Caroline County planning commission forwards zoning text amendment on civil penalties, vehicle and junkyard rules

The Caroline County Planning Commission voted May 20 to forward text amendment 02-2025 to the Board of Supervisors with a recommendation of approval. The amendment would add civil-penalty provisions and revise multiple zoning ordinance definitions and enforcement sections affecting inoperable vehicles, junkyards, uncontrolled growth and certificates of occupancy.

The change was proposed by county planning staff as a companion to earlier amendments to Article 20 and is intended to give the county additional enforcement tools for repeat violators, county Zoning Administrator Brad Robinson said. "The Planning Commission should recall that at your meeting last month, a public hearing was held for proposed amendments to Article 20 of the zoning ordinance that would add provisions for civil penalties and amend the existing provisions that we have in the ordinance for criminal penalties," Robinson said.

Robinson told commissioners the package before them amends Articles 2, 15 and 17 of the zoning ordinance and will be sent, together with Chapter 77 (property maintenance provisions), to the Board of Supervisors so the county can adopt the changes concurrently. Article 2 updates or adds…