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October 10, 2015 1 Volume 9 1 Issue 19 <br />Zoning Bulletin <br />Procedure/Comprehensive Plan— <br />Entities object to town's <br />amendments to comprehensive <br />plan <br />They contend the comprehensive plan failed to <br />include supporting data and thus failed to <br />comply with state law <br />Citation: Friends of Frederick County v. Town of New Market, 2015 <br />WL 5021387 (Md. Ct. Spec. App. 2015) <br />MARYLAND (08/25/15) This case addressed the issue of whether a <br />comprehensive plan is required to include data to support the plan's goals, <br />policies and recommendations. <br />The Background/Facts: In 2005, the Town of New Market (the <br />"Town") adopted a comprehensive plan (the "Plan"). In November 2010, <br />the Town amended the Plan by adding a water resources element and a <br />municipal growth element ("MGE"). Of relevance here, the MGE proposed <br />the annexation of various tracts of land adjacent to the present Town <br />boundaries ("Annexation Areas"). The MGE also proposed that, upon an- <br />nexation, the Town change the zoning classifications of the Annexation <br />Areas from agricultural and low -intensity uses to higher -density residen- <br />tial and mixed commercial and industrial uses. <br />Several different entities—including Friends of Frederick County, the <br />Audubon Society of Central Maryland, Inc. as well as a number of <br />individuals (collectively, the "Objectors") disagreed with the proposal in <br />the MGE that the Town annex and rezone the Annexation Areas. They <br />filed a legal action contending that the Town failed to comply with state <br />law requirements in several respects. <br />Among other things, the Objectors presented the following multistep <br />argument: Under Maryland case law, "[c]omprehensive plans are more <br />than mere guides consisting only of policy statements;" under state law <br />they are actually "regulatory devices." Because of the significance of <br />comprehensive plans and in light of the "language and purpose of the rele- <br />vant statutory provisions," comprehensive plans must "contain substantive <br />factual determinations, not merely policy statements." The Objectors <br />argued that because the Plan here did not include data to support its goals, <br />policies, and recommendations, it failed to comply with state law. <br />Finding there were no material issues of fact in dispute, and deciding <br />the matter on the law alone, the circuit court issued summary judgment in <br />favor of the Town. <br />The Objectors appealed. <br />8 © 2015 Thomson Reuters <br />