Frederick County residents aggrieved by zoning amendments now forced to go to court.
By Jared Bileski
If you’ve been negatively affected by a zoning decision in Frederick county, forget the appeal and head straight to court.
The House and Senate of the Maryland State Legislature recently passed a bill that will now prohibit Frederick County residents aggrieved by zoning amendments a direct appeal to the Zoning Board of Appeals. Instead, those affected need to request a judicial review of the zoning decision in the Frederick County Circuit Court.
Instead of paying a flat fee for a zoning appeal, residents will now be subject to the fees of the legal system. The current cost of an appeal to the Zoning Board of Appeals in Frederick County is $330. With the new law, aggrieved residents will pay the $165 District Court fee, in addition to any other legal costs incurred during the process.
Assistant County Attorney Kathy Mitchel said that the bill “might be cleaning up some legal language” in regards to the process of dealing with zoning amendments.
According to minutes from the Zoning Board of Appeals, in 2016 five zoning amendments have been made thus far in Frederick County. These amendments have a wide range of applications. One such example is the case of Coronal Development Services & Biggs Ford Solar Center LLC, who applied to the Board of Appeals to request a special exemption in order for them to build a solar farm located at 8300 Biggs Ford Road on land that was zoned as agricultural.
Under the new law, any person who does not want to have the solar farm would then be required to bring the case the the Circuit Court.
To attempt to reduce the amount of citizens aggrieved by amendments, members of the Zoning Board of Appeals would have gone to the site of the proposed solar farm to review potential issues with the project.
“Solar farms have potential visual impact,” said Craig Terry, a zoning planner with the Frederick County Government Zoning Administration Office. “Anything that may have an adverse impact on neighboring properties is put under extra review.”
The bill also states that “any party to the proceeding in the circuit court aggrieved by
the decision of the circuit court may appeal to the court of special appeals,” keeping the rest of the case in the courts, rather than the Zoning Board of Appeals.
Crossed-filed as House Bill 605 and Senate Bill 859, it unanimously passed through its third reading in Annapolis on March 13. The bill also passed through its third reading in the Senate unanimously on March 15.
The bill has now been referred to the Senate Education, Health and Environmental Affairs committee as well as the House Environment and Transportation committee.