Rosemont de-annexation to referendum

Following in those historical footsteps, Rosemont residents have once again gathered enough grassroots support to change the course of the small town in southwest Frederick County.

Again they have brought forth a petition, this time legally binding the town to put a controversial land-use decision before the public in a referendum.

‘‘A couple of residents have gotten together and formed a petition, and the names were verified by the burgess and the commissioners as being enough that there will be a referendum vote,” Rosemont Burgess Jackie Ebersole said Tuesday. ‘‘It’s going to be a special election ... sometime in May.”

On Jan. 28, Rosemont’s burgess and commissioners amended the village charter to change the town’s boundaries.

According to a public notice published in The Brunswick Citizen after the town’s decision, the amendment would ‘‘detach” all land south of Route 17 from the Village of Rosemont, returning the land to county control.

The only legal recourse for Rosemont residents was to challenge the town’s decision through a petition within 40 days of the decision.

Kevin Coyne, a nuclear engineer who lives on the same Petersville Road the mill had been destined for in 1953, said he thinks the resolution passed too quickly and in too opaque a manner.

‘‘This ‘de-annexation’ issue – I just always assumed it would be handled in a fairly open way,” Coyne said. ‘‘If it’s a public vote, and everyone has an opportunity to weigh in on the issue, whichever way it goes you know you have the support of the community.”

As such, Coyne, with the help of several other residents, drafted a petition for referendum and secured 73 Rosemont residents’ signatures before the 40 days were up.

Rosemont has a population hovering near 300, so 73 was more than the 20 percent of the town’s qualified voters necessary under state law for such an issue to go to referendum.

‘‘There were several members of the community that were upset by the issue, including myself, and we just got the effort coordinated,” he said.

Coyne said he was also troubled by connections between officials from the Brunswick Volunteer Fire Company, the Brunswick Volunteer Ambulance Company and Rosemont.

The fire company, which plans to move to a new location in the next few years, first sent a letter to Rosemont asking it to de-annex the land 12 years ago, according to Ebersole. Such a move would make it easier for the ambulance company to have a new hall.

Ebersole’s husband, Clair, is president of the ambulance company. This, combined with other possible connections between Rosemont officials and the ambulance and fire companies, has Coyne and the other petition signers crying foul.

‘‘I am acutely aware that even the appearance of a conflict of interest erodes the public’s faith and confidence in government officials,” Coyne wrote in a letter that accompanied the petition when it was sent out.

‘‘Maybe it wasn’t such a clean thing for them to vote on without making clear all the nature of their relationships with the organizations involved,” he added in an interview.

But Ebersole sees the issue differently. ‘‘This has been dragging on for 12 years ... this would get it off the books, and Rosemont would be on this side of 17, Brunswick would be on that side, and we could stop talking about it,” she said. ‘‘Until 10 years ago, hardly anyone even knew that property across the street was part of Rosemont. I just want to wipe the slate clean and get on with life.”