Finney v. Halle

216 A.2d 530, 241 Md. 224, 1966 Md. LEXIS 710
CourtCourt of Appeals of Maryland
DecidedFebruary 2, 1966
Docket[No. 466, September Term, 1964.]
StatusPublished
Cited by26 cases

This text of 216 A.2d 530 (Finney v. Halle) 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
Finney v. Halle, 216 A.2d 530, 241 Md. 224, 1966 Md. LEXIS 710 (Md. 1966).

Opinions

Barnes, J.,

delivered the majority opinion of the Court. Hammond, J., dissents. Dissenting opinion at page 242, infra.

The appeal and cross-appeal in this case are from an order passed on December 22, 1964 by Judge Turnbull in the Circuit Court for Baltimore County in which that Court affirmed an order of the County Board of Appeals of Baltimore County (Board), dated June 11, 1964 granting a reclassification of 49.672 acres of land owned by Milton L. Halle and wife, the appellees and cross-appellants, located at the northwest quadrant of the Baltimore 'County Beltway (Beltway) and! Park Heights Avenue from R-20 (residence, one family, 20,000 square foot lot) and R-40 (residence, one family, 40,000 square foot lot), to R-A (residence-apartment) but reversed the [227]*227Board’s order granting a special exception for elevator apartment buildings. George G. Finney, fourteen other individuals and two improvement associations, are the appellants and crossappellees. The individuals are apparently the owners of nearby land and aggrieved by the portion of the order of the Circuit Court affirming the Board’s approval of the reclassification. No question was raised below or in this Court in regard to their status to take and prosecute this appeal from that portion of the Circuit Court’s order. The appellees have filed a cross-appeal from that portion of the order of the Circuit Court reversing the Board’s granting of the special exception.

The property of Mr. and Mrs. Halle, which is the subject matter of the zoning reclassification involved in this case, consists of 49.672 acres of land bounded on the north by Hooks Lane (a part of which is a paper road), on the south by the Beltway, on the east by Park Heights Avenue and on the west by the rear yards of houses on Reservoir Road. This property (the subject property or the Halle property) was purchased by Mr. and Mrs. Halle in 1942 as a part of a larger tract with additional land purchased by the Halles, consisted of approximately 69 acres, known as the Pillbox Farm. The Pillbox Farm when purchased by the Halles was improved by a substantial 140 year old fieldstone residence, tenant house and barn. The Pillbox Farm had no frontage on Park Heights Avenue and the only means of access to it by public road was by means of Hooks Lane, westwardly to Reisterstown Road. Hooks Lane had a varying paving width of from 9 to 14 feet on a right of way of from 20 to 30 feet. The portion of Hooks Lane from the Pillbox Farm eastwardly to Park Heights Avenue had never been paved or maintained as a road, and although it was passable and infrequently used during the early years of the Halle occupancy, ultimately fell into disuse, became overgrown and impassable.

The comprehensive zoning map for this area was adopted on January 16, 1957. At the time of the adoption of this map, the Pillbox Farm property was bounded on the south by the Druid Ridge Cemetery, on the east by a parcel of land owned by Over-brook Development Company, a subsidiary corporation of the cemetery corporation and used for nursery stock and sales, on [228]*228the west by the municipally owned Pikesville Reservoir and the rear yards of houses on Reservoir Road and on the north (for the substantial part of the northern boundary) by the unpaved portion of Hooks Lane already mentioned and which had become impassable. A rectangular 2 acre parcel on the northern boundary toward the west had been used by Mr. Halle to build a home for his son. This 2 acre tract was later sold to a Dr. Weinburg, reducing the acreage of the Pillbox Farm to approximately 67 acres. North of Hooks Lane the land consisted mainly of farms and large acreage estates. To the east of Park Heights Avenue across from the Overbrook Development Company then used for the nursery business, was a tract of land owned by a Mrs. Barton which was improved by large English Manor type buildings which with the adjoining pastures, were occupied by the Baltimore Humane Society. To the south of the Baltimore Humane Society property and east of Park Heights Avenue was a parcel of land which had an extensive road frontage and was occupied by the radio towers of Station WCAO. The comprehensive zoning map did not show the Beltway even as possibly proposed. The Baltimore County authorities knew that the Beltway was to be located in this general area but the plans and design of the interchanges of Stevenson Road and Park Heights Avenue with the Beltway were not approved until April 15, 1959 or more than two years after the promulgation of the comprehensive zoning map.

After the plans for the Beltway were finally approved, the State Roads Commission of Maryland in December, 1961 instituted condemnation proceedings to acquire title to that portion of the Pillbox Farm required for the construction of the Beltway. The land necessary for the construction of the Beltway split the Pillbox Farm substantially in two parts, leaving the Halles with only 35 or 36 acres to the north of the Beltway. The taking completely destroyed the house, the tenant house, the barn and several other out buildings. It left, without access, the land of the farm lying to the south of the Beltway which was also taken by the State Roads Commission.

Prior to the construction of the Beltway, it was physically possible to have provided a sewer for the Pillbox Farm by running a sewer extension out to Park Heights Avenue, approxi[229]*229mately 1600 feet southerly to an existing sewer, but after the construction of the Beltway and the bridging of Park Heights Avenue over the Beltway it was no longer physically practicable to run sewers down Park Heights Avenue because of the new bridge. At the time of the construction of the Beltway, a sleeve (an 8 inch pipe) for a sanitary sewer crossing was installed under the Beltway for a distance of approximately one-third of the length of the Halle property running westwardly from Park Heights Avenue.

Inasmuch as it was impossible to provide sewer facilities for the Halle property after the construction of the Beltway and the Park Heights Avenue bridge over it, Mr. and Mrs. Halle acquired a right of way through the Druid Ridge Cemetery property lying to the south of the Beltway. This right of way was acquired by two conveyances—one in August 1963, the other in March 1964—the last one being through the parcel of land which the State Roads Commission had taken from Mr. and Mrs. Halle and conveyed to the Druid Ridge Cemetery Company. This parcel of land had theretofore been used for nursery purposes. The cost of this parcel and the cost of acquiring the right of way amounted in the aggregate to $134,000.00

Hooks Lane, the northern boundary of the subject property, is in the approximate location of the top of the water shed or the divide for natural drainage purposes, the water flowing naturally by gravity to the south for the area south of Hooks Lane toward Moores Run and flowing naturally by gravity to the north for the area north of Hooks Lane toward Jones Falls.

At the time of the adoption of the comprehensive zoning map in January 1957, the public water supply in the general area was inadequate to such an extent that it was necessary to restrict construction in the area as late as 1961. In 1962, however, these building restrictions were lifted because of a number of changes in the water system, including a new 36 inch water main which extended through the reservoir, down Hooks Lane and back to Reisterstown Road at Hooks Lane. All of the work involved some 23,000 feet of line and cost approximately $1,250,000.

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Bluebook (online)
216 A.2d 530, 241 Md. 224, 1966 Md. LEXIS 710, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/finney-v-halle-md-1966.