Neighbor brought petition for judicial review of county council’s enactment of zoning ordinance which amended single-family detached residential zone to allow for the adaptive reuse of an abandoned public-school building by nonprofit human services organization.
The Circuit Court dismissed the petition for lack of standing, and neighbor appealed.
The Appellate Court held that:
- Neighbor was specially aggrieved by and thus had standing to contest the ordinance;
- Maryland-Washington Regional District Act (RDA) superseded county charter’s zoning provisions with respect to the subject property;
- Adaptive reuse was consistent with county’s comprehensive plan, for purpose of whether alleged spot zoning was improper; and
- Reuse yielded an overall public benefit such that, even if amendment constituted spot zoning, it was not improper.