[Amended 2-15-1978 by Bill No. 1978-6; 1-2-1990 by Bill No. 1989-19; 6-14-1993 by Bill No.
1993-17; 2-14-1994 by Bill No. 1994-5; 7-6-2004 by Bill No. 2004-6]
A.
Any person, officer or department of the County aggrieved
by any final ruling of the Planning Commission on a preliminary or
final plat as to the interpretation or application of the terms or
conditions of this chapter may appeal, in writing, to the Board of
Appeals within fifteen (15) days after such final ruling. Within ten
(10) days after filing of the written appeal, the party appealing
shall file with the Board of Appeals a statement setting forth, with
reasonable particularity, the grounds for the appeal, including the
error committed by the Commission in taking the final action, the
relief sought and the reasons why the final action appealed from should
be reversed or remanded. A copy of the statement shall be served on
the Commission. Failure to file the statement is grounds for dismissal
of the appeal.
B.
The Board of Appeals shall hold a public hearing on
all such appeals.
C.
The Board of Appeals shall cause a notice of the public
hearing to be published in a newspaper of general circulation once
a week for two consecutive weeks. The site of all proposed subdivisions
involved in any site specific appeal shall be posted.
D.
Upon the hearing of such appeal, the final decision
of the Planning and Zoning Commission shall be presumed by the Board
of Appeals to be proper and to best serve the public interest. The
burden of proof shall be upon the appellant or appellants to show
that the decision or ruling complained of was arbitrary, capricious,
discriminatory or unsupported by any substantial evidence. The Board
of Appeals shall have the power to affirm, modify or reverse, in part
or in whole, any decision or ruling appealed from and to remand any
case for the entering of a proper order or for further proceedings
as the Board shall determine.
E.
The decision of the Board of Appeals shall be set
forth in its minutes, and a notation of such action placed on the
preliminary and final plat, or both, together with the date of the
Board's action and signed by the Secretary of the Board.
[Amended 2-15-1978 by Bill No. 1978-6; 1-2-1990 by Bill No. 1989-19; 6-14-1993 by Bill No.
1993-17; 7-6-2004 by Bill No. 2004-6; 10-17-2006 by Bill No. 2006-11]
Any person, officer, department or board of
the county aggrieved by the decision of the Board of Appeals and a
party to the proceeding below and the county (if authorized to do
so by the County Executive) may appeal to the Circuit Court for Wicomico
County, Maryland, provided that said appeal is taken within 30 days
after the final decision has been rendered by the Board of Appeals.
