Northwood News ♦ December 2007

Planning Board to Discuss Our Park December 6th

By Carole Barth

In November, Park and Planning staff notified NFCCA that the Planning Board would discuss North Four Corners Park at their December 6th meeting.  Unfortunately (but not surprisingly) this means that by the time this newsletter gets to you, the meeting may already have happened.  Although I have not seen the staff’s recommendation yet, I expect it will include a large soccer field instead of Rachel Carson Meadow.

In October, NFCCA commented on the revised options (released in September) and called on MNCPPC to:

• Preserve the existing rolling hills in Rachel Carson Meadow.
• Save the park’s existing mature trees, including the 175-year-old walnut tree (see article in this issue for a picture).
• Save the mature oaks in the older section of North Four Corners Park.
• Help us to manage exotic invasive plants in the park.

We also reiterated our positions:

• No large soccer field (or other large sport facility) anywhere in the park.
• No adult teams and/or large groups using the existing children’s practice field.
• Do not expand the parking in front of the rec center.
• Keep the existing rec center with the current group size restriction.

So what’s next?  Park and Planning will submit their plan for North Four Corners Park along with all