steps

Council requested a single cloud‑accessible document for editorial comments and asked staff to flag substantive items that would require formal council discussion (as opposed to editorial or compliance edits). Staff said they will incorporate council and department comments, submit the zoning chapter to the county for its required approval, and return with an updated proof and a recommended schedule for final adoption once county actions and any remaining edits are complete.

Ending

City staff recommended taking the time to make the necessary compliance edits now rather than using multiple supplemental updates later. They also committed to ensuring the published code is searchable and 508‑accessible, and to reissuing printed copies if any errors are found after publication.