Butler Landscaping Design
Breaking News: The Maryland Court of Appeals has reversed the Circuit Court and affirmed the Board of Appeals decision against Melody Butler Landscaping Design. SCA will monitor the M.C. Permitting Office to make sure that this business, which has been operating illegally for over four years, will finally be shut down.
SCA’s Position:
SCA opposes landscaping businesses located in residential areas of the RDT zone. We are working to change the Special Exception that permits landscaping businesses in the Agriculture Reserve to add more protections in terms of land size and buffer requirements. We also want Montgomery County officials to close down any business that does not have the required permits to operate. As it stands now, the County does not close down an unpermitted business in the Agriculture Reserve as long as there is any legal proceeding yet to be concluded. This policy has allowed a person who knew the law when she moved to the Peach Tree Road address (she had been closed down from an unpermitted location in Potomac because she failed to get a Special Exception) to continue operating her business for over four years.
Background Information:
Summary of Action:
SCA has not entered this case formally. The burden of the cost has been on Cora Weeks and now, Montgomery County. However, SCA is vitally interested in this case and hopes to get the special exception requirements for a landscaping business rewritten to add more protection for the adjoining properties and any future landscaping business. As it stands now, any landscaping business could purchase an existing property of two acres and apply for a special exception.
Sugarloaf Citizens Association, Inc. Linden Farm 20900 Martinsburg Road P.O. Box 218 Dickerson, MD 20842 301-349-4889 info@sugarloafcitizens.org
