Agenda - Planning Commission - 11/09/1995

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Page 8 -- October 1995 Z.B. The district also included most of another county. The two methods of land use planning for the district were zoning and the mandatory referral process. Under zoning, the County Council had authority to adopt and amend the zoning ordi- nance. Under the mandatory referral process, proposals for certain public projects had to be referred to the Maryland-National Capital Park and Plan- ning Commission for nonbinding review. Without park commission approval, the Act prohibited public buildings or structures -- in the district. If the park commission disapproved a project, however, a local governmental body could overrule the disapproval. In 1990, the Pan American Health Organization started looking into relo- cating its headquarters to Chevy Chase (is in Montgomery County). The organi- zation was created in 1924 to promote public health in the western hemisphere. It had 38 member countries and was designated a "public international organi- zation'' under the International Organizations Immunity Act. · In August 1993, after getting assurances from the county attorney and the park commission that its headquarters would not be subject to county zoning laws, the organization signed a contract to buy 18.5 acres of residentially zoned land in Chevy Chase. In November 1993, the county council enacted a zoning amendment which declared that the ordinance would not consider international organizations to be publicly owned or operated. The amendment considered international organi- zations as office uses, which were not allowed in residential zones. The organization sued the county in federal court, claiming the amendment was invalid. The organization said the county had no zoning authority over public international organizations. Because it was considered a public building under the Act, it was subject to the mandatory referral process, not zoning. The organization also argued that the county could not apply its zoning laws to public international organizations without express authority from a state statute. The court granted the county judgment without a trial, and the organization appealed. To help it resolve the case, the federal appeals court asked Maryland's highest court to decide whether state law gave the county authority to enact the zoning amendment. DE(glSION: Yes, the county had authority. The county could enact zoning ordinances regulating international organi- zations, and the organization's plans were not the type of project to which the mandatory referral process applied. Contrary to the organization's arguments, the county could enact zoning ordinances regulating international organizations. The Act gave the county general zoning power, and did not have to specify who was subject to zoning regulations. For laws enacted within Maryland, the state and its local govern- ments were the only bodies exempt. The Pan American Health Organization was not part of the state, so it was subject to the county's zoning laws. The organization was not exempt from zoning under the mandatory referral process. The term "public," as used in the Act when defining projects subject to the process, referred only to federal, state, and local governmental entities.