RALE Seeking To Remove Individuals From Lawsuit

The organization will be in court on Feb. 15th.


Frederick, Md (KM)  The developer of the Monrovia Town Center project, Residents Against Landsdale Expansion and other organizations and individuals will be in court next month. They’ll be discussing the future of a lawsuit filed against RALE, Frederick County, the County Council and other entities  by the developers of the MTC.

75-80 Properties LLC, the developer of MTC, filed suit in 2015, claiming the defendants are preventing the plaintiffs from building out the project, costing them about $500,000. The defendants, including RALE, are fighting this massive project, which calls for 1250 new homes to be constructed on 392-acres near the intersection of Routes 75 and 80.

The suit will be discussed in Circuit Court on February 15th beginning at 10:30 AM. RALE President Steve McKay wants the judge to dismiss the suit. “If the court decides to keep the suit alive, our motion is ‘okay, but take the individuals out of it. They didn’t need to included in the suit,'” he says.

McKay says the County is expected to rehear the MTC case, and individuals who want to testify don’t need a lawsuit hanging over their heads.

“And there’s actually a word for it. It’s called a SLAPP suit…Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation. And we think that this is exactly that. That these individuals are included to intimidate them. They didn’t n need to be in there,” he said.

The last Board of County Commissioners approved the massive project  Opponents say it will clog up area roads which cannot handle the excess traffic.

 

By Kevin McManus