Prince George's County MD Construction Permits: DPIE, M-NCPPC, WSSC, and the 2022 Zoning Rewrite

Maryland / Prince George's County · Field reference for developers, architects, and contractors

Prince George's County is the second-largest county in Maryland by population, the eastern bookend of the Washington region, and the jurisdiction where two historic forces — the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission (M-NCPPC) bi-county framework and a completely rewritten zoning ordinance — shape every commercial project. Construction in the county moves through four agencies: DPIE for the building permit, M-NCPPC for discretionary land-use review, WSSC Water for water and sewer, and DPW&T / SHA for rights-of-way.

Department of Permitting, Inspections, and Enforcement (DPIE)

DPIE is the county's permit and inspection authority. Unlike Montgomery County's DPS, DPIE also houses code enforcement for occupied structures — inspections for vacant and substandard property are DPIE's responsibility alongside the permit-issuance workflow.

DPIE's permit categories track standard MBPS-plus-local-amendment practice:

• Building, Trade (electrical / plumbing / mechanical / gas / fire suppression) — through the DPIE online permit system (Momentum).
• Site-Road — site development work including grading, sediment control, stormwater management facilities, pavement.
• Use and Occupancy — both new Certificates of Occupancy and Use and Occupancy permits for change of tenant.
• Demolition, Signs, Rental Housing, Fire Prevention — discipline-specific permits.

Momentum is DPIE's electronic plan review and permitting system, which the county stood up in recent years to replace legacy paper tracks. Review timelines vary by project complexity; large commercial new construction typically takes months through multiple discipline reviews.

The Maryland Building Performance Standards in PG County

Prince George's enforces the Maryland Building Performance Standards (MBPS) — current IBC edition as adopted statewide — with county-specific amendments adopted in Subtitle 4 of the Prince George's County Code. County-specific provisions cover:

• Amendments addressing Washington-region environmental and soil conditions.
• Fire-protection amendments aligned with the county's career-and-volunteer fire service structure.
• Accessibility amendments where the county has opted for more stringent provisions than the state default.
• Specific provisions for high-density transit-adjacent development in Metro and Purple Line station areas.

M-NCPPC Prince George's County Planning Department

The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission is the bi-county commission covering Montgomery and Prince George's. In Prince George's, M-NCPPC operates as the Prince George's County Planning Department, reporting to the Prince George's County Planning Board. Board approvals are the discretionary land-use gate that precedes building permits on most commercial projects.

Key M-NCPPC approvals in Prince George's:

• Preliminary Plan of Subdivision (PPS) — required for the creation of lots and for many site development actions under Subtitle 24.
• Detailed Site Plan (DSP) — required for most commercial, mixed-use, and larger residential development.
• Specific Design Plan (SDP) / Conceptual Site Plan (CSP) — historic process terms for projects under the former zoning ordinance; still encountered in transitional projects.
• Final Plat — recordation of subdivision.
• Forest Conservation Plan — under the Maryland Forest Conservation Act, administered by M-NCPPC.

The Planning Board's role is consequential: DPIE will not issue a building permit for work that requires a DSP until the DSP is approved and conditions of approval are satisfied.

The 2022 Zoning Ordinance rewrite

Prince George's County enacted a completely rewritten Zoning Ordinance and Subdivision Regulations effective April 1, 2022. The rewrite replaced a 1969 ordinance (with decades of accumulated amendments) and introduced:

• A restructured zone taxonomy with consolidated base zones.
• Form-based elements in transit-oriented and main-street corridors.
• A Countywide Map Amendment (CMA) that translated every parcel from the old zoning to the new zoning.
• Clearer procedural rules distinguishing matter-of-right development from discretionary review.
• Updated use tables, parking ratios, and dimensional standards.
• Greater flexibility in TOD areas around Metro, MARC, and Purple Line stations.

The rewrite has been the dominant feature of Prince George's permitting for the past few cycles. Projects submitted under the prior ordinance received transition protections; projects submitted under the new ordinance use the new taxonomy and procedures. Out-of-jurisdiction developers frequently encounter the rewrite's vocabulary for the first time at intake.

WSSC Water

Water and sewer service in Prince George's (as in Montgomery) is provided by WSSC Water, the bi-county utility. WSSC issues its own permits running parallel to DPIE:

• Hydraulic Planning Analysis (HPA) — capacity confirmation for commercial and multifamily.
• Plumbing and mechanical permits — trade permits for work affecting the WSSC system.
• Site utilities and connection permits — taps, meters, fire service connections.

WSSC Acceptance of Service is a Certificate-of-Occupancy prerequisite for most projects.

