Opinion ID: 2442854
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The Shore Lands Property

Text: The second parcel of land at issue in this case, consisting of seventy-nine acres of undeveloped land, is owned by Shore Lands, LLC, and is located in the Town of Easton. The Shore Lands property is classified W-2/S-2 in the Plan. (The additional W-2 designation on the Shore Lands property applies to water service, as opposed to S-2, applicable to sewer service; water and sewer services follow the same priority schedule.) On January 19, 2006, Shore Lands applied to Talbot County to designate the Shore Lands property as W-1/S-1 under the Plan. On September 25, 2007, the Council introduced Resolution No. 146 to classify the Shore Lands property as W-1/S-1, with a public hearing scheduled for November 27, 2007. The Town of Easton opposed the reclassification at the hearing. In 2004, Easton had received loans and grants from the State of Maryland in order to effect an upgrade of the Town's sewer treatment plant. As part of that agreement, Easton represented that certain land within its borders, including the Shore Lands property, would only be developed according to the terms of the State's Smart Growth Law, which sets habitation density standards (in this case, a minimum of 3.5 dwellings per acre) for areas designated for development. The Shore Lands property, as zoned (Agricultural, or A-1), required a lesser habitation density (a maximum of 1.0 dwellings per acre). Easton claimed that the Shore Lands property was included in its agreement with the State only through an error on the part of the MDE, and that the Town was working with the MDE to correct the error. Nonetheless, Easton was concerned that classifying the Shore Lands property as W-1/S-1 would allow for immediate development of the land at less than the State's minimum habitation density requirements, thereby jeopardizing Easton's funding agreement with the State. The Council adopted findings of fact pertaining to the Shore Lands property on December 18, 2007, and based on those findings, voted 4-1 to reject Resolution No. 146. In response, Shore Lands filed a Complaint for Writ of Administrative Mandamus in the Circuit Court for Talbot County, seeking review of the Council's decision to deny re-designation [6] . The Circuit Court, in a memorandum opinion issued September 26, 2008, dismissed the petition for mandamus. The court cited its judgment in the Miles Point case in ruling that Shore Lands had failed to exhaust its administrative remedies before pursuing a writ of mandamus, and that the proper mechanism to review the Council's ruling initially was an appeal to the Talbot County Board of Appeals. On October 24, 2008, Talbot County timely appealed the Circuit Court's decision to the Court of Special Appeals, arguing that the Board lacked jurisdiction to hear an appeal from the Board's decision, and that invoking the original jurisdiction of the Circuit Court was the proper procedure.