Friends of Frederick County Position on Crum and COPT/Thatcher Annexations into Frederick City

We believe that our county and city should protect the Monocacy River corridor, productive farmland, scenic vistas, and a buffer between Frederick and Walkersville. At this time there is adequate development planned in the existing “pipeline” of future development in the city and we should develop that first, see that it is done in the most economically, socially and environmentally sustainable manner, and evaluate its impact before bulldozing greenfields.  FoFC believes that existing roads to the north are inadequate, congested and dangerous, and there’s no financial plan to solve that anytime soon.

Background

In September 2009 the City of Frederick’s Mayor and Aldermen[1] voted to annex two farms (total 436 acres) along Route 15 north of Frederick City for 1200 new homes and approximately 2.3 million ft² of non-residential (office, retail, manufacturing, hotel) space. During the Fall 2009 citizens made a good faith effort to gather 20% of city voter signatures to put these annexations to referendum but fell short of our target due to the 45 day time allowed. Judging from overwhelming citizen involvement in that effort and interest in signing the petition for referendum it was clear that citizens of Frederick City do not agree that the development plans for the Crum and COPT/Thatcher properties promote the health, safety and welfare of our city nor county.

Petition to DeAnnex the Crum and COPT/Thatcher Properties

For these reasons, on May 20^th 6:30pm Frederick City Hall Friends of Frederick County launches a petition drive for a charter amendment to change the boundaries of the City of Frederick, MD to exclude the Crum and Thatcher properties.This petition effort, to “de annex” these properties, when put on the ballot will give citizens the opportunity to vote their preference.   The petition can be downloaded off the Friends of Frederick County website (http://www.friendsoffrederickcounty.org/by-campaign/petition-deannexation-referendum/ ) and delivered or mailed to our office.  Petitions will be available at events;  petition drop off points will be announced during the petition drive.  Hear what citizens have to say.

Why deannex the Crum and COPT/Thatcher properties from the City limits?

• Route 15 is one of the most dangerous roads in Maryland – and there is little funding for improvements.  The northern annexations will add 12-15,000 car trips/day to Route 15 and arterial roads.[2] The Maryland State Highway Administration strongly recommended that the cost of planning, design and construction of the Biggs Ford Road interchange be included in the annexation agreements, that cost is estimated at $75-80 million. It was not. The Monocacy Boulevard completion (to cost $75-$80 m) is not even funded yet.[3]
• There are 3500 homes and millions of square feet of commercial space within Frederick City that should be built first before expanding outward.  These approvals include Brick Works, Northgate, Clemson Corner, Market Square, the Ballenger Creek Center and the SAIC-Frederick/NCI facility.  For a complete list of commercial projects see:  http://www.businessinfrederick.com/site_selection/development.htm
• The annexation agreements for Crumland Farm and COPT/Thatcher do not adequately address sewer, schools and fire and rescue services. There is no planned sewer service for the Crum and Thatcher properties at this point [4] and no detailed plans for school and emergency services.
• This farmland has excellent soil for growing food.  If the properties are under Frederick County jurisdiction they will be in an Agricultural Priority Preservation Area (PPA), according to the recently signed Frederick County Comprehensive Plan.

Positions from Voices of Authority

Maryland Department of Planning[5] (7/22/2009) Asks the city to look into potential sewer constraints, the expansive floodplain and the road network impacts in light of the I270/Rte 15 Multi Modal Study.

State Highway Administration[6] SHA strongly recommends that the cost of planning, design and construction of the Biggs Ford Road interchange and park and ride lot be included in the requirements for annexation, as well as dedication of Rte 15 right of way and plans for arterial roads that will need to be constructed once Sunday’s Lane is closed.

Frederick County Board of Commissioners[7] letter dated 9/2/2009 2, 2009:  Without concurrent construction plans for an interchange and the elimination of the at-grade crossings “will only exacerbate an already dangerous situation and jeopardize the safety of City and County residents.” “The Crumland Farm Agreement (pg 5) does not obligate Petitioners (meaning the developer) to fund any portion of the US 15/Biggs Ford Road interchange. The County Commissioners and the State Highway Administration believe the developers, rather than the taxpayers, should pay for this interchange.”  There is no planned sewer to either property.  Absent private funding for a new school this development will worsen school overcrowding.

Frederick County Fire and Rescue Services Division[8] (5/5/2009)on Crumland Farm annexation:  “With the potential increase in traffic traveling to the site, thus requiring vehicles to cross Route 15, the potential for accidents will increase. An increase in accidents on Route 15 may have an effect on the fire and rescue services, therefore, the Biggs Ford Road interchange should be constructed and operational before the first Use and Occupancy permit is issued for the proposed site.”

