Armstrong v. Mayor of Baltimore, 409 Md. 648

Summary

The Maryland Court of Appeals addressed a challenge under the Maryland Open Meetings Act to Baltimore City Ordinance 04-659, which approved a parking lot associated with the Cresmont Loft development. The court held that the challenge seeking to invalidate the parking-lot approval was moot because subsequent Ordinance 04-855 amended the zoning law and made Ordinance 04-659 unnecessary. The court also discussed, as dicta, the parties’ dispute over attorney’s fees under the Open Meetings Act.

Holdings

1. A substantive change in relevant zoning law enacted while a land-use or zoning case is pending is applied retrospectively under the Yorkdale rule. Ordinance 04-855 therefore applied to this case and eliminated the separate-ordinance requirement for Cresmont's accessory parking lot, rendering petitioners' challenge seeking to undo the parking-lot authorization moot.
2. Sections 1-202 and 3-306(a) do not prevent retrospective application of a zoning text amendment that changes a use from prohibited to permitted; they require continued compliance with other applicable zoning and permitting requirements.
3. A complainant prevails under Maryland Code, State Government Article section 10-510(d)(5)(i), for purposes of potential attorney's fees, by proving that the governmental body violated the Open Meetings Act, even if the complainant does not obtain all of the specific remedies requested.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the enactment of Ordinance 04-855 during the litigation rendered moot petitioners' challenge to the validity of Ordinance 04-659 and the accessory parking lot authorization.
2. Whether a party that proves a violation of the Maryland Open Meetings Act may qualify as a prevailing party for purposes of attorney's fees even if it does not obtain every substantive remedy requested.
3. Whether the Circuit Court's attorney's-fee award could remain for further determination after the merits challenge became moot.

Disposition

vacated