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Barbara Butz wanted to leave behind 10 acres of land in Adamstown when she died in 2001 so the Carroll Manor Fire Co. could replace its aging firehouse.

Eight years later, her wish has yet to be fulfilled, as her desire to help the community has collided with county land-use policy, an obstacle officials are working to overcome.

"Our family's original intention, to gift land to Carroll Manor to build a fire station, for whatever reason couldn't be accomplished under county law," said her son, Robert Butz.

The problem is that the land, at the intersection of Md. Route 85 and Adamstown Road, does not have building rights, Commissioners President Jan H. Gardner said.

Fire Company President Ed Arnold said Carroll Manor had reached a verbal agreement with the previous board of commissioners to build on the land, but Gardner said no documents exist to support that claim and that policy prohibits such construction.

The only way the county has so far proposed to circumvent that legal stumbling block is for the county to take ownership of the land and lease it to the fire company.

Commissioner David P. Gray (R) proposed March 19 that staff look at the feasibility of the Butz family signing the land over to the county, which would then lease the property to the fire company for at least 50 years. The proposal passed 4-1 with Commissioner John L. "Lennie" Thompson Jr. (R) opposed.

Gardner said the lease payments would likely have been $1 per year. There would also have been a clause stipulating that if the land were used during that period for anything other than a fire company, the county could opt out of the lease agreement.

That proposal did not sit well with Butz family members, however, as they wanted the fire company to own the land, not lease it, and they withdrew their offer to donate the land.

So for now the issue is off the table, and Arnold, Gardner and other officials are seeking alternate ways for Carroll Manor to build a new station or upgrade its existing one.

But the Butz family must work with them, which it has not been willing to do in recent months, Gardner said, if the option of using their land is to be considered.

Robert Butz said he has been in communication with the county, but Gardner said family members have not expressed a willingness to attend meetings to discuss the issue further.

"Contrary to [Gardner's contentions], I believe I continue to have a dialogue with the county," Butz said. "We proffered an open gift with no compensation, and somehow that's been lost here."

Gardner said she has been in repeated contact with Arnold in the past week, and that she is open to further discussion with both Arnold and Butz.

"I'm more than willing to get everyone around the table to try to figure everything out. All the parties need to come with their thinking hats on and be able to strike a compromise," Gardner said. "It's my hope that it's a stumbling block and we'll work it out."

Fire company officials have long said the company needs to upgrade or replace its 56-year-old station, which is down a narrow street and is so small it only has one shower.

And until this spring's developments it appeared that the company was on track to build a $3.5 million station on the Butz land, according to Arnold.

"It was going to have a community hall where we could evacuate people," Arnold said. "It would have training facilities there, and we would have actual workout rooms for weights and exercise, and we would also have an office for a sheriff's deputy there. We would have a larger facility. Right now we have a couple of units that actually sit outside, so this facility would accommodate all our apparatus inside."

E-mail Connor Adams Sheets at csheets@gazette.net.