Use categories. This chapter classifies principal land uses into groupings. These major groupings are referred to as "use categories." The use categories are as follows:

Use subcategories. Each use category is further divided into more specific "subcategories." Use subcategories classify principal land uses and activities based on the common functional, product, or physical characteristics, such as the type and amount of activity, the type of customers or residents, how goods or services are sold or delivered, and site conditions.

Specific use types. Some use subcategories are further broken down to identify specific types of uses that are regulated in a different way than the subcategory as a whole. For example, the commercial category is broken down into several subcategories as the distinction between personal services compared to marine services is apparent when one considers the difference between the product and physical characteristics.

Determination of use categories and subcategories.

Determination of principal versus accessory use. The Zoning Inspector shall determine whether a proposed accessory use is subordinate to and customarily associated with a permitted primary use. Subordinate to the principal use means the accessory use is minor in relation. The Zoning Administrator will consider the following in making this determination:

Agriculture, animal production. The principal or accessory use of land for the keeping or raising of farm animals, including poultry, horses, cows, and swine.

Agriculture, crop production. The use of land for growing, raising, or marketing of plants to produce food, feed, or fiber commodities or nonfood crops. Examples of crop agriculture include cultivation and tillage of the soil and growing and harvesting of agricultural or horticultural commodities. Crop agriculture does not include community gardens or the raising or keeping of farm animals.

Agriculture, buildings, and structures. This category includes all buildings and structures associated with agriculture uses as opposed to the activities associated with crop or animal production, e.g., grain storage as a principal use.

Cannabis grower. Facilities licensed as cannabis growers by the State of Maryland through the Maryland Cannabis Administration.

Cannabis processor. Facilities licensed as cannabis processor facilities by the State of Maryland through the Maryland Cannabis Administration.

Commercial stables. Facilities for the housing of horses or other equines operated for remuneration. This category includes activities associated with the commercial hiring out of horses or ponies or instruction in riding as well as the care, breeding, boarding, rental, riding or training of equines and other farm animals or the teaching of equestrian skills.

Fisheries activities, aquaculture. Buildings, structures, and uses associated with the rearing of aquatic animals or the cultivation of aquatic plants for food.

Farm-to-table activities. This category includes temporary retail uses, including roadside produce stands and farmers markets.

Forestry. Activities related to harvesting, thinning, and other management practices associated with commercial timber harvesting.

Indoor plant cultivation. A building or structure and the associated premises used to grow plants under roof, which may include accessory storage and processing of plants grown on premises. Included in this category are greenhouses and hydroponic facilities.

Plant nursery. Buildings, structures, and uses associated with plant propagation, grown to usable size. This category includes retail nurseries that sell to the general public, wholesale nurseries that sell only to businesses such as other nurseries and commercial gardeners, and private nurseries that supply the needs of institutions or private estates.

Household living. "Household living" as used in the chapter means residential occupancy of a dwelling unit by a household for four months or more. Other forms of residential occupancy are considered lodging. The following are household living specific use types:

Group living. Residential occupancy of a building or any portion of a building by a group other than a household. Group living uses typically provide communal kitchen/dining facilities. Examples of group living uses include group homes, convents, monasteries, nursing homes, assisted living facilities, sheltered care facilities, retirement centers, homeless centers, shelters, and halfway houses. The group living subcategories are as follows:

Cemetery. Land or structures used for burial or permanent storage of the dead or their cremated remains. Typical uses include cemeteries and mausoleums. It also includes pet cemeteries.

College or university. Institutions of higher learning accredited by the Maryland Department of Education that offer courses of general or specialized study and are authorized to grant academic degrees.

Community center. A structure, including its surrounding premises that contains rooms or other facilities limited to use for purposes of meetings, gatherings or other functions or activities carried on or performed by or under the supervision of a unit of local government, a school district or a civic, educational, religious or charitable organization. The authorization for the establishment of a community center may include authorization for the incidental and accessory sale or resale of food, merchandise, or services in connection with and in support of the principal activity or function being carried on or performed by such unit of local government, school district or organization.

Fraternal organization. The use of a building or lot by a not-for-profit organization that restricts access to its facility to bona fide, annual dues-paying members, and their occasional guests and where the primary activity is a service not carried on as a business enterprise.

