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<section article="glu" article_name="Land Use" number="20-513" title_number="20" title_name="Maryland-Washington Regional District" subtitle_number="5" subtitle_name="Building Codes and Permits">
  <level label="a">
    <level label="1">
      <level label="i">
        <text>The County Council may provide for the issuance of permits for the construction, repair, or remodeling of buildings.</text>
      </level>
      <level label="ii">
        <text>A person may not construct, repair, or remodel a building without obtaining a permit and paying a fee established by the County Council.</text>
      </level>
    </level>
    <level label="2">
      <text>The County Council shall:</text>
      <level label="i">
        <text>regulate uniformly the construction, improvement, and demolition of buildings;</text>
      </level>
      <level label="ii">
        <text>regulate the size of bricks and thickness of walls that are used in houses to be built;</text>
      </level>
      <level label="iii">
        <text>provide for the entry into and examination of all buildings, lots, yards, enclosures, boats, and vehicles in order to determine their condition for health, cleanliness, and safety;</text>
      </level>
      <level label="iv">
        <level label="1">
          <text>provide for the taking down and removal of buildings, walls, structures, or superstructures that are or may become dangerous; or</text>
        </level>
        <level label="2">
          <text>require owners to move the buildings, walls, structures, or superstructures or put them in a safe and sound condition at their own expense;</text>
        </level>
      </level>
      <level label="v">
        <text>regulate the building and maintenance of party walls, partitions, fences, parapet walls, fire walls, smoke flues, fireplaces, hot–air flues, boilers, kettles, smokestacks, and stove pipes;</text>
      </level>
      <level label="vi">
        <text>regulate the storage of gasoline and other combustibles or explosives in any structure listed in item (v) of this paragraph;</text>
      </level>
      <level label="vii">
        <text>regulate the safe construction, inspection, and repair of private and public buildings;</text>
      </level>
      <level label="viii">
        <text>regulate, limit, or prohibit the construction of wooden or frame buildings and remove the buildings at the owner’s expense, when constructed or not removed;</text>
      </level>
      <level label="ix">
        <text>regulate the height, construction, and inspection of new buildings;</text>
      </level>
      <level label="x">
        <text>regulate the limits in which steps, porticoes, bay windows, or other structural ornaments may be added to houses fronting on a highway, street, avenue, lane, or alley;</text>
      </level>
      <level label="xi">
        <text>regulate the materials used and the manner of installing electric wiring or piping or laying conduit in any building;</text>
      </level>
      <level label="xii">
        <text>regulate the location, manner of installation, size, and area per lot of all advertising structures and restrict the projection of advertising structures over public property;</text>
      </level>
      <level label="xiii">
        <text>adopt and enforce all necessary rules or regulations over public property; and</text>
      </level>
      <level label="xiv">
        <text>impose fines and penalties for violations of rules or regulations adopted under this paragraph.</text>
      </level>
    </level>
  </level>
  <level label="b">
    <level label="1">
      <text>A local law is not valid or effective until it is adopted by the County Council at a regular meeting and recorded in the records of the County Council.</text>
    </level>
    <level label="2">
      <text>Before adopting any local law under this section, the County Council shall publish notice of the date, place, and time, in a newspaper of general circulation in the part of the regional district affected by the local law, of the meeting of the County Council at which the local law is to be presented for adoption.</text>
    </level>
    <level label="3">
      <text>The notice shall:</text>
      <level label="i">
        <text>state that the meeting will include a hearing on the proposed local law at which all persons will be given an opportunity to express the person’s views on the proposed local law;</text>
      </level>
      <level label="ii">
        <level label="1">
          <text>briefly indicate the nature of the local law to be adopted, amended, or repealed; or</text>
        </level>
        <level label="2">
          <text>if a complete and comprehensive building code is to be considered for adoption, provide a statement to that effect; and</text>
        </level>
      </level>
      <level label="iii">
        <text>be published at least once each week for 2 consecutive weeks before the date of the meeting, but the County Council may provide for more extensive notification.</text>
      </level>
    </level>
  </level>
  <level label="c">
    <level label="1">
      <level label="i">
        <text>After local laws are adopted, the County Council shall record the local laws in a book kept for that purpose in the office of the County Council.</text>
      </level>
      <level label="ii">
        <text>When the local laws are recorded under this paragraph, all persons are deemed to have notice of the local laws and no actual notice need be proven.</text>
      </level>
    </level>
    <level label="2">
      <level label="i">
        <text>The County Council shall print a sufficient number of copies of the adopted and recorded local laws for general distribution.</text>
      </level>
      <level label="ii">
        <text>If it is necessary to prove the existence of the local laws in any judicial proceeding, a printed copy is prima facie evidence of the existence.</text>
      </level>
    </level>
  </level>
  <level label="d">
    <level label="1">
      <text>The County Council may wholly or partly amend any local law adopted under this section.</text>
    </level>
    <level label="2">
      <text>Amendments are valid and effective when recorded as provided in subsection (c) of this section.</text>
    </level>
  </level>
  <level label="e">
    <text>The County Council may exempt a municipal corporation or special taxing district in the regional district from local laws adopted under this section if the County Council determines that the building regulations and enforcement in the municipal corporation or special taxing district are as adequate and equally effective as the local laws adopted by the County Council.</text>
  </level>
  <level label="f">
    <level label="1">
      <text>The County Council, in addition to the remedies provided for by this subtitle and Title 27 of this article, may provide for the enforcement of the local laws adopted under this section by applying to the Circuit Court for Prince George’s County for an injunction.</text>
    </level>
    <level label="2">
      <text>A violation of the local laws is sufficient cause in itself for the issuance of an injunction when applied for, and no further cause need be alleged or shown.</text>
    </level>
  </level>
  <level label="g">
    <level label="1">
      <text>A building code adopted under this section shall be enforced by the officers designated in the county charter or county code.</text>
    </level>
    <level label="2">
      <text>All fees and penalties are governed by the law applicable to a charter county.</text>
    </level>
  </level>
</section>
