Maryland Reclamation Associates, Inc. v. Harford County, No. 143, September Term, 2008 (Md. App. 3/11/2010), 143, September Term, 2008.
| Decision Date | 11 March 2010 |
| Docket Number | No. 143, September Term, 2008.,No. 144, September Term, 2008.,143, September Term, 2008.,144, September Term, 2008. |
| Parties | MARYLAND RECLAMATION ASSOCIATES, INC. v. HARFORD COUNTY, MARYLAND, et al. MARYLAND RECLAMATION ASSOCIATES, INC. v. HARFORD COUNTY, MARYLAND, et al. |
| Court | Court of Special Appeals of Maryland |
Opinion by ADKINS, J.
In this opinion we address two appeals filed by Appellant Maryland Reclamation Associates ("MRA") involving a sixty-eight acre agriculturally zoned property located in Harford County Maryland ("Property") on which MRA seeks to construct and operate a rubble landfill. This rubble landfill has been highly controversial and the litigation involving this Property has spanned over ten years. It now reaches this Court for the third time.1 Among other contentions, MRA asks this Court to adopt the doctrine of zoning estoppel, and hold that Harford County is estopped from applying an amendment to its zoning code that would render the Property ineligible for use as a rubble landfill.
The two appeals include: (1) Case No. 143, an appeal from a September 3, 2008 judgment of the Circuit Court for Harford County affirming the Harford County Board of Appeals's ("Board") denial of MRA's request for several variances from applicable zoning regulations that will allow it to build a rubble landfill, and (2) Case No. 144, an appeal from an October 22, 2003 judgment of the Circuit Court for Harford County affirming the Harford County Board of Appeals's interpretation of various zoning provisions applicable to MRA. The Appellees are Harford County as well as a group of individuals, represented by People's Counsel, who live in the neighborhood surrounding the proposed rubble landfill and are opposed to its development ("Protestants").
In order to resolve the issues in these appeals, we must understand the history of the various administrative proceedings and earlier appeals. Knowing this task is decidedly tedious, we have done our best to be concise. Judge Eldridge, formerly an active member of this Court, helps us with this task.
In MRA II, Judge Eldridge detailed the following history:
In August 1989, the plaintiff-appellant, Maryland Reclamation Associates, Inc., contracted to purchase property located adjacent to Gravel Hill Road in Harford County, Maryland. Maryland Reclamation intended to construct and operate a rubble landfill on this property; thus, it began the process of obtaining a rubble landfill permit from the Maryland Department of the Environment pursuant to Maryland Code , §§ 9-204 through 9-210, §§ 9-501 through 9-521 of the Environment Article, and COMAR 26.03 through 26.04.
Maryland Reclamation first requested that Harford County include the Gravel Hill Road property in Harford County's Solid Waste Management Plan as a rubble landfill. Thereafter, Harford County amended its Solid Waste Management Plan to include Maryland Reclamation's Gravel Hill Road site as a rubble landfill. The property's inclusion in the Harford County Solid Waste Management Plan, however, was made subject to twenty-seven conditions, including a minimum landscape buffer of 200 feet. On November 16, 1989, Harford County advised the Maryland Department of the Environment that Maryland Reclamation's Gravel Hill Road property had been included in the County's Solid Waste Management Plan as a rubble landfill site.
Maryland Reclamation next sought approval at the state government level from the Department of the Environment. On November 20, 1989, Maryland Reclamation received Phase I permit approval from the Department of the Environment.
Maryland Reclamation then filed with the Department the necessary reports and studies for Phase II and Phase III approvals.
[M]aryland Reclamation had entered into a contract to purchase the property located adjacent to Gravel Hill Road in August 1989, before its inclusion in Harford County's Solid Waste Management Plan. Allegedly relying on the property's inclusion in Harford County's Solid Waste Management Plan and on the Department of the Environment's Phase I approval, Maryland Reclamation consummated the purchase of the Gravel Hill Road property on February 9, 1990, for $732,500. The settlement occurred on the last possible day under the terms of the contract of sale.
Four days after the settlement date, newly appointed Harford County Council President Jeffrey D. Wilson and Council Member Joanne Parrott introduced in the County Council Resolution 4-90, which provided for the removal of Maryland Reclamation's property from the County's Solid Waste Management Plan. [Footnote 1 omitted] In the litigation that ensued over this resolution,2 the Court of Special Appeals held that Resolution 4-90 was invalid because it was preempted by the State's authority over solid waste management plans and the issuance of rubble landfill permits. [MRA I], 90 Md. App. 120, 600 A.2d 864, cert. dismissed sub nom. County Council v. Md. Reclamation, 328 Md. 229, 614 A.2d 78 (1992).[Footnote 2 omitted.]
