For the all-volunteer community association in the heart of a traditionally blue-collar Baltimore County neighborhood, it was the worst-case scenario.
Members of the Greater Dundalk Alliance asked a judge to demand a company to at least temporarily stop dredging what they believe is contaminated sediment near the Sparrows Point Shipyard. To their surprise ? and dismay ? the judge acquiesced, but demanded the community post a $750,000 bond the next day as collateral.
The total cost was estimated at $37,000.
“I needed a rich uncle,” said Sharon Beazley, an activistwho contributed from her own pocket. “It was a virtual impossibility. Especially a nonprofit with no money in a low-income neighborhood.”
The Alliance is one of many Baltimore County neighborhood associations who say they?re increasingly involved in legal disputes over development proposals without the cash to fund them.
In Towson, leaders said they can?t persuade county officials to terminate what they consider inappropriate development proposals. Dick Parsons, a founding member of the Greater Towson Council of Community Associations, said cases must go to the Court of Appeals in Annapolis to avoid local political pressure.
Parsons said he?s litigated zoning cases because the community can?t afford a licensed attorney.
“A well-connected developer could write it off as a business expense ? they could take it to the Supreme Court or God if they have to,” he said.
Activists said they rely on the generosity of local attorneys such as J. Carroll Holzer, Frank Borgerding and, in Dundalk, Bart Fisher, who give communities discounts or work pro bono. Other groups have established legal defense funds and solicited corporations for donations.
In Dundalk, even corporate donations weren?t enough to post the bond and the dredging has continued, according to Alliance president Carolyn Jones.
“We?re waiting for people to realize that money doesn?t grow on trees,” Jones said.