Governmental facility. Uses related to the administration of local, state, or federal government services or functions. Uses operated by a governmental or nonprofit volunteer entity and providing a public service, e.g., post office, fire station, emergency ambulance service, rescue squad, police station, courthouse, governmental office building, governmental storage facility, governmental garage.

Hospital. Uses providing medical, mental, or surgical care to patients and offering inpatient (overnight) care. Ancillary activities permitted include clinics, medical offices, administrative offices, laboratories, pharmacies, gift shops, teaching facilities, research facilities, rehabilitation facilities, treatment centers, employee day care, and similar uses.

Library. A building or structure used primarily for the housing of books or other literary material on premises for reading, study, reference, and/or lending. Collections of books, manuscripts, and similar materials for public lending, studying and reading.

Parks and recreation. Recreational, social, or multi-purpose uses associated with public parks and open spaces, including playgrounds, play fields, play courts, swimming pools, community centers, and other facilities typically associated with public parks and open space areas. It also includes public and private golf courses and country clubs.

Museum or cultural facility. Buildings and facilities owned and operated by a qualifying nonprofit institution under Internal Revenue Service provisions in which objects of historical, scientific, artistic, or cultural interest are stored and exhibited. Primary activities include the procurement, construction, collection, preservation, and public exhibition of antique, curious, unusual, rare, or typical objects of art, science, commerce, or natural history. Museums may conduct activities to educate or perpetuate interest concerning the subject matter of the objects being procured, constructed, collected, preserved, and exhibited in the museum. Museums also may conduct, host, or provide space for occasional unrelated activities or events as provided in their organizational documents with approval of the Zoning Inspector.

Religious assembly. Religious services involving public assembly that customarily occur in churches, synagogues, temples, mosques, and other facilities used for religious worship. The category includes buildings or structures primarily intended as a place for public worship and related activities such as religious education, meeting halls, and kitchens or places for personal worship or meditation operated by an entity that is qualified by the Internal Revenue Service as a nonprofit religious organization. This category includes buildings and all customary accessory uses or structures, including, but not limited to, a chapel, day-care center, gymnasium, social hall, and social services programs. Accessory use includes a monastery, rectory, or convent. The category does not include pre-schools, parochial schools, day-care facilities, major recreational facilities, vehicle or equipment storage yards, or other functions that are not a necessary or integral part of the religious institution.

Safety service. Facilities provided by the town, state, or federal government that provides fire, police, or life protection, together with the incidental storage and maintenance of necessary vehicles. Typical uses include fire stations and police stations.

School. Private and public schools at the primary, elementary, middle, or high school level that provide basic, compulsory state-mandated education.

Essential services. Infrastructure services that need to be located in or close to the area where the service is provided. Essential service facilities generally do not have regular employees at the site and typically have few, if any, impacts on surrounding areas. Typical uses include water and sewer pump stations, gas regulating stations; underground electric distribution substations; electric transformers; water conveyance systems; stormwater facilities and conveyance systems; telephone switching equipment, and emergency communication warning/broadcast facilities.

Public utilities. Uses or structures, except essential services, which provides to the public such services as water, sewerage, sewage treatment, electricity, piped gas, or telecommunications. Infrastructure services that typically have substantial visual or operational impacts on nearby areas. Typical uses include, but are not limited to, water and wastewater treatment facilities, high-voltage electric substations, utility-scale power generation facilities (including wind, solar, and other renewable and nonrenewable energy sources), sanitary landfills and utility-scale water storage facilities, such as water towers and reservoirs.

Alternative energy facilities, solar. An alternative energy system intended to convert solar energy into thermal, mechanical, or electrical energy accessory to a principal permitted use on the site. Small solar energy systems, community solar systems and large solar energy systems are specific types of alternative energy facilities.

Wireless telecommunications. Towers, antennas, equipment, equipment buildings, and other facilities used in the provision of wireless communication services. The following are specific types of wireless telecommunications uses:

Adult-oriented businesses. Uses regulated under Chapter 75, Adult-Oriented Businesses, of the Town Code, including the following:

Animal service. Uses that provide goods and services for the care of companion animals.

Assembly and entertainment. Principal uses providing gathering places for participant or spectator recreation, entertainment, or other assembly activities. Assembly and entertainment uses may provide incidental food or beverage service. Typical uses include arenas, billiard centers, video game arcades, auditoriums, bowling centers, cinemas, theaters, and conference centers.

Broadcast or recording studio. Uses that provide for audio or video production, recording, or broadcasting.

