Waterman Family Ltd. Partnership v. Boomer

Among the powers conferred on a Maryland municipality by the General Assembly pursuant to the State Constitution are the power to zone land within the municipality’s boundaries and the power to enlarge those boundaries by annexing contiguous land. However, when a municipality exercises those powers together, there is a constraint. A State statute delays for five years the rezoning of annexed land for a use “substantially different” from that allowed by the land’s prior county zoning classification—unless the county approves the municipality’s reclassification of the annexed property before…