(8/2019) August is here and the big issue that the County Council is
currently wrestling with is a new planning document called ‘The Livable
Frederick Master Plan.’ It clocks in just under 230 pages and covers everything
from designating future growth areas for the county, health and safety of the
community, economic development and supporting of the arts. It is a new way of
planning and is really not possible to summarize entirely here.
The Council plans to vote on this document on Tuesday, September 3. This
document represents hundreds of hours of staff and volunteer time, hundreds of
thousands of tax dollars for consulting expended, and several years time and
effort going back before the election. So far the Council alone has introduced
50 amendments. I have not yet decided how to vote on this although as a
supporter of limited government, I bring general skepticism to the expansion of
a local land use planning document into areas such as health care, promotion of
the arts, and a healthy dose of environmental regulation.
I really do welcome your feedback into the document. One of my main concerns
is that the document represents the views of too narrow a group of citizens of
Frederick County. The document as it currently stands is not accessible to
enough of the community. The people who have been vocal in support of it or
certain aspects of the document are generally those with a specific interest.
I will give you an example. One of the amendments to Livable Frederick sets
the table for future regulation due to the assertion that we are in a ‘climate
change crisis.’ I voted against this amendment. The word crisis is alarmist by
nature. A crisis can be used to justify virtually any type of response.
But the people that advocated insertion of the phrase climate change crisis
were vocal. They were organized. They were persistent over many years. We
literally heard from one citizen who urged us not to approve any more gas
stations in Frederick County to reduce carbon emissions; this is the kind of
advocacy a ‘crisis’ can bring out. I simply don’t believe that this position
represents a majority view for citizens of Frederick County and therefore am
skeptical that the document has been reviewed and commented on by a broad
enough segment of the Frederick County populace. We need to hear from more
regular citizens on this document which could be used to set policy and
regulation for the next generation.
Finally, it is interesting to note that a Montgomery County Councilman has
recently declared economic job growth in their county a crisis. It is truly a
strange world when Montgomery County is declaring a crisis in job growth and
economic development and Frederick County has declared our crisis to be climate
change.