[Section 204 of the 1999 Code of Ordinances]
The Myersville, Maryland Planning Commission is hereby created and established with the powers and duties herein set forth.
The records of the Myersville, Maryland Planning and Zoning Commission as it existed prior to the enactment of this chapter shall be transferred to the Myersville Planning Commission.
A. 
The Commission shall consist of six members, one of whom shall be a member of the Myersville Town Council, who shall serve in an ex-officio capacity. The ex-officio member shall not be eligible to vote. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, including but not limited to Chapter 30 of this Code, each member shall, during their tenure on the Commission, maintain their primary residence within the corporate limits of the Town of Myersville. Any member who fails to maintain such residency within the Town shall, upon moving such residence outside of the Town, automatically forfeit and render vacant his or her membership on the Commission, and the Mayor and Council may then fill such vacancy pursuant to Subsection E below.
[Amended 10-8-2019 by Ord. No. 2019-04; 9-8-2020 by Ord. No. 2020-02]
B. 
The members shall be appointed by the Mayor and confirmed by the Town Council.
C. 
Members shall receive such compensation for their service as may be established from time to time be resolution of the Mayor and Council.
[Amended 3-13-2018 by Ord. No. 2018-04]
D. 
In order to stagger the terms of the Planning Commission members, in the year 2010, two members shall be appointed for a term of five years, two members shall be appointed for a term of three years, and the ex-officio Town Council member shall be appointed for a term of four years or, as to each, until his or her successor takes office. In order to add a fifth voting member of the Myersville Planning Commission, in the year 2020, one member shall be appointed to serve a term of five years. Thereafter, the term of each member shall be five years or until his or her successor takes office.
[Amended 5-11-2010 by Ord. No. 2010-06; 9-8-2020 by Ord. No. 2020-02]
E. 
Vacancies occurring for reasons other than through the expiration of a member's term shall be filled for the unexpired term by appointment of the Mayor and confirmation of the Council.
F. 
After a public hearing, members may be removed by the Council for neglect of duty or malfeasance in office in accordance with the Land Use Article, § 2-102(d), of the Annotated Code of Maryland. The Council shall file with the Town Clerk a written statement of reasons for such removal.
[Amended 4-11-2017 by Ord. No. 2017-04]
The Commission shall elect a Chairman from one of the appointed members and create and fill such other of its offices as it may determine. The term of the Chairman shall be one year, with eligibility for re-election. The Commission shall hold at least one regular meeting each month. It shall adopt rules for transactions of business and shall keep a public record of its resolutions, transactions, findings, and determinations.
[Amended 9-8-2020 by Ord. No. 2020-03]
The Mayor and Council may appoint such employees as deemed necessary for the work of the Planning Commission and may also contract with planners, engineers, architects and other consultants for such services as the Planning Commission may require. The expenditures of the Commission, exclusive of gifts, shall be under such conditions and within the amounts appropriated for the purpose by the Mayor and Council. The Mayor and Council shall provide the funds, equipment, and accommodations necessary for the Commission's work.
[Amended 1-13-2015 by Ord. No. 2014-09]
The Commission shall have those powers, duties, procedures and obligations which are set forth in Title 2 of the Land Use Article, Annotated Code of Maryland; and it shall execute those powers, duties, procedures and obligations in accordance therewith, except as may otherwise be provided for by this chapter.
From time to time in carrying out their zoning powers, the Mayor and Council may create, amend, supplant, modify or repeal ordinances, regulations, restrictions or boundaries. Before creating, amending, supplanting modifying or repealing such ordinances, regulations, restrictions or boundaries, the Council shall first make findings of fact in each specific case that include, but are not limited to, the recommendations of the Commission.
A. 
The territorial jurisdiction of the Planning Commission over the subdivision of land shall only include land located within the limits of the Town.
[Amended 4-11-2017 by Ord. No. 2017-04]
B. 
If the Council adopts the transportation element of the Plan and files a certified copy of the Plan in the office of the Clerk of the Circuit Court for Frederick County, then the following provisions shall be applicable:
(1) 
A plat of a subdivision of land within all or part of the jurisdiction of the Planning Commission may not be filed or recorded until it has been approved by the Planning Commission. Such approval shall be entered in writing on the plat by the Chairman or Secretary of the Planning Commission.
