The long battle between Carroll County commissioners and Hampstead's leaders over the fate of the town's old elementary school building will likely come to a head in the next few days.

The commissioners plan to sell the former Hampstead Elementary School to the highest bidder Tuesday.

But a judge could halt the planned auction at a hearing tomorrow, when town leaders will make a final plea for control of the property, which they call the centerpiece of their downtown revitalization efforts.

Even if the town fails to halt the auction in court, it may bid on the property Tuesday, said Mayor Christopher M. Nevin.

"We have to make sure we have all the angles covered," he said.

Also among the likely bidders is a team led by Baltimore redevelopment specialists Struever Bros., Eccles & Rouse. That team, which includes Interfaith Housing of Western Maryland, had secured town and county approval to convert the property into a senior housing center, but the deal fell through this year after Struever failed to obtain state tax credits needed to finance the project.

The other two bidders who have pre-qualified for the auction are Westminster developer Frederick M. Gross and Humphrey Development Inc. of Columbia. The county required prospective bidders to prove they could finance a redevelopment project of $5 million or more and to promise immediate repairs for the building's leaky roof.

Hampstead officials, however, hope the auction will never happen. Their attorney, J. Brooks Leahy, will argue tomorrow that the commissioners did not meet their obligations in determining the best use for the 91-year-old building, where many Hampstead residents attended school.

Town and county leaders spent years debating the best use for the building and the surrounding 5 acres. Nevin had thought all parties agreed last year that Struever's planned senior housing center would preserve the building and meet a significant public need.

The town's revitalization plans include a new municipal park, sidewalks connecting all of Hampstead to downtown, new bicycle paths and underground electrical power lines. The refurbished school, located just off Main Street, would be at the center of the project.

Impatient commission

But early last month, lame-duck Commissioners Donald I. Dell and Robin Bartlett Frazier said they were tired of waiting on financing for Struever's project. Dell suggested auctioning the property and Frazier agreed, despite the objections of town leaders and Commissioner Julia Walsh Gouge.

Nevin quickly criticized the auction, saying it would give the town insufficient control over the property's future. He speculated that Dell and Frazier pushed the auction as an act of political retribution after Nevin wrote in the town newsletter that he hoped neither would be re-elected.

Seeking injunction

The town filed suit this month seeking an injunction against the auction. The town's legal argument contends that:

The county acted in bad faith when negotiating the sale of the property to the town and thus damaged Struever's bid for tax credits. Town leaders contend the state might have looked more favorably on the bid if the commissioners hadn't wavered on their commitment to transferring the property to town control.

The commissioners understood all along that Struever might have to submit several applications for financing and pulled the rug out on the development team by announcing the auction when they did.

Because the auction is not part of normal county procedure, no criteria exist to judge whether the sale is appropriate.

The commissioners failed to grant the town an administrative appeal to the decision to auction the property, as promised in the agreement that covers how business between the county and the town should be conducted.

The commissioners never explained when or why the school had become a surplus property with no foreseeable public use - the type of property fit for auction.

"The actions of the county, in proceeding in extreme haste without any process or structure, to divest itself of the school are unjustified [ ... ] and designed primarily to deprive the town of its legitimate and longstanding interest in the redevelopment project," according to the lawsuit.

Frazier and Dell said they're unconcerned about the court hearing.

"Whatever the judge says, we'll do, but I don't think their allegations have any credence," Frazier said.

Hampstead leaders hope Circuit Judge Luke K. Burns Jr. will order a stop to the auction and force the county to sell the school to the town.

Hoping for center

If the town loses in court, the auction is scheduled for 11 a.m. Tuesday at the County Office Building. Nevin said he would like to see the property go to the Struever team so it can make another bid for state tax credits.

But he added that regardless of who ends up owning the property, he hopes it will become a senior housing center.

"It's a needed amenity for the community, and there's demand for it," he said.