Board of County Commissioners v. Snyder

Henderson, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. This appeal is from a decree of the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County, in equity, dated September 13, 1945, directing that a mandatory injunction issue, commanding the appellants to issue a building permit to the appellee, for the erection of a show room, office, lounge and store room upon his property, on Solomon’s Island Road, at the South River Bridge, for the display and sale of factory-built motor boats. It appears from the testimony in the case that he also contemplated the construction of a dock and repairshop at a future date. The appellee obtained title to a tract of land at this location, containing 17^ acres, by deed dated September 7, 1944; ³⁴⁴ he had plans prepared by an architect and spent several thousand dollars in grading and landscaping the land in preparation for the erection of improvements.

On November 17, 1944, he applied for a building permit, as required by chapter 414 of the Acts of 1937, and filed therewith the plans and specifications of the. proposed building. This application was supplemental to one filed on his behalf by a contractor on October 2, 1944. The Board of County Commissioners, on December 5, 1944, refused the application on the ground that the proposed use was in violation of certain zoning regulations adopted by the Board on November 28, 1944, under the authority of chapter 551 of the Acts of 1943. On January 3, 1945, the appellee filed an appeal to the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County to review the action of the County Commissioners in refusing to issue the permit.

After answer and hearing, the court, on April 6, 1947, ruled that the appeal must be dismissed, because not taken within thirty days from the adoption of the zoning regulations on November 28, 1944, and that no appeal would lie from the action of the Board on December 5, 1944 in refusing the application. The court suggested, however, that relief might be sought by mandamus or bill in equity. On April 23, 1945, the appellee filed a bill for mandatory injunction; upon answer and testimony taken and hearing, the court granted the relief prayed, on the ground that the regulations adopted by the Board on November 28, 1944 were invalid. The proposal to zone the land of the appellee was first made to the County Commissioners on September 26, 1944, when certain residents of Edgewater Beach became aware of the proposed use and protested the issuance of any building permit to the appellee.

Edgewater Beach and Edgewater Beach, Shady Section, are communities on the south side of the South River platted and developed as residential areas, and adjacent to the appellee’s land on the west. The land of the appellee is adjacent to the South River Bridge and Solomon’s Island Road on ³⁴⁵ the east, and is separated from Edgewater Beach only by a road. A new plat drawn by the County Engineer included this land, as well as certain- farm land adjacent to both tracts to the south. The regulations adopted for this whole area, including the land of the appellee, are as follows: “1.

The area within the prescribed residential and agricultural farming zone shall be utilized for private residences and farming properties only. “2. No mercantile, manufacturing or trade activities are to be permitted within the zone except that which is necessary for the purpose of the sale of farm products or the clearing and developing of the land for building purposes as prescribed in paragraph 1. “3. Private residences or farms may be rented to individuals or tenants at the discretion of the owners of said properties.” It is conceded that the proposed building, as shown in the plans and specifications, complies in every respect with the requirements of the local building code regulating the construction of buildings under the authority of chapter 414 of the Acts of 1937. It is further conceded that nothing in that code would justify a refusal of the application; the refusal can only be supported by reason of the zoning regulations adopted pursuant to chapter 551 of the Acts of 1943.

In a case decided this day, Commissioners v. Ward, 186 Md., 46 A. 2d 684, we have had occasion to sustain the constitutional validity of that Act. The questions here presented are (1) the validity of the regulations, and (2) the right of the County Commissioners to deny the application under the circumstances of this case. The whole purpose of the regulations is to exclude mercantile, manufacturing and trade activities from the area, and to permit therein only residential and farming activities. There is no provision for non-conforming uses, but it does not appear that there are any such uses in existence.

A regulation, otherwise reasonable and proper, is not to be condemned because of its simplicity. ³⁴⁶ We