Town of Walkersville[9] (8/31/2009)  The Walkersville Burgess and Commissioners voted 3-2 in opposition to both the Crum and COPT/Thatcher annexation proposals and urged the Frederick City Board of Alderman to vote to deny them.

Monocacy Scenic River Citizens Advisory Board River Board (5/11/2009) expresses concern about the proposed alteration of the natural landscape in the 100-year floodplain on the COPT/Thatcher property and the disruption of environmental processes and functions that follow from grading, filling, and building in a floodplain—mainly the natural storage and conveyance of flood waters.

Does your organization have a position?  If so, please send it to deannexation@friendsoffrederickcounty.org.

[2] Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) Trip Generation Manual, 7^th Edition, pp 268-269.

[3] Thomas, John B. (Pers Comm May 2010).  Cost for Biggs Ford Road interchange at Route 15, and the Monocacy Boulevard interchange, Frederick County Division of Planning.

[4] Tax map 57 and 48 at: http://www.frederickcountymd.gov/index.aspx?NID=1326.

[5] Conrad, Peter G., Director, Local Government Assistance, Maryland Department of Planning.

[6] Slater, Gregory I, Director, Office of Planning and Preliminary Engineering, State Highway Administration

[7] Board of County Commissioners, September 2009 (Jan Gardner, David Gray, John L Thompson, Kai J Hagen and Charles Jenkins), Frederick County MD.

[8] Dmuchowski, Michael P, Battalion Chief/Fire Marshall, Frederick County MD

[9] Hauver, Susan J, Planning and Zoning Administrator, Walkersville MD

In September 2009 the City of Frederick’s Mayor and Aldermen[1] voted to annex two farms along Route 15 north of Frederick City for 1200 new homes and approximately 2.3 million ft² of office space. Click to download the Annexation Resolution for the Crum Farm (09-18) and Resolution 09-19 Thatcher Annexation.

During the Fall 2009 citizens made a good faith effort to gather 20% of city voter signatures to put these annexations to referendum but fell short of our target due to the 45 day time allowed. Judging from overwhelming citizen involvement in that effort and interest in signing the petition for referendum it was clear that citizens of Frederick City do not agree that the development plans for the Crum and COPT/Thatcher properties promote the health, safety and welfare of our city nor county.   Read more details on the annexations, organization positions and related issues here and on the Frederick County government website.

This petition effort, to “de annex” these properties, allows unlimited time for signature gathering and when put on the ballot will give citizens the opportunity to vote their preference.

Download the Deannexation Petition for Referendum Here!

Please return the petition as soon as possible:

• mail it to:  Friends of Frederick County,  4 E Church Street, Frederick MD   21701
• call us at:  240 529 1655
• drop off points to be announced

Contact us:  deannexation@friendsoffrederickcounty.org

Friends of Frederick County is here tonight because we represent citizen taxpayers concerned with:

1)   Our present challenges to provide adequate schools, roads and emergency support to our current residents and

2)    The tax increases we fear will be necessary to pay for facilities to support municipal growth.

As citizens we already suffer the consequences of past growth decisions – leaving us with not only dilapidated but also unsafe schools such as Lincoln Elementary and Frederick High, traffic jams and dangerous roads, and an increasingly over burdened emergency response system.  Legacy decisions…including the approval of the Thatcher and Crum properties…will haunt us well into the future.

As concerned taxpayers we prepared an analysis of Frederick City’s proposed 20-year municipal growth plan.  With the information we had available we found the infrastructure costs for the city’s planned growth is at minimum 1.2 billion dollars, with 80% of that to be subsidized by county taxpayers and to some extent the state, and the remaining to be paid by the city.  This large number is lower than what we would realistically expect, since we did not include the operating costs for schools, the operating costs for emergency services, water and sewer upgrades;   and the numbers for roads is based on old 2003 numbers so it is probably low as well.

Looking at operating costs for 4 schools to accommodate approximately 3,800 new students.  Lets say for sake of consideration that we build 2 elementary schools within 5 years, at operating costs of $8,400,00/school/year ($8.4 million x 2 x 15 years), and we build 1 middle schools within 10 years, at operating costs of $10.8 million/school/year ($10.8 x 10 years), and we build 1 high school within 5 years, at operating costs of $ $19.2 million/school/year (19.2 x  5) the additional cost to taxpayers could be around  $460,000,000[1].  This would bring the total cost to taxpayers up to about 1.66 billion,; 1.3 billion of that would belong to county taxpayers.

