NORTH EAST — Residents of an apartment complex in North East may be forced to relocate and the land may be developed into single family homes if the Cecil County Council votes against rezoning the property from Suburban Transition (ST) to Residential Multifamily (RM).
“I am going to do what is best for the property and in my 25 years of living there, what is best has been to have the apartments,” said the property owner, Chris Diebold, who granted an interview at the request of the Whig.
The apartment complex on Diebold’s property just behind his house.
Diebold owns nine acres of land located on Old Bayview Road in North East. Situated on the nine acres is his home, a double-wide trailer and a two story apartment complex that currently houses five residents. The land is approved for over 35 single family homes, but Diebold said that the apartments are an equally effective use of the property.
Now, he may be forced to remove them.
Diebold was informed by Cecil County Land Use and Development Services in Nov. 2022 that the four unit apartment complex, that was built in the early 1990s, violates zoning regulations. The notification gave Diebold the option to appeal the matter, but instead he requested a rezoning of the property.
“We should have been zoned RM during 2011,” said Diebold. “Our argument is a mistake in the 2011 comprehensive rezoning; it should have been obvious to all that the property was engaged in Multifamily Residential in 2011.”
The rear of Diebold’s property.
If Diebold is granted the rezoning, he may be allowed to keep the apartment complex on the property.
A public hearing on the matter was held during the Council’s Feb. 21, 2023 legislative session where members of the public got the opportunity to voice their thoughts on the rezoning and Land Use Services along with the Planning and Zoning Division presented their findings and recommendations to the council.
The Director of Land Use and Development Services Stephen O’Connor and Chief of the Planning and Zoning Commission Aaron Harding explained that in the history of the property, it has never been zoned to allow apartments and the apartments may have been illegally built.
Diebold argued that the apartment complex operated as non-conforming use, which allows structures that do not meet zoning regulations to still operate. Harding and Stephen rejected Diebold’s argument as they said a building permit for the apartment does not even exist.
Diebold’s open land off of Old Bayview Road in North East.
“The department says the apartments and their use do not meet the standard of non-conforming use because the site was never lawfully existing,” said O’Connor.
Since the Department of Land Use and the Planning and Zoning Division claim a permit for the complex does not exist, they believe there was not an error in the property’s zoning and recommended that the council deny the rezoning.
“The division concludes that Mr. Diebold either knew it was not a lawfully permitted use for the property or the apartments were built illegally after the 2011 comprehensive rezoning,” said O’Connor.
Diebold says that the apartments were on the land prior to him purchasing the property in 1998 from his parents and he believes the permits for the apartment are lost.
“The office move from main street at the courthouse and then another move from the second to the first floor in the current building, it would be understandable that some old paper records have been misplaced,” said Diebold.
During the public hearing, numerous residents from Old Bayview Road spoke against the rezoning claiming that the apartment complex does not bother anyone and Diebold should be able to keep it, but rezoning the land will allow future developers to over-develop the area.
“I am all for him keeping what he has but who is to say that he is approved the rezoning and the he sells the property and someone else comes in and it gets re-developed,” said one of the residents. “The place can’t handle additional traffic.”
Regardless of if Diebold is granted the rezoning or not, under the current ST zoning, Diebold is approved to build over 35 single family homes on the land – the rezoning will have minimal effect on that number.
Diebold’s open land off of Old Bayview Road in North East.
“As a realtor, you always look at a property via its highest and best use,” said Diebold. “As long as I continue to own this property, its highest and best use is having the small apartments which keep me from developing 30+ single family homes like I am approved for.”
To put resident’s at ease and to create a compromise, Diebold added a deed restriction to the property that does not allow him, or any future developers to develop the individual lots on the land.
“I have decided to voluntarily surrender any and all future multifamily development potential that would be included with rezoning approval via a recorded deed restriction,” said Diebold. “The restriction also specifically removes the ability to add or to increase the existing multi-family dwelling.”
Since rezoning cannot be made conditional, the compromise proposed by Diebold was not a concern of the Planning and Zoning Division and the Land Use Department.
The council will vote on the rezoning on March 7, 2023.
CECIL WHIG CLIP
By Matt Hubbard
