The Maryland Court of Special Appeals has denied plans by AvalonBay Communities Inc. to bring several warehouses to the GE Technology Park property near the Lakelands.

The ruling overturned a November 2008 Montgomery County Circuit Court decision and upheld a decision by the city's Planning Commission.

The GE Technology Park property is slated for purchase in 2014 by the county, which is subleasing the land now, renovating a building for a public safety headquarters and planning to move the county Department of Liquor Control into an existing warehouse there.

Avalon Bay no longer has plans to develop on the land.

"We weren't even tracking this, we weren't involved at all," said Jon Cox, senior vice-president. "It was [the city's] bailiwick. They were pushing it — to what end I don't know."

In 2007, AvalonBay filed a concept site plan with the Gaithersburg Planning Commission, aiming to build three office or warehouse buildings totaling more than 200,000 square feet on a 52-acre parcel along Route 28, now home to the GXS building.

The Planning Commission denied the plan, saying that it violated special conditions identified in the city's Master Plan for a special study area for the 96-acre GE Tech Park, which also includes a smaller parcel. The special conditions required that open space between Lake Placid and Route 28 be preserved, the Planning Commission ruled.

The city's Board of Appeals upheld the Planning Commission's decision in April 2008, and AvalonBay appealed, saying that the conditions violated annexation agreements.

Seven months later, the Montgomery County Circuit Court agreed and overturned the Planning Commission decision, saying that AvalonBay had vested contractual rights through annexation agreements, as well as rights to develop the property and build in the open space.

The city appealed and last week the Maryland Court of Special Appeals said that the special conditions found in the city's Master Plan are mandatory regulatory requirements and do not conflict with annexation agreement terms, according to City Attorney Lynn Board.

"I sort of thought all along that we were correct in what we had done, but of course the courts looked at it differently," said Mayor Sidney A. Katz. "We feel that the right decision has been made."

Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett has said that the county has no plans to build in the open space, except to place a public safety memorial on the land.

The city has not yet reached a memorandum of understanding with the county, said Katz, who said he thought the court decision would help ensure that the open space is preserved.

"We're committed to preserving the vista," said Leggett spokesman Patrick Lacefield.