Tomlinson v. BKL York

Court of Special Appeals of Maryland·Decided October 7, 2014·No. 1533/13·Published

Opinion

REPORTED

IN THE COURT OF SPECIAL APPEALS OF MARYLAND

No. 1533

September Term, 2013

LISA TOMLINSON, ET AL.

v.

BKL YORK, LLC, ET AL.

Woodward, Wright, Berger,

JJ.

Opinion by Wright, J.

Filed: October 7, 2014

On September 13, 2013, the Circuit Court for Baltimore County issued a memorandum opinion and order affirming the decision of the Baltimore County Board of Appeals (“Board of Appeals”), which affirmed the decision of the Office of Administrative Hearings of Baltimore County (“OAH”), which ruled that appellees, BKL York I LLC, BKL York III LLC, Logwood LLC, Wawa Inc., and Monterey Improvement Association (collectively, “Developers”), were not required to obtain a County Council Resolution (“Resolution”) authorizing the amendment of their Planned Unit Development (“PUD”) plan. On September 30, 2013, appellants, Lisa Tomlinson and Douglas Miller (collectively, “appellants”), timely noted this appeal, asking us to determine whether Developers were required to seek a Resolution by the County Council authorizing the material amendment of the commercial PUD plan.

For the reasons that follow, we affirm the circuit court’s judgment and the OAH’s decision.

Facts

This appeal concerns 10111 York Road, a vacant lot located at the northeast corner of York Road and Halesworth Road in Cockeysville, Baltimore County, Maryland. At one point, this lot was zoned as “BR-IM”1 and was improved with a Shell Oil service 1

“BR-IM” is a zoning designation used in Baltimore County. Section 100.1 of the Baltimore County Zoning Regulations separates zones from districts with a zone defined as a “broad regulation of the use and manner of use of land.” A “BR” zone is defined as “Business, Major.” The same section states that districts are superimposed on zones and are “intended to provide greater refinement in land-use regulation.” An “IM” district is one for “Industrial, Major” use.

station. In 1989, Shell Oil sought a special exception2 to its zoning designation to add a food mart to the service station. On October 16, 1989, the Zoning Commissioner for Baltimore County (“Zoning Commissioner”) approved the special exception, allowing a food mart to be used with the then-existing service station.

Almost two decades later, the lot was purchased, and the fuel service station was razed in 2008 so that the purchaser could install a car dealership. On March 12, 2007, the Zoning Commissioner terminated the special exception, provided that the change would not occur until the Department of Permits and Development Management issued a permit granting a change in use for the property.

The lot is now a part of Anderson Hunt Valley, an automotive dealership that is located on the Anderson GM PUD (“GM PUD”). Developers now seek to amend the GM PUD to repurpose part of the site as a Wawa convenience store and gas station. All parties agree that this is a material amendment to the GM PUD. 2 As noted in Cadem v. Nanna, 243 Md. 536, 543 (1966),

The words “special exception” are well known in zoning law. They refer to a grant by the zoning administrative body pursuant to the existing provisions of the zoning law and subject to certain guides and standards, of a special use permitted under the provisions of the existing zoning law. See Heath v. Mayor and City Council of Baltimore, 187 Md. 296, 49 A.2d 799 (1946), see also Syosset Holding Corp. v. Schlimm, 15 Misc.2d 10, 159 N.Y.S.2d 88 (1956), modified 4 A.D.2d 766, 164 N.Y.S.2d 890 (1957);

Tullo v. Millburn Township, 54 N.J.Super. 483, 149 A.2d 620 (1959). See 2 Rathkopf, The Law of Zoning and Planning, ss 54-1 to 54-9. Rezoning or reclassification is, of course, a change in the existing zoning law itself, so far as the subject property is concerned. This type of change in the zoning law is governed by quite different provisions of law than those governing the granting of a special exception.

I. History of the GM PUD Originally, the GM PUD consisted of two separate PUDs. The first piece of the GM PUD was approved by a Hearing Officer on October 31, 2003, for the purpose of developing 10125 York Road into an automotive showroom and demonstration area for Hummer vehicles (“Hummer PUD”). The Hummer PUD was approved pursuant to Bill No. 47-1994 as PUD-C No. VII-796.3 The second piece of the GM PUD was originally approved for development of 10111 York Road as a Honda dealership (“Honda PUD”). A Hearing Officer approved the Honda PUD as PUD-C No. VIII-848, pursuant to Bill Nos. 19-2004 and 130-2005 on February 20, 2007.4 The lot that is the subject of this appeal is located within the original Honda PUD.

A. Combination and Consolidation of the Hummer PUD and Honda PUD and its First Amendment

After a downturn in the economy, Anderson Automotive sought to swap the locations of its GM dealership (located north of the Hummer PUD and Honda PUD) and Honda dealerships, and close its Hummer dealership because of a decrease in sales of certain automotive models. Part of the planned changes included a new addition to the 3

Approval of the Hummer PUD followed extensive review: a Concept Plan Conference was held on March 31, 2003; a Community Input Meeting was held on April 28, 2003; a Development Plan Conference was held on October 3, 2003; and an administrating hearing was held on October 30, 2003. 4

Like the Hummer PUD, the approval of the Honda PUD came after extensive review before the Hearing Officer’s decision: the County Council approved Resolution 64-06, authorizing the review of the Honda PUD by county agencies, on August 7, 2006; a Concept Plan Conference and Community Input Meeting were held; a presentation was made to the Planning Board; and the Planning Board held a public hearing on January 18, 2007.

dealership’s Hummer showroom, which would extend from the Hummer PUD into the Honda PUD. A portion of the Honda PUD would be reserved for “future development.” Anderson Automotive wanted to amend the Hummer PUD and Honda PUD to reflect these plans.

Developers submitted these changes as a “refinement,” or a non-material amendment, to the Hummer PUD and Honda PUD. The Director of Planning Development Management approved Anderson Automotive’s request on May 22, 2009. Eric Rockel (“Rockel”), President of the Greater Timonium Coordinating Council, appealed the Director’s decision to the Board of Appeals, challenging whether the refinement should be classified as a material amendment (and thus, subject to the procedure for material amendments). People’s Counsel for Baltimore County intervened in the dispute.

Following People’s Counsel’s intervention, Developers, Rockel, and People’s Counsel held informal discussions to resolve the dispute. As a result of the discussions, Developers agreed to re-term the refinement as a material amendment. The parties also agreed that Developers would file a Petition for Special Hearing regarding the amendment of both the Hummer PUD and Honda PUD.5 As a part of the now-material amendment, Developers wanted to combine and consolidate the Hummer PUD and Honda PUD. In order to pass the amendment, a 5

It appears that the parties came to this resolution among themselves, without any review by an Administrative Law Judge (“ALJ”) of whether this process was or was not legally sufficient. There is also no indication of what process would have governed review of the amendment had there been no agreement among the parties to this resolution.

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