Williams v. Skyline Development Corp.

288 A.2d 333, 265 Md. 130, 4 ERC (BNA) 1282, 1972 Md. LEXIS 935
CourtCourt of Appeals of Maryland
DecidedMarch 21, 1972
Docket[No. 240, September Term, 1971.]
StatusPublished
Cited by35 cases

This text of 288 A.2d 333 (Williams v. Skyline Development Corp.) 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
Williams v. Skyline Development Corp., 288 A.2d 333, 265 Md. 130, 4 ERC (BNA) 1282, 1972 Md. LEXIS 935 (Md. 1972).

Opinion

*132 Barnes, J.,

delivered the opinion of the Court.

The principal question in this interesting case is whether the Circuit Court for Worcester County, in Equity, (Travers, J.) erred in dismissing (with prejudice) on August 16, 1971, the original or “First” petition filed on December 19, 1969, by the appellants, Adrian H. Williams and others, members of the Board of Directors of Bayshore Condominium and Elharts, Inc., developer of the condominium in Ocean City, Maryland and the owner of several units in it, praying that the appellees, Skyline Development Corporation (Skyline) and Bay Shore Development Corporation (Bay Shore), be permanently enjoined from performing certain land-filling operations in Addition “E” of Bay Shore Estates in Isle of Wight Bay; that Skyline and Bay Shore be required to restore Isle of Wight Bay to its former condition by removing all bulkheading, pilings, and fill from the area in question; to pay damages the petitioners and appellants sustained because of Skyline’s interference with their rights to enjoy the waters of the Bay; to reimburse the petitioner for the cost of the suit; and for other and further relief.

The answer to the principal question depends largely upon the determination of (1) whether Skyline and Bay Shore could legally sever the riparian rights involved in the suit, reserving those rights to themselves, so as to allow them to fill in the bed of the Bay after the waterfront land had been conveyed away; (2) a proper construction of the provisions of a deed, dated July 8, 1967, from Skyline to Peter Paul Boinis — the predecessor in title of the petitioners — of Lots 270 through 276 in Block or Section “AA” on a plat entitled “Addition ‘A’ to Bay Shore Estates in Ocean City, Wor. Co., Maryland,” duly recorded among the Land Records of Worcester County on September 1, 1961; and, (3) whether the petitioners had sufficient notice of the contemplated landfill so as to preclude them from obtaining the relief sought.

The facts are complicated. It is difficult to understand *133 them without the aid of a plat of the various areas involved. We have supplied such a plat by reducing in size the “Master Plan” of Bay Shore Estates, Defendants’ Exhibit 2, on which we have added certain notations. The Reporter is directed to include this plat as part of our opinion in this case.

The original scale of the plat was 1 inch equalled 100 feet. The original exhibit has been reduced approximately 10 times so that the scale of the attached plat is approximately 1 inch equals 1,000 feet. Because of this substantial reduction, much of the writing on the original exhibit is so fine, that only the young with possibly better than 20-20 vision could read it. Accordingly, we have superimposed writing in larger letters to facilitate reading. The only additional material we have added to the original exhibit are the numbers of certain lots in Addition “A” together with the notation “Approximate Scale: 1" = 1,000'.”

It will be noted that north is indicated by the surveyor’s arrow. It will also be noted that there are five Additions, i.e., “A,” “B,” “C,” “D” and “E” marked on the plat. These Additions were marked as indicated in the original exhibit. The over-all area lies to the west of Ocean Highway, which is 125 feet wide, and between 26th Street and 32nd Street in Ocean City. All of the Additions except Addition “C” have been filled and the filling of Addition “C” had begun before the suit was filed. In Additions “B,” “D” and “E,” the plan of development took the form of the bulkheading and filling of “fingers” which project into lagoons and are connected by roads to the other land. Speaking generally, these “fingers” are from approximately 225 to 250 feet in width, and project into the lagoons from approximately 850 feet (Additions “B” and “D”) to approximately 500 to 600 feet (Addition “E”). The roads which connect the “fingers” to the other roads are uniformly 50 feet wide and contain a circle or turntable 100 feet in diameter. The lagoons between the “fingers” are approximately 90 feet wide; but to the north of the “fingers” in Additions “B,” “D” and *134 “E”, the lagoons vary from approximately 110 to 160 feet. The lagoon immediately adjacent to Lots 270, 271, 272, 273, 274, 275 and 276, upon which the Bayshore Condominium is erected, is 90 feet in width and approximately 500 feet long connecting with another lagoon, giving ultimate access to the Isle of Wight Bay. It will be observed, too, that the bulkheading and filling has occurred and is occurring in Addition “C” up to, but within, the applicable bulkhead limit lines.

