Calhoun v. County Board of Appeals

Hammond, C. J., delivered the opinion of the Court. Neighbors who objected to regular and extensive skeet and trap shooting and rifle practice on the property of North Baltimore Hunting and Fishing Association, Inc. (North Baltimore) located on Spooks Hill Road, Park-ton, in Baltimore County, complained that these controlled explosions violated the law because not permitted in the zoning classification which covers the property. The Board of Appeals, in affirming the Zoning Commissioner’s finding that there was no violation, said: “The testimony given in this case is somewhat vague, contradictory and is reasonably debatable as to when shooting activities actually commenced on the subject property.” The holding was “that firearms shootings on the subject property were a legal non-conforming use at the time of the adoption of the 1945 Zoning Regulations, and that such status has been preserved through a continuity of use to the present date and thereby enjoys the right to be legally continued * * Judge Haile affirmed the Board. We reverse, finding, there was no evidence that would support a finding that a non-conforming use existed on January 2, 1945, the day the zoning law of Baltimore County first became effective.

North Baltimore acquired the property from Govans Beagle Club, Inc. in August 1948. Govans had bought it from John and Ida Baublitz in December 1946. The only witness for North Baltimore who came even close to tes ²⁶⁷ timony that would support a finding that there was regular shooting on the property prior to January 2, 1945 (other than an occasional hunter or an occasional shot over the beagles that Go vans trained and ran) was Lee Bishop, who testified that Govans used the land for two years prior to December 1946 “to run dogs,” “very seldom” “shooting over [the] dogs, to keep them from being gun-shy,” and at times in 1945 and 1946 using a hand trap for trap shooting. On cross he was asked whether there had been shooting prior to 1945 and 1946.

He replied: “Only in hunting. I have hunted through there with Mr. Stallknecht, but I can’t tell you the exact dates of when it was. * * * We run beagles according to the American Kennel Club, and try to make champions out of them. The only shooting we do, the shooting over gun dogs, to keep them from being gun-shy.” The protestants produced a number of witnesses who had lived nearby continuously before and after 1945, including Mrs. Matthews, a daughter of the Baublitzes who lived on the land in 1945,