A golf course has sought and received a temporary restraining order against the Hampstead government, saying the town has threatened to use eminent domain to take one of the golf course?s two private irrigation wells for use in the municipal water system.
The legal trouble erupted following a flurry of recent letters between Oakmont Green Golf Club and the town about when municipal employees would visit the property to survey and appraise the well.
The golf club said it wanted to set up a timeto avoid disrupting previously scheduled golf games, but Hampstead Town Manager Ken Decker said municipal employees were allowed to come to the property without scheduling the visit with the owners.
“The town?s employees are not subject to ? the Annotated Code of Maryland and have the right to enter upon public spaces of private property on official business without requesting permission or providing notice,” Decker wrote in a letter dated April 25 to Richard Titus, Oakmont?s attorney.
Leland Snyder, vice president of Oakmont Green Inc., said in a statement, “It is particularly frustrating that such condemnation is being pursued on an aggressive, fast-track approach by the town with what appears to be little regard for our rights as the private property owner.”
Decker could not immediately be reached for comment.
Hampstead Mayor Haven Shoemaker said he was hopeful that an “amicable resolution” would be attained.
“We?ve been searching for additional water for years, and we haven?t been successful. Water is a precious commodity,” said Shoemaker, who declined to comment any further on “active litigation.”
Municipalities throughout Carroll are struggling to comply with a new Maryland Department of the Environment mandate that towns have enough water to satisfy worst-case drought conditions.
