Bulletin - Talbot County, MD News Today
Bill 1653 would let STR license applicants notify the 50 nearest properties instead of every owner within 1,000 feet while one council member pushes for a full ordinance rewrite instead
Talbot County Advances Bill Capping Short-Term Rental Neighbor Notices at 50 Properties
Bill 1653 would let STR license applicants notify the 50 nearest properties instead of every owner within 1,000 feet while one council member pushes for a full ordinance rewrite instead
Photo from https://talbotworks.org/
The Talbot County Council voted on October 27 to move Bill 1653 to third reader advancing a change that would let short-term rental license applicants notify the 50 nearest properties instead of every owner within 1,000 feet whenever that number is smaller with council member Lynn Mielke casting the only vote against.
What the bill changes
Under the current code, applicants for new and renewed STR licenses in Talbot County must send notice to several groups including contiguous owners and every owner with a property line within 1,000 feet of the rental, counting properties in line of sight across waterways. Bill 1653 keeps that 1,000-foot rule but limits the group to the 50 nearest properties when that is the smaller number while delivery rules stay the same and the bill would take effect 60 days after passage.
Talbot County Bill 1653: Proposed amendments to the county’s short-term rental ordinance would cap neighbor notifications at the 50 nearest properties or all properties within 1,000 feet, whichever is fewer, for new and renewal licenses. | Source: https://talbot-md.granicus.com/
Why it was proposed
Council member Dave Stepp requested the change after a constituent reported spending thousands of dollars on certified-mail notices for renewals in a densely built area. A planning staff review of the 21 new STR applications heard between June 2025 and July 2026 submitted to the council ahead of the October 27 vote, found an average of about 37 notices per application with only four needing more than 50 and one reaching 136 so most applicants would see no change.
Staff also told the council they have prepared mailing lists for all applicants since a state property data change disabled the county’s mapping tool which does not rank properties by distance and would make an applicant-chosen list of the nearest 50 hard to verify.
A divided council
The proposal first came up in February when the council voted 3-2 to send it to the Planning Commission over objections from Mielke and Vice President Pete Lesher. At its April 1 meeting the commission chose not to give a positive or negative recommendation instead raising concerns about waterfront neighbors losing notice and suggesting that a smaller radius would be more practical than a 50-property cap.
A resident’s written comment asked the council to state plainly that across-water properties in line of sight count toward the nearest 50 and it has not been confirmed whether the council adopted that wording. Mielke argued that the county should review its whole STR ordinance instead of amending it piecemeal, a position tied to the broader overhaul she and Lesher sponsored as Bill 1622 which died in December 2025 after they withdrew sponsorship.
⦾ Status: Proposed; advanced to third reader on October 27, 2026
⦾ Who it affects: Applicants for new and renewal STR licenses in unincorporated Talbot County (Easton, Oxford, St. Michaels, Trappe, and Queen Anne license STRs separately)
⦾ Change: Neighbor notice goes to all owners within 1,000 feet or the 50 nearest properties whichever is less
⦾ Likely impact: Four of 21 new applications in the past year exceeded 50 notices, according to county staff
⦾ Unchanged: Notice to contiguous owners, homeowners associations, and private-road co-owners; priority mail with delivery confirmation or written proof of receipt
⦾ Renewal notice timing: Within 21 days of submitting the renewal application
⦾ Effective date: 60 days after passage
⦾ Current license terms: New licenses run one year; renewals run two years and must be filed 60 days before expiration
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