We’ve done this analysis to satisfy our curiosity and desire for some truth of the taxpayer’s future debt.  It is incomplete and requires more data and analysis; and, of course, it will be necessary to know the developer and state contributions in these calculations.

The purpose of the Municipal Growth Element and the Section 3.05 (e) (6) of Article 66B with respect to our situation with the Frederick City plan is to require that Frederick City  meet and confer with Frederick County in order to agree on the appropriate location and size of  municipal growth, so that its facilities and public services are commensurate with all development.  We hope that both county and city leaders share our interest in addressing this issue and in maintaining high standards for quality of life.

Friends of Frederick County respectfully requests that the City and County governments work together to provide the citizens a more refined and realistic assessment of infrastructure costs for the city’s planned growth area, that includes the cost for operations and adjusts the budget for roads to reflect today’s costs.  We would then hope that there will be another public meeting to discuss how much growth the taxpayers of this county and city can really afford or are willing to pay for.

Thank you.

Testimony delivered by J. Wiles, Frederick City resident , representing Friends of Frederick County before the Frederick County Board of Commissioners and Frederick City Mayor and ALderman, 4/13/2010

Posted on 16 November 2009

Frederick City is poised to grow by more than 500 acres thanks to the recent annexation of two area farms, but the move remains controversial. While development advocate Bruce Dean, (left) a lawyer specializing in annexations with McEvoy & Dean, and other supporters say expanding the city’s boundaries is key to attracting good jobs, opponents such as Janice Wiles of Friends of Frederick County (right) worry about the impact of that expansion on schools, fire protection and other public services.

Point: The City of Frederick needs more land.

Bruce Dean – McEvoy & Dean

Washington-Baltimore is one of the few areas of the country expected to grow tremendously in the next 10 to 20 years. The fact is, growth is the reality. Annexing land located just outside of the city, to the north, for employment and mixed uses has been part of the long-term plans both for Frederick County and the city for years and years.

These annexations along U.S. 15 satisfy a specific, demonstrated city need — for large parcels of undeveloped land to accommodate large new employers seeking a campus-like environment. When completed, these annexations are expected to add between 7,000 and 8,000 good, white-collar jobs and will contribute significantly to the tax base. Creating places for this type of jobs so that more people can work here instead of traveling down I-270 for work is good for Frederick and its citizens.

For the people who oppose the annexations, I don’t think there’s much of an alternative plan beyond ‘no growth.’ To my knowledge, they’ve not recommended alternate locations for the type of large office campuses that the city needs to accommodate future growth and provide residents with opportunities to work, live and recreate in the city. The big thing that keeps coming up is traffic, that this annexation will make traffic worse.

If Frederick tries to keep people out, it won’t stop the growth — it’ll just push it farther out, to Pennsylvania, to Washington County, to West Virginia — and people will drive through here and the roads will still be clogged. The alternative, which I favor, and which is consistent with the Smart Growth principles that are so widely embraced in this state, is to provide places for people to work and live in Frederick at locations, such as these annexation sites, that can be efficiently served with public water and sewer facilities.

Counterpoint: We cannot grow our way out of our problems.

Janice Wiles – Friends of Frederick County

These annexations will raise our taxes, congest our roads and either overcrowd our schools or drain our personal coffers to pay for a new school. For the past two decades the sprawl development model has consumed more than 14 million acres of land in the U.S. and vastly changed the land around us in Frederick County. We cannot grow our way out of problems and in fact will create new problems. Not only does development on such scale fragment and destroy wildlife habitat, pollute our streams and pave over rich and productive farmland, it has a direct impact on our lives by creating more traffic.

Citizens are demanding a more common sense approach to growth that preserves open spaces, natural resources and farmland, promotes local businesses, and fosters modes of transportation that do not clog our roadways. Already inadequate and highly congested, and doing double duty as a local road for Frederick residents, U.S. 15 is one of the most dangerous roads in Maryland. The northern annexations will add 12,000 to 15,000 car trips per day to Route 15 and arterial roads.

Instead of annexed land that can be home to major employment campuses for large, Fortune 500 companies such as Bechtel, IBM, MedImmune, State Farm, and the like, Friends of Frederick County promotes local economic growth, based as much as possible on using our local goods and services. We imagine Frederick County’s urban areas and political leaders working together to learn to build our community assets incorporating sustainable agriculture, green building, renewable energy, community capital, zero-waste manufacturing and independent retail — all vital components of a “sustainable community.”

