The Bill of Rights is enshrined in the United States Constitution and guarantees unalienable Rights that protect citizens from abuse of power from the government, overreaching its authority, and violation to the citizen’s Constitutional Rights.
The Supremacy Clause of Article VI of the United States Constitutions states that the United Constitution is the law of the land and that the Rights endowed by our creator supersede federal laws, federal laws supersede state laws, and state laws supersede local laws. This means that the Constitutional Rights of a citizen to private property supersede Anne Arundel County’s conservation codes.
Article II of the Maryland Constitution ratified that the United States Constitution is the law of the land with all its articles, amendments and treaties.
Maryland legal definition of ownership is “the legal right to use, possess, and give away a thing”. Maryland legal definition of possession is “the conscious act or condition of having something on your person or in your control”. (emphasis added).
Anne Arundel County has illegally seized private property, in violation of the Fourth Amendment Constitutional Rights, when created conservation easements that overlap with private property; this conflict is abundantly clear when the County approved and implemented the definition of property ownership, as the conservation codes give the Anne Arundel County greater vested interest in the property and absolute control of the property through very restrictive conservation codes.
The control of the County on someone else’s deeded property comes in the County’s ability to arbitrarily and capriciously deny permits to the deeded property owner to enjoy said property.
In 1984, Maryland legislature approved the Maryland Critical Area Law and gave jurisdiction to each county to enact protections to the buffer. Anne Arundel County created the concept of the Bog Conservation Easement across the entire county. The bog – a type of wetland – was created during the end of the ice age – when glaciers melted and created natural lakes and ponds. It is noteworthy to point out that Maryland is the only state in the United States of America that does not have any natural lakes or ponds; they are all man–made – including the Deep Creek Lake – therefore the existence of a “bog” is a made–up concept in Maryland. However, this fact has not stopped Anne Arundel County from enforcing very strict conservation codes that infringe on citizens’ Constitutional Rights to private property.
In 1991, Maryland Legislature approved the Forest Conservation Act (FCA) – giving the counties jurisdiction over the Forest Conservation Easements (FCE). Anne Arundel County forced developers to set aside eighty percent (80%) of newly developed land as Forest Conservation – inevitably passing these restrictive lands to future “property owners” – while maintaining control of the properties though very restrictive conservation codes. However, when a person purchases a property, the conservations easements do not show up on the property title search, and the buyer pays taxes on the entire property – regardless whether it has any conservation easements. This is fraud as they buyer shares ownership Rights with a the government entity while the government entity has complete control of the property.
On 21 December 2015, The Anne Arundel County Council approved bill No. 123-15 – adopting the International Building Code (IBC) §§ 15-2-10; within section 202 of the IBC the definition of owner is as follows: “[A] OWNER. Any person, agent, operator, entity, firm or corporation having any legal or equitable interest in the property; or otherwise having possession or control of the property, including the guardian of the state of any such person and the executor or administrator of the state of such person and the executor or administrator of the state of such person if ordered to take possession of real property by a court.”
In April 2022, The Anne Arundel County Council approved the Green Infrastructure Master Plan for Anne Arundel County – increasing considerably the conservation easements across the Anne Arundel County without the knowledge and explicit consent from the property owners affected by it – as the Anne Arundel County increases the Anne Arundel County’s vested interest and absolute control of these properties. This is a gross violation of the Anne Arundel County’s citizens’ Constitutional Rights to Due Process under the Fifth and Fourteen Amendments and unconstitutionally seizing of property under the Fourth Amendment of the US Constitution based on the definition of “Ownership”.
On 25 May 2023, The United States Supreme Court rendered a decision on Sackett v. EPA Case No. 21-454 in which defines what are the Waters of the United States (WOTUS) and what constitutes a wetland. This makes every lake / pond a non–protected areas as they do not meet the conditions set forth, and therefore, most of the properties are misclassified, and they do not have any Bog Conservation.
I have presently three (3) lawsuits against Anne Arundel County; two (2) of them are about abuse of power, overreach of authority and violation to my U.S. Constitutional protected Rights to personal property - i.e. my land; they are both at the Appellate Court level - for the second time. The other one is at the Circuit Court level; this one is about taxation of property that is deeded to me, but I do not have any control over it - because it is is misclassified as Bog Conservation - even though it is a retention pond to run-off water.
Eventually, I will combine all three cases and file a lawsuit in federal court against Anne Arundel County and some county's employees to make the employees accountable for their actions and to enforce the U.S. Supreme Court decision on Sackett v EPA - removing all the Bog Conservation easements from private property on the man-made lakes / ponds.
I am hopeful that when that time comes, I will have more than forty (40) members of the community that have suffer the same injustices under the conservation easements, and we can make this federal lawsuit a class action one. I believe that together we can make a change.
Fernando Berra III understands the importance of community engagement, which is why he is launching this campaign for change. Join him in making a difference and help him help you.
Fernando Berra III has been fighting the State of Maryland and Anne Arundel County for over 12 years. Community engagement through sharing, word-of-mouth, and donating are all vital ways to support our campaign for change and achieve our goals together.
Your donation will truly contribute to our campaign for change! Thank you for your support in fighting the Anne Arundel, the State of Maryland and for your commitment to community engagement.
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