Agenda - Planning Commission - 03/06/2008

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Zoning Bulletin rejected a bright-line rule that a five acre density was required for rural land. The court also found that the rezone had a substantial rela- tionship to the public health, safety or welfare. The court rejected Woods' argument that the BOCC should have rejected the rezone because there was a lack of available water on the Property. The court found that there was not conclusive evidence of a lack of wa- ter, but only a potential inadequacy. The court found that in ap- proving the rezone, the BOCC had addressed this potential inad- equacy. The court also noted that the BOCC had looked at the fact that the F & R zone permitted more intense conditional uses than did the R-3 zone. The court also concluded that substantial evidence supported the BOCC's decision to allow three acre density in the rezone. The court said that because adjacent properties also allowed a three acre density, it was not inappropriate to approve the same density for the Property. Finally, the court also concluded that substantial evidence sup- ported the BOCC's decision that the rezone was suitable for de- velopment in conformance with R-3 zonillg standards. The court rejected Woods' argument of unsuitability based on inadequate wa- ter and traffic capacity. The court noted that these concerns were pertinent only to an application for property development. In any case, the court said, the BOCC addressed these concerns with es- tablished mitigation measures. Rezone-Comprehensive-Landowner challenges city's rezoning of its property as violating state uniformity and city "identicality" requirements Citation: Anderson House, LLC v. Mayor and City Council of Rockville, 2008 WL 68962 (Md. 2008) Anderson House's property (the Property) was in the Town Cen- ter area of the City of Rockville. The Property was 32,670 square feet. The structure on the Property contained 3,600 square feet of floor area, with a foot print of 1,800 - square feet. The structure had been a private residence that was converted to a private office building, retaining its general appearance as a residence. The Property had been zoned Transitional Office (0-2). The 0- 2 zone was intended to provide a buffer between residential and commercial uses. To carry out the recommendations in the city's master plan, the city rezoned the Property to a Commercial Transi- - cion (C- T) . zone. The C- T zone required the structures in the zone 4 156 \ 'I J -) ) --