MacDonald v. Board of Commissioners
Maryland Court of Appeals
238 Md. 549, 210 A.2d 325 (1965)
- Written by Tanya Munson, JD
Facts
The Isle of Thye Land Company (the Land Company) had applied to reclassify three tracts of land in an area called Tantallon on the Potomac in Prince George’s County, Maryland, that were zoned as rural residential. The Land Company wanted to reclassify two tracts to general commercial and one to multiple families, high-rise residential. The technical staff of the planning commission recommended denial of the applications, concluding that any zone on the property other than the existing residential zone would be spot zoning and the trend of the land use is only for single-family dwellings. A hearing on the Land Company’s application was held before the Prince George’s board of county commissioners sitting as district council for the Prince George’s portion of the Maryland-Washington Regional District Council (the council) (defendant). The Land Company argued that its application should be approved because substantial changes had occurred in the area since the adoption of the comprehensive zoning map, including road development, the development of a golf course, reservation of a school site, and increased residential development. The council approved all three of the Land Company’s applications. There was a petition for review of the council’s order in the circuit court. The circuit court affirmed the council’s order. Charles MacDonald and other adjacent property owners in the area (plaintiffs) appealed the decision of the circuit court.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Oppenheimer, J.)
Dissent (Barnes, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 811,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.
