The Carroll commissioners turned over the former Hampstead Elementary School to the town yesterday, ending a long impasse with town leaders who see the property as vital to their Main Street revitalization efforts.

Hampstead leaders are now clear to pursue their partnership with a development team that plans to transform the school into housing for low-income seniors. Hampstead will compensate the county by extending town sewage lines to North Carroll Middle School for no charge.

"I want to thank you for getting this issue behind us in a very positive manner," said Hampstead Mayor Christopher M. Nevin, who participated in the commissioners' meeting via speakerphone.

"Well, we don't want the school to fall down," Commissioner Julia Walsh Gouge replied with a laugh.

The fate of the 91-year-old school became the subject of a bitter feud between Nevin and former Commissioners Donald I. Dell and Robin Bartlett Frazier. Dell and Frazier agreed last year to let the town move forward with a $10 million redevelopment using a team led by Baltimore firm Struever Bros., Eccles & Rouse Inc.

But the commissioners and town leaders couldn't agree on terms for a sale. After the development team failed earlier this year to secure tax credits needed for financing, Dell and Frazier voted to put the school up for public auction.

The move angered town leaders, who said an auction would leave them little control over the future of the property. Nevin speculated that Dell and Frazier were exacting political retribution after he wrote in the town newsletter that he hoped they wouldn't be re-elected.

Last month, the town won an injunction against the planned auction from a Circuit Court judge. A few days later, the newly seated commissioners canceled the auction.

Yesterday, new Commissioners Dean L. Minnich and Perry L. Jones Jr. questioned Nevin and Hampstead Town Manager Ken Decker about the school.

Minnich said he has heard concerns that the low-income housing might lessen the quality of life in surrounding neighborhoods. But Nevin and representatives from the development team noted several similar projects in Maryland that have entered residential areas seamlessly.

In the end, Minnich made it a unanimous vote to approve the sale.

County employees said the county would have no further use for the building, and said the commissioners should be happy to be rid of the liability. Among other problems, the building's deteriorating roof leaks regularly, town and county officials have said.

Hampstead leaders say that when redeveloped, the building -- where many town residents attended school -- will be a focal point for a revitalization plan that also calls for additional parks and walking paths.

The Struever team will have another chance to apply for state low-income tax credits in February, and probably will learn the outcome in the summer, Nevin said. He added that the application would be strengthened by the sale of the school from county to town.