Published: April 27, 2008 12:15 am      

Smart-growth believers’ tab in Terrapin Run battle tops $11,000

What does it cost to fight the government?

Herb Crawford once asked rhetorically, “How do you set a value on history?”

Crawford spoke in the late 1990s of preserving the Lonaconing Silk Mill to integrate with the rest of the area’s industrial heritage attractions.

To date, the plan has not been successful. Crawford has said he’s invested much of his life savings in the mill.

A spin-off of that question arose recently as the leader of a grass-roots residents group in Allegany County solicited friends and fellow smart-growth believers for help in settling legal fees. Dale Sams of Citizens of Smart Growth in Allegany didn’t disclose the total amount. But in an e-mail addressed to supporters last week, he said the organization still owed $11,400 in legal fees battling the development of Terrapin Run, a proposed 4,300-unit subdivision that at some point could vie with Frostburg as Allegany County’s second-largest population center.

So, how much does it take to fight local government? Win or lose, is it worth the cost?

“How do you actually, under great financial distress, make a good effort to save what I think — we all would think — (would) be a unique ... something to preserve a (part of) regional history?” said Tim Magrath, a political science professor at Frostburg State University who spent 25 years as a congressional staffer, including 11 years with former U.S. Sen. Paul Sarbanes. “In the case of Herb Crawford, it’s directly related to the financial burden to him and his family. He’s sacrificed a great deal.”

The Court of Appeals ruled 4-3 last month to allow the county to grant a land-use permit for Columbia-based PDC Inc., the developer of Terrapin Run, though the company still has a number of hurdles to clear before construction can begin.

Sams and his organization oppose the concept because of the area’s distance from infrastructure and because it could detract from the serene natural beauty of Green Ridge State Forest in eastern Allegany County. Critics also argue the development doesn’t conform to the county’s master plan. The court’s ruling decided master plans are simply tools to be used for guidance.

Magrath said that local residents have fought a host of issues with local or state government — or worked with officials — on various projects. Many Oakland residents resent the planned U.S. Route 219 bypass around the town. In Allegany County, residents worked with government to fulfill the idea of the Great Allegheny Passage. Residents in both counties are taking their own time and money to stave off placing wind energy facilities on public land.

Magrath said residents in eastern Allegany County have “a lot at stake” and are “going to be impacted by development in a severe way.”

Some residents own property adjacent to the planned development. David and Susan Trail’s 128-acre farm is one of them. They recently agreed to a conservation easement that virtually guarantees the land remains agricultural. Magrath, however, asks what the Trails are preserving their land for.

“To be surrounded by townhouses and homes?” Magrath asked. “Does that affect your land value in a negative way?”

He wonders if the family’s effort — and expenses of hiring an attorney — will prove worthwhile.

Jackie Sams of Citizens for Smarth Growth in Allegany County said it’s not difficult asking people for money — “not if there’s a bill to be paid.”

“We kind of have to do that,” she said.

Citizens for Smart Growth is not a nonprofit and donations are not tax-deductible. But Sams said she and her husband had no idea the effort would venture to the state’s highest court. The group loosely formed in 2005, aiming to protest during the county’s board of zoning appeals process.

The testimony, though, “went on forever,” Jackie Sams said. All the while, Hagerstown attorney William Wantz, a land-use specialist, was on hand. A hydrologist also was hired to try to prove the area lacked sufficient water resources. The group’s effort failed.

“We knew there were a lot of legal issues with it,” she said. “We didn’t know anything about it. Of course, it’s very expensive because it went on for so long. One of the reasons we’re not a tax-exempt organization (is) I don’t think any of us, when we started this, had any idea what we were getting into.”

The group has sponsored a handful of fundraisers and, in the e-mail last week, continued to seek contributions from supporters.

“What does it cost to fight the government? A lot,” Jackie Sams said.

Sams said about 250 people and organizations had donated to offset the legal fees. Carolyn Hicks of Joppa is one of them. A self-described community activist who has fought her own battles in Harford County, she received Dale Sams’ e-mail as a recipient of notices from 1000 Friends of Maryland, a nonprofit organization committed to preserving the state’s natural resources.

“When I saw the plight of the people in Allegany County, I thought, ‘Oh, my God, it’s not just here in Joppa, it’s everywhere,’ ” Hicks said. “I showed my husband the e-mail the other day. He said, ‘Let’s send them some money.’ We will be making a contribution to them. It’s the cause that they’re fighting for. It’s helping one fellow man out of a terrible situation.”

But Hicks understands that residents’ objection to development comes at a cost. Fighting over eight years against the design of a 337-home subdivision near their home, the couple consulted two attorneys, both of whom said it wouldn’t be easy — or inexpensive.

“Our community, we’re not paupers,” Hicks said. “But we’re not wealthy, either. You’re fighting a lost cause. But it’s better than sitting back and letting developers and politicians roll over us while we play dead. We can’t stop fighting, we have to keep going on.”

For Jackie Sams, the fight might not yet be over. While the case against Terrapin Run has not gone the way she had hoped, there’s always the next development.

“As long as there’s a Terrapin Run anywhere in somebody’s mind,” Sams said. “What we hope to do (is) talk about what smart growth means to Allegany County.”

Contact Kevin Spradlin at kspradlin@times-news.com.