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It is the intent and purpose of the Mineral Resource Recovery zone to implement the general plan for the Maryland-Washington Regional District and the area master plans by:
- Providing for the protection, conservation and preservation from preemptive development of land underlain by certain mineral resource deposits of current or future economic importance to the county and region;
- Permitting and regulating the orderly extraction, processing and utilization of such mineral deposits;
- Requiring reclamation and restoration of extraction and processing sites to a useful, environmentally stable condition; and
- Providing for the ultimate conversion of land in the mineral resource recovery zone, subsequent to the useful life of the resource deposit, to appropriate zoning categories consistent with the long-range planning objectives.
Mineral resource development is viewed as an interim use of land. To ensure an orderly progression of reservation, development, reclamation and reuse of land, it is the purpose and intent of this zone to establish, through a development plan and program, a logical sequence and pattern of use and development activities.
It is also the intent of this zone to limit nonextractive or related uses to certain low-density activities which:
- Will not, because of their economic value, preempt future resource extraction; and which
- Will be compatible with resource development activities on the site, during the period of mineral extraction and processing.
It is further the purpose of this zone to establish regulations and performance standards for extraction, processing, utilization and transport of mineral resources and products in such a manner as to ensure maximum protection to surrounding properties and the physical environment through siting of activities and structures, buffering, setbacks, visual screening, height limitations, access routing, and noise, vibration, air quality and water quality controls.
Therefore, it is the intent to establish this zone, not only where commercially valuable and economically important mineral deposits occur, but where such deposits can be developed without significant adverse impacts on surrounding areas and the physical environment. Further, because of potential adverse environmental impacts associated with resource extraction processing and transportation, application of the mineral resource zone should be limited to deposits that can be demonstrated to be a valuable resource within the Washington metropolitan region.
It is also the purpose of this zone to control and assure the reclamation of land excavated or disturbed by mineral extraction and processing to useful, environmentally stable conditions, to establish an ultimate rescue plan and sequential pattern and program for such restoration, and to ensure that land is reclaimed and permanently stabilized as soon as practical.
Because of variations in the natural size, location, depth and types of mineral resource deposits occurring within the regional district, and the potential importance of such deposits to the economic well-being of the inhabitants of the district, it is the intent of this zone to permit considerable flexibility in design of and controls regulating the use and development of such deposits.
The application of the mineral resource recovery zone to specific properties is dependent upon the existence and location of mineral resource deposits within the regional district. It is intended that the specific requirements and restrictions imposed within the zone be related to prevailing conditions at and surrounding such deposits. Therefore, development of mineral resource deposits shall be in accordance with the requirements and standards set forth in this zone. A plan proposed by the developer in accordance with these requirements and standards and accepted by the district council as a part of the granting of the zoning reclassification shall control the development of the mineral resource and the subsequent reclamation of the site.
This zone is in the nature of a special exception, and shall be approved or disapproved upon findings that the application is or is not proper for the comprehensive and systematic development of the county, is or is not capable of accomplishing the purposes of this zone, and is or is not in substantial compliance with the duly approved and adopted general plan or approved and adopted master plans for the Maryland-Washington Regional District. In order to enable the council to consider whether an application satisfies the purposes, requirements and objectives established herein, a development plan filed pursuant to section 59-D-1 is required for each requested mineral resource protection and development area. The district council and the planning board may approve such plans if development in accordance with such plans is determined to satisfy the purposes of the mineral resource recovery zone and in compliance with the standards and regulations of the zone.
The fact that an application for the mineral resource recovery zone complies with all specific requirements and purposes set forth herein shall not be deemed to create a presumption that the resulting use and development would be compatible with surrounding land uses and, in itself, shall not be sufficient to require granting of the application.
(Legislative History: Ord. No. 9-29, § 1.)
Editor's note-Section 59-C-12.1 is cited in Boyds Civic Ass'n. v. Montgomery County, 309 Md. 683, 526 A.2d 598 (1987).