Perryman lawsuit against Harford County, Mitchell property developers will now be heard in Harford County Circuit Court

Jason Fontelieu, The Aegis, Bel Air, Md.
Updated ·2 min read

Dec. 22—The lawsuit against Harford County and the developers of the proposed Mitchell property mega-warehouse distribution center in Perryman has been moved to Harford County Circuit Court.

The case was originally filed June 7 in Anne Arundel Circuit Court. A complex motions hearing was scheduled Monday but canceled after a motion to transfer jurisdiction to Harford County was granted last Friday by Anne Arundel County Judge Glenn Klavans.

Paul Fallace, president of the 3P Protect Perryman Peninsula citizen coalition, said in a statement that the group hopes to have the matter solved quickly and fairly.

"The freight distribution center as proposed is illegal in Harford County," Fallace wrote. "That is true regardless of where we make our arguments."

The coalition and six Perryman residents are the case's plaintiffs, all represented by Baltimore lawyer Rignal W. Baldwin V. The listed defendants are Harford County; F.O. Mitchell and Brother, a company owned by the Mitchell property owners; Chesapeake Real Estate Group, the Hanover firm developing the Mitchell property; and Frederick Ward Associates Inc., the Bel Air engineering firm attached to the development proposal.

The suit states that the proposed 5.2 million square feet of warehouse space planned for the Mitchell property would be classified as a freight terminal, which is not permitted by the property's current zoning.

"We believe that, ultimately, whoever ends up hearing the case and wherever it ends up being heard, we'll be able to apply the law to the facts relatively easily," Baldwin said.

Matt Laraway, Chesapeake Real Estate Group's executive vice president, said it made more sense for the case to be heard in Harford County due to the land in question being in the county and three of the four defendants being from Harford County. Chesapeake Real Estate Group is not in the county, but Laraway said the firm regularly does business there.

Laraway said he believes the case will be dismissed.

"What we're building is in a properly zoned piece of land," Laraway said.

A pretrial conference March 16, 2023, is the next court event scheduled, according to state Circuit Court records.

"We will continue to evaluate our options in terms of moving the case forward," Baldwin said.