Politics & Government

Brickyard Road Goes To Circuit Court

The Brickyard Road controversy will go before the Montgomery County Government Circuit Court today in a case that will decide if the Montgomery County Board of Education acted appropriately when leasing the Brickyard land to Montgomery County.

EDITOR'S NOTE: An updated version of this article .

The Montgomery County Government Circuit Court is scheduled to hear the Brickyard Road case, Nick Maravell versus Montgomery County Board of Education, today at 9:30 a.m.

The court will decide if the Montgomery County BOE violated the Open Meetings Act when it transferred the Brickyard Road lease from Maravell to Montgomery County. Maravell had been farming a plot of land at Brickyard Road on lease from the board of education for more than 30 years, before the board voted in March of 2011 to lease the land to the county to develop into soccer fields. Maravell's suit against the board claims that residents were not properly clued into the board's actions.

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The Open Meetings Act is a sunshine law that requires local governments and school boards to make meetings open and available to the public. The Maryland Open Meetings Law Compliance Board had stated earlier this year that Montgomery County residents were not made sufficiently aware of the proceedings.

Maravell and his attorney, Jim Parsons of Rockville, filed suit in court in July claiming that the sunshine law had been violated, and that the court should therefore reject the county’s claim on the land.

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Following the circuit court's decision, the Maryland Board of Education will also hear the case to determine if the Montgomery County Board of Education violated its procedures when making the lease. The case will not be heard before the end of the year.


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