Frustrated after years of trying to acquire land for a 27-acre community park in North Laurel, Howard County officials submitted five resolutions to County Council last night that represent the ultimate step - condemnation.
Going to court for parkland "is extremely rare" in Howard, said Barbara Cook, the county solicitor. Public Works officials say it has happened at least twice - in 1988 for land along the Patuxent River and about a decade ago for Rockburn Park in Elkridge.
County officials say they have waited long enough to complete acquisition of the land for this relatively small park.
"Clearly, condemnation is the last thing you want to attempt, but in this case, this has been going on for many, many years," said County Councilman Guy J. Guzzone, a North Laurel-Savage Democrat who has been pushing for more progress.
Community activists in North Laurel say they have to go outside the area for most recreation, and they want a place nearer home.
"With my two children, we had to pack them into the car and go up to Savage or to Montgomery [County] or Prince George's County for a playground. This is the last, best hope of having a little bit of open space," said Thomas Flynn, past president of the North Laurel Civic Association.
"We need some type of park or community center in the area," said Mary Rekus, the group's secretary and the mother of two children, ages 5 and 2.
Gary J. Arthur, county director of recreation and parks, said once county ownership of the land is achieved, he will seek community comments on what to build and county funding to develop the park. "It depends on the economic forecast here," he said, referring to lower revenues resulting from the recession.
The North Laurel situation is unusual in that it involves heavily wooded, narrow lots near Laurel Woods Elementary School that were subdivided on paper about 1890, when U.S. 1 was Howard County's "main street" and plans for urbanization were under way. The lots were never surveyed, however, and never built upon. They are not served by streets or public utilities, and county officials contend the privately owned lots are surrounded by publicly owned land and therefore no longer usable for homes.
"What are left there are Swiss cheese holes," Guzzone said. "They really couldn't develop anyway. The only thing that makes sense is for them to become part of the park."
The county has been working for about five years to gain ownership of all 123 lots - most 50-by-150 feet - that would make up the park. Five lot owners of the nearly 70 original owners remain outstanding, though two of them seem likely to agree to sell voluntarily, said Tina Hackett, chief of the county's real estate division.
Ownership of one group of seven lots likely will have to be determined in court, Hackett said, because no clear title to the land exists. And some owners do not want to sell for what the county is offering.
Kenneth R. Yates, a builder, is one of them. He contends that the four lots he still owns of the seven he bought in the mid-1990s are worth far more than what the county wants to pay.
"I sold three of them for $42,000 each," he said, adding that he believes his remaining lots are worth $75,000 each, while the county is offering $20,000 each.
"You can't find lots anymore. People will do about anything to get them," he said, charging that the county knows his legal expenses will be high and is trying to get his land cheaply.
"It's like extortion," he said. "I guess I'll get more from the courts."
The council will hold a public hearing June 17 and vote on the resolutions July 1.