Carroll County Commissioners voted 2-1 yesterday to spend $2.2 million to buy land for a Westminster high school and elementary school.
Commissioner Richard T. Yates said he opposed the purchase because he has been in office only a week and has not seen prices for other school sites county officials considered.
The deal includes more land than the county needs for the two schools, Mr. Yates said. He said he worries about increased traffic on Route 140.
"Why would Carroll County want to get into the real estate business?" Mr. Yates asked.
County Planning Director Edmund R. Cueman said the 114.5-acre site near Route 140 and Cranberry Road owned by Westminster Nurseries Inc. is the best available. Officials have been looking at sites in and around Westminster and negotiating for the past two years. The county will pay for the land with money already collected from the $2,700-per-unit impact fee charged to developers, Mr. Cueman said.
Two residents tried to delay yesterday's vote by saying Commissioner Donald I. Dell has a conflict of interest because his personal attorney, Charles D. Hollman, represents Westminster Nurseries.
William M. Bowen Jr. and Jerry L. Brunst, who follow school budget issues closely, asked Mr. Dell to abstain from voting. If he wouldn't abstain, they asked that the county postpone a vote until an impartial agency could decide whether a conflict of interest exists.
Mr. Dell said he did not know Mr. Hollman was involved in the case until the first meeting on the issue and that he had no personal stake in the property.
Commissioner W. Benjamin Brown said there is no evidence Mr. Dell would benefit personally by the sale. Mr. Yates agreed that Mr. Dell should be allowed to vote.
Mr. Brown said the Westminster Nurseries land is ideal for the schools because it is close to major roads and public water and sewer service and because there is space to build ball fields for community use.
The schools would generate less traffic than 500 to 700 homes that a developer had proposed building on the site five years ago, Mr. Brown said.
Mr. Dell agreed the site is a good one and said building schools instead of homes would be a way to control growth in the area.
Robert J. Edwards, who lives in the 700 block of Gorsuch Road, said he supported the sale because schools would cause fewer problems than a residential development.
According to the sales agreement, Westminster Nurseries has until June 1, 1995, to remove its nursery stock from the property. The company may lease up to 12 acres for an additional year if needed.
School officials want to build the schools in fiscal 1997, which begins July 1, 1996, and open them in September 1998. County commissioners will make the final decision about when the schools are built.
The commissioners voted after hearing opposition from a handful of residents who said the schools would worsen traffic jams on Route 140 and that the land was too expensive.