Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission v. Rosenberg

Helen Rosenberg (plaintiff) owned a 31-acre tract of land in Maryland’s West Lanham Hills development. Rosenberg submitted a preliminary plan for the subdivision of two parcels of the property. Under the county’s subdivision regulation, the preliminary approval of a subdivision was predicated on the availability of public services. Specifically, the regulation required schools to be available within a reasonable distance. The Board of Education’s Office of Population Analysis determined that the proposed subdivision would yield 134 students for West Lanham Hills Elementary School (the elementary school) and that the elementary school was already 17 students over enrollment capacity. The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission (the commission) (defendant) subsequently prepared an adequate-public-facilities checklist, which also recognized that the elementary school was already over capacity and indicated that the proposed subdivision had the potential to yield roughly 176 more students. The commission’s technical staff recommended approval of Rosenberg’s application, but the Prince George’s County Planning Board of the Commission (the board) denied the application. The board indicated that the development would yield 134 students and would further overload the elementary school. This overload meant that adequate public services could not be provided. Rosenberg filed a petition for a writ of mandamus and a mandatory injunction ordering the commission to approve her preliminary plan. James Panor, a population analyst for the Board of Education, testified that 1972 enrollment at the elementary school had fallen to 89 students below capacity; that the addition of the projected additional 134 students would only bring enrollment to 45 students above capacity; and that the total enrollment capacity of the elementary school and three other schools within one mile of the elementary school would be more than enough to accommodate all the additional students. F. Harris Allen, the principal coordinator of the commission, testified that the only evidence before the commission was the checklist and that the commission’s denial was based solely on the projected number of students compared to the 1970 enrollment figures. Allen also testified that the checklist estimate of 176 students was inaccurate and that Panor’s lower estimate was accurate. The trial court granted Rosenberg relief, and the commission appealed.