Lee v. County Board of Appeals

Henderson, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. This appeal is from an order affirming a decision of the County Board of Appeals in a zoning case denying the appellants’ petition for reclassification of some 17 acres of land on Joppa Road east of Charles Street Avenue, from R-6 and R-20 to an R-A (residence, apartment) zone, with a special exception for an elevator apartment as to about 9 acres of the property. The action of the Board, as set out in its written opinion, was based on its findings that the appellant failed to prove that there had been a sufficient change in the character of the ⁴⁰ neighborhood to warrant a reclassification, and that the decision to zone the property R-6 and R-20, at the time of the adoption of the Ninth District Map on November 14, 1955, was correct. The Board further found that to rezone the southern portion zoned R-20 and fronting on Joppa Road would be “inconceivable,” since Joppa Road “is a narrow, winding country type road, rural in its character, carrying heavy school traffic and many school buses.” As to the northernmost portion, it found that the fact that property to the north, separated by a wooded ridge, had been rezoned R-A was not controlling (Cf.

Levy v. Seven Slade, Inc., 234 Md. 145 , 198 A. 2d 267, 272 ), and that the “subject tract is correctly zoned and could be properly developed under its present classification.” Since the Board found no occasion to reclassify, the special exception was obviously not in order. Without summarizing the evidence pro and con, including those portions reproduced in the transcript but not in the appendix to the appellants’ brief, we think it supports the findings of the Board. Mr. Dill, called as an expert by the appellants, admitted that the property could be developed in one acre lots, the prevailing pattern in the neighborhood, although he testified that a high