County Council v. Billings

In this case, we must consider an administrative appeals board’s practice of “withdrawing an election to review.” The District Council of Prince George’s County may, on its own initiative, “elect to review” certain local land use decisions. In practice, the Council sometimes, after electing to review a decision, “withdraws” its election and declares final the agency decisions. By doing so, the Council is essentially deciding not to decide. We must consider the legality of this practice, and how a party to the now finalized agency decisions must exhaust their remedies and preserve their right…