A decade-long fight amongst Manor Lane’s neighbors has taken its toll.

Now more interested in resisting federal policy, Sara Via said her blood pressure spikes whenever she recaps their zoning and permitting grievances against the dead end’s prominent neighbor, Manor Hill Brewery.

“I can’t spend this amount of time on this anymore,” Via said of the conflict in Howard County. “It has made me tremendously unhappy, very disillusioned.”

At the end of the mile-long lane, the family behind the 54-acre farm brewery just west of Ellicott City is occupied with other things, too. Patriarch Randy Marriner is recovering from major heart surgery and his daughter Rachael Mull is thinking ahead to the brewery’s fundraiser for military suicide prevention with a special release beer called “I Got Your Six” Cold IPA.

“This unnecessary dispute has consumed significant state and local government resources and demanded considerable time and energy from all involved since 2015,” Mull said in an email. The family declined interview requests.

Exhausted or not, the feud between Manor Lane residents and Manor Hill Brewery continues.

Neighbors representing 15 homes along the narrow road say the farm brewery’s operations have long exceeded what’s allowed by its permits, local zoning ordinances and other regulations. They say Manor Hill operates more like a bar, event space and manufacturer than a farm.

Their latest complaint filed in 2022 is on in its third appeal and still winding through Howard County’s zoning dispute process. Hearing examiner Joyce Nichols this month asked attorneys for the neighbors and the county to summarize their closing arguments to her in written reports by Oct. 31.

“I’m a little at wit’s end,” Nichols said following an Oct. 15 hearing.

What happens next is unclear. The fallout has raised questions about the Howard County Department of Planning and Zoning’s investigation and enforcement practices. And this month, a former county hearing examiner who sided with neighbors claimed the County Council didn’t renew her contract in part because of the case.

Manor Hill Brewery bills itself as Maryland’s largest farm brewery and Howard County’s only one.

In 2014, Maryland lawmakers expanded liquor laws to allow farm breweries like Manor Hill. Its farm brewery permit allows beer to be sold and consumed there as long as it contains at least one ingredient grown on the farm.

As a farm brewery and agritourism enterprise, Manor Hill’s permits are valuable at a time when farm bankruptcy filings are rising nationwide and Maryland’s craft beer market is struggling amid changing tastes.

The permits also are central to the dispute with neighbors. Residents of 15 homes along Manor Lane say the farm’s operations and alcohol sales go beyond what’s allowed by the permits, local zoning ordinances and other regulations. They say the business brought heavy traffic, litter and disorder to their once quiet lane, which wasn’t designed to accommodate such activity.

Marriner is “one out of 26 homeowners” along Manor Lane, Via said. “None of the rest of us are ... causing 1,000 cars to go up and down the road.”

Neighbors claim county officials have shirked their responsibility to enforce the regulations. The Department of Planning and Zoning has investigated Manor Hill several times and found no violations. Neighbors believed the investigations were flawed and former Hearing Examiner Katherine Taylor agreed.

In February, Taylor ordered planning and zoning officials to reopen the investigation. She ordered them to verify details, including that corn grown on the property was being used to brew beer and that the number of festivals did not exceed a limit of four per year.

In May, county officials again reported that no violations had occurred. At a hearing this month, County Solicitor David Moore argued that the department was not bound by the hearing examiner’s order.

The Marriner family maintains they’ve done nothing wrong. They say Manor Hill has been a trusted community member that created jobs and brought people together with beer, food and agriculture.

“Unfortunately, we have a few neighbors that believe Manor Lane is their shared driveway, rather than the public road that it is,” Marriner said in an email.

The dispute comes amid growing tensions between residents, developers and farms in Howard County’s patchwork quilt of agricultural operations alongside suburban developments.

“There’s a lot of development pressure happening in the more rural areas of Howard,” said Alex Votaw, of the Law Office of G. Macy Nelson.

Votaw’s firm represents Manor Hill’s neighbors and has championed residents in several other high-profile zoning disputes, such as the development plan for Hickory Ridge Village Center and an unsanctioned go-kart track in Highland.

“Our firm is focused on representing community members who feel they don’t have a voice,” Votaw said.

Via worries the coalition of neighbors is being viewed as NIMBYs who oppose growth.

The problems on Manor Lane, she said, are different than the tensions over land use in other rural parts of the county. Many residents in the neighborhood, she said, were there long before the brewery.

Manor Lane was “a well established, very quiet neighborhood, until this person came and isn’t even following the rules outlined by the county,” she said.

Still, Via recently stepped back from the dispute, which is now being championed by another neighbor, Joan Pontius.

Pontius jumped into the fray after she said a Manor Hill employee blared his car horn at her and her husband one afternoon. She’s concerned about the amount of water being consumed to produce beer and the future of agriculture in Howard County if business interests are allowed to buy up farm parcels for commercial use.

Still, Pontius acknowledged her husband has questioned whether neighbors can keep up the fight.

Votaw said her clients aren’t trying to shut down Manor Hill.

Zoning ordinances or other regulations facilitate balance between owners using their properties productively and their neighbors wanting to live in peace, she said.

The zoning ordinance has “the correct balance,” said Votaw, but the county isn’t adequately enforcing the regulations.

County officials have been actively monitoring Manor Hill for violations, Howard County’s Director of Planning and Zoning Lynda Eisenberg said in a statement.

Since August 2022, her department has conducted 11 inspections and found no violations, she said.

“As with any complex zoning case involving multiple interrelated permits, our goal is to ensure fair and equitable engagement with all parties,” Eisenberg said.

If the examiner doesn’t rule in the neighbors’ favor on their latest appeal, Pontius said the neighbors still could file complaints with the liquor board.

Meanwhile, county officials have other tools, too. The planning board in October voted unanimously to endorse zoning amendments designed to advance local agribusiness and agritourism opportunities.