Opinion ID: 2337532
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Second Appeal in regard to the 21.7637 acre Tract

Text: In addition to the appeal previously discussed, involving Application E-177, filed November 30, 1964, in regard to the 2. 7953 acres of land, the appellants, who had purchased the 2.7953 acre tract, filed Application E-530 on November 23, 1965, to rezone a tract of 21.7637 acres of land (the tract), located at the southeast corner of the intersection of Interstate Highway 70-S (U.S. 240) and Old Georgetown Road from the existing R-90 zone to the R-H zone. The tract is the undeveloped land lying to the east and north of the 2.7953 acres of land already above described. The tract varies in elevation, and is predominantly wooded, although the southeasterly portion of the tract along Yorkshire Terrace has been cleared and graded. In 1959 a preliminary plan of subdivision for the development of single-family houses was approved. To the east and south of the tract there is a substantial area developed with large, well-maintained brick single-family homes. The application was filed by the appellants on November 23, 1965. The Technical Staff filed its report on December 21, 1965, pointing out that the District Council on January 14, 1964, had denied a similar request for R-H zoning (Application C-1133)  which action was appealed to the Circuit Court and was still pending  and giving its reasons why it was of the opinion that Application E-530 should be disapproved. The Planning Board, with one member absent and with the chairman dissenting, followed the recommendation of the Technical Staff and recommended that Application E-530 be denied. Substantial testimony was taken at the hearing before the District Council on February 17, 1966, and a number of documentary exhibits were offered and received in evidence. William C. Dutton, Jr., a qualified planning expert, E.J. Dieudonne, Jr., the same real estate expert who testified at the hearings in regard to Application E-177 concerning the 2.7953 parcel, and Burton H. Sexton, who also testified in support of Application E-177, appeared at the hearing before the District Council and testified in support of the granting of Application E-530. Evidence was offered on behalf of the protesting residential property owners and on behalf of The Evening Star Broadcasting Company, owners of radio station WMAL. The District Council on April 26, 1966, filed its opinion and resolution to grant Application E-530, indicating its disagreement with the recommendation of the Technical Staff and Planning Board. The District Council was of the opinion that the potential traffic problem suggested by the Staff and the natural increase in traffic which would result from a change from R-90 to R-H zoning would be taken care of by the fact that the traffic would not exceed the design capacity of improved Old Georgetown Road and that the nearness of I-70-S, U.S. 270 and the Capital Beltway would provide ideal high-speed access which would tend to alleviate any severe traffic bottlenecks. The opinion of the District Council then stated: The required set backs and green space requirements of the R-H ordinance and the site plan approval vested in the Department of Inspection and Licenses by that ordinance will provide adequate protection of the surrounding single-family developments. An appeal from the resolution of the District Council to grant the application was duly taken to the Circuit Court by the same protesting property owners (except one) who had taken the appeal from the decision of the District Council in Application E-177, Law No. 17,831. By agreement of counsel, the testimony taken on the question of aggrievement in regard to Application E-177, Law No. 17,831 was made applicable to the appeal in regard to Application E-530, Law No. 19,294. The Circuit Court was of the opinion that its opinion in Law No. 17,831 holding that the appealing protesting property owners were parties aggrieved was equally applicable to the appeal in Law No. 19,294; that the prior action of the District Council in Application C-1133 on January 14, 1964, denying R-H zoning for the tract because such zoning was incompatible with the neighborhood, without any changes in the meantime (except the change in zone of the 2.7953 acre parcel in Application E-177, held invalid in Law No. 17,831) was binding on the District Council in Application E-530; and that a departure by the District Council from that prior ruling represented an impermissible change of mind by the District Council. By an order, also dated June 6, 1967, the Circuit Court reversed the action of the District Council of April 26, 1966, granting Application E-530. A timely appeal was taken to this Court by the applicants. The appeal in Law No. 19,294 and in Law No. 17,831 were joint appeals and were argued together, although separate briefs and record extracts for each appeal were filed in this Court. In our opinion, the same two questions involved in the appeal in Law No. 19,294 are the questions which were substantially presented in the appeal in Law No. 17,831 already considered above.