CUMBERLAND — The civil court case filed by Allegany County government and a private developer against two state agencies over a planned major subdivision near Green Ridge State Forest is headed to trial.

Circuit Court Judge W. Timothy Finan denied Tuesday a motion filed by the Maryland Department of the Environment and Maryland Department of Planning to dismiss the case, brought by the Allegany County Board of Commissioners and Terrapin Run LLC. In July, the two parties filed suit against the two state agencies for implementing regulations tantamount to a “taking of property.”

The property at issue is a 935-acre parcel in eastern Allegany County where Terrapin Run LLC, an affiliate of Columbia-based PDC Inc., planned to build up to 360 housing units within 10 years and up to about 900 units in 20 years. The two parties are seeking $16 million in damages. The full build-out calls for about 4,300 units.

County Attorney Bill Rudd said he and Cumberland attorney Robert Paye, who represents Terrapin Run LLC, are “very confident” to gain a favorable ruling by Finan.

No trial date has been set.

The arguments center around MDE’s refusal to approve portions of the county’s water and sewer plan amendment, which noted a new discharge to a “high quality Tier II watershed ... from a proposed sewage treatment facility to be located in the Terrapin Run watershed.”

MDE, court papers state, disapproved portions of the amendment “on grounds the county failed to address MDP concerns regarding the (water and sewer) plans’ consistency with the county’s comprehensive plan and because the county had failed to submit an anti-degradation review for proposed new discharge.”

Both state agencies argued in court documents that the 2008 Maryland Court of Appeals decision in Trail vs. Terrapin Run LLC — which indicated a granting of a special exception to a county zoning ordinance did not have to “conform” to that county’s comprehensive plan — does not apply. Rudd and Paye called MDE’s refusal “erroneous, arbitrary, capricious and unlawful.”

But MDE and MDP said current litigation “involves different parties, different issues and different law from those at issue (in the Court of Appeals).”

Rudd said Finan’s denial of the defendants’ motion to dismiss essentially has no impact on the case itself.

“It’s rare, in Maryland, you get a motion to dismiss on those kind of grounds,” Rudd said.

Finan’s position on the motion to dismiss has no bearing on what happens next inside the courtroom, Rudd said.

“It just means there’s enough to go forward,” Rudd said.

He said it’s Finan’s way of saying, “‘I want to hear more.’”

Finan has twice ruled in favor of the plaintiffs. On Oct. 30, he denied the defendants’ motion for a protective order to stay discovery­ — requesting documents or evidence during the pre-trial phase — and granted the plaintiffs’ request to compel discovery. Between the July filing date and Oct. 30, both state agencies had refused to provide discovery to Allegany County government and Terrapin Run LLC.

Contact Kevin Spradlin at kspradlin@times-news.com.