Rights-of-way: DPW&T and SHA

Right-of-way authority in Prince George's:

• Prince George's County DPW&T — county roads; access permits, curb cuts, sidewalks, traffic control plans.
• Maryland SHA — state routes (US 1, Route 202 / Landover Road, Route 450, MD 704 / Martin Luther King Jr Hwy, Indian Head Highway, Branch Avenue, and the many other state-maintained corridors).
• WMATA / Maryland Transit Administration — for work adjacent to Metro and Purple Line rights-of-way.
• Municipal DPWs — the county's 27 incorporated municipalities (College Park, Laurel, Bowie, Greenbelt, Hyattsville, Riverdale Park, Mount Rainier, and others) maintain their own streets.

Municipal layer

Prince George's has 27 incorporated municipalities, most with their own planning, zoning, and permit authority. Significant municipalities in construction terms:

• Laurel, Bowie, Greenbelt — larger cities with their own planning staff and permit processes; building permits sometimes issued by the city, sometimes by the county.
• College Park, Hyattsville, Mount Rainier, Riverdale Park — Gateway Arts District and college-town jurisdictions with active planning regimes.
• District Heights, Capitol Heights, Cheverly — inner Beltway municipalities with their own overlays.

Each municipality's relationship to the county for permitting varies. Some delegate building-permit issuance to DPIE; others issue directly. Verify at project intake.

CB-81: Workforce Housing

Prince George's adopted CB-81-2021 (inclusionary housing / workforce housing), effective January 2022, requiring workforce-housing units in specified categories of residential projects receiving public assistance or developing in defined TOD corridors. The ordinance is administered by the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD). Covenant obligations attach to title.

CB-81 is newer and more limited in scope than Montgomery's MPDU ordinance but is the beginning of a comparable framework. Projects receiving PILOTs, tax abatements, or public land in Prince George's should plan for CB-81 compliance up front.

TOD and the Purple Line

Prince George's has Metro (Green and Orange/Blue/Silver lines) and the Purple Line light rail (under construction, connecting New Carrollton to Bethesda across both counties). Station areas have dedicated planning studies and TOD zoning provisions supporting higher densities, mixed use, and reduced parking.

Projects within TOD planning areas (New Carrollton, Prince George's Plaza, College Park, West Hyattsville, Riverdale Park, and others) typically receive prioritized planning review and may access TIF, LIHTC, and state TOD-specific incentives. Developers targeting TOD zones plan around the M-NCPPC sector plan for the specific station area.

Environmental overlays

• Chesapeake Bay Critical Area — the 1,000-foot Bay overlay applies on Prince George's tidal shoreline (the Patuxent and Potomac tributaries).
• Sensitive Species Project Review — some sites require Maryland DNR review for state-listed species.
• Anacostia Tributaries, Patuxent — project-specific stormwater and buffer provisions reflecting Bay TMDL obligations.

Permit lifecycle (typical commercial new construction)

1. Pre-application: zoning confirmation (under the new 2022 ordinance), planning pre-submittal, WSSC HPA.
2. Preliminary Plan of Subdivision (if required) to Planning Board.
3. Detailed Site Plan to Planning Board.
4. Forest Conservation Plan (often concurrent with DSP).
5. Final Plat and recordation.
6. DPIE Momentum submittal — building, trade, site-road, stormwater, sediment control.
7. WSSC hydraulic and connection permits.
8. DPW&T / SHA right-of-way permit.
9. Plan review corrections.
10. Permit issuance.
11. Inspections.
12. WSSC Acceptance of Service.
13. Use and Occupancy / Certificate of Occupancy.

What this means on site

Prince George's is a four-agency permit — DPIE for the building, M-NCPPC for land use, WSSC for water/sewer, DPW&T / SHA for rights-of-way. Add DHCD for CB-81 compliance, municipal planning where the property is inside a town or city, and the 2022 Zoning Ordinance's newer procedural terminology throughout.

The two common out-of-jurisdiction surprises: (1) the 2022 zoning rewrite's new vocabulary does not map one-to-one onto the old zones experienced developers remember, and (2) DPIE and Montgomery's DPS operate differently despite both being "county permit offices" in M-NCPPC counties. Read the current ordinance, not the prior one, and plan for Prince George's procedures specifically.

Primary sources for this essay: Prince George's County Code Subtitles 4 (Building), 24 (Subdivision), and 27 (Zoning, rewritten effective April 1, 2022); Maryland Building Performance Standards; M-NCPPC Prince George's County Planning Department; WSSC Water; Prince George's County DPIE Momentum; Prince George's County DHCD; Council Bill CB-81-2021 (workforce housing); Maryland Forest Conservation Act; Maryland State Highway Administration.