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REPORTED IN THE COURT OF SPECIAL APPEALS OF MARYLAND No. 1585

September Term, 2005

MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL OF BALTIMORE v. NEIGHBORHOOD RENTALS, INC. et al.

Eyler, James R., Krauser, Woodward, JJ.

Opinion by Krauser, J.

Filed: September 21, 2006

To obtain a permit to use the premises at 5525-5527 Harford Road1 in Baltimore City for a "rent-to-own" store, specializing in "the sale, service and rental of electronics, appliances, and furniture," appellee Ed Knox filed an application for such a permit with the City's Department of Housing and Community Development ("DHCD"). Knox was then and presumably still is the managing

member of appellee CMS Property, LLC, which owns the Harford Road property, and the vice president of appellee Neighborhood Rentals, Inc., which leases it. Although initially approved, the application was ultimately denied by the DHCD, when it learned from the Baltimore Development Corporation that such stores, though permitted under applicable zoning regulations,2 were prohibited at that location by the City's Hamilton Business Area Urban Renewal Plan ("Hamilton Plan" or "Plan"). The City's Board of Municipal and Zoning Appeals ("Zoning Board" or "Board") subsequently disapproved the application for the same reason. Undeterred, appellees sought judicial review of the Board's decision in the Circuit Court for Baltimore City, claiming that the

Although the permit application names "5525 Harford" and appellees refer only to that address in their brief, the circuit court refers to "5525-5527 Harford Road" in granting the requested use, as did the Zoning Board in denying it. As neither party suggests that the circuit court's order is in error as to the address of appellees's premises, we assume that appellees' reference to "5525" is merely shorthand for "5525-5527." See Balt. City Zoning Code

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Maryland Law