Becker v. Falls Rd. Cmty. Ass'n
| Docket Number | 24 Sept. Term, 2021 |
| Decision Date | 26 August 2022 |
| Citation | 481 Md. 23,281 A.3d 729 |
| Parties | Arthur BECKER, et al. v. FALLS ROAD COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION, et al. |
| Court | Court of Special Appeals of Maryland |
Argued by Kurt J. Fischer (Christopher D. Mudd and Christine E. White, Venable LLP, Baltimore, MD; Timothy M. Kotroco, Kotroco & Associates, Towson, MD), on brief, for Petitioners.
Argued by Michael R. McCann (Michael R. McCann, P.A., Towson, MD), on brief, for Respondents.
Argued before:* Getty, C.J. *McDonald, Watts, Hotten, Booth, Biran, Gould, JJ.
The case before us involves a family-owned one-hundred-acre tract of land in northern Baltimore County that the property owner, in connection with a Maryland-based development firm, seeks to develop. The local community association and neighboring residents have opposed the proposed development for multiple reasons, generally based upon traffic safety concerns. The dispute between the property owner and the local community association has spanned the better portion of the last two decades and has endured countless procedural obstacles including a restructuring of Baltimore County's oversight process for development and zoning matters. The property owner finally received approval to develop the remaining "northern pod" of the property in 2019, which led to the present appeal.
This Court is asked to determine whether the Board of Appeals of Baltimore County erred in reversing an administrative law judge's determination that substantial changes existed between an original development plan and a later proposed development plan, and therefore the doctrine of collateral estoppel did not bar approval of the later proposed development plan. For the following reasons, we answer that question in the affirmative and reverse the judgment of the Court of Special Appeals.
The present dispute between Arthur Becker, Nancy Miller, and Gaylord Brooks Realty (collectively, "Becker") and the Falls Road Community Association ("Community Association") has spanned nearly the entirety of the last two decades. The factual background and procedural history relevant to this appeal are outlined in detail below.
For more than 75 years, the Becker family has owned an approximately one-hundred-acre tract of land in northern Baltimore County where they live and operate a commercial fruit orchard. The land is bisected east to west by Beaverdam Run, which is a tributary that flows into the Loch Raven Reservoir. The tract of land is therefore divided into a "southern pod" and a "northern pod" by Beaverdam Run.
Becker initially sought permission from Baltimore County ("County") to construct twenty single-family dwellings on the one-hundred-acre property ("2004 Development Plan"). The Community Association opposed the 2004 Development Plan, citing concerns about traffic safety, adequacy of well and septic systems, and suitability of storm water management systems. Deputy Zoning Commissioner John Murphy ("Commissioner Murphy") held a public hearing on the matter beginning on January 29, 2004, which lasted five days. Multiple witnesses provided testimony, including Becker, County officials, civil engineers, an ecologist, and two traffic engineers: John Seitz, on behalf of the Community Association, and Wesley Guckert, on behalf of Becker.
One of the critical issues pertaining to the approval of the 2004 Development Plan involved access onto Falls Road/Maryland Route 25, a State highway. Access is ultimately controlled by the State Highway Administration ("SHA"), which is charged with analyzing safety issues and determining whether access will be permitted for the proposed development, and if so, what improvements are required to obtain access. See Maryland Code of Regulations 11.04.05.01(A).1
On March 6, 2003—following its review of the concept plan Becker submitted prior to the submission of the 2004 Development Plan to the County—the SHA issued a letter to Becker refusing to permit access to Falls Road for the proposed development, stating:
The record before Commissioner Murphy included this letter from the SHA.
In addition to this letter from the SHA, Commissioner Murphy also considered the testimony of the two traffic engineers, both of whom relied on the American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials ("AASHTO") standards for evaluating the impact on the traffic traveling on Falls Road from the northern pod. The development of the northern pod proposed ten new lots that would be accessible through the frontage on Falls Road, which consisted of a one-hundred-foot strip of land. The 2004 Development Plan called for a public road, proposed as Rose Court, to service these ten lots and the pre-existing Becker home. Mr. Seitz and Mr. Guckert reached conflicting conclusions as to the impact the development of the northern pod would have on Falls Road.
