A Waldorf homeowner’s request to rent rooms in his house on Acton Park Place as a boarding house has been denied by the Charles County Board of Appeals, whose members cited parking, a shared kitchen and the effect on neighbors.
The board voted Aug. 11 to deny the special exception, Docket 1488, sought by John Pedro for his home at 11890 Acton Park Place. No member voted against the denial. The board adopted its written decision and order at its Oct. 13 meeting.
The property is about a third of an acre in the high-density residential zone, according to the board. County zoning allows a boarding house there only by special exception, which requires the applicant to show the use won’t harm the neighborhood.
The board heard the case July 14, when neighbors spoke against it. Afterward, it asked Pedro for photos of the outside of the house and a letter of good standing from the tax assessment office. Both arrived before the record closed July 21, the board’s staff said.
Why members said no
Vice Chair Benjamin Watkins, who made the motion to deny, said he understood that a boarding house is permitted in the zone but was “nervous” about approving one in what “seems to be a very close-knit community.” He said he was “not sure this is a good direction for the county.”
Timothy Treanor, who seconded the motion, said he has “no doubt” a well-planned boarding or rooming house belongs in a high-density zone and could help with affordable housing for people like recent military graduates or hospital interns. He said neighbors shouldn’t have a veto over a use the county commissioners have allowed.
But Treanor said this plan wasn’t well thought out. He pointed to a shared driveway, where tenants on different shifts would block each other in, and a single kitchen with “one stove, one refrigerator, one oven.” Treanor, a lawyer, said a lease “doesn’t necessarily control behavior,” and that Pedro had not shown he was prepared to manage tenant conflicts. For those reasons, he said, Pedro had not met his burden under the zoning ordinance to show neighbors would keep the “peaceful enjoyment of their property.”
Chair Claude “Bud” Humbert II told Pedro after the vote that parking was a main reason, and thanked him for the work he put into the application.
A dissenting view
George Grindel, an alternate member who did not vote, disagreed. He commended Pedro for going through the permit process “and not just doing this on the side,” as he said many people do.
Grindel said the county’s planning staff had found the application complied with the rules, including the driveway requirement. “I don’t think our job is necessarily to go that far into micromanaging it,” he said, warning the board risked “opening a Pandora’s box.”
What’s next
Pedro can ask the Charles County Circuit Court to review the decision. Under Maryland court rules, a petition for judicial review is generally due within 30 days of the written decision.
The board meets next Nov. 10 at 6:30 p.m. in the Blue Room of the Charles County Government Building in La Plata. At the same Oct. 13 meeting, it adopted its written order denying the county’s request to reconsider the River’s Edge case in Benedict.
