Marek v. Baltimore County Board of Appeals, 218 Md. 351

Summary

The Maryland Court of Appeals reviewed approval of a use permit for off-street parking serving a public beach operated as a nonconforming use in a residential zoning district. The court held that the application was not a petition for a special exception, that the zoning ordinance provided sufficient standards for a constitutional delegation of police power, and that the Board's decision was supported by the evidence and was not arbitrary, illegal, or capricious. The court affirmed the lower court's order affirming the Board.

Holdings

1. The application for an off-street parking permit under section 409.4 was not a petition for a special exception, so the eighteen-month restriction in section 500.12 did not require dismissal.
2. Section 409.4 constituted a valid, lawful, and constitutional delegation of the police power because it supplied sufficient standards to limit administrative discretion.
3. The Board's grant of the off-street parking permit was supported by the evidence and was not arbitrary, illegal, invalid, or capricious.
4. The circuit court did not commit prejudicial error by refusing to admit the balance of the protestants' proffered testimony.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the Peddys' application for an off-street parking permit was effectively an application for a special exception subject to the zoning regulation's eighteen-month bar.
2. Whether section 409.4 of the Baltimore County zoning regulations constituted a valid delegation of the police power.
3. Whether the Board's grant of the off-street parking permit was arbitrary, illegal, invalid, or capricious.
4. Whether the circuit court committed prejudicial error by refusing to admit all of the protestants' proffered testimony.

Disposition

affirmed