A history of Trout Run and its purchase by the Church of Scientology.

This overview, with minor edits, is taken from Envision Frederick County Director Kai Hagen’s comments from his radio show Eye on our Community on 1450 AM WTHU The Source. To hear the full broadcasts about the Trout Run Narconon/Scientology group home, listen to the 5/5/15 show with guest Dave Schmidt and the 5/8/15 show with guest Mark Long.

Originally, the Trout Run property was comprised of hundreds of acres. It is runs on both sides of Catoctin Hollow Road, mostly surrounded by Cunningham Falls State Park, a short distance off of Route 15, located southwest of Thurmont. The property is valuable and unique from an ecological point of view. It carries a “Class A” trout stream and is surrounded by park land and mature forests.

For a long time Trout Run was considered a high-priority prospective purchase by the State of Maryland when they made their list of keystone properties. These properties are to be considered highly valuable ecological sites that the State of Maryland wanted to purchase. But, due to its expense, the State could not afford it. Maryland made the decision year-after-year that money could be better spent on a number of other land parcels or other acquisitions because of Trout Run’s high cost–even though it was at the top of the State’s “wish list” for years.

The Trout Run property went up for sale for a number of years. Again, the asking price was a a lot of money and it did not sell. Gradually, the property got less expensive. The asking price went down and it still did not sell. Eventually, the owners broke up the big parcel into several smaller parcels. Once the remainder of the property was separated and its property value lowered, the State of Maryland purchased it a couple of years ago.

In 2014, through legislation the state government was able to that property to Maryland’s Wildlands Inventory. It was made part of the Cunningham Falls State Park and the Wildlands Inventory because it is ecologically significant land.

The property includes two remaining parcels that were separated. They are small, developed pieces of land along Catoctin Hollow Road is about 40 acres in size. This part is still known as Trout Run and comprises the site that is in question in this broader discussion.

Trout Run has a number of different buildings built at different times built by different craftspeople in different styles, but generally reflects a wealthy person’s rustic camp or rural retreat of an earlier time period. This pertains to one of the arguments being made about Trout Run’s historic value. In addition to whatever may be said about its architecture, a couple of U.S. Presidents fished there. This is how the over all chacter and nature is depicted of the property.

The 40 acres were purchased by Social Betterment Properties International, a group that completely connected to and represents the Church of Scientology. The COS purchased the property for the purpose of creating a Narconon-based drug treatment center.

The land is zoned as Resource Conservation. It has been a RC zone for a very long time. Using this land as a drug treatment center, along with many other common uses in the county, is not allowed in a RC zone. Currently, the COS is not be able to operate its Narconon facility in this location because of existing zoning requirements.

However, SBPI, the purchasing group, applied for a special exemption to the zoning of Trout Run.

Specifically, the Church of Scientology is asking for Trout Run to be added to the list of properties on the Frederick County Register of Historic Places.

The RoHP was set up in such a manner as to try to create incentives for property owners who own these historical properties. The RoHP wants owners to make investments, to restore, to rehabilitate, and to preserve historical locations in the county. That said, there are certain uses for the land that would not otherwise be allowed in a RC zone under those circumstances. For example, a historic place can includes things like a bed and breakfast, which might not otherwise be allowed in a RC zone. But, this could be done because, if someone opened a bed and breakfast, they might be inclined to invest money in a historic house.

One of the allowable things that the historic location can be used for is a group home. There are two categories of group homes in Frederick County:

Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene – Regulations for Group Homes and Substance Abuse Programs

Frederick County Zoning – Frederick County Code of Ordinances, Part I, Chapter 1-19 Zoning, Article XI Definitions. GROUP HOME, SMALL PRIVATE. A residence that houses not more than 8 individuals who require specialized living arrangements and provides health services and supervision to those individuals. GROUP HOME, LARGE. A residence that admits at least 9 but not more than 16 individuals who require specialized living arrangements and provides health services and supervision to those individuals.



Narconon is applying for status as a group home. Larry Smith, the Zoning Administrator for Frederick County, deemed that their proposed use would fit this group home label. However, citizens took to giving public comment at recent County Council meetings.

However, independent of litigious, bullying, and antagonist reputation that the Church of Scientology and Narconon share, Frederick County citizens have concern about this group home status. Narconon has signaled that may have at least 20+ employees in addition to temporary residents at the group home.

David E. Love, escaped Narconon employee and former Church of Scientology insider, stands up for Frederick County.

