Appeals court stays fence’s demolition, for now

The injunction gives lawyers for East Village, the Planning Board and North Village until Friday to convince the Maryland Court of Special Appeals whether or not East Village should have to tear the fence down pending appeal, or pay a bond instead.

‘‘They stopped the clock, if you will,” said East Village lawyer Stephen J. Orens.

A clerk at the appeals court said Tuesday that it was unclear when the appellate court might issue its ruling. The Court of Special Appeals does not typically hold hearings, but one can be ordered. That has not happened as of Tuesday, said Christopher Hitchens, North Village’s lawyer. Still, the court’s ruling may come sooner rather than later.

‘‘I don’t know what the time line will be, but I would assume it would be pretty quickly after Friday,” Hitchens said.

East Village had paid $30,000 in bond when it won an injunction from a different Circuit Court judge in February 2007 blocking the Planning Board’s order to tear the fence down.

At a Jan. 3 hearing, Boynton rejected bond motions from both sides. The Planning Board had asked that East Village pay an additional $91,000 in bond — six months worth of $500-a-day fines — while East Village argued that the real cost of taking down the fence will be about $8,000 — not the $30,000 previously discussed. They also argued that it would cost about $25,000 to put the fence back up if they are ordered to tear it down, then win the appeal.

If East Village wins its appeal, all bond money would be returned.

‘‘There really doesn’t appear to be any legal or legitimate basis to prevail on appeal,” Boynton said in court Jan. 3.

East Village did not incur the fine during the course of its case with Boynton because two other Circuit Court judges — Terrance J. McGann and Ronald B. Rubin — granted an injunction that blocked the Planning Board’s decision. In Rubin’s Feb. 28 ruling, he said he believed that the Court of Special Appeals would side with East Village.

The 1,389-home community runs under a $700,000 budget drawn almost entirely from assessment fees levied on its residents.

East Village leaders have defended the fence as the last of repeated attempts to stymie years of escalating vandalism.

Some East Village residents question the legal battle in the face of the financial toll it has taken.

Residents on the other side of the fence have faced an added toll of the stigma they say Picton has gained as being a bad neighborhood.

‘‘We have to battle on; we just think it’s an unfair battle,” said North Village Homes Corp. president Dennis Barnes.