3rd party intervenes in an attempt to throw out suit over Washington County truck stop ban

A suit by a local developer against the Washington County Board of Commissioners over actions they took to limit truck stops in the county took a new legal turn Tuesday when a third party intervened in an attempt to have the suit thrown out.

Rockville, Md., attorney Michele Rosenfeld said she represents about a dozen people who are concerned about the rate of truck stops and large warehouses popping up in the county.

During a hearing in Washington County Circuit Court to consider a suit that Bowman Group LLC filed against the commissioners over a land use law change the previous board passed to rein in development of truck stops, Rosenfeld stood up at the end of the hearing and told retired Allegany County Circuit Judge W. Timothy Finan that she had filed a motion to dismiss the case.

After the hearing, Rosenfeld said in an interview that she is relying on case law that says a group like Bowman cannot file such a suit. It can only be filed by an entity that represents taxpayers, Rosenfeld.

Finan acknowledged Rosenfeld's motion and told attorneys in the case at the conclusion of the hearing that they have 15 days to file final statements. Then he will issue a decision.

The legal battles began arising after the commissioners last year passed an ordinance that amounts to a ban on construction of new truck stops and makes it tougher to build warehouses larger than 1 million square feet anywhere in the county.

Background:Bowman sues Washington County commissioners over truck stop ban

It was all started by an application by Bowman-Spielman and Bowman Group to the Washington County Board of Zoning Appeals for a special exception to build a combination truck stop and Sheetz convenience store near Interstate 81 in the Williamsport area.

Some former and current commissioners said they have been hearing concerns from constituents about the amount of land in the county being lost to truck stops and warehouses.

In its suit, the Bowman Group is asking the court to find the commissioners' action invalid for a number of reasons, including that the commissioners did not follow normal procedures in approving their land use change.

The Washington County Planning Commission should have first held a public hearing on the proposal and issued a recommendation to the commissioners, according to the suit.

The zoning board was scheduled to hold a hearing on the Bowman proposal on June 8 last year. But on June 7, the commissioners held a public hearing in which testimony was taken from several people opposed to the truck stop plan. Bowman representatives said the testimony was taken to get support from the commissioners for a letter to be send to the zoning board asking it to deny the truck stop project.

Commissioner Wayne Keefer and former commissioners Terry Baker and Charles Burkett voted to send the letter. Commissioners Randy Wagner and Jeff Cline voted no.

The next day, the zoning board approved the special exception for the truck stop. That decision was appealed to circuit court and is still pending.

Background:Bowman Group temporary restraining order against truck stop ban denied; case continues

On Nov. 29, the commissioners, on a 3-2 vote, approved a land-use change that would no longer allow truck stops as a special exception in highway interchange zones. That's the only place in the county where truck stops appear in county land use laws, also called zoning.

The commissioners' land use change also requires new warehouses larger than 1 million square feet to get a special exception from the zoning board. Keefer, Baker and Burkett voted for the zoning change, and Wagner and Cline voted against it.

Before the Nov. 29 vote, the commissioners held a public hearing that morning on the zoning law change. But a Bowman attorney said in Tuesday's hearing that the Nov. 29 public hearing was illegal because it violated state open meeting regulations.

Bowman attorney Ian Bartman said a legal notice was placed in The Herald-Mail on Nov. 15 advertising the public hearing. But there was no summary in the ad detailing what the hearing was about, Bartman said. The county provided the public a link to its website about the hearing, but there were no details there either, he said.

Then the county suffered a cyber attack on its computer systems on Nov. 24, meaning the link was out of service through Nov. 29, Bartman said.

During the Nov. 29 public hearing, there was emphatic testimony from some saying that the county's zoning change was illegal. Bartman said "just about everybody else" agreed, including local state lawmakers and even county staff.

"The process had failures along the way," Bartman said.

The Nov. 29 meeting was the last one for Baker and Burkett before they left the commission, and Bartman said the commissioners "we're trying to rush this through before their terms expired."

After Bartman presented his side Tuesday, County Attorney Kirk Downey said his side has stipulated to certain facts in the case and is prepared for Finan to rule.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: Washington County appears in circuit court Tuesday over truck stop ban