Cannabis dispensary. Facilities licensed as cannabis dispensaries by the State of Maryland through the Maryland Cannabis Administration.

Commercial service. Uses that provide for consumer or business services and the repair and maintenance of a wide variety of products.

Day care. Uses providing care, protection, and supervision for children or adults regularly away from their primary residence for less than 24 hours per day. Examples include state-licensed child-care centers, preschools, nursery schools, head start programs, after-school programs, and adult day-care facilities. Day care expressly includes state-accredited adult day-care facilities and facilities for childcare.

Eating and drinking establishments. The eating and drinking establishments use type refers to establishments or places of business primarily engaged in the sale of prepared foods and beverages for on- or off-premise consumption. Typical uses include restaurants, short order eating places or bars and cafés, restaurants, cafeterias, ice cream/yogurt shops, coffee shops, and similar establishments, which may include a bar area that is customarily incidental and subordinate to the principal use as an eating establishment.

Financial service. Uses related to the exchange, lending, borrowing, and safe-keeping of money. Typical examples are banks, credit unions, and consumer loan establishments.

Funeral and mortuary service. Uses that provide services related to the death of humans or companion animals, including funeral homes, mortuaries, crematoriums, and similar uses.

Lodging. Uses that provide temporary lodging for less than 30 days where rents are charged by the day or by the week. Lodging includes the following specific categories:

Office. Uses in an enclosed building, customarily performed in an office that focuses on providing executive, management, administrative, professional, or medical services. This category includes: business office uses for companies and nongovernmental organizations such as corporate office, law offices, architectural firms, insurance companies, and other executive, management or administrative offices for businesses and corporations; professional offices where services are provided that require specialized training or professional certification, including but not limited to, an accountant, appraiser, attorney, architect, landscape architect, engineer, surveyor, and stockbroker; and medical, dental and health practitioner office uses related to diagnosis and treatment of human patients' illnesses, injuries and physical maladies that can be performed in an office setting with no overnight care. Surgical, rehabilitation, and other medical centers that do not involve overnight patient stays are included in this category, as are medical and dental laboratories.

Parking, non-accessory. Parking that is not provided to comply with minimum off-street parking requirements and that is not provided exclusively to serve occupants of or visitors to a particular use but instead is available to the public-at-large. Examples include commercial parking garages. A parking facility that provides both accessory and non-accessory parking will be classified as non-accessory parking if it leases 25% or more of its spaces to non-occupants of or persons other than visitors to a particular use.

Retail sales. Uses involving the sale, lease, or rental of new or used goods to the ultimate consumer within an enclosed structure, unless otherwise specified. The retail category includes sales of convenience goods, including 1) sundry goods; 2) products for personal grooming and for the day-to-day maintenance of personal health or 3) food or beverages for off-premise consumption, including grocery stores and similar uses that provide incidental and accessory food and beverage service as part of their primary retail sales business. Typical uses include drugstores, grocery, and specialty food stores, wine or liquor stores, gift shops, newsstands, and florists. This category also includes consumer shopping goods such as uses that sell or otherwise provide wearing apparel, fashion accessories, furniture, household appliances, and similar consumer goods, large and small, functional and decorative, for use, entertainment, comfort or aesthetics. Typical uses include clothing stores, department stores, appliance stores, TV, computer hardware and electronics stores, bike shops, bookstores, costume rental stores, uniform supply stores, stationery stores, art galleries, hobby shops, furniture stores, pet stores, and pet supply stores, shoe stores, cigar stores, copy shops, travel agencies, dry cleaning, beauty and barber shops, craft shops, bakery, antique shops, secondhand stores, record stores, toy stores, sporting goods stores, variety stores, video stores, musical instrument stores, office supplies and office furnishing stores and wig shops and other consumer shopping uses of the same general character.

Self-service storage facility (e.g., mini-storage). An enclosed use that provides separate, small-scale, self-service storage facilities leased or rented to individuals or small businesses. Facilities are designated to accommodate only interior access to storage lockers or drive-up access.

Studio, instructional or service. Uses in an enclosed building that focus on providing instruction or training in music, dance, drama, fine arts, language, or similar activities. It also includes artist studios and photography studios. See also "personal improvement service" in the commercial services use category.

Trade school. Uses in an enclosed building that focus on teaching the skills needed to perform a job. Examples include schools of cosmetology, modeling academies, computer training facilities, vocational schools, administrative business training facilities, and similar uses.

