Both Sides Sue in Clarksburg Dispute

Three years after residents of Clarksburg Town Center found irregularities in their northern Montgomery County development, angry residents say things still aren't being built the right way. And the developer, Newland Communities, is complaining that the residents group is part of the problem.

The disagreements are the focus of dueling lawsuits filed recently over efforts to create a walkable downtown in Clarksburg Town Center. The community is one of several planned developments in an area near the Frederick County border that is expected to grow to about 13,000 homes.

The lawsuits reprise many of the complaints residents brought to county officials three years ago, leading to major changes in Montgomery's planning process and ushering in a slower-growth County Council and county executive.

Originally upset that they were going to get a strip shopping center instead of a more urban retail center, the residents dug around for months in planning documents. They discovered that Newland and several builders were making changes to approved plans in order to allow buildings that were too tall and too close to the street and the neighbors. They also found that the developer and the builders had failed to provide all promised amenities.

The county Planning Board eventually agreed and sent the case to a mediator to resolve.

But there has been no swift or easy finish. The residents say in their lawsuit that Newland still isn't keeping its promises and that the company is reverting to a strip shopping plan, despite reaching a formal agreement with the Planning Board in 2006 that called for a walkable town center.

"Here we are again," said Amy Presley, a leader of the Clarksburg Town Center Advisory Group, which has spent the past two years in closed-door negotiations with Newland, including several rounds of arbitration, trying to fill in the details of those plans.

Douglas C. Delano, a Newland vice president, issued a statement saying that it is the company's policy to withhold comment on pending litigation. He noted that "the parties . . . agreed only to make statements in support of the plan produced in the . . . arbitration."

The lawsuits, filed in Baltimore County Circuit Court, focus on two rulings by arbitrator Barbara Kerr Howe, a Baltimore County judge.

In April, Howe agreed with the community group that Newland was required to adhere to agreed-upon plans for the retail center, even if they might not be viable. Company officials said that Newland's plans were being revised, not abandoned, because retailers were not responding positively to them.

Newland's revised plans have more on-street parking, eliminate one of two parking garages, scale back the other garage and reduce the size of some stores and sidewalks.

Newland asked Howe to reconsider her decision, and a few weeks later, she reversed herself. Residents are challenging the decision; Newland is asking the court to uphold it. Both sides have asked the court to award legal fees.