Mr. Seitz testified that drivers coming from Rose Court and attempting to get onto Falls Road would not have the adequate space to reach a safe speed to merge with drivers that were traveling at or above the posted speed limit of forty miles-per-hour on Falls Road. He explained that traffic engineers typically use two different measurements of the distance that a driver would need to avoid a collision. The first measurement is referred to as "stopping sight distance," which is the safe stopping distance for drivers who unexpectedly encounter something on the roadway. Mr. Seitz provided an example of "a child wandering out into the roadway or a disabled vehicle in the road over the crest of a hill." The second measurement is referred to as "intersection sight distance," which refers to the distance a driver needs to merge from a minor road into traffic on a major road. In his explanation, Mr. Seitz emphasized that this calculation "includes the time it takes the vehicle pulling out to accelerate to [a] safe speed."
Mr. Seitz, using the AASHTO calculation tables, calculated the stopping sight distance at 305 feet and the intersection sight distance at 445 feet. He testified that the intersection sight distance for drivers coming from Rose Court and entering Falls Road created a safety hazard for drivers on Falls Road approaching from the south. Mr. Guckert agreed that 305 feet is the stopping sight distance specified by AASHTO for a forty miles-per-hour road. However, he noted that vehicles traveling northbound on Falls Road climb a six percent grade hill near the intersection with Rose Court, which reduces the stopping sight distance from 305 feet to 278 feet. With this understanding, Mr. Guckert characterized this as an adequate stopping sight distance. While Mr. Guckert agreed with Mr. Seitz that the intersection sight distance did not satisfy AASHTO's safety standards, it was his opinion that the proper consideration in this matter is the lesser standard of stopping sight distance. In support of this contention, Mr. Guckert emphasized that the number of drivers coming from Rose Court would be relatively low as the development would only have ten homes. He noted "that had this development been a [300-dwelling] proposal, he may have chosen the higher standard."
Both Mr. Seitz and Mr. Guckert identified additional safety concerns with the development of the northern pod. The first safety concern focused on Hickory Hill Road—a county road on the opposite side of Falls Road from the northern pod—because it did not align with the new intersection of Rose Court. Put differently, Hickory Hill Road and Rose Court would not directly face one another. Mr. Seitz and Mr. Guckert agreed that it would be best to "align the new road with Hickory Hill Road from a safety standpoint." The two further agreed that if it became impossible to align these roads that the "next best design" would be to have the new and existing roadways one hundred feet apart.
On March 12, 2004, Commissioner Murphy issued a written opinion that approved the development of the southern pod but denied the development of the northern pod.2 Commissioner Murphy observed that Becker "own[ed] only approximately one hundred feet of frontage on the west side of Falls Road[,]" which "severely limited" where any road intersecting Falls Road from the northern pod could be located. Commissioner Murphy credited both Mr. Seitz's and Mr. Guckert's testimony in ultimately determining that cars entering Falls Road from the northern pod would not have adequate sight distance. Commissioner Murphy noted a combination of factors that created an unsafe situation at the intersection of Falls Road and Rose Court. He provided the following illustration to demonstrate these concerns:
On a workday morning, drivers are coming out of Applecroft Lane, Rose Court, Hickory Hill Road and the Jones driveway to get onto Falls Road to go to work or school. Traffic is flowing both ways on Falls Road and as shown by the traffic data a significant portion of this traffic exceeds the 40 mph speed limit. The vehicle coming from Applecroft wants to turn right to go toward Rose Court. The vehicle on Rose Court wants to turn left to go north on Falls Road. The vehicle on Hickory Hill wants to go north on Falls Road. And last, but certainly not least, Mrs. Jones wants to go north on Falls Road. All traffic from these side roads stops waiting for a break in Falls Road traffic. Their attention is riveted on Falls Road traffic. When a break comes in the flow of traffic, who goes first?
Commissioner Murphy continued with this illustration, predicting that drivers would become ...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Dennis v. Md. State Ret. & Pension Sys.
... ... grounds relied upon by the agency.'" Becker v ... Falls Rd. Cmty. Ass'n , 481 Md. 23, 42 (2022) ... ...
-
Fleschute v. Nikmorad
...only "bars relitigation of all matters actually litigated" in the prior action but also those "that could have been litigated[.]" Becker, 481 Md. at 46 n.6 (quotation marks citations omitted) (alteration in the original). In the present case, it is undisputed that the parties are the same a......