(2) 
If a plat of a subdivision of land contains five or fewer lots, sites or other divisions of land, the Planning Commission may authorize the Chairman of the Planning Commission, the Zoning Administrator or an equivalent administrative official to approve the plat of the subdivision. The approval shall be entered in writing on the plat.
C. 
Before exercising the powers referred to in Title 5 of the Land Use Article, Annotated Code of Maryland, the Planning Commission shall prepare regulations governing the subdivision of land within its jurisdiction in accordance with the provisions of §§ 5-102 and 5-103 of the Land Use Article, Annotated Code of Maryland. Before any such regulation shall be submitted to the Council for adoption, a public hearing shall be held thereon. All such regulations or, if in the opinion of the Commission it is best, a brief synopsis of such regulations, sufficient to inform a person of ordinary intelligence of the nature and content of such regulations, together with the time and place of such public hearing, shall be published once or more, if the Commission deems best, in a weekly or daily newspaper of general circulation in Frederick County. When such regulations are adopted by the Council, a copy thereof shall be certified by the Commission to the Clerk of the Circuit Court in which the jurisdiction is located for record.
[Amended 1-13-2015 by Ord. No. 2014-09; 4-11-2017 by Ord. No. 2017-04]
D. 
The Planning Commission shall have those powers, duties and obligations which are set forth in Title 5 of the Land Use Article, Annotated Code of Maryland.
[Amended 1-13-2015 by Ord. No. 2014-09]
E. 
Whoever, being the owner or agent of the owner of any land located within a subdivision, transfers or sells or agrees to sell or negotiate any land by reference to or exhibition of or by other use of a plat of a subdivision, before the plat has been approved by the Planning Commission and recorded or filed in the office of the appropriate County Clerk, shall forfeit and pay a civil penalty of not less than $200 and not more than $1,000, in the discretion of the court, for each lot or parcel so transferred or sold or agreed or negotiated to be sold. The description of a lot or parcel by metes and bounds in the instrument of transfer or other document used in the process of selling or transfer or other document used in the process of selling or transfer shall not exempt the transaction from the penalties or from the remedies herein provided. The Town may enjoin the transfer or sale or agreement by action for injunction brought in any court of equity jurisdiction or may recover the penalty by civil action in any court of competent jurisdiction.
[Amended 4-11-2017 by Ord. No. 2017-04]
F. 
The provisions of the foregoing paragraphs of this section do not apply to the contract for sale or negotiation for sale of property zoned industrial, commercial, or both industrial and commercial, if a plat is approved and recorded in accordance with this section prior to the transfer of land. Any plat of a subdivision recorded without Planning Commission approval has only the legal effect of an unrecorded plat.
G. 
From and after the time when a Planning Commission shall have control over subdivisions as provided in this chapter, the jurisdiction of the Planning Commission over plats shall be exclusive within the territory under its jurisdiction and all statutory control over plats or subdivisions of land granted by other statutes shall, insofar as in harmony with the provisions of this article, be deemed transferred to the Planning Commission.
[Amended 1-13-2015 by Ord. No. 2014-09]
A. 
The Planning Commission shall have the authority to make or cause to be made surveys for the exact location of the lines of a street or streets and any other part of the transportation element of the plan, if the transportation element is adopted, and to make a plat of the area or district thus surveyed in accordance with the provisions of Title 6 of the Land Use Article, Annotated Code of Maryland. In the event that such surveys are made, then the procedures, duties, and obligations set forth in Title 6 of the Land Use Article, Annotated Code of Maryland, shall govern the actions of the Commission and the Town Council.
B. 
The provisions of Title 6 of the Land Use Article, Annotated Code of Maryland, shall be applicable to the Town of Myersville and shall govern the control of development in the bed of mapped streets and the construction of municipal utilities or improvements in streets and development not on mapped streets.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: Former §§ 204.8, Enforcement, remedies and penalties, and 204.9, Conflict with other laws, which immediately followed this subsection, were repealed 3-12-2002 by Ord. No. 2002-2.
[Amended 4-11-2017 by Ord. No. 2017-04]
In order to assist developers in getting information concerning the subdivision regulations (Chapter 130), the Planning Commission may organize a Technical Advisory Committee. The Committee shall meet at intervals necessary to enable developers to conveniently contact all departments involved. The developer shall prepare a preliminary plat before meeting with the Committee. The Committee will be composed of staff members of both the Myersville and County Planning Commissions, State Highway Administration, County Roads Board, County Health Department, County Soil Conservation Committee, and any other department or agency concerned with development.