Northwood News ♦ June 2002

County Funds Local Sidewalks, Legacy Open Space for Parks

By Charles Pritchard

The inclusion of the Route 29 sidewalk on the east side of Colesville Road in the recently adopted Capital Improvement Program (CIP) and Operating Budget was due in part to the work of an NFCCA committee on sidewalks.  This committee included members Jennifer Melton and Carole Barth.  Once the sidewalks are constructed, you will be able to walk much more safely from our neighborhood to Burnt Mills or White Oak.

The Sidewalks Program of the Department of Engineering Services, DPWT, reported to the NFCCA that its request, dating to 1998 and renewed in 2001, for sidewalks on Lorain, Sutherland, and Eastwood Avenues is climbing on the priority list.  Sidewalk construction is getting more attention in Montgomery County after the rash of pedestrian deaths and injuries recently, and was high among the recommendations of the County Executives Blue Ribbon Panel on Pedestrian and Traffic Safety.  To voice your support of our sidewalks request, call the Sidewalks Program at 240.777.7220.

The NFCCA has also supported the county’s Legacy Open Space (LOS) program, which acquires open space at risk of development for addition instead to parks and recreation areas.  Included in the program is our own Northwest Branch Park, with plans to extend the trail running through it as far north as the Patuxent River State Park and to trails in the western county.

In his proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year (beginning June 1), the County Executive cut the first-year funding for the program but the money was put back by the County Council in the budget they approved.  As a member of the Civic Federation of Montgomery County and the Allied Civic Federation, both of which lobbied the Council to support LOS, the NFCCA had a voice in this success.   ■