Opinion ID: 1968992
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: issue of mistake in original zoning

Text: The appellee is most emphatic that we are not here presented with a reargument of the 1965 case of MacDonald v. Board of County Commissioners of Prince George's County, supra, however, if this case is not an instant replay of MacDonald, it is at least MacDonald revisited. In the instant case the District Council, properly addressing itself to the application of the test of mistake or change to the facts at hand and by a vote of 4 to 1 found neither mistake in the original zoning nor substantial change in the character of the neighborhood, either of which is necessary to support a rezoning amendment to an existing comprehensive plan. Messenger v. Board of County Commissioners, 259 Md. 693, 703, 271 A.2d 166 (1970); Chapman v. Montgomery County, 259 Md. 641, 645, 271 A.2d 156 (1970); Chevy Chase Village v. Montgomery County, 258 Md. 27, 39, 264 A.2d 861 (1970); Montgomery v. Board of Com'rs, 256 Md. 597, 601, 261 A.2d 447 (1970); Wells v. Pierpont, 253 Md. 554, 557, 253 A.2d 749 (1969). The record is not as replete as one might desire regarding evidence bearing on the issue of mistake in the comprehensive zoning, perhaps for the very logical reason that in the court below the appellee abandoned its contention that there had been a mistake in the original zoning. Nonetheless, the lower court deemed it incumbent upon it to make the issue of mistake an integral part of its opinion. It is likewise of interest to note that in MacDonald, supra, a case in which the same property was the subject of an attempt at rezoning from R-R to R-H, the applicants also failed to challenge the correctness of the original zoning of 1957. See MacDonald at p. 553. The lower court in the present case, summarizing its conclusions, characterized the original zoning of the property as it appears on the 1957 comprehensive map as: [N]ot the result of a plan, study or the application of any attention or expertise to the property or its immediate area. It was a pragmatic solution to a pressing problem. The action of the Council in directing deletion of the high density zone from this property from a plan which was made after careful study, public hearings and the application of qualified, objective expertise was a mistake and was arbitrary and capricious as a matter of law when unsupported by a valid reason. It must be immediately noted that the lower court was in error in its implication or statement that the District Council had directed the deletion of a high density classification for this property from the original comprehensive zoning map of 1957. The deletion which the District Council made of the proposed high density zoning for this property was from the master plan for the South Potomac Sector, which was proposed in November of 1965 and adopted on November 1, 1967. In fact, the action of the District Council in deleting this high density zone, contrary to the recommendations of the Planning Commission, was the subject of the equity suit in 1968, Prestwick v. Board of County Commissioners, previously mentioned. It is relevant to note that it is within the discretionary powers of the District Council to disapprove any master plan submitted by the National Park and Planning Commission. Section 59-68(e), Code of Public Local Laws of Prince George's County, 1963 Ed. (1967 Supp.) This Court has on other occasions emphasized the need of not confusing a master plan proposed or adopted for a certain area with that of a comprehensive zoning plan, as the lower court has done in this instance. Chapman v. Montgomery Council, supra, at 644; and Board of County Com'rs for Prince George's County v. Edmonds, 240 Md. 680, 684, 215 A.2d 209 (1965). However, out of fairness, we must comment that the lower court elsewhere in its opinion did refer, by indirection, to the 1957 comprehensive zoning map and noted that upon the enactment of Chapter 698 of the Laws of 1957, whereby the subject property and thousands of other acres came under the jurisdiction of the Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commission, it became necessary to establish a comprehensive zoning plan between the date of the enactment of Chapter 698 on April 10, 1957, and its effective date of June 1, 1957. The court further stated: No comprehensive study or considered plan was possible. To meet this situation and to establish zoning control, the entire area was zoned R-R. Thus the original zoning was not the result of study or planning applied to this specific property but was an expedient made necessary by limitations inherent in a situation created by the explosive growth of this entire Washington Suburban area. However, in point of fact, the comprehensive zoning for the subject property was not adopted until November 20, 1957, some 7 months after the passage of Chapter 698 and it is significant that the applicable law at that time required a public hearing to be held before the adoption of a comprehensive zoning plan. (Chapter 992 of the Laws of 1943). There is little in the record which would support the assumption of lack of study or planning made by the lower court. Indeed, from the record it appears that the comprehensive zoning map, Oxon Sheets 1, 2, 3 and 4, shows substantial zoning for each classification as originally adopted. In the course of testimony in the present litigation Mr. William R. Busbey, a representative of the Park and Planning Commission, although called as a witness for the petitioners for rezoning, testified as follows: Q. Would it be fair to say that you felt that the 1957 zoning map did not provide for the population explosion that came about in this area? A. It had the capacity to accommodate the residential development, I think it would handle the population, the numbers of population. This again, is a matter of opinion. We felt that it did not recognize the needs of a broad population, with different desires and economic abilities to acquire different types of houses. Again this is a personal feeling, but the zoning map at that time could accommodate the population we anticipated. Again, the cross-examination of Mr. James E. Redmond, also a Park and Planning representative, reveals that as late as 1963, the Technical Staff and the Planning Board were disposed to uphold the R-R zoning of the subject property with regard to denying an application for an apartment project, as may be seen from the following colloquy: Q. With regard to the recommendations of the Technical Staff and the Planning Board on the apartment project in Tantallon on the Potomac, what were their recommendations in 1962 and 1963? A. The recommendations of the staff in all three of the applications were for denial. Indeed, it would appear that the testimony of these two witnesses, without more, would be sufficient evidence to render the question of mistake in original zoning at least fairly debatable and thus require the court to accept the findings of the District Council on that issue. Kirkman v. Montgomery County, 251 Md. 273, 277, 247 A.2d 255 (1968); Agneslane Inc. v. Lucas, 247 Md. 612, 618, 619, 620, 233 A.2d 757 (1967); Ward v. Oak Hill Farms, Inc., 232 Md. 274, 283, 192 A.2d 761 (1963); County Council for Montgomery County v. Gendleman, 227 Md. 491, 498, 177 A.2d 687, 690 (1962). We also find relevant the language of Wakefield v. Kraft, 202 Md. 136, 151, 96 A.2d 27 (1953), wherein we stated: There was substantial evidence to sustain the County Commissioners; whether that evidence was to be relied on, what inferences were to be drawn from it, and whether those which the Commissioners drew were right or wrong, is of no proper concern to a Court. And, as Judge Singley pointed out, writing for the Court in Kirkman, supra, at p. 277: The `substantial evidence' test has been further defined and refined in later cases, including Board v. Oak Hill Farms, 232 Md. 274 [192 A.2d 761 (1963)], and Snowden v. City of Baltimore, 224 Md. 443, [168 A.2d 390 (1961)]. `Substantial evidence' is held to be `more than a scintilla' and such evidence `as a reasonable mind might accept as adequate to support a conclusion' and `enough to justify, if the trial were to a jury, a refusal to direct a verdict.' Board v. Oak Hill Farms, supra . In holding that the lower court erred in finding a mistake in the comprehensive zoning of plan 1957, we are mindful of the oft repeated admonition by this Court of the strong presumption of the correctness of original zoning. Helfrich v. Mongelli, 248 Md. 498, 237 A.2d 454 (1968), cases cited therein at p. 502, footnote 1.