Our study was carried out in the rural areas of the Olsztyn Lakeland in Poland. The obtained results provided a basis for determining principles accounting for hydrological requirements in the planning process, and for introducing to the Polish planning procedure a new document detailing the terms of managing lake buffer zones (a new opinion on limnological restrictions to a planning permit). Three zones where different planning constraints apply were identified in the study. The width of protective lake zones was then determined by applying an adjusting factor that accounts for the zone's slope gradient. The proposed method for developing limnological restrictions to a planning permit supports the identification of stagnant surface waters in the planning process. The results of the procedure should be taken into account at the stage of determining the functional characteristics of the surveyed terrain and proposing land management solutions for shoreline zones in rural areas.