There is no evidence to support the claims that the Fortune 500 corporations would employ local Frederick residents. Meanwhile, studies such as www.livingeconomies.org show that by supporting local owned businesses – ones that can fit into the millions of square feet of office space available in Frederick City – we can also create jobs without compromising the environment.

Republished from 270 Inc Business Magazine.

By Meg Tully

Development on newly annexed properties in towns and cities throughout Frederick County will need to pass muster for schools adequacy.The Frederick County Commissioners voted 4-0 Tuesday to apply county standards aimed at preventing school overcrowding, even after properties have joined municipalities.

Commissioner Charles Jenkins was absent for the vote.

School standards are in place for residential developments in the unincorporated parts of the county; the new ordinance will prevent developers from skirting them by having the property annexed.

The ordinance applies to any property annexed since June 23, 2009, which means it will include two annexations to the north of Frederick city that have been opposed by the commissioners.

Previously, annexed properties have followed municipal schools adequacy standards, which vary from town to town.

Half of the county’s municipalities have no adequate public facilities ordinances for schools. In many cases, that means developers can build as many houses as other regulations allow, even if the local schools are already overcrowded.

Other municipalities have lax standards. For instance, developers who fail adequacy tests in Frederick city may simply wait three years and then build, Commissioners President Jan Gardner said.

“I think this is an education issue, and it is about putting kids first,” she said. “It is up to the adults in the community to make sure we provide adequate schools for the education of our students.”

The county standards will not be applied on existing municipal properties; those will continue to be governed by municipal regulation.

Commissioners said they wanted to establish the regulations because development within municipalities can overcrowd schools, which the county funds.

They originally proposed applying the standards on all incorporated properties, but decided on the recently annexed parcels as a compromise.

The measure has been supported by parents and teachers and generally opposed by municipal leaders.

Those leaders argued the county’s most over-crowded schools are, for the most part, in areas where the municipalities are not involved.

Myersville town officials said they favor the ordinance because they have already passed school standards and think it would be better for the county to be equalized.

Under the ordinance, the Frederick County Planning Commission would be responsible for reviewing development application for schools adequacy.

A fee for county review has not been set. The fee for properties in unincorporated areas covers testing for emergency services and roads as well as schools.

The annexed properties will have to meet only county standards for school. Oversight of emergency services and roads will be left to municipal governments.

The county will need to set a lower fee for to test only for schools, commissioners said.

http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/news/display.htm?StoryID=97884

The annexation controversy highlights the need for direct democracy. The purpose of a referendum is to enable direct democracy when the representative democracy fails to vindicate important public interests.

To fulfill this purpose, referendum provisions should be designed to serve legitimate grass roots initiatives. The existing provisions we have just encountered, however, seem to be designed to block any grass roots initiatives. The requirement of obtaining the signatures of 20 percent of all registered city voters in 45 days is onerous. The state law that establishes this particular requirement for municipal annexations needs to be amended. For comparison, a referendum petition against an act passed by Maryland General Assembly requires 3 percent of the votes that were cast at the last election.

The Frederick City Code also needs to be amended so that an annexation cannot be approved within the six months of the next City election. This would eliminate the expense associated with a special election for a referendum.

Having spent much time with my fellow residents–in the process of collecting signatures, I wish to express my appreciation for their well-informed, helpful and polite participation and for newly formed friendships.

–

MALGO SCHMIDT 

http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/archives/display_detail.htm?StoryID=103148

Letter to the Editor
October 17, 2009

We were appalled to read the editorial by The Frederick News-Post titled “A buck a signature,” asserting, without a shred of evidence, that the “validity” of a handful of signatures gathered by canvassers earning $1 per signature was somehow in question. The News-Post has no basis for questioning the honesty of any individual who may be paid to gather a signature, and simply to assert that these individuals might engage in invalid signature gathering is outrageous and a serious breach of journalistic ethics.

Friends of Frederick County is a not-for-profit organization started by citizens of Frederick city and county. We provide a unique service to the citizens through education and advocacy to foster environmental conservation, natural resource stewardship and to protect our quality of life.

We rely almost exclusively on volunteers who typically go up against high-paid, well-heeled developers, their lobbyists and lawyers, often from outside the county. Volunteers have collected 98 percent of all signatures collected to date — on their own time, missing dinners, birthday parties, soccer games and precious time with their families.

