A decision Friday by the Carroll County commissioners to return a small parcel of land in Gamber to the High Ridge Association ended one lawsuit, started another and continued the debate on personal property rights.
The commissioners voted 2-1 to reverse a 1992 decision by the previous board of commissioners to condemn a 50-by-15-foot piece of land owned by the homeowners group so that the county could extend a road, which would have allowed a farmer to develop his land.
The vote ended a lawsuit that had reached the Maryland Court of Special Appeals.
"Property should not be condemned by the county unless it is for the good of all the citizens of the county," Commissioner Richard T. Yates said, reading from a resolution.
"The right of condemnation is one of the most draconian rights" of government, Commissioner W. Benjamin Brown said. The rights of High Ridge residents were not respected in the case, he said.
As a result of the commissioners' decision, the farmer and his wife, Aaron and Ruth Green of the 2900 block of Birdview Road, plan to take action against county government to gain road TTC access or compensation for what they have lost, their lawyer, John T. Maguire II of Westminster, said Friday.
"They've painted the Greens into a corner," Mr. Maguire said. "The commissioners have exercised poor judgment in reversing a process that's been in motion for four or five years."
Commissioner Donald I. Dell, the only incumbent commissioner,
voted against reversing the decision to condemn the land.
"I certainly resent the fact that the property owners' rights were not held in high esteem," he said.
The previous board took the issue seriously, met with residents and conferred with the Planning Commission, Mr. Dell said. "I really don't understand the motivation behind this decision," he said.
Mr. Brown said he and Mr. Yates cannot defend the lawsuit filed by High Ridge Association and that county money should not be spent on the case. Mr. Yates said the county should condemn property only for the "good of all."
Dave Bond, president of the association, said Friday that the group has spent about $20,000 on the case. "This thing never did make any economic sense. It basically appalled a number of us in a constitutional sense. . . . This is a growth issue, a quality of life issue," he said.
The case began in 1992 when the commissioners voted 2-1 to condemn a 750-square-foot strip of land worth $1,000 and owned by the High Ridge Association. Former Commissioner Elmer C. Lippy voted against. Mr. Green had tried for at least four years to buy the land, but homeowners would not sell it.
The parcel is at the end of a cul-de-sac on High Ridge Drive. Mr. Green wanted to build as many as 21 homes on his adjacent 135-acre property and wanted to extend High Ridge Drive for access.
Some county officials said the master plan called for High Ridge Drive to be extended and that it was a mistake the street was a cul-de-sac. Extending the street would disturb less farmland.
High Ridge Association members said a road extension would bring more traffic and lower their quality of life. They challenged the condemnation in Carroll Circuit Court and lost. In 1993, Judge Luke K. Burns Jr. upheld the commissioners' decision to condemn the land.
The association then appealed to the Court of Special Appeals. A hearing in the case was scheduled in April.
Mr. Bond said he wrote to Mr. Brown and Mr. Yates about six weeks ago asking them to reconsider the condemnation. Mr. Brown called within a week, then the two commissioners and member of High Ridge Association met at the site, Mr. Bond said.
Lawyers then began negotiating a conciliation agreement. The agreement, signed Friday, says High Ridge Association will drop its appeal, the county will return the land and each side will pay its own legal expenses.
"This conciliation is not everything we requested, but it's not everything the county requested," said David K. Bowersox of Westminster, the attorney for High Ridge Association.
"The reason we fought this is we like our quality of life just the way it is," Mr. Bond said.