If Councilman Ryan Dorsey has his way, the Baltimore City Zoning Code will soon give every owner of a single-family property – rowhouse, semi-detached house or detached house – the right to do one of three things to the existing structure:

Convert it to two dwelling units. Add a unit onto it. Build a new detached unit behind it.

Dorsey intends to establish these options “by right,” which means permits will be issued without notice to immediate neighbors and without a “conditional use” process to allow them to raise concerns.

At a September 17 hearing of the Land Use and Transportation Committee he chairs, Dorsey dismissed the idea that there could be any negative impact on any property, block or neighborhood from the sudden issuance of a such a permit, even if the new structure is allowed to be as tall as the existing rowhouse.

Even if the new structure is designed to cover the entire back yard, even if the only access to a new unit is from an alley and even if existing water or sewer lines are in bad condition – in all these cases, Dorsey, the lead sponsor of Bill 26-0195, sees no problem with giving these expanded rights to property owners.

Reasonable people see plenty of real-world issues that could arise when property owners exercise such new rights. But Dorsey’s density agenda blows past on-the-ground reality.

He speaks with the certainty of a zealot, mounting arguments that are replete with logical fallacies. He says we absolutely need this change and must make it to grow the city — and then claims that hardly anyone will take advantage of it.

The bill, scheduled for a committee vote at City Hall this Thursday during the docket that starts at 9 a.m., is a hot mess.

Beyond ADUs

It is well known that Dorsey wants to end single-family zoning throughout Baltimore and throw out the Zoning Code system in which the number of permitted dwelling units is determined by the size of a lot.

Having failed to garner sufficient support from his Council colleagues to achieve this goal via the highly controversial Bill 25-0066, Councilman Dorsey is back on his hobby horse with this measure.

Bill 26-0195, introduced in May, is framed as legislation to allow accessory dwelling units (ADUs), which are defined by the state as smaller, independent dwelling units, attached or detached, located on the same lot as a detached single-family residence. (The state moved last year to require Maryland jurisdictions to adopt ADU legislation.)

But Dorsey’s bill started by permitting additional units on lots with rowhouses and semi-detached houses as well, and he plans to broaden it even further.

The latest bill is a backdoor way to accomplish some of the goals of Bill 25-0066, and is in some ways more problematic.

At the last committee hearing, after first stating emphatically that his bill does not affect “conversions” – i.e., the addition of units inside existing buildings – he indicated that he would have language drafted to expand his definition of “ADUs” to allow units to be added “by right” inside buildings, where added units are now prohibited or require a Conditional Use Ordinance.

If Bill 26-0195 is expanded in this way, the new language introduced on Thursday must be subjected to a hearing with the opportunity for people to testify.

In effect, the bill is a backdoor way to accomplish some of the goals of Bill 25-0066, and is in some ways more problematic than Dorsey’s last effort.
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PAST BREW COVERAGE:

• Offered at a Council work session: amendments and arguments to allay concerns about Baltimore zoning bill (2/13/26)

• Pastor says city’s sweeping zoning bill, which promises progress, may instead “deliver pain” (2/10/26)

• Sensing the public mood, a City Council committee pumps the brakes on Mayor Scott’s zoning bill (12/2/25)
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And yet this bill is not as well known, in part because the public is conditioned to scan a bill for proposed changes to the Zoning Code’s Use tables and Bulk and Yard tables. There are no such visual cues in this bill.

The intended effect of dismantling the current system is also not evident from the text of Bill 26-0195. To grasp Dorsey’s policy agenda, it’s best to listen to him talk on the public record.

Equitable? Hardly

Dorsey may consider his agenda to be progressive, but it isn’t. The citywide “by-right” growth policy he is pushing via Bill 26-0195 will be blocked in several areas by HOA regulations or covenants.

Of the three options, conversions from one unit to two will continue to be prohibited where there are private restrictions, leaving areas without covenants to absorb the new density and giving neighboring homeowners on those blocks no way to put their legitimate concerns on
the record.

As for building additions and backyard dwellings (“ADUs”), State law overrides all Homeowners Association (HOA) regulations and covenants on detached-house blocks.

But elsewhere these restrictions will retain their effect, while the amended Zoning Code leaves owners of rowhouses and semi-detached homes on other blocks no way to learn about, let alone to be heard about, their neighbors’ plans.

This two-tier system is Ryan Dorsey’s bold new policy for Baltimore. The question now is, how many of his City Council colleagues will support it?

• Joan Floyd is a Remington resident and longtime advocate of fairness and due process in city land use matters.