Mays Chapel Group Sues County over Proposed Elementary School

A group of Mays Chapel residents filed a lawsuit against Baltimore County Council related to the proposed Mays Chapel Elementary School.

The group says a land-swap approved in January by the council to build the school at Mays Chapel Park was done illegally, since part of the park land was bought with open space funds through the Department of Natural Resources.

"They're trying to take that land. We don't think that's quite right," said Whistler Burch, a member of the Save Mays Chapel Park Committee that filed the lawsuit Monday.

"We do not want a 700-student elementary school on that property," Burch said.

The county says the lawsuit is a stall tactic that isn't going to benefit either side of the issue.

"Here is what I can say very clearly to the families up and down York Road: 'Mays Chapel Elementary School will be built,'" said Ellen Kobler, spokeswoman for County Executive Kevin Kamenetz.

The lawsuit states that a move in January by the Baltimore County Council to approve a land swap--a parcel owned by the board of education exchanged for a parcel owned by the county--is illegal.

The county got only one appraisal for both parcels, it states, although independent real estate appraisals for each parcel is required to determine if exchanging county land for BOE land is a fair exchange.

Kobler said building the school is necessary, because the area needs more space for elementary school students. "Everyone knows the tremendous need for elementary school seats from the (Baltimore) city line to the Pennsylvania border."

The school won't harm the area, she said. "State-of-the-art schools don't detract from neighborhoods; they enhance neighborhoods."

In February, Baltimore County Schools Board of Education approved plans for the school. The state has approved $23 million for the project.

In an interview Tuesday, Burch said the lawsuit is only part of the group's concerns. Its members are also looking out for the children who would be bused far from their homes to attend the proposed school, he said.

"Ninety-nine percent of students (who would be) bused in should be on the east side of York Road. Keep the kids in the neighborhood," he said.

Land for the proposed, 700-student school is west of York Road.

The committee is a group of residents that defines itself as "parents" and "grandparents." There are no parents of elementary school students on the committee, Burch said.