Friends of Frederick County has set very high standards for public accountability. We are answerable to the public we strive to inform. We are independent, and, most important, we are not funded by special interest groups nor are our activities. Supporters of the annexations certainly cannot make this claim.

Our members have a vested interest in the quality of life in Frederick city and the surrounding county. Unlike the developers, we do not profit financially from the decisions of any elected official or governing body.

Let’s be clear — we are petitioning for a referendum and a vote, the single most important freedom democracy has to offer. But on this issue, a cabal of mayors past and present and aldermen are afraid of granting Frederick residents the same power that propelled them into office — the right to vote. Why? Because they know they will lose. More than 90 percent of people who were met by a volunteer signed the petition eagerly.

Petitoning is an incredibly time-consuming process. It is very difficult to catch people at home, or on the street. Even with our 90 percent success rate we can collect about seven signatures/hour — if we find people home. Every encounter requires a conversation — because so few residents were aware of these annexations and we want to thoroughly explain their impacts and costs. Do the math … 45 days is not much time.

Instead of criticizing a citizen’s petition drive without presenting any facts, The News-Post should ask how many tens of thousands of dollars developers and their political friends have spent on their mailings and ad campaign, and then compare that to the amount spent to collect signatures, which to date has been zero.

And perhaps more important, The News-Post should investigate the real ethical issue here, the propriety of using city letterhead and the imprimatur of the mayor himself for developer-funded issue advocacy.

JANICE WILES

http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/news/display.htm?StoryID=96585

Registered city voters are eligible to sign. A volunteer may have knocked on your door but you weren’t home. Our goal is to get 8,000(!) signatures by Oct. 18. Please seek out a place to sign the petition for referendum.

In The Street: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Friends of Frederick County table between Church and Second streets.

Worman’s Mill gazebo: noon to 2 p.m. Sunday.

Referendum Office, 4 E. Church St: 9 to 11 a.m. Monday through Friday, 3 to 5 p.m. Monday, 3:15 to 4:15 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday, 10 a.m. to noon Sunday.

Baker Park gazebo: 3 to 6 p.m. every Sunday until Oct. 18.

Monocacy MARC train station: Every Tuesday evening until Oct. 18.
Frederick City MARC train station: Every Friday evening until Oct. 18

Spread the word!

JANICE WILES

Friends of Frederick County

Frederick News Post
Letter to the Editor
September 30, 2009

http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/news/display.htm?StoryID=95866

Dear Annexation Referendum Volunteers, Supporters and Friends,

On behalf of Friends and Frederick County, I would like thank everyone who brought their energy, spirit and dedication to this burst of grassroots movement for a petition drive to bring the issue of annexation to a citizen vote.  As I write this letter, unpaid volunteers are still out in their neighborhoods trying to collect the  7,289 signatures needed by Monday (10/19) to bring to citizen vote the issue of annexation.   Yet, it is with a heavy heart that, despite the best efforts of all the dedicated foot soldiers, we will fall short of our main goal.

Petitions by origin were created in the spirit of democracy.  The process offers the opportunity for every Frederick resident to put one voice, one vote, to an issue that can impact their daily lives.   A referendum in this case, regardless of the outcome, would assure participation by Frederick voters who are the most impacted by the actions of their elected officials.   Yet, sadly, this petition  drive has been subverted by a host of factors, not the least of which is a  near impossible time frame of 45 days.   To be successful volunteers would have to collect over 160 signatures a day.  Despite our dedicated army of unpaid volunteers working to gather signatures and educate voters, time was against us.  Given that 9 out of 10 people signed the petition once they learned about the annexation, I have little doubt that additional time would have brought about the successful outcome of a referendum —  a simple vote.   But the time allotment of 45 days to gather signatures for referendum is an outmoded form of democracy in large cities like Frederick, which spans over 20 square miles.  Residents interested in signing the petition not only had to find out about us, but learn where our volunteers were located.

As this effort gathered steam, nearly one hundred (100!) of you – unpaid volunteers –  took the time out of your very busy lives to hit the streets, talk to your neighbors, and gather signatures.   I must thank you for your commitment, energy, and hard work.  I also want to thank the Frederick County Board of Commissioners (BOCC), the Maryland State Highway Administration, Frederick County Fire and Rescue Services Division and the Maryland Department of Planning for their thoughtful concerns raised about the annexation development agreements.  As we’ve noted  previously, these annexations will add millions of square feet of office and commercial space, and over 1500 homes on farm land located near U.S.  15  and Route 40.   The BOCC  and other state and county officials offered their distinguished voices to educate citizens about the impact of the annexation development on traffic and other public services. Most Frederick residents with whom we met and spoke during our grassroots efforts not only did not understand how annexation would impact them, but also opposed the  action and signed the petition so that they could vote.  This is the way democracy is supposed to work –through public participation, education, and outreach.