Motorized vehicle sales and service. Uses that provide for the sale, rental, maintenance, or repair of new or used vehicles and vehicular equipment. The vehicle sales and service subcategory include the following specific use types:

Equipment and materials storage, outdoor. Uses related to outdoor storage of equipment, products, or materials, whether or not stored in containers.

Trucking and transportation terminal. Uses engaged in the dispatching and long-term or short-term storage of trucks, buses, and other vehicles, including parcel service delivery vehicles, taxis, and limousines. Minor repair and maintenance of vehicles stored on the premises are also included. Includes uses engaged in the moving of household or office furniture, appliances, and equipment from one location to another, including the temporary on-site storage of those items.

Warehouse. Uses conducted within a completely enclosed building that are engaged in long-term and short-term storage of goods and that do not meet the definition of a "self-service storage facility" or a "trucking and transportation terminal."

Wholesale sales and distribution. Uses engaged in wholesale sales, bulk storage, and distribution of goods. Such uses may also include incidental retail sales and wholesale showrooms.

Micro-producers. Limited on-site production of wine, beer, or distilled spirits permitted or licensed by the State and the Federal Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB). Depending on the product produced and the specific permit and license held, the facility may be allowed limited sales for on-premise consumption, sell products to go and sell to a wholesaler for resale to restaurants and retailers. Uses accessory to on-site production such as tasting rooms for the consumption of beer, wine, or distilled products may be permitted on the premises if allowed by state license and in conjunction with the principal on-site production use.

Artisan industrial. On-site production of goods by hand manufacturing, involving the use of hand tools and small-scale, light mechanical equipment in a completely enclosed building with no outdoor operations or storage. Typical uses include woodworking and cabinet shops, ceramic studios, jewelry manufacturing, and similar types of arts and crafts or very small-scale manufacturing uses that have no negative external impacts on surrounding properties. The subcategory includes limited retail sales.

Limited industrial. Manufacturing and industrial uses that process, fabricate, assemble, treat or package finished parts or products without the use of explosive or petroleum materials. Uses in this subcategory do not involve the assembly of large equipment and machinery. They have minimal external impacts in terms of noise, vibration, odor, hours of operation, and truck and commercial vehicle traffic.

Intensive industrial. Manufacturing and industrial uses that regularly use hazardous chemicals or procedures or produce hazardous by-products, including the following: manufacturing of acetylene, cement, lime, gypsum or plaster-of-Paris, chlorine, corrosive acid or fertilizer, insecticides, disinfectants, poisons, explosives, paint, lacquer, varnish, petroleum products, coal products, plastic and synthetic resins, and radioactive materials. This subcategory also includes petrochemical tank farms, gasification plants, smelting, asphalt, and concrete plants and tanneries. Intensive industrial uses have a high potential for external impacts on the surrounding area in terms of noise, vibration, odor, hours of operation, and truck/commercial vehicle traffic. The subcategory includes limited retail sales.

Junk or salvage yard. An area or building where waste or scrap materials are bought, sold, exchanged, stored, baled, packed, disassembled or handled for reclamation, disposal or other like purposes, including, but not limited to, scrap iron and other metals, paper, rags, rubber tires, and bottles. Use may include demolition, dismantling, storage, salvaging, or sale of automobiles or other vehicles not in running condition, or machinery, or parts thereof.

Recycling uses. This industrial subcategory includes uses that collect, store, or recyclable process material for marketing or reusing the material in the manufacturing of new, reused, or reconstituted products.

Drive-in or drive-through facility. Any use with drive-through windows or drive-through lanes or that otherwise offer service to the occupants of motor vehicles. Typical uses include drive-through restaurants, drive-through banks, and drive-through pharmacies.

Temporary uses. The use of a building or premises for a purpose that does not conform to the regulations prescribed by this chapter and does not involve the erection of substantial buildings and is permitted for a defined period.

Every structure hereafter erected, reconstructed, converted, moved, or structurally altered shall be located on a lot of record and in no case shall there be more than one principal structure on a lot unless as provided in Subsection B below.

More than one principal structure may be located upon a lot in the following instances subject to the lot, yard and density requirements and other provisions of this chapter:

Public streets.

Access driveways to an individual detached single-family dwelling not located in the Chesapeake Bay Critical Area.

Essential services and public utilities.