The conservation easement is an established tool for the protection of environmentally significant land. The enforcement of such an easement is, however, far from established and led HLT into what turned out to be prolonged proceedings in the Circuit Court for Harford County.
 
On August 1, 2001 the Harford Land Trust filed suit to enforce a Deed of Conservation Easement it had held since December, 1994. After three years of delays a settlement was reached and HLT agreed to dismiss the action "with prejudice," meaning that if established conditions are not met it can renew the suit.
 
The Trust was represented pro bono by Douglas R. Nazarian of the firm Hogan and Hartman P.A. in an effort that would otherwise have been prohibitively costly for the Trust to pursue. Ann Helton, HLT president, recently attended a Seminar organized by the staff of the Maryland Environmental Trust with the intimidating title, Proactive Stewardship. Her purpose was to learn what other trusts were doing when established easements were being abused. As it turned out, "Ours was the only experience available," she said. "What happens is that these cases are not litigated but get settled out of court and there is no accumulation of case law to draw on."
 
The HLT easement covered a 125-acre property known as the Solomon's Choice Farm, which is located on Grafton Shop Road near its intersection with Carr's Mill Road. The property is crossed by Bear Creek Run and Winter's Run, sources of public water supply for Bel Air and Harford County and both flowing eventually into Chesapeake Bay.
 
The defendants were the Solomon's Choice Farm Property Owner's Association and seven individual lot owners. HLT alleged that some of the lot owners and their children were flouting the easement's conditions by operating motorized off-road vehicles through its fields, wetlands, woods and streams causing visible erosion, ruts, destruction of ground cover and damage to stream banks. Neighbors attested to noise and dust and the absence of wildlife that once inhabited the fields and woods.
 
The Trust asked the Court, among other things, to enter a permanent injunction precluding the use of motorized off-road vehicles on the property.
 
The Deed of Conservation Easement was initially granted to the Trust by Deborah C. Brown, then the owner of Solomon's Choice Farm. It restricted and limited the use of the land and contiguous water areas according to certain conditions. It recognized the value of the property "as a natural and rural area." It stated that, "The purpose of this Conservation Easement is to preserve and protect the environment of the Property and to maintain permanently the natural and open-space values of the Property and the dominant scenic, historic, cultural, rural, agricultural, woodland and wetland character of the Property." It also requires generally that all activities or uses must be carried out in a fashion that prevents or mitigates harm to the property.
 
The conditions of the easement extended to the Solomon's Choice Subdivision Plan, which the late Deborah C. Brown prepared with the help of her consultants, David Miller (HLT's director) and John P. Gutting. The plan permitted four new residences in addition to the three existing homes on the property with 85 acres of the 125-acre total to be held as common lands. Each lot owner would hold a one-seventh individual interest in the common lands and could build a home on his or her lot subject to the terms and conditions of the easement.
 
On June 5, 1998, after recording the easement to the Trust and the subdivision plan, Ms. Brown transferred the property to Solomon's Choice Limited Partnership, stating in an accompanying Declaration of Covenants and Restrictions her desire "to protect the historical, environmental and scenic integrity of the entire property." This Declaration also specifically obliged the Solomon's Choice Farm Property Owners Association "to enforce the easement and the covenants contained in the Declaration." The Declaration recognized the Trust's duty "to monitor and administer the conditions and restrictions of the Deed of Conservation Easement in perpetuity."
 
The lawsuit arose from the serious, visible damage caused by the operation of all-terrain vehicles. The Trust first attempted to address the problem in March 2001 through letters from David Miller, the Trust's director, to the property owners. The first two letters met with no response, and a third letter caused one owner to respond that the vehicles were permitted because the easement does not specifically prohibit them. It was at that point that the Trust retained counsel, who sent a letter on July 18 notifying the owners of the Trust's intent to enforce the easement. When the owners failed to respond, the Trust filed suit on August 1, 2001.
 
The case never went to court but was resolved by a Mutual Release and Settlement Agreement. This agreement does not modify or replace the easement. In exchange for dismissal with prejudice the Solomon's Choice Property Owners Association and its members have agreed to meet twice a year and invite the Harford Land Trust to the meetings. They have also agreed to a list of rules and restrictions for the use of motorized off-road vehicles. Protected areas where they cannot be used have been designated. And the defendants have agreed to re-grade and re-seed damaged areas which will be off limits until repaired and remediated.
 
Among 11 general rules for off-road vehicles on the property are such specifics as "No chasing of wildlife;" "factory installed mufflers on all off-road vehicles;" and hours for riding "between 10:00 a.m. and one hour before sunset." Also included is a requirement that "The Association will purchase liability insurance for use of the Common Lands and the Trust will be included as an insured.