In a case of first impression in Maryland, the Court of Appeals of Maryland recently held in Waterman Family Limited Partnership v. Boomer, 456 Md. 330, 173 A.3d 1069 (2017) that a newly elected Board of County Commissioners (“BCC”) has the common-law authority to rescind the decision of an outgoing BCC’s approval of a rezoning project.
The case arose out of the Town of Queenstown (the “Town”) in Queen Anne’s County (the “County”), on the eastern shore of Maryland when the Waterman family asked the Town to annex some farm land it owned in the County into the Town. The family proposed to develop the farm land for other uses.
Under the general laws conferred upon municipalities in Maryland, a town or municipality has the authority to enlarge its municipal boundaries by annexing or adding land which is contiguous to its boundaries. There is a constraint on that power; however, in that the State delays for a five (5) year period the rezoning of the newly annexed land for a use that is “substantially different” from that use allowed by the land under its prior county zoning classification. That 5 year limitation may be waived by the county; however, in which case the rezoning can occur immediately.
In this case, timing was the most important factor, as the annexation previously approved by the Town was granted a waiver of the 5 year zoning delay by the BCC of the County just two weeks prior to the end of their term in office. However, a mere two weeks later, the newly installed BCC rescinded that approval, thus imposing the five (5) year delay on the rezoning of the annexed property. The Waterman family and the Town took legal action, which the County opposed.
The Waterman Family raised a question of first impression in Maryland. Specifically, may a county rescind its approval of a municipality’s rezoning of annexed land? The Circuit Court for Queen Anne’s County decided that the County did not possess that authority. On appeal, the Court of Special Appeals reversed the lower court’s decision and held that the County did possess the authority to rescind the approval of the rezoning project. The Waterman Family decided to appeal and let the State’s highest court decide the novel question.
On further appeal, the Court of Appeals affirmed the intermediate court’s decision and held that the County had authority under common law to rescind the action assenting to the rezoning before any rights vested in that zoning classification. Consistent with that common law authority the Court further held that the Maryland Constitution would permit a code home rule county like Queen Anne’s County to repeal a public local law. The case was remanded to the Circuit Court of Queen Anne’s County for an entry of declaratory judgment consistent with the Court of Appeal’s holding. As a result of the Court’s decision, therefore, the new zoning classification of the land will not become effective until passage of the general five (5) year waiting period after the annexation.
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