The official zoning map is enacted by the Baltimore County Council. There are two principal ways by which it can be changed—the Comprehensive Zoning Map Process and Cycle Zoning. The zoning map may also be changed through a Zoning Map Correction.
The Comprehensive Zoning Map Process (CZMP) takes place every four years on an exact schedule specified in the County Code. Any citizen may request a zoning change on any property in the County, although the usual participants in the process are individual landowners, contract purchasers, community organizations, County staff, the Planning Board, and the County Council.
The CZMP covers a period of approximately 12 months and results in zoning decisions that are reflected in a final log of issues. Ultimately, the County Council decides on each issue whether to retain the existing zoning or to enact a different zone(s) or district(s). Generally, each issue is a single property, but an issue may cover many adjoining properties and might even cover many hundreds of acres. The zoning on all properties which were not issues is re-enacted without change.
During the years between the quadrennial "comprehensive" process, the zoning map can be changed through the "cycle" process. This opportunity arises twice a year, on a specified schedule, with the ultimate decision made by the Baltimore County Board of Appeals instead of the County Council. Only the property owner or contract purchaser is entitled to petition in the cycle process.
The out-of-cycle variation provides for expedited scheduling of the Board of Appeals hearing and decision. This option is set in motion if the Planning Board agrees to certify that a quicker decision is in the public interest or because of emergency and if the County Council also approves the certification.
There are two major differences between comprehensive and cycle zoning. The County Council has broad legislative authority to place whatever zone it deems to be appropriate on a particular property. The Board of Appeals, however, is exercising delegated authority and is much more limited in the scope of its decision-making discretion. In particular, the Board of Appeals cannot grant a change in zoning unless the record shows that there has been either a substantial change in the character of the neighborhood since the last comprehensive process, or an error in the mapping. As a legal matter, either of these conditions is usually very difficult to prove.
The other principal difference is that, when the Council enacts a map change on a zoning issue, it is not allowed to impose any accompanying limitations on the use of the property. The owner is allowed to use the land in any of the ways permitted by the regulations pertaining to that zone. In the cycle process, the owner can request the same type of decision (called an "open" filing). Alternatively, the owner has the option to submit a documented site plan specifying in great detail the manner in which the property is to be developed and used. If the zoning map change is approved by the Board of Appeals, compliance with the documented site plan is mandatory even if the property subsequently changes ownership. If the planned use is not developed within three years, the zoning automatically reverts to its prior classification. By improving the predictability about the actual results of a zoning map change, the documented site plan alternative makes it easier for the petitioner to garner support for the request.
Under a procedure enacted in 1990, technical drafting errors on the official zoning map may be corrected upon a certification by the Director of Planning that the map does not accurately reflect the final zoning classification imposed by the Council during a comprehensive zoning process. The Office of Planning files a petition to change the zoning map with the County Board of Appeals. The petition is based on one of the following:
A technical drafting error made by the Office of Planning in transferring the County Council's enacted zoning classification to the comprehensive zoning map.
A change in the property's zoning that was not within the boundaries of a filed issue.
A technical drafting error made by the original petitioner for a zoning change, provided the error did not impact on the intent of the County Council to place a particular zoning classification on the particular property.
The Office of Planning may initiate a petition on its own if it discovers a technical error in the zoning map.
Revised May 8, 2007
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