RESTRICTIVE COVENANTS

摘要

Assisted Living Developer of Residential Property Governed by Restrictive Covenants Barring from Use of Property for Business Purpose Could Not Build Facility The U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland ruled in Gibson Island Corporation v. Group Home on Gibson Island, LLC, 2020 WL 3035232, Case No. RDB-20-0842 (D. Md. June 5, 2020) that a developer of assisted living facilities who purchased a residential plot on an island on which all parcels were owned by a corporation which included in each deed restrictive covenants, one of which prevented them from being used for a "business purpose," was thereby barred from constructing the desired facility. Gibson Island is an island in Anne Arundel County, app. three miles long and two miles wide, with over 200 residential lots, one of which is the Banbury Property. Gibson Island Corporation ("Corporation") holds title to all land on the Island other than private residences and manages the community as a homeowner's association. It maintains the undeveloped areas, oversees a private security force, and controls access to the island with a small bridge and gatehouse. Property owners are Corporation shareholders, with a right of access to the island and its public facilities. Each Gibson Island lot is encumbered by restrictive covenants ("Deed Covenants") running with the land.