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The Calvert County chapter of Hells Angels can be evicted from the house it rents in Owings because the motorcycle group violates county zoning ordinances, a judge said last week.
District Court Judge Stephen L. Clagett ruled Tuesday that the Hells Angels were illegally using the residence as a clubhouse, in violation of county zoning ordinances. The land where the house is located, on Route 4 near Chaneyville Road, is zoned industrial, a category that does not permit "nonprofit clubhouses," said Greg Bowen, deputy director for planning and zoning.
Martin Dennis, a lawyer and partner in Dim-Ha-Vic, the Calvert real estate partnership that owns the property, said eviction proceedings would begin against the motorcycle club after the group's appeals were exhausted. The Hells Angels can ask the Circuit Court to reverse Clagett's finding.
Dennis said Dim-Ha-Vic faces $500-a-day fines from the county if it does not evict the Hells Angels. The tenant is officially listed as John Horton, who is a member of the Hells Angels chapter, according to law enforcement sources
John Beal, president of the Calvert Hells Angels chapter, had argued at a May 7 court hearing that the residence is not a clubhouse.
But on May 3, the house was the scene of a large biker party. The group has put a chain-link fence around the residence and, until recently, hung a sign out front with the name of the club in red letters.
"This does not portray the use of just a 'residence,' " Clagett wrote in a two-page opinion.
Horton has paid the $1,200 a month rent on time since he signed the lease in September, Dennis said.
"Hate to lose a good, paying tenant," Dennis said. "They're hard to find."
The Hells Angels chapter was not represented by a lawyer at the May 7 hearing and has not filed any motions. According to one source who spoke on condition of anonymity, the motorcycle group cannot afford an attorney.
The county's argument that the Hells Angels organization is a nonprofit club seems to contradict the assertions of law enforcement agencies such as the Calvert sheriff's office and the FBI, which call the group an "outlaw motorcycle gang." Greg Bowen, deputy director for planning and zoning, said the zoning ordinance usually is applied to groups such as the Elks Lodge or the Optimists Club.
Beal did not return a telephone message left at his North Beach home. No one answered at a number for Horton.
In the past, Beal and other Hells Angels have said the club is a social organization, not a criminal enterprise.
District Court Judge Stephen L. Clagett ruled Tuesday that the Hells Angels were illegally using the residence as a clubhouse, in violation of county zoning ordinances. The land where the house is located, on Route 4 near Chaneyville Road, is zoned industrial, a category that does not permit "nonprofit clubhouses," said Greg Bowen, deputy director for planning and zoning.
Martin Dennis, a lawyer and partner in Dim-Ha-Vic, the Calvert real estate partnership that owns the property, said eviction proceedings would begin against the motorcycle club after the group's appeals were exhausted. The Hells Angels can ask the Circuit Court to reverse Clagett's finding.
Dennis said Dim-Ha-Vic faces $500-a-day fines from the county if it does not evict the Hells Angels. The tenant is officially listed as John Horton, who is a member of the Hells Angels chapter, according to law enforcement sources
John Beal, president of the Calvert Hells Angels chapter, had argued at a May 7 court hearing that the residence is not a clubhouse.
But on May 3, the house was the scene of a large biker party. The group has put a chain-link fence around the residence and, until recently, hung a sign out front with the name of the club in red letters.
"This does not portray the use of just a 'residence,' " Clagett wrote in a two-page opinion.
Horton has paid the $1,200 a month rent on time since he signed the lease in September, Dennis said.
"Hate to lose a good, paying tenant," Dennis said. "They're hard to find."
The Hells Angels chapter was not represented by a lawyer at the May 7 hearing and has not filed any motions. According to one source who spoke on condition of anonymity, the motorcycle group cannot afford an attorney.
The county's argument that the Hells Angels organization is a nonprofit club seems to contradict the assertions of law enforcement agencies such as the Calvert sheriff's office and the FBI, which call the group an "outlaw motorcycle gang." Greg Bowen, deputy director for planning and zoning, said the zoning ordinance usually is applied to groups such as the Elks Lodge or the Optimists Club.
Beal did not return a telephone message left at his North Beach home. No one answered at a number for Horton.
In the past, Beal and other Hells Angels have said the club is a social organization, not a criminal enterprise.
