Municipalities across Frederick County plan to challenge a new county ordinance in court, according to the local chapter of the Maryland Municipal League.
The ordinance, approved in November, will apply development restrictions related to school capacity on newly annexed properties.
That includes controversial annexations to the north of Frederick , approved this summer.
Municipal governments are objecting because the new regulation interferes with the rights of towns and cities to determine their own growth policies, Middletown Burgess John Miller said.
Middletown voted Monday night to proceed in filing for judicial review with the other municipalities.
"The issue is not growth, the issue is not development," Miller said. "We reserve the right to make those decisions for ourselves. As a matter of fact, we have been given that right to make those decisions for ourselves by the state of Maryland."
Under state law, commissioners may decide to apply the regulations within municipalities if they determine not doing so would adversely affect the health, safety and welfare of residents in unincorporated parts of the county.
Commissioners said the law applies to the county because municipal growth feeds into county schools. Towns and cities without meaningful growth requirements are flooding county schools and denying everyone a quality education, commissioners said.
"I think it's very sad the leaders of the municipalities are going to go to court to overcrowd the schools in their communities," Commissioners President Jan Gardner said.
"They want a right to overcrowd the schools, but no responsibility toward the solution."
Municipalities are arguing the commissioners did not prove any significant adverse effects during a public hearing on the issue.
Frederick 's chapter of the Maryland Municipal League held a special meeting in Walkersville earlier this month and decided to oppose the law.
Miller, acting as spokesman for the chapter, said Rosemont , Emmitsburg , Woodsboro , Thurmont , Brunswick and Frederick are among those cities that may file suits.
It is likely a judge would hear all of the individual cases together if the issues are the same.
Miller said it is highly unusual in the state to have a county law imposing requirements on municipalities.
"MML as a whole feels this interferes with municipal power, sovereignty and authority," he said.
A county attorney declined comment on the suits, saying no one in the attorney's office has seen them.
Commissioner John L. Thompson Jr. questioned the timing of the press release.
"Ordinarily, when the media is aware of the filing of a lawsuit before the defendant, it suggests the suit is for political purposes rather than the pursuit of justice," he said.
Thompson called municipal leaders puppets of developers.
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