SNOW HILL – County officials agreed last week to establish time limitations on postponed zoning applications.
Following a public hearing, the Worcester County Commissioners approved a text amendment that sets a limit of two years on postponed rezoning applications.
According to Ed Tudor, the county’s director of development review and permitting, the text amendment was developed after members of the Worcester County Planning Commission expressed concern over the number of postponed rezoning applications that were never reopened.
“This led to a broader discussion with regard to applications that are filed for rezoning and board of appeals actions that are then postponed by the applicant or their attorney and then languish for extended periods of time,” Tudor wrote to the commissioners.
Tudor said staff initially recommended a one-year time limit for both rezoning and board of appeals applications. When the planning commission reviewed staff’s draft text amendment, however, its members expressed interest in a longer limit on rezoning applications.
“The planning commission felt that perhaps a two-year time limitation for rezoning applications would be more appropriate because such applications may only be submitted three times per year,” Tudor wrote.
The language approved states that when postponement of a map amendment is requested and is not rescinded by the applicant within two years of being submitted, the application shall be considered withdrawn. Similarly, requests for postponement of board of appeals matters not rescinded within one year will be considered withdrawn.
