Neighbor appeals county's finding after dispute over home-occupation garage in Mechanicsville

Robert Charles Stuperton appealed an administrative decision on Nov. 2013 by the director of St. Mary's County Department of Land Use and Growth Management that declined to revoke a home-occupation permit for Frank Wheatley Drywall LLC, which operates from a detached garage at 27094 Baptist Church Road in Mechanicsville. The appeal was heard before Hearing Examiner Jack Upton on a date in February 2014.

The hearing centered on whether activity at the Wheatley property violates the county's residential neighborhood conservation (RNC) home-occupation rules and, separately, whether the Board of Zoning Appeals can order enforcement when the county's zoning administrator declines to issue citations. Appellant counsel Joseph Mitchell told the examiner, "The sole question before the Department of Land Use and Growth Management . . . is whether the operation of Frank Wheatley Drywall LLC . . . violates the letter, or I would argue the spirit, of the comprehensive zoning ordinance." Mitchell presented emails, time-stamped photographs and neighborhood testimony alleging frequent early-morning vehicle activity, on-site employees, exterior lights that shine onto the neighbor's yard, and material in a dumpster that disturbed…