Boitnott v. Mayor of Baltimore

738 A.2d 881, 356 Md. 226, 1999 Md. LEXIS 588
CourtCourt of Appeals of Maryland
DecidedOctober 8, 1999
Docket18, Sept. Term, 1999
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 738 A.2d 881 (Boitnott v. Mayor of Baltimore) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Maryland primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Boitnott v. Mayor of Baltimore, 738 A.2d 881, 356 Md. 226, 1999 Md. LEXIS 588 (Md. 1999).

Opinion

BELL, Chief Judge.

The issue presented for the Court’s consideration is the validity of Baltimore City Ordinance 97-231, amending Inner Harbor East’s urban renewal plan. We shall hold that the ordinance is valid.

I.

On November 19, 1971, by Ordinance 71-1188, the City of Baltimore (“City”), through the Mayor and City Council, designated Inner Harbor East, a 20 acre tract south of Little Italy and lying between Fells Point and the Inner Harbor, as an urban renewal area, for which it approved an urban renewal plan. 1

Among the objectives of the plan were the elimination of unhealthy conditions and uses incompatible with mixed land use, removal of substandard buildings, provision of land for public improvements and expansion, improvement of traffic movement by redesigning existing streets, stimulation of economic activity, development of an urban residential community, and ability to take advantage of the closeness to the Inner *230 Harbor by such things as pedestrian connections. The major tasks to be undertaken in line with the objectives were rehabilitation and/or redevelopment, acquisition of substandard structures, and public improvements such as utilities, open space development, pedestrian and vehicular elements, and parking and street fixtures. Limits were also placed on the development: parking had to be enclosed in structures away from public view, servicing had to be offstreet, access had to be open to pedestrians, and to a certain extent, vehicles. In 1990, after several years of study, the urban renewal plan was amended by Ordinance 492. That amendment was the fifth such amendment.

As amended, the plan contemplated a mixed use neighborhood, predominantly residential and of moderate density. Its major design principles were summarized as follows: mixed-use development, with active edges along the water; extension of existing streets to the water’s edge; smaller architecture at the water’s edge with larger buildings placed further from the water; emphasis on public spaces; market-driven residential buildings with complementary aesthetics; and use of familiar Baltimore material and building types. The plan also provided that future development would include a combination of commercial, hotel, and office uses; creation of a park in the center of the tract, with buildings subject to height limitations, mandates for efficient traffic movement, and a restriction on the height of the buildings along the waterfront and in the center of the tract. The plan called for building heights along the waterfront of no more than 110, and a maximum of 350 hotel rooms.

On December 17, 1997, the City passed Ordinance 97-229, titled “Zoning—Business Planned Development Baltimore Inner Harbor East,” a zoning ordinance that approved the application of Harbor East Limited Partnership (HELP) to build a hotel in the urban development area. The zoning ordinance provided for a minimum of 600 parking spaces and 750 hotel rooms and for certain accessories to the hotel, such as a meeting hall and banquet facilities, taverns, and restaurants. See Ordinance 97-229 § 3(a). It further established *231 that the “height of the building on the Property may not exceed 430 feet, the base of the building may not exceed 111 feet, and the floor area ratio requirement for the building shall be 7.0.” See Ordinance 97-229, § 5. The ordinance also provided for the change of the location of the hotel on the five acre site. 2

The following day, the Mayor of Baltimore approved Ordinance 97-231, thus amending the urban renewal plan for the seventh time. By that amendment, it was intended that the plan “incorporate by reference the provisions of the Baltimore Inner Harbor East Business Planned Development 3 as approved by the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore, as those provisions apply to certain portions of the Urban Renewal *232 Area; to incorporate by reference provisions of any future Planned Developments within the Urban Renewal Area ...” Ord. 97-231, Recitals. In other words, the plan was amended to conform with the zoning classifications adopted in Ordinance 97-229.

Several taxpayers, Carolyn Boitnott, Nelson H. and Lily Adlin, and Aubrey Pearre, IV, the petitioners, filed, in the Circuit Court for Baltimore City, a Complaint For Declaratory Relief, Motion For Interlocutory Injunction against the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore, as one of the respondents, seeking to invalidate Ordinance 97-231. The other two respondents, HELP and Robert Marsili, moved to intervene as party defendants, which motions were granted. Having withstood a challenge by the respondents to their standing, 4 the petitioners filed an amended complaint, which, in addition to restating the grounds earlier advanced for invalidating the Ordinance, added counts and relied on changes to the proposed development made and announced after the adoption of Ordinance 97-231, as further bases for invalidation. The changes which the petitioners referenced and on which they now rely on appeal include: a change in the ownership of the land on which the hotel and garage are to be built from private ownership, as in the urban renewal plan, to public ownership, 5 reduction of the height of the building by 80 feet, *233 change in the layout and configuration of the hotel to remove the garage from the hotel structure and the retention of the present routing of President Street. 6

Following the filing of motions to dismiss, or in the alternative, for summary judgment by the respondents, the circuit court declared that Ordinance 97-231 is valid, finding “no merit in Plaintiffs arguments attacking the validity of Ordinance 97-231.” 7

*234 In any event, “Maryland has ‘gone rather far in sustaining the standing of taxpayers to challenge ... alleged illegal and ultra vires actions of public officials.’ ” Inlet Associates v. Assateague House Condominium Ass’n, 313 Md. 413, 441, 545 A.2d 1296, 1310 (1988), quoting Thomas v, Howard County, 261 Md. 422, 432, 276 A.2d 49, 54 (1971). The taxpayer plaintiff need not allege facts which necessarily lead to the conclusion that taxes will be increased; rather, the question is whether the taxpayer “reasonably may sustain a pecuniary loss or a tax increase ... whether there has been a showing of potential pecuniary damage.” Citizens Planning and Housing, 273 Md. 333, 344, 329 A.2d 681, 687 (1974). (citations omitted). See also Castle Farms Dairy Stores, Inc. v. Lexington Market Authority, 193 Md. 472, 67 A.2d 490 (1949).

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Bluebook (online)
738 A.2d 881, 356 Md. 226, 1999 Md. LEXIS 588, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/boitnott-v-mayor-of-baltimore-md-1999.