While the litigation over Resolution 4-90 was pending, Bill 91-10 was introduced in the Harford County Council, on February 12, 1991, as an emergency bill. Bill 91-10 proposed to amend the requirements for a rubble landfill by increasing the minimum acreage requirements, buffer requirements, and height requirements. The bill, inter alia, would establish a minimum rubble fill size of 100 acres and a buffer zone of 1000 feet. After public hearings, the County Council passed the bill on March 19, 1991, and the County Executive signed the bill into law on March 27, 1991. [Footnote 3 omitted.]
On April 2, 1991, Bill 91-16 was introduced in the Harford County Council. This bill would authorize the County Council to remove a specific site from the County's Solid Waste Management Plan if the site does not comply with certain zoning ordinances, if a permit has not been issued by the State Department of the Environment within eighteen months of the site being placed in the County's Solid Waste Management Plan, or if the owner of the site has not placed the site in operation within the same eighteen month period. Bill 91-16 was passed by the County Council, signed into law by the County Executive on June 10, 1991, and is codified as § 109-8.4 of the Harford County Code. [Footnote 4 omitted.]
The President of the Harford County Council, on April 25, 1991, sent a letter to the State Department of the Environment, enclosing a copy of enacted Bill 91-10, and advising the Department that the provisions of the bill could call into question the status of sites which were in the process of obtaining rubble landfill permits. On May 2, 1991, the Department of the Environment advised the County Council that if a permit were to be issued to Maryland Reclamation, such issuance would not authorize Maryland Reclamation to violate any local zoning or land-use requirements.
Also on May 2, 1991, the County's Director of Planning sent a letter to Maryland Reclamation informing it of Bill 91-10, indicating that Maryland Reclamation's property would apparently fail to meet the requirements of Bill 91-10, stating that Maryland Reclamation should submit documentation showing that the Gravel Hill Road site could meet the requirements of the zoning ordinances, and stating that, if the site could not meet such requirements, Maryland Reclamation would need a variance to operate a rubble landfill on the property. Maryland Reclamation did not submit any documents pursuant to the May 2, 1991, letter and did not file an application for a variance. [Footnote 5 omitted.] Maryland Reclamation did file on May 21, 1991, an "appeal" to the Harford County Board of Appeals from the "administrative decision pursuant to Section 267-7 E in a letter dated 5/2/91," requesting that the Board "review and reverse the decision of the Zoning Administrator interpreting that the standards of Council Bill 91-10 apply to the Applicant." The "application" to the Board of Appeals asserted that Bill 91-10 was inapplicable to the property and that, if it was applicable, it was invalid. [Footnote 6 omitted.]
On May 14, 1991, Resolution 15-91 was introduced in the Harford County Council. This resolution purported to interpret Harford County law and determine that the Gravel Hill Road site was not in compliance with county law; the resolution went on to remove the site from the County's Solid Waste Management Plan. The County Council passed Resolution 15-91 on June 11, 1991. The resolution was apparently not submitted to the County Executive for his approval.
Maryland Reclamation on June 20, 1991, filed a complaint in the Circuit Court for Harford County, seeking a Declaratory Judgment and Injunctive Relief against Harford County and the Harford "County Council." Maryland Reclamation requested, inter alia, the following: (1) a declaration that Bills 91-10 and 91-16, as well as Resolution 15-91, are "null and void as to the Gravel Hill Site;" (2) an injunction preventing the County from enforcing Bills 91-10 and 91-16 and Resolution 15-91 against Maryland Reclamation; and (3) an injunction staying all further action on Maryland Reclamation's "appeal" to the Board of Appeals. Maryland Reclamation advanced numerous legal theories to support its complaint for declaratory and injunctive relief.
The circuit court on June 28, 1991, issued an interlocutory injunction preventing enforcement of Bills 91-10, 91-16, and Resolution 15-91 against Maryland Reclamation. The order expressly allowed the Department of the Environment to continue its processing of Maryland Reclamation's pending permit application. The order also stayed the processing of Maryland Reclamation's administrative "appeal" from the Director of Planning's "decision" contained in the Director's May 2, 1991, letter. Finally, the interlocutory order prohibited Maryland...
To continue reading
Request your trial