[RP TownTalk] Town vs County Law

[Robert Oppenheim]

Recent emails brought up an age old question about town
law having to be "more strict" or "less strict" than county law.
This was bantered about a lot when I was on the council. And
often seemed to flip-flop depending on which way favored the
speaker.

So I made a point to learn more about this at the Maryland
Municipal League seminars (at the MML convention).

I was told that the empowering state law views municipalities
and counties as equal, and that the town can override county
law in any way the town sees fit. We can be the exact opposite
of the county if we choose to be.

However, there was one big caveat for municipalities in Prince
Georges and Montgomery counties, because in these counties,
unlike the rest of the state, municipalities do NOT have zoning
authority. Zoning authority here falls under some strange mixture
of the county and M-NCPPC.

Outside of zoning issues, the town can pass law that overrides
county law. But it gets tricky if the law concerns zoning. We may
weaken county zoning laws, but may not be more strict. (Details
below).

Unfortunately, I did not get to talk with anyone at MML that was
familiar with the fine points of PG vs municipality Zoning Law.

Our county zoning law states: "The municipality may not impose
any standard or requirement stricter than those standards or
requirements set forth in the Zoning Ordinance." [27-924(a)(2)]

Note the almost double negative in the above. It says -
    may NOT impose STRICTER standards.

I interpret this to mean the town may "weaken" county zoning
restrictions. So, as an example, if county law restricts or forbids
raising chickens in our R-55 zoning areas, then the town could
choose to allow the raising of chickens. But, I am giving an opinion
here that I am not qualified to give! And there are bound to be
those who disagree with my interpretation.

We might actually need an opinion from an attorney with
experience in this area (and where are you going to find an
experienced chicken lawyer? OK, just kidding, I think there
are plenty of chicken lawyers).

You can read and search the county code at
http://egov.co.pg.md.us/lis/default.asp?File=&Type=TOC

P.S.  I recall an effort a year or so ago to further empower
municipality zoning rights in Montgomery and Prince George's
counties. I do not know the results of that effort.

-Rob