Opinion ID: 1467748
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Comprehensive Rezoning

Text: Having established that the Department may intervene and raise the validity of the local zoning ordinance, we next review the ordinance itself. The Department argues that § 1-19-67 of the Frederick County Code is invalid because it conflicts with the State enabling law, Md.Code (1957, 1983 Repl.Vol.), Art. 66B, § 4.05(a), and the precedents established by this Court in interpreting that law. Section 1-19-67 was enacted in 1977 at the same time that the Commission repealed and re-enacted the zoning ordinances for the entire county. The repeal and re-enactment has been characterized by Cardon as a zoning map update and by the Department as a comprehensive rezoning. Section 1-19-67 states that change must be measured from 1959. See footnote 2 of this opinion. By its express language, then, the Frederick County Code did not limit the Commissioners to considering change or mistake only from 1977, the date of the new zoning ordinance. The State enabling law, § 4.05(a), states in relevant part: Where the purpose and effect of the proposed amendment is to change the zoning classification, the local legislative body shall make findings of fact in each specific case including, but not limited to, the following matters: population change, availability of public facilities, present and future transportation patterns, compatability with existing and proposed development for the area, the recommendation of the planning commission, and the relationship of such proposed amendment to the jurisdiction's plan; and may grant the amendment based upon a finding that there was a substantial change in the character of the neighborhood where the property is located or that there was a mistake in the existing zoning classification. [Emphasis added.] We have held that the change or mistake rule, codified at § 4.05(a), means that a strong presumption of correctness attaches to original zoning and to comprehensive rezoning. See, e.g., Mayor of Rockville v. Henley, 268 Md. 469, 302 A.2d 45 (1973); Chevy Chase Village v. Montgomery County, 258 Md. 27, 264 A.2d 861 (1970). [5] The question, then, is whether the 1977 action was a comprehensive rezoning to which a strong presumption of correctness would normally attach. In determining this issue, we turn to a recent opinion written for the Court by the late Judge Davidson, and relied upon below by Judge Bishop. In Mraz v. County Comm'rs, 291 Md. 81, 88-89, 433 A.2d 771, 776 (1981), Judge Davidson listed the criteria for comprehensive rezoning: The indicia of `comprehensiveness' in zoning are well established. A comprehensive zoning or rezoning must be well thought out, the product of careful consideration and extensive study, and based upon considerations concerning the common needs of the particular area. It must be designed to control and direct the use of land and buildings according to present and planned future conditions, to accomplish as far as possible the most appropriate uses of land consistent with the public interest and the safeguarding of the interests of the individual property owners. Other characteristics of comprehensiveness may be found in the fact that the zoning or rezoning applies to or covers a substantial or wide geographical area, that it regulates all uses, and that it covers all of the usual factors of land utilization: height, area and use. The fact that few changes in zoning are made does not affect the comprehensive nature of the zoning or rezoning. Montgomery County v. Woodward & Lothrop, Inc., 280 Md. 686, 702, 707, 376 A.2d 483, 492-93, 495 (1977), cert. denied sub nom. Funger v. Montgomery County, 434 U.S. 1067, 98 S.Ct. 1245 [, 55 L.Ed.2d 769] (1978). Applying the indicia in Mraz to the language of the Commission in its enacting legislation, [6] it is clear that the 1977 rezoning is comprehensive. The enacting legislation states that the ordinance is the result of over one year of studies, workshops and public hearings. These hearings and workshops were open to all citizens and were conducted in the smaller regional planning areas of the county. Following that action, approximately fourteen more public hearings were held. [7] Thus the new zoning ordinance was well thought out, carefully considered, and extensively studied. In addition, the common needs of a particular area were presumably addressed by the regional hearings and workshops. The Commissioners expressly stated that in the Conservation District (approximately 25% of the county's land), [n]ew provisions for commercial and industrial zones have also been added to reflect the present and future needs of the County for these type uses [emphasis added]. This, we believe, corresponds to another Mraz criterion: the control and direction of the use of land and buildings according to present and planned future conditions. Intertwined with control is the issue of whether the use of the land is most appropriate to the public interest. The Commissioners showed particular concern for the public interest in their efforts to check the expanding urban sprawl. They stated their fears succinctly: [T]he County map and landscape have been dotted with ... subdivisions, too many being placed in areas where the public works, utilities, and service amenities do not exist to provide needed facilities to the citizens. This has resulted in what has been termed `urban sprawl'. These developments, tenuously served by wells and septic tanks, on unpaved roads, where schools, fire, police, library, parks and other public facilities are not readily available, have placed a demand on the County tax base to provide these services which cannot economically and efficiently be provided under the previous zoning circumstances, and require a change which is provided in this Ordinance. Accordingly, the Commissioners enacted § 40-62 of the Frederick County Code to regulate growth of subdivisions in Frederick County; in so doing, the Commissioners controlled the use of land in a manner most appropriate to the public interest. Comprehensive zoning may in part be discerned from the amount of land the zoning ordinance encompasses. Here it is clear that the 1977 legislation encompassed the entire county. That it regulates all uses and covers the usual factors of height, area and use is clear from Sections 40-61.A and .B, which list all the possible uses of land in the county, from antique shops to zoological gardens. Presumably, height, area and use are taken into account in the development of these regulations. Therefore, we hold that the 1977 zoning ordinance enacted by the County Commissioners of Frederick County is a comprehensive rezoning, and accordingly § 1-19-67 of the Frederick County Code is invalid.