FOFC became involved in this effort to ensure the voices of Frederick voters were heard by their elected officials, the Mayor and the Board of Aldermen.   We are independent, nor funded by outside special interest groups.   Our members are citizens who have a strong interest in the quality of life in Frederick and the surrounding counties because they either live in the city or in the county.   Most importantly, none of us profit financially from the decisions of any elected governing body in Frederick or Frederick County. We are proud of our role in advocating that land use decisions, including annexations, benefit all residents of Frederick – not just a few.

Thank you so very much for your support and enthusiasm.  And a special thanks to Malgo who – by far-  collected the most signatures, and to Elaine who took a lead role in organizing volunteers.  Also special mention of gratitude goes to the Catoctin Sierra Club for lending us their office space that we converted to the Referendum Office, and to E End USA for lending us a copy machine!

We’ll be back in touch soon with final numbers and more updates.

Sincerely,

Janice Wiles, Executive Director  240 529 1655/ 240 626 5209
Looking back:
Friends of Frederick County (FOFC) was a driving force behind the coalition of Frederick County citizens concerned about sprawl.  On September 4th 2009 we   set out to collect 7,289 signatures by October 18th to bring to citizen vote a move by the Board of Alderman to annex more than 500 acres of farm land targeted for residential and commercial development. The annexations of the Thatcher, Crumland and Summers farms will add millions of square feet of office and commercial space, and over 1500 homes on farm land located near U.S.  15 and Route 40.   Annexation is a process used to expand municipal boundaries by adding land.   Planners and environmentalists cite annexations as a source of urban sprawl in rural areas because the growth is directed outward from urban centers.    FOFC launched the petition drive to educate citizens about the impact of the annexations on the quality of life in Maryland.

“Frederick County citizens need to know the tremendous impact these annexations will have on traffic congestion, schools, and on municipal services,” said Janice Wiles, executive director of FOFC.  “There is a world of difference between growing, and growing right.  Spreading Frederick City outward to the rural landscape along a stretch of overtaxed highway produces little or no benefit to tax payers living in the city and in Frederick County.  They are the ones who will ultimately bear the cost of the infrastructure improvements that will need to be made.” Among those also raising concerns about the annexations are the Maryland State Highway Administration, Maryland State Department of Planning and County officials, including the Board of County Commissioners, who are concerned about the developers’ commitment to major infrastructure improvements to roads, sewer capacity and schools.

Opponents of the recent City of Frederick annexations  have 45 days to secure the signatures of at least 7,289 city voters.  The law requires 20 percent of municipal voters sign a petition to force the issue to referendum.  Volunteers gathering signatures are all over the city knocking on doors and talking to people at public events.  ”Over forty concerned citizens have collected about 2000 signatures.  We have a long way to go yet thankfully new volunteers are showing up daily offering to help.  We can meet our goal if more volunteers offer their support”  said Elaine Reinhold who is coordinating volunteers to staff places people can go to and sign the petition (see locations below).

Recent data suggests that sprawl and urbanization are consuming land at an alarming rate.  Between 1982 and 1992, 14 million acres of the U.S. became developed land, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.   In the past, cities were compact and efficient, but over the past 30-50 years, the density of land used per person has declined drastically.  Although the U.S. population grew by 17 percent from 1982 to 1997, urbanized land increased by 47 percent during the same 15 year period.   The developed acreage per person has nearly doubled in the past 20 years, and housing lots larger than 10 acres have accounted for 55 percent of land developed since 1994, according to the American Farmland Trust.

Where to Sign

• Greenleaf Park – Whittier & Walnut Ridge (near pool and soccer field) 9/26 9:30 – noon
• North End Block Party, 9/26 1-4pm
• IN THE STREETS, 10/3 11-5 Friends of Frederick County table between Church & Second St.
• Referendum Office, 4 E Church St, M 3-5pm, T/R 3:15-4:15, M-F 9-11am, SUnday 10-12noon
• Baker Park gazebo Sunday 3-6 pm
• Monocacy MARC train station – Tuesday evening
• Frederick CIty MARC train station – Friday evening

For additional information

• http://annexations.wordpress.com/
• http://apps.facebook.com/causes/285443

To Contact us

email:  frederick.referendum@gmail.com
240 626 5209
240-405-2536