Glade Valley, 804 acres, Kelly and Staley Properties, 302 acres and Kemp Lane Assemblage, 161 acres.  Read the letter here.

06-16-2010 7pm City Hall  City’s Mayor and Aldermen to meet with Board of County Commissioners to discuss costs of 20-year municipal growth plan

What will the planned development cost citizens of this county and city?

The following cost analysis of Frederick City’s Municipal Growth Element was prepared by FoFC for the April 13, 2010 workshop with City and County officials.

Frederick City Officials decided to do a thorough cost analysis of the projected growth and present those costs to the Frederick County Board of Commissioners on June 7th.

Will there be a Big Red Road?

A road that will connect north Rte 15 with I 70 SE of Frederick, and go through over 160 properties – in some cases houses would need to be remove

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

The agenda for Public Forums:

6:00 p.m. – Registration opens 1/2 hour early at all forums
6:30 p.m. – PlanMaryland Open House
7:00 p.m. – Public Forum begins; Welcome by College President
7:05 p.m. – Opening remarks by Secretary Richard E. Hall
7:10 p.m. – Background by Richard Josephson, Director of MDP’s Planning Services
7:20 p.m. – Interactive keypad polling
7:30 p.m. – Table breakout begins
8:30 p.m. – Tables report
8:50 p.m. – Next steps
9:00 p.m. – Public Forum ends

Participate in your future!

Water quality public hearing called a good first step
Session leaves more questions than answers
 

Farmers and other stakeholders in agriculture packed a room Wednesday at Winchester Hall to hear state officials discuss plans to clean four local waterways — Catoctin Creek, Double Pipe Creek, and Upper and Lower Monocacy rivers.

All are watersheds determined by the Maryland Department of the Environment to be polluted with unacceptable levels of phosphorous.

At the discussion’s center was Total Maximum Daily Load — an estimate of the maximum amount of a pollutant that a water body can tolerate without violating water quality standards.

The main focus of the meeting was to address water quality in the four local watersheds, not the Chesapeake Bay, said Tom Thornton, a technical review coordinator with the environmental department. The bay’s water quality measurement, being developed in conjunction with other states, will be available in draft form in August, he said.

Excess fertilizer or wastewater may interact with and affect the watersheds’ biological communities. The goal is to eliminate excessive phosphorous, said Ross Mandel, associate director of watershed analysis with the Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin.

“We’re addressing problems of aquatic life in smaller tributaries, not the Monocacy River,” Mandel said. “A body of water that supports aquatic life has to pass a certain threshold. We’re asking the watersheds to pass a relatively low bar, not a high bar.”

Mandel said the goal for their work on local waterways is to be compatible with the Chesapeake Bay’s measurement for pollutants. He hoped an analysis of the local watersheds will be complete in 2010.

Several farmers were concerned they would be seen as responsible for any water problems.

“It sounds to me that farmers are being targeted,” Monrovia farmer Evelyn Wilcom said. “It sounds like agriculture is the big culprit here. Is that correct?”

“I don’t think anyone at MDE made that claim,” Thornton said.

“I’m not shooting the messenger but at the same time agriculture is having a really tough time right now. We’re the No. 1 industry in Maryland but once again I just feel we’re being put in a bad position,” Wilcom said.

Farmers spend a lot of money on nutrient management programs. In contrast, homeowners can buy and apply as much fertilizer they want just because they want a green lawn, Emmitsburg farmer William Morrow said.

Farmers are more heavily regulated than homeowners, but part of the program is to educate them about fertilizer use, said Shannon Moore, project manager for Frederick County’s watershed management section.

Moore said she has many questions that have not been answered about how these regulations will affect the county government and its operations.

“But I don’t know if they are answerable yet,” Moore said. “I thought the meeting gave people an opportunity to learn more about how the state creates pollution limits in water bodies. They have a lot of work to do before they can explain how these limits will affect landowners and people who hold environmental permits. That’s what people are most anxious to hear. But the communication lines are open and that is important.”

Lisa Gaver owns and operates Gaver Tree Farm with her husband in Mount Airy.

“We are farming in an important food shed and this is a critical issue hanging over everything we do in the food and agriculture industry, so our concerns are many,” Gaver said after the meeting.

She questions whether Total Maximum Daily Load requirements will be fair, and if the model will reflect up-to-date practices and accurate animal population data. She also wonders if her business will be credited for the environmental practices it has in place already.

“Will all states be required to report all voluntary practices and raw source data before TMDL are defined? Will new regulations expand to other sources like turf and urban runoff? Will requirements stick to the facts and be based on science?” she asked.

Frederick County Farm Bureau President Tom Browning called the meeting a good first step.

“Frankly, I think it raised more questions than answers. TMDLs are very complicated. I saw a lot of heads looking quizzically at some of what they were hearing,” Browning said.

With a number of water quality issues on the way, Thornton said it was good to see so many attend the discussion. MDE is responsible for shepherding TMDL review, from the local level to the Environmental Protection Agency, he said.

The MDE’s Total Maximum Daily Load review of local watersheds, which is in its early stage, will be followed by several analyses by agencies within the state; a preliminary examination by the EPA; stakeholder/public critique before submission to the EPA for review and approval, Thornton said. Public comments will be submitted to the EPA as well.

Originally published April 08, 2010

Frederick News Post article 4/12/2010 by Ike Wilson

http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/business/display.htm?StoryID=103431

After established deadlines, HB 1141 (amending Article 66B) prohibits the annexation of  any property that is not included in a Municipal Growth Element.  This Growth Element must contain a detailed analysis of the growth impacts of annexing and developing properties in the municipality’s planned growth area. Prior to adopting this Growth Element, a municipality must “meet and confer” with the county in which it is located. 

 The City of Frederick established a Tier 3/Outer Growth Boundary in its Comprehensive Plan and Municipal Growth Element.  The City proposes the construction of a North South Parallel Road on the east side of Frederick through one portion of Tier 3.  In addition, the Tier 3/Outer Growth Boundary that surrounds the City includes thousands of acres of agricultural land which the City now deems eligible for annexation and development.  The construction of the Parallel Road would accelerate annexations and developments in Tier 3.  These and other developments in Tier 3 would involve the construction of thousands of residential units and hundreds of thousands of square feet of commercial space.  They would have massive impacts on public services and facilities and require huge taxpayer funded infrastructure investments to accommodate this growth.  The City did not offer the requisite analysis of these impacts and costs in its Comprehensive Plan.  

Our Position

FoFC has actively followed this issue with citizen letters to the city and county asking that the City and County “meet and confer” to clarify how the infrastructure on these large annexation agreements will be paid.

If you are interested in the correspondence please contact us:  240 529 1655, or jwiles@friendsoffrederickcounty.org.

There will be a one hour public briefing at noon on Thursday March 4, at FSK Mall Holiday Inn.

The public is invited to a meeting on Wednesday, November 18, 2009 at 4:00 p.m. which will allow interested stakeholders to learn more about the project, review study draft recommendations and discuss the next steps in the process.  The meeting will be held at in the Winchester Room, 2nd Floor, Winchester Hall, 12 East Church Street, Frederick, Md.

For more information contact Frederick County Planning Division Principal Planner John Thomas at 301-600-6768 or via e-mail at jbthomas@FrederickCountyMD.gov