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American Planning Association 45 further renovations. Patton applied for a con- ditional use permit, but the planning com- mission denied it, ruling that Main Street was a designated street where first-floor apart- ments were prohibited. The board of zoning appeals upheld the commission. On appeal, the trial court up- held the board of appeals and also ruled that use of the first floor for apartments was not a legal pre-existing nonconforming use. Patton .ealed to the supreme court. No basis to extend The court noted that it had never before addressed the question of whether a use estab- lished in part of a building before the enact- ment of a zoning ordinance gives a grand- fathered right to extend that nonconforming use throughout the building. However, other jurisdictions have held that the right to continue a nonconforming use does not extend to other areas unless, at the time the ordinance was enacted, the building's design clearly indicated such a use was intended. Fur- ther, it said, the local government can establish how extension of a use will be permitted, if at all. That principle is in accordance with the spirit underlying wning regulations-to restrict rather than expand nonconforming uses. It was not clear from the record how the interior of the first floor was laid out, the court said, but there was no doubt that it had been used mostly for commetcial purposes. Thus, the supreme court held that the trial court's finding that the first floor was not grandfathered .use as apartments was appropriate. es Lawlor Lawlor is a lawyer in Silver Spring, Maryland, and a regular conrriburor ro Planning. Despite decades of debate and an investment of more than $45 million, there is still little to show. Now, the Intercounty Connector-a road designed to link 1-270 in central Mont- gomety County with 1-95 in northern Prince George's County and ease congestion on the Beltway-is on the fast track. Last March, the Montgomety County Coun- cil voted to support the ICC, following recom- mendations of its planning board. (Although the council's approval is not required, its po- litical support may make it easier for the state to go forward.) In Annapolis and on Capitol Hill, financing packages for the $2.4 billion road were headed for legislative approval. One of two options Just over three years ago, the ICC seemed destined to remain a line on a map. Then- governor Parris N. Glendening supported a different east-west option: light rail. The so-called Purple Line would run through Bethesda, Silver Spring, and New Carrollton, just a dozen miles south of the proposed highway path. Glendening terminated an environmental impact study on the ICe, claiming the road would be environmen- tally damaging. In November 2002, however, voters elected a county executive, council members, and a governor who endorsed the road. Surveys by . AM Mid-Atlantic in the past several years show that citizen support for the ICC hovers around 70 percent. Although opposed to the ICe, county plan- ning board chairman Derick Berlage voted to endorse it. "There is no question that the ICC will provide measurable improvement for people making trips," says Berlage. Still, he adds, "the Purple Line would better serve commuters by opening up a whole new constellation of tran- sit trips within Montgomery County." Cur- rent transit lines radiate from Washington, D.C.; no suburban line connects the spokes. If the ICC gets built, Berlage predicts the Purple Line will languish as the county waits for its next turn to receive major funding. "Montgomery County is not likely to get any other expensive transportation plum until other counties get their plums," he says. Environmental concerns The Maryland State Highway Administration expects to decide by late spring when the I CC will be built and which of two routes it will follow, says State Highway Administrator Neil Pedersen. The council prefers the Corridor 1 alignment because it requires less land, displaces fewer homes, crosses fewer streams, and costs less. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, com- menting on the draft environmental impact statement, suggests that a more northerly path would inflict less environmental damage. The EPA's comments do not discourage Pedersen, who notes that the agency has not found the ICC environmentally unaccept~ble.