Huff v. Board of Zoning Appeals of Baltimore County

• Decision Date: 19 June 1957
• Docket Number: No. 215,215
• Citation: 133 A.2d 83,214 Md. 48
• Parties: John S. HUFF et al. v. The BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS OF BALTIMORE COUNTY and Harry A. Dundore.
• Court: Maryland Court of Appeals

Page 48

214 Md. 48

133 A.2d 83

John S. HUFF et al. v. The BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS OF BALTIMORE COUNTY and Harry A. Dundore.

No. 215.

Court of Appeals of Maryland.

June 19, 1957.

A. Frederick Taylor, Towson (Smalkin, Hessian, Martin & Taylor, Towson, and R. Carleton Sharretts, Baltimore, on the brief), for appellants.

W. Lee Harrison, Towson (William P. Bolton, Jr., Towson, on the brief), for appellees.

Before COLLINS, HENDERSON, HAMMOND and PRESCOTT, JJ., and FLOYD J. KINTNER, Specially Assigned Judge.

HAMMOND, Judge.

In 1955 a new zoning classification, designated 'Manufacturing, Restricted', was provided in Baltimore County for the first time. This appeal challenges its general validity and the propriety of changing to the new classification from Residential some eighteen acres of land on the west side of York Road one mile south of the Belfast Road. The eighteen acre tract is part of a farm owned by the individual appellee, Dundore. The purpose of the reclassification was to enable Diecraft, Inc., which Dundore controls, to build a one-story plant to be used for the manufacture and assembly of small precision instruments, guided missile parts and electrical and communication devices for the Federal Government. The present plant of the company is on Pulaski Highway, where there is no room for necessary expansion. A relocation in a rural area was sought to conform with the Federal requirements for decentralizing plants engaged in making products vital for defense purposes. The Zoning Commissioner approved the reclassification after a hearing, at which the County Planning Commission gave its approval. The Board of Zoning Appeals affirmed the reclassification on condition that it be subject to the provisions and restrictions set out in the development plan appoved by the Planning Commission and the Zoning Commissioner. The protestants took the case to the Circuit Court for Baltimore County by certiorari. They have a standing as taxpayers to so appeal under the provisions of Code of Public Local Laws of Baltimore County, 1955, Title 30, Sec. 532(g). The applicant intervened and filed an answer and the court affirmed the Board. The appeal is from that action.

The statute now found in the Code of Public Local Laws of Baltimore County, 1955, Title 30, Sec. 532, provided, at the times here material, that the County Commissioners were empowered to enact zoning regulations '* * * in accordance with a comprehensive plan.' The Commissioners were authorized to divide or subdivide the County into 'districts, divisions or zones' of such number, shape or area as may be best suited to carry out the purpose of the zoning. Regulations must be uniform in each division but could differ from those in other divisions. It was made the duty of the Zoning Commissioner to recommend the boundaries of proposed districts, divisions or zones and the regulations applicable to each. He was directed to make a preliminary report and hold a public hearing before making a final report. The County Commissioners, after receiving the final report, were to hold public hearings. The County Commissioners had the power, on the recommendation of the Zoning Commissioner, from time to time, to amend, supplement or repeal the existing regulations. They were directed, as part of the regulations adopted by them, to provide for a Board of Zoning Appeals and for appeal from the decision of the Zoning Commissioner to the Board. The statute continues: 'The County Commissioners shall have the power to impose on and vest in the Board of Zoning Appeals such duties and powers as may be necessary and advisable for the proper administration and enforcement of zoning regulations and restrictions, including the power to make exceptions in appropriate cases * * *.'

The County Commissioners determined in 1954 to rezone that whole of Baltimore County. The Zoning Commissioner conducted public hearings on his preliminary report, and on January 18, 1955, submitted his final report to the Commissioners. After the requisite hearings and due deliberation, the Commissioners, on March 30, 1955, adopted new County-wide zoning regulations in the place and stead of those then in effect. The new regulations were tentative in the sense that they were applicable only until new maps were prepared and adopted for each of the districts of the County, and put all property in the County in one of twelve classifications. Six were residential zones, varying from R-40, in which each lot must be forty thousand square feet, to R. A., in which apartments are permitted. There were three categories for business--local, major and roadside; and three categories for manufacturing, that is, M.R.--Manufacturing, Restricted M.L.--Manufacturing, Light, and M.H.--Manufacturing, Heavy. Provisions for special exceptions were also included, specifying in which zones the various uses should be permitted by the Board of Zoning Appeals.

