When Tim Newell’s family sold the Belward Farm to Johns Hopkins University more than 20 years ago, it trusted the institution to use the more than 100 acres to build a satellite college campus.

A Montgomery County Circuit Court judge is deciding after a hearing Wednesday if, instead, the institution has the right to build out its development to 4.7 million square feet of research and development space.

The land — approximately 108 acres between Gaithersburg and Rockville northeast of Darnestown and Muddy Branch roads — is within the Life Sciences Center in the Great Seneca Science Corridor, about 900 acres set in the county’s master plan to become a bioscience hub.

Newell and other family members filed a lawsuit against Johns Hopkins University in November, claiming that the institution has violated the terms of a 1989 agreement that transferred ownership of the farm. They claim the agreement stipulates that the property would be used only for academic purposes, research or medical care with no more than 1.4 million square feet developed.

The Montgomery County Planning Board approved a preliminary plan amendment in July that allowed Johns Hopkins University to map 4.7 million square feet of research and development space.

The new plan was devised without consultation of the family, family members said.

In court on Monday, Judge Katherine D. Savage heard the university’s motion to dismiss the case. Savage said she would write a formal decision soon, not stating exactly when that would be, according to attorney David Brown, who is representing the family.

The university argued that the use restrictions in the deed and contract didn’t prohibit it from converting the entire project to office park, Brown said Wednesday after the hearing.

Attorneys James H. Hulme and Leah C. Montesano, who are listed as representing Johns Hopkins, did not return a call for comment Wednesday.

Brown said he argued in court that the agreement specifies the university would use the land to build its “Belward Campus.”

“[The family members] are outraged,” he said. “They think that it is a complete reverse of what was agreed upon at the time.”

jbondeson@gazette.net