674                               LAWS OF MARYLAND                        [CH. 404

title "Public Works", sub-title "Buildings", to empower the County
Commissioners of Baltimore County to regulate the floor elevations
of buildings and water tightness of basements and ground floors in
buildings hereafter erected in areas in Baltimore County which are
subject to flooding by tidewaters, surface waters or running
streams.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Maryland,
That Section 284 of the Code of Public Local Laws of Baltimore
County (1948 Edition) title "Public Works", sub-title "Buildings",
be and it is hereby repealed and re-enacted, with amendments, to read
as follows:

284.

The County Commissioners of Baltimore County are hereby given
full power and authority to direct in what parts of Baltimore County
buildings of wood may be erected, and to regulate, restrain or prohibit,
in its discretion, the erection of buildings or structures of wood, frame
or wood composition, within the present limits of Baltimore County
or any thickly populated portion thereof and to remove the same at
the owner's expense as herein provided, when erected or suffered to
remain contrary to law or such regulations as they may adopt; to
regulate and establish the size of bricks and thickness of walls that
are to be used in buildings and structures, or parts thereof, to be
built or re-built in Baltimore County; to provide for the entry into
and examination of all buildings, lots, yards,, enclosures and cars,
boats and vehicles of every description to ascertain their condition
for health, cleanliness and safety; to take down and remove, or
make safe and secure, any and all buildings, walls, structures, or
superstructures, at the expense of the owners thereof, that are or
may become dangerous or that are erected or suffered to remain
contrary to law or such regulations as they may adopt, or to re-
quire said owners or agents to take down and remove them, or put
them in a safe and sound condition, all at their own expense; to
make any and all expenses and costs incurred by the County Com-
missioners of Baltimore County in, about, and by reason of the
taking down and removal, or the making safe and secure of all
buildings, walls, structures, or superstructures, as foresaid, a lien
upon the land or improvements, or both, and to provide for the
enforcement of such liens by sale of the property, whether real or
personal, or by suit at law for all such expenses or any deficit after
sale as aforesaid; to regulate the building and maintenance of party
walls, partitions, fences, parapet and fire walls, smoke flues, fire-
places, hot-air flues, boilers, kettles, furnaces, smokestacks and stove-
pipes; to provide for the inspection and regulation of the safe con-
struction, erection, repair, alteration, remodeling, removal or demoli-
tion, in any manner, of all private and public buildings or structures,
or parts thereof; and to compel the consumption and prevention of
smoke and make such regulations as may be deemed necessary to
prevent the same from becoming deleterious or offensive to health;
to regulate the height, construction and inspection of all new build-
ings or structures, or parts thereof, hereafter erected in Baltimore
County and the alteration, repair, removal or demolition of any build-
ings or structures, or parts thereof, already erected, or hereafter
to be erected in Baltimore County; to regulate the floor elevations of
buildings and water tightness of basements and ground floors in