(a) Location. The Office of Planning and Zoning designates the location of a pier or mooring piling based on its impact on the use and enjoyment of adjacent waterfront lots.
(b) Setbacks. A pier or mooring piling shall be located at least 15 feet from a lot line extended for a private pier or at least 25 feet from a lot line extended for all other piers. The Office of Planning and Zoning determines the method of the lot line extension in accordance with one or more of the following methods:
(1) from the side lot line at a 90-degree angle to the shoreline;
(2) from the extension of the last course of the lot line into the water;
(3) from the side lot lines to the center of cove; or
(4) from the side lot lines generally parallel with existing piers located on adjacent lots.
(c) Length. A pier or mooring piling may not extend into the water any further than the lesser of the following:
(1) one-half the distance from the mean high-water line to the center line of the body of water on which it is situated;
(2) one-half the distance from the mean high-water line to the center point of a cove; or
(3) 300 feet from the waterfront at mean high tide.
(d) Joint use of private pier. By agreement recorded among the land records, two contiguous waterfront property owners may agree to share the use of a private pier located on one of their waterfront lots or located as extending from the common lot line or from a line extending from the common lot line over land owned by a homeowner's association.
(e) Restrictions on mooring or docking. No person may use a private pier or mooring piling for the mooring or docking of watercraft other than the owner or occupant of the lot from which the pier extends, the owners or occupants with a right to use the pier by virtue of an agreement allowed by this article and recorded among the land records, or guests who are visiting those owners or occupants for no more than 30 days in a six-month period. No more than four watercraft exceeding 16 feet in length may be moored or docked at a private pier or mooring piling. Watercraft exceeding 150 feet in length or 35 feet in width may not be moored or docked at a private pier or mooring piling for more than seven days in any 30-day period unless the pier or mooring piling is on the Patapsco River or the Chesapeake Bay.
(Bill No. 4-05; Bill No. 78-05)