“This particular Narconon [Trout Run] is very strategic to Church of Scientology Leader David Miscavige. He has his own Sea Org subordinates called Commadore’s Messengers. These individuals take orders directly from Miscavige himself. I was personally contacted in the summer of 2014 by two of individuals from his office building. They were trying to get me to donate $10,000 for what they described as the ‘D.C. Narconon’ that was going to open in 2016. Both of these people were from Washignton D.C. originally. I kept them on the phoneline long enough to get the idea that the Trout Run facility’s conversion to a Narconon ‘group home’ was a ‘done deal’ as far as they were concerned. Again, this was a phone call from the office of the highest echelon of Scientology, but yet they publicly claim that Narconon is a separate entity.”

– David E. Love

How did Frederick County’s Historical Preservation Commission get fooled by The Church of Scientology?

There is, and always was, only one purchaser for the two properties that compose Trout Run. The purchaser is Social Betterment Development International, one of the Church of Scientology’s “global social betterment and humanitarian programs.” As a “auxiliary” entity, SBPI does not have to file 990 tax forms. There are well-established clear connections that explain how the SBPI entity is related to the COS.

Further, this link gives detail on the category of IRS regulations it belongs under, it presents the history of its existence since about 2003, and its record of buying properties for COS entities like Narconon. This information is easily overlooked since SBPI has not filed a 990 non-profit tax return since 2008.

When the Frederick County Historic Preservation Commission Historic Register Nomination Form was filed on 8/5/13, SBDI did not own the property. Also, West Coast Investment Properties, Inc. is not listed on a single property record or deed. All records show Trout Run, LLC. was the owner until 9/16/13. Trout Run, LLC. was owned and run by Howard and Tomajean Haugerund, who signed the deed with SBPI in Sept 2013.

All proposals and staff reports to HPC forwarded by Denis Superczynski’s office were written in August 2013, before the sale.

The HPC minutes that sent the Trout Run issue to the Board of Appeals in late August 2013 states West Coast Investment Properties, Inc. listed as the “Applicant” with no mention of the word “owner.” Likewise, there is no mention of SBPI.

The BOA discuss the special exception for the “Applicant” West Coast Investment Properties, Inc. and then it went back to HPC for final approval, which did so unanimously on 8/19/13. SBPI then buys the property, indicated by the Social Betterment Deed.

The applications and correspondence sit for over a year, until a supposed 12/3/14 pubic meeting at HPC is held, as noted in HPC letter of 12/4/14 to the County Executive which discusses the issues and is written to move the application forward.

At the time of all the preliminary applications, West Coast Investment Properties, Inc. did not own the property, nor did SBPI. Trout Run, LLC owned it.

Presumably, from 8/22/13 through 12/2/14, time and efforts were spent in an attempt to get the property the solid vote of the County Council. However, in the 12/4/14 letter to the County Executive, it mentions a public meeting on 12/3/14.

NN@TR members requested information from Frederick County Government about the Historical Register. No entity has ever been denied by the HPC or the governing body. It should be noted that the HPC does not formally list properties on the County Register.

Formal listing is accomplished by the governing body (BoCC through Nov. 30, 2015; County Council starting Dec. 1, 2015). Applicants with properties that are not likely to receive a Determination of Eligibility, or a positive recommendation for listing on the County Register, are guided by County Staff as to those issues that must be addressed prior to appearing before the HPC. In most cases, properties that are not likely to be recommended never complete the application process and thus the HPC approval percentage is 100%.

Here are some pertinent statistics regarding the Frederick County Register of Historic Places (as of May 7, 2015):

Total Number of Listed Properties: 10

Total Number of Properties Determined Eligible by HPC: 15 (1999-2015)

Total Number Recommended for Listing by HPC: 13 (2 pending)

Recommended by the HPC (1999-2010): 8

Recommended by the HPC (2010-Present): 7

Denied by the HPC (1999-2010): 0

Denied by the HPC (2010-Present): 0

Denied by the BoCC (1999-2010): 0

Denied by the BoCC/Council (2010-Present): 0

Number of Listed Properties in commercial use: 3

Number of Listed Properties in commercial use and subject to Special Exception: 2

Number of Properties (CR Listed and Pending)

Receiving Special Exception since 2010: 5 (1 pending)

On June 2, the Frederick County Council voted against the historic designation for Trout Run. The vote was 6 opposed and 1 in favor. The votes were:

Bud Otis, R – At-Large = NO

Billy Shreve, R – At-Large = YES

Jerry Donald, D – District 1 = NO

Tony Chmelik, R – District 2 = NO

M.C. Keegan-Ayer, D – District 3 = NO

Jessica Fitzwater, D – District 4 = NO

Kirby Delauter, R – District 5 = NO