Harris v. County Board of Appeals

Marbury, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. This case began when complaints were filed with the Baltimore County Zoning Department alleging violation of the Baltimore County Zoning Regulations by nine owners of prop ⁵⁵⁵ erty in the 2900 block of Cornwall Road, in the 12th Election District of Baltimore County. A hearing was held on August 13, 1965, before the zoning commissioner, who, in an order dated Otcober 1, 1965, found that the 1945 zoning regulations were applicable and that under those regulations the property was zoned D Residence (group houses) and ordered that after sixty days from the date of the order no more than two families may reside in the subject properties. From this order, the appellants appealed to the County Board of Zoning Appeals which found that the address units were not “a detached building” and therefore not apartment houses.

The appellants then appealed to the Circuit Court for Baltimore County where Judge Raine affirmed the Board, stating that “the Court here affirms the Board for the very reasons set forth by Mr. Rose [Zoning Commissioner] and the Zoning Board * * An appeal was taken to this Court following a judgment entered on June 1, 1967, affirming the Board of Appeals. The properties owned by the appellants are two-story buildings each containing from five to seven address units. Each of these units is separately owned and is separated from the other units by a fire wall, and each has its own entrance. Each individual unit has its own heating system and its own basement, and each unit connects to a common sewerage system.

As they are now used each unit contains three apartments, one on each of the two floors and another in the basement. It is conceded that this use was begun after the 1945 regulations took effect and before the regulations of 1955 became effective. The appellants’ case rests on the assertion that the present use was legal under the 1945 regulations and is therefore a legal non-conforming use. They concede that under the 1955 regulations the present use would be illegal except that it had become a non-conforming use prior to the adoption of the 1955 zoning regulations.

The lower