Prime Contractors, Inc. v. M. & C. C. of Baltimore

Marbury, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. The appellant, Prime Contractors, Inc., has appealed from an order of the Baltimore City Court affirming the decision of the Board of Municipal and Zoning Appeals of Baltimore City (Board) partially denying an application of the appellant for a special exception under the provisions of Ordinance No. 711, approved May 21, 1953, known as the Zoning Ordinance. The contention is made that the trial court (Cullen, J.) committed reversible error in not finding the decision of the Board to be arbitrary, capricious, illegal and discriminatory, as not based on substantial evidence, in denying a special exception to the appellant, pursuant to Section 32 of the Ordinance. On October 23, 1963, the appellant, as contract purchaser of premises No. 6017 Park Heights Avenue, Baltimore, filed its application with the Building Inspection Engineer of Baltimore City for authority to construct on the premises a nine story, fifty-one family apartment building, with forty-one underground and twenty-eight surface parking units.

The lot involved is situated at the intersection of the northeast side of Park Heights Avenue and the southeast side of Taney Road, in a Residential Use District, times Height District, E Area District. The ⁵⁷ property was improved by a one and one-half story, two-family dwelling, thirty-seven feet by forty-seven feet; and on the rear of the lot was a one-story, frame building, eight feet by twelve feet. Both buildings were to be razed. This application was denied by the Engineer because it violated Sections 24 and 25 of the Ordinance, and an appeal was taken by the appellant to the Board.

Under the provisions of these sections a lot area of 137,486.25 square feet is required for housing fifty-one families. The lot involved contained approximately 27,800 square feet, which is sufficient for the housing of ten families. Under the provisions of Section 32 of the Ordinance, entitled “Special Area Exceptions,” the Board may permit the construction of an apartment house with the maximum of eighty families per acre, or fifty-one families in this instance. On December 5, 1963, the Board, after an inspection of the premises and a hearing in the case, denied the application for fifty-one units and granted the applicant permission for the construction of thirty units, thirty-eight underground parking spaces, ten surface spaces and no parking on Park Heights Avenue.