Lake Falls Ass'n v. Board of Zoning Appeals

Tucker, J., specially assigned, delivered the opinion of the Court. This appeal is from an order of the Circuit Court for Baltimore County which affirmed an order of the Zoning Board of Appeals of that county (Zoning Board) whereby the zoning classification of a lot of ground located at the northeast corner of Falls Road and Lake Avenue in the Ninth Election District of the county was changed from “A” Residential to “E” Commercial. Following the order of the Zoning Board, the appellants, Lake Falls Association and others who were opposed to the rezoning, applied to the Circuit Court for Baltimore County for a writ of certiorari directed to the said Board for the purpose of having its decision reviewed by the court. Thereupon, such a writ was issued, and upon petition of Aurora Federal Savings and Loan Association, which was owner of the property and proponent of the rezoning, it was permitted to intervene and file an ⁵⁶⁴ answer in the proceeding.

After a hearing in the matter, the court decided that the original zoning of the property was erroneous and it passed its order, dated September 16, 1955, affirming the action of the Zoning Board in its aforesaid reclassification. The appeal to this Court from that order was entered October 14, 1955. On March 30,1955, the County Commissioners of Baltimore County passed an order whereby the Zoning Regulations and Restrictions in effect as of that date were repealed and in place thereof new regulations for the county were adopted. However, it was not until November 8, 1955, which was subsequent to the appeal to this Court, that the County Commissioners approved and adopted a new Land Use Map for the Ninth Election District.

Thereon, the property involved in this case was zoned as “Business Local”. It was agreed by counsel at the argument before this Court that the uses that are permitted under “Business Local” are not the same as were permitted under “E” Commercial, and that the commercial uses under the former are more restricted than they were under the latter. The appellees have filed their motion to dismiss this appeal on the ground that the adoption of the new Land Use Map has caused the issues involved in the appeal to become moot. A similar situation existed in the case of Banner v. Home Sales Company D, 201 Md. 425 .

There, the County Commissioners of Anne Arundel County had rezoned a parcel of land from “Cottage Residential” to “Group Housing”, and opponents of that action filed a bill of complaint in the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County praying that the rezoning be declared unconstitutional, invalid and void. The Circuit Court held that the rezoning was valid and entered its decree dismissing the bill of complaint. There was an appeal from that decree, and while it was pending in this Court the property was classified again by the zoning authorities as “Cottage Residential”. Thereupon, the appellees filed a motion to dismiss the appeal on the ground that the matter had ⁵⁶⁵ become moot.

This Court, speaking through Judge Collins, said: “At the argument of this case in this Court it was admitted by all the parties that since the decree here appealed from was signed by the chancellor, the property here in dispute has been rezoned “Cottage Residential” by the zoning authorities. The case before us has therefore become moot. The zoning of the property here in question on December 2, 1947, as “Group Housing” has now been changed to “Cottage Residential”. The zoning contested in the case before this Court has been superseded by the zoning authorities.

As was said by Chief Judge Bond in the case of Public Service Commission v. Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company, 147 Md. 279, 281 , 128 A. 39 , the general rule is ‘that the court should confine itself to the particular relief sought in the case before it, and refrain from deciding abstract, moot questions of law, which may remain after that relief has ceased to be possible’.” In the Banner case the ultimate change in zoning of the property satisfied the purposes of the appellants, whereas, in the present case, it is assumed that the new Land Use Map does not satisfy the appellants. But, in both cases, the cause of action, i.e., the zoning classification that was the subject of litigation was extinguished by repeal. The basic reason for deciding that the matter was moot in the Banner case was: “The zoning contested in the case before this Court has been superseded by the zoning authorities.” For the same reason, we hold that the controversy in the pending case is moot. The appellants contend that this Court should decide the case because it involves questions of general public interest which may be raised again in the near future.

The fallacy of that contention lies in the fact that the questions relate to a particular lot of ground and that answers thereto would not have abstract application. ⁵⁶⁶ Moreover, the subject of the