The history of the development of the Bay Shore Estates area is important in this case.

In 1955, Cullen S. Jenkins and Katie C. Jenkins, his wife, owned the fast land and marsh along Ocean Highway and to the west of that highway. On November 9, 1955, George B. Cropper, a civil engineer, acting on behalf of the owners, applied to the District Engineer of the United States Engineers’ Office in Baltimore (Army Engineers) to obtain a permit for dredging and filling as shown on an attached map in the Isle of Wight Bay just north of the (then) city limits of Ocean City, the depth to be 7 feet at mean low water with an estimated 88,700 cubic yards of fill or “borrow” to be moved. An attached map shows an area to be filled on the west side of Ocean Highway between North 26th Street and 28th Street (if extended), approximately 750 feet wide and running west approximately 800 feet. The map indicates that the area to be filled is quite low. On the north side of the area to be filled, earth dikes were to be erected, and to the west, a timber bulkhead was to be built. Still farther to the west is an area approximately 400 feet by 900 feet, designated as “Proposed Borrow Area, 7' Deep.” Attached to the application of November 9, 1955, was a letter, dated February 3, 1956, from the Mayor and City Council of Ocean City, agreeing to the dredging, filling and bulkhead work outlined in the November, 1955, application. The Army Engineers, on February 10, 1956, granted the application, indicating that if the proposed work was not completed by December 31, 1959, the permit would become void thereafter and further that the *135 assent of the Federal Government was given only so far as it concerned the public rights of navigation. Cullen S. Jenkins and wife, by a deed dated April 16, 1956, and duly recorded, had conveyed to Skyline various lots including the filled area already mentioned above.

By a deed dated June 4, 1957, Cullen S. Jenkins and wife and Skyline (and the mortgagee corporation) conveyed to Bay Shore various lots both by plat reference, in some instances, and by metes and bounds description in others, all of them being a part of the property conveyed by the deed of April 16, 1956, to Skyline.

On August 28, 1957, Mr. Cropper filed an application to fill and erect bulkheads to the west of the fast land lying to the west of Ocean Highway and the area previously filled between North 26th and 28th Streets, showing various lagoons and six “fingers” as well as two borrow areas, all as shown on an attached map. Three of the six “fingers” on the attached map were located on the north side of a 150 foot lagoon and three were located on the south side of this lagoon.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Hobbs v. St. Martin
320 F. Supp. 3d 748 (D. Maryland, 2018)
Baltimore County v. AT & T CORP.
735 F. Supp. 2d 1063 (S.D. Indiana, 2010)
Olde Severna Park Improvement Ass'n v. Gunby
936 A.2d 365 (Court of Appeals of Maryland, 2007)
Gunby v. Olde Severna Park Improvement Ass'n
921 A.2d 292 (Court of Special Appeals of Maryland, 2007)
Beins v. Oden
843 A.2d 147 (Court of Special Appeals of Maryland, 2004)
Conrad/Dommel, LLC v. West Development Co.
815 A.2d 828 (Court of Special Appeals of Maryland, 2003)
Williams v. Hofmann Balancing Techniques, Ltd.
776 A.2d 4 (Court of Special Appeals of Maryland, 2001)
Frederick Road Ltd. Partnership v. Brown & Sturm
710 A.2d 298 (Court of Special Appeals of Maryland, 1998)
Doe v. American National Red Cross
923 F. Supp. 753 (D. Maryland, 1996)
Stoesser v. Shore Drive Partnership
494 N.W.2d 204 (Wisconsin Supreme Court, 1993)
Clay Properties, Inc. v. Washington Post Co.
604 A.2d 890 (District of Columbia Court of Appeals, 1992)
Watson v. Thibodeau
559 N.E.2d 1205 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1990)
Washington Post Co. v. Clay Properties, Inc.
573 A.2d 1227 (District of Columbia Court of Appeals, 1990)
Withington v. Derrick
572 A.2d 912 (Supreme Court of Vermont, 1990)
Laubach v. Franklin Square Hospital
556 A.2d 682 (Court of Special Appeals of Maryland, 1989)
De Nava v. Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
409 N.W.2d 151 (Court of Appeals of Wisconsin, 1987)
Herbert v. Whittle
517 A.2d 358 (Court of Special Appeals of Maryland, 1986)
Fireison v. Pearson
503 A.2d 1271 (District of Columbia Court of Appeals, 1986)
Rayne v. Coulbourne
500 A.2d 665 (Court of Special Appeals of Maryland, 1985)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
288 A.2d 333, 265 Md. 130, 4 ERC (BNA) 1282, 1972 Md. LEXIS 935, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/williams-v-skyline-development-corp-md-1972.