By Jack Chavez

(May 20, 2021) Thirty residents of White Horse Park in Ocean Pines reached an agreement with Worcester County and the WHP Community Association last week to avoid a trial and allow the residents to stay in the community year-round until the fall of 2022.

“Obviously, the named plaintiffs in the lawsuit are very happy with the settlement and the accommodation of the county commissioners and the White Horse Park homeowners association,” said attorney Hugh Cropper who represented the residents who were bringing the lawsuit. “They think it’s fair and I think it’s fair to the other folks who aren’t represented (who can take advantage of this decision as well.)”

The conflict arose from the county commissioners’ decision in 2019 to start enforcing a restriction that stipulates residents could not stay in the community for more than 30 consecutive days or a sum total of 60 days between Sept. 30 and April 1.

The residents contended that simply moving to another location for half the year was infeasible due to various hardships. After failing to work around the county by promoting new legislation, the residents sued the county on the grounds that the county gave up its right to fine the residents for violating the rules since it was common knowledge to the park that these residents were still in the community during the offseason. The community association joined the lawsuit on the county’s side soon thereafter.

Cropper pointed out that 30 out of 465 residents was “a high level of compliance” for any similar community.

“These people all have legitimate hardships,” Cropper said. “I’ll bet if you go to any community in the county with 465 lots, you’ll have 30 people with some kind of violation.”