The new category of Manufacturing, Restricted was adopted on the recommendation of the Planning Commission of Baltimore County and the reasons for its adoption are explained in the report of the Commission, which, as the statute provides, was presented to the Zoning Commissioner and the Board for their consideration in reaching a decision in the present case. In the report it was said:

'A petition has been filed for the rezoning to M.R. Zone (Manufacturing, Restricted) of the 18 acre tract, with the intention of building a modern-type factory for the manufacturing of quite small metal parts which are needed by the Federal Government in connection with national defense. The Company is now operating in non-expansible quarters on U. S. 40 east, in a building which is architecturally noteworthy as an example of the type of rather small, modern factory that is conscious of its appearance as a public relations factor, and which wants to be in attractive, protected surroundings, rather than in the type of industrial zone where good appearance is not necessarily a significant factor * * *.

'The Office of Planning is now engaged in preparing a Land Use Plan for the entire County. On this Plan will be based a Zoning Plan for the same area. Some sections have already been completed and transmitted to the Zoning Commissioner with recommendation for adoption by the Board of County Commissioners. The plan for the vicinity of the subject tract has not yet been officially approved, but the inherent character and location of this tract are very similar to those sections already approved, which are placed in the R. 40 Zone. There is no question that the subject tract in the ordinary course of events would have been proposed to be placed in the R. 40 Zone, which is the lowest density zone provided for, and which is intended for typical application to such agricultural acreage tracts as this one. The R. 40 Zone thus is not visualized as a purely residential zone,--one which is thought of as contemplating complete eventual development into approximately one-acre lots, as the Zone permits. Because of the extent and character of Baltimore County this R. 40 Zone necessarily represents to a certain extent a 'reservoir' of future land uses, much of it certainly remaining indefinitely agricultural, some becoming increasingly and more concentratedly residential in character, some being used for non-residential purposes, either as permitted uses or as Special Exceptions: institution grounds, airports, cemeteries, golf courses; and finally, some being logically made into industrial sites, as restricted Manufacturing Zones. The very purpose of creating this type of Zone in the Zoning Regulations that were adopted last March was to provide the flexibility necessary to meet the requirements of the new type of industry previously referred to as wanting a prepossessing environment in keeping with the attractive nature of the factory building and its setting. Many such industries do not need or desire access to railroads. It is therefore difficult to anticipate and designate on the Zoning Map in advance all or more than a few of such sites in locations that meet the particular needs of certain industries, hence the provision that makes possible the petitioning for an M.R. Zone.

'* * * the Federal Government has required that industries engaged in national defense contracts for manufacture of products such as those that Die-Craft makes, be located not less than ten miles from possible bombing targets such as Baltimore City constitutes. This one distance requirement inevitably requires Die-Craft to seek locations only in what are essentially rural, sparsely-settled areas, and in which the need for original designation of industrial zones would have been impossible to foresee. Even now it would be difficult and impracticable in most cases to ear mark specific locations in advance for M.R. Zones in sections of the County such as this. That is the reason why provision has specifically been made for petitions to be made for M.R. Zones--each case to be judged on its own merits, and as a sort of quasi Special Exception rather than as an application for a change of zone in the ordinary sense.

'The Office of Planning believes that this petition by the Die-Craft Corporation is a logical and appropriate application of the purpose of which the Office of Planning prepared this type of zone to be created, and for which the Board of County Commissioners adopted this zone as a part of the revised Zoning Regulations. The Office of Planning further believes that the conditions under which the Zoning Commissioner would grant the petition--for this specific proposed use alone, and subject to approved provision of adequate planting, lawns, parking space, etc.,--are sufficient guarantee of consideration for the general welfare of the area.

'In view of all the above factors, the Office of Planning and specifically the Planning Board, by favorable action thereon, recommend approval by the Zoning Commissioner of...