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Board grants variance for Wood family pier on St. Jerome’s Creek
Summary
The Board of Appeals approved a variance allowing the Wood family to build a 140‑ft pier and mooring piles that encroach into shared lateral setbacks to reach usable water depth.
The St. Mary’s County Board of Appeals on Nov. 8 granted a variance allowing David and Anne Wood to construct a 140‑foot pier with mooring piles on St. Jerome’s Creek, finding a practical difficulty tied to the property’s cove‑shaped shoreline and limited fast‑land width.
David Wood told the board the cove’s shallow mud flat requires a pier extending to about 40 feet beyond the shoreline to reach about 3 feet of depth at mean low tide. “We’re just looking for 3 feet mean low,” Wood said, adding that the proposed pier would align with a neighbor’s pier so neither structure extends past the other.
Staff briefed the board on the lateral‑line analysis that showed the Woods could not reach usable water depth without encroaching on the lateral‑line setbacks shared with adjoining properties. The Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) had already authorized the proposed pier and mooring piles, staff said, and staff advised that a practical difficulty existed because of the shoreline geometry.
The board accepted staff’s finding of practical difficulty and voted to approve the variance request. Staff will prepare the board’s order for signature and mail a copy to the applicant; the order will be subject to the standard 30‑day appeal window following the signature date.
The board noted that adjoining property owners retain the option to sign mutual agreements with one another to allow encroachments into each other’s lateral setbacks for piers and that such agreements can be executed without coming before the board.
