Land Use & Zoning
Miles & Stockbridge’s thorough knowledge of—and extensive working relationships with—governmental agencies throughout Maryland, Northern Virginia and Southern Delaware are the keys to our effective land use and zoning practice.
Zoning regulations ultimately reflect a political process that has become one of the biggest challenges facing developers of commercial and residential properties, and our lawyers skillfully navigate that process for our clients. Our established presence throughout the region, combined with our strategic alliances with preeminent local counsel when needed, positions us to pursue the crucial municipal approval of permits and zoning applications (including appeals) on the time-sensitive basis that developers require.
While zoning and land use may seem like synonymous terms, they involve distinctly different regulatory processes—and Miles & Stockbridge land use and zoning lawyers are well-versed in the details of both. In the Maryland jurisdictions where our real estate practice is focused, land use issues are typically decided by a municipal or county department of development and a development or planning board. Such bodies regulate the entire commercial and residential development process, involving issues from environmental and floodplain compliance to highway access. For clients needing to navigate this complex, yet key, step in the regulatory process, our lawyers offer local knowledge, established relationships and respected technical real estate development and financing skills.
Our attorneys have also helped create and test government strategies and legislation for the full range of land use and zoning purposes, including planning, management, public facility adequacy, transferable development rights, environmental protections and sustainability, transportation, special taxing districts and historic preservation.
Finally, our Land Use & Zoning Practice Group exudes particular strength in the challenging task of zoning appeals, regularly appearing before zoning boards and political authorities to demonstrate the change-of-use prerequisites necessary for rezoning and advising clients on the complex political issues involving a zoning change. Because Miles & Stockbridge is known for the quality representation of its clients, such appeals often have special force and are effective counterpoints to the political opposition brought by neighborhood associations and similar groups.
