Land Deal

Anne Arundel County officials are trying to sort out another complex land deal that former County Executive John G. Gary engineered during his final weeks in office, this one again involving the purchase of land with little apparent potential for public use.The deal, for 40 acres of wooded waterfront along Curtis Creek, took place in December, at the same time the county spent $1 million for Maryland City property that has gone unused.The Curtis Creek land came to the county in a trade Gary brokered that handed a Millersville businessman the chance to quietly open a garbage transfer station that had been opposed by residents.

Developer Jay Winer should resign from an Odenton planning committee for engineering a county land deal that benefited him, Anne Arundel County Council President Daniel E. Klosterman Jr. said yesterday."

Anne Arundel County officials are trying to sort out another complex land deal that former County Executive John G. Gary engineered during his final weeks in office, this one again involving the purchase of land with little apparent potential for public use.The deal, for 40 acres of wooded waterfront along Curtis Creek, took place in December, at the same time the county spent $1 million for Maryland City property that has gone unused.The Curtis Creek land came to the county in a trade Gary brokered that handed a Millersville businessman the chance to quietly open a garbage transfer station that had been opposed by residents.

WASHINGTON -- Webster L. Hubbell has reached a deal in which he will plead guilty to a felony charge of lying about the role he and Hillary Rodham Clinton played in a questionable land deal, political and legal sources said yesterday.In exchange for the plea, Whitewater independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr will recommend that Hubbell serve no time behind bars for the felony, the sources said.The plea agreement will likely avert a trial, scheduled for August, that was likely to explore Clinton's conduct as a lawyer in the land deal, which federal regulators characterized as a sham and which led to the collapse of a savings and loan institution.

Anne Arundel County is looking to sell 7 acres of debris-strewn Maryland City land that it bought for $1 million in a hurried transaction six months ago during the final days of County Executive John G. Gary's administration.The land deal, which county officials now say violated long-practiced procedures for acquiring property, involved a parcel owned by a prominent developer who contributed several thousand dollars to Gary's failed bid for re-election, campaign records show.In October, shortly before the purchase was finalized, Gary held a news conference hailing it as the future site of a police substation and recreational fields to serve the fast-growing region around Maryland City.

The legislature's ethics committee concluded last night that House Speaker Casper R. Taylor Jr.'s reported role in a Western Maryland land deal violated no state laws, and the panel decided not to conduct a formal investigation into it.Committee members met behind closed doors for nearly two hours to consider a newspaper report that Taylor had inappropriately intervened in the land deal on behalf of a friend, before emerging with the news that they were...

Ethics questions continued to overshadow the General Assembly session yesterday, as a veteran delegate resigned his seat and House Speaker Casper R. Taylor Jr. defended himself against a report that he had inappropriately intervened in a Western Maryland land deal.Del. Gerald J. Curran ended his 32-year career in the House of Delegates with a standing ovation from his colleagues - many of whom wept after he read a letter of resignation that ended an ethics probe into his business dealings.

EASTON, N.Y. -- In October 1777, cannon and musket fire echoed across the Hudson River here as American troops, who were dug in on bluffs above the western shore, stopped the British advance toward Albany, 23 miles downstream. The battle of Saratoga was a turning point in the Revolutionary War.The once-bloodied fields and woodlands have been enshrined since 1938 as the Saratoga National Historical Park. But there has been no protection for the pastoral view enjoyed by park visitors, who gaze east from the hilltop gun emplacements.

WASHINGTON -- A federal bank examiner suggested in congressional testimony yesterday that Hillary Rodham Clinton ought to have known that a 1985 land deal arranged by an Arkansas thrift she represented was structured in a way that violated state law.The examiner, James T. Clark, told the Senate Whitewater Committee he found no evidence during his 1986 review of the thrift, Madison Guaranty Savings & Loan, that then-Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton or his wife...

WASHINGTON -- On the eve of today's release of the Senate Whitewater committee report, which is sharply critical of Hillary Rodham Clinton, the first lady yesterday offered a terse and perfunctory response to questions posed to her by her Republican accusers last week.The two-page affidavit was preceded by a caustic letter, tinged with sarcasm, in which the first lady's lawyer, David E. Kendall, called the Republicans' inquiry of the first lady a "last-minute hit-and-run smear" and said the senators were not seriously interested in her responses.

The Baltimore Board of Estimates approved a land deal yesterday for the Hollander 95 project in East Baltimore, giving developers portions of four roads for a dollar. M.J. "Jay" Brodie, president of the Baltimore Development Corp., said the city had intended to include the roads in the 51-acre parcel sold to developers in April 2005 for $4 million. "It was our staff; it was just a mistake," Brodie said. "The person handling the project forgot to include the street beds." The board, which is effectively controlled by Mayor Sheila Dixon, also granted developers permission to build a hotel on a portion of the land, a proposal that had concerned some nearby residents who worry that it would attract truckers and large vehicles.

Baltimore officials voted yesterday to pay more than $1 million for three parcels of land owned by Gilbert Sapperstein, a liquor license broker and ex-convict who pleaded guilty to defrauding the city school system in 2005. The land deal was approved at a Board of Estimates meeting, which Sapperstein attended. The properties were listed for sale by Gwynn Associates LLP, a company that state records show shares the same address as Sapperstein's Baltimore County home. An official with Baltimore Development Corp.

The state Board of Public Works approved yesterday the purchase by St. Mary's College of Maryland of 34 acres of undeveloped land from a member of the state college's board of trustees, over Comptroller Peter Franchot's objections. Franchot initially praised the liberal arts college's handling of the ethically tricky transaction but then changed course when Treasurer Nancy K. Kopp brought up an article in the St. Mary's Today newspaper criticizing the $800,000 sale as a "land scam" and likened it to a "sweetheart deal" for developer Michael P. O'Brien.

A longtime state employee was fired the day after he was quoted in The Sun suggesting that the state did not follow normal procedures when it agreed to pay more than the highest appraised price for a piece of Eastern Shore preservation land. A spokesman for the Department of General Services denied that the statement had anything to do with the firing of Nelson E. Reichart, a 29-year veteran of state government who had served as that agency's assistant secretary for real estate since 2003.

Alonso ready to face Baltimore's `big job' Some might think that new city schools CEO Andres Alonso would run straight back to New York City after reading Sara Neufeld's open letter welcoming him as CEO of the Baltimore schools ("Big job," July 1). But I don't think the problems of Baltimore will make Mr. Alonso head north anytime soon. For starters, he has worked effectively in tougher districts: The New York City system is more than 10 times larger than Baltimore's and is infamous for its school politics, and the Newark, N.J., school district faces at least as much judicial scrutiny as Baltimore's schools.

Baltimore County officials say parkland is so scarce in some areas that they're willing to pay premium dollars when it becomes available. But a plan to buy a patch of green on the east side has raised questions from a County Council member about the price the county would pay for it. The county administration has agreed to pay $900,000 to a developer for about 20 acres of a field next to Sparrows Point High School in Edgemere. The deal requires approval of the County Council, which has scheduled a vote for tonight.

The Baltimore County Council approved the purchase of nearly 7 acres in Perry Hall for a new library last night. The deal, approved by a unanimous vote, followed two years of negotiations between the county government and the Archdiocese of Baltimore. The government will give the church $1.1 million and 1.8 acres nearby in exchange for 6.7 acres of church-owned land at the northeast corner of Cross Road and Honeygo Boulevard. The county plans to use the land for a 25,000-square-foot library.

Bus depot jeopardizes land deal for library A Baltimore County councilman said yesterday he will move to kill a land deal that would allow a public library to be built in Perry Hall unless the county government cancels plans to park school buses on the property. The government has agreed to buy nearly 7 acres from the Archdiocese of Baltimore for just less than $1.3 million. Part of the land, at Cross Road and Honeygo Boulevard, would be used for a parking lot for 50 school buses, county officials say. The council is scheduled to vote on the proposed deal Monday.

The titan arum is a rare plant with a beautiful flower and a repulsive odor. It is not native to Dorchester County, but it sure seemed as though it had an overwhelming presence at a ceremony last week outside Cambridge when the Ehrlich administration announced that the state will spend $10 million to purchase more than two-thirds of farmland targeted for a luxury mega-development. For the ecological sake of the fragile Little Blackwater River and the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge that it flows into, using tax dollars to rescue the land from the developer's paw is a positive step, maybe even the only action that could save the open space from encroaching sprawl.

When Maryland's Program Open Space was created in 1969, it was envisioned as a kind of automatic savings account for the environment. The idea is simple enough. Each time there's a real estate purchase, a state transfer tax is assessed. A portion - one-half percent of a property's value - is then used to buy land, build parks and preserve farms. The beauty of the system is that development would automatically fuel land conservation. Program Open Space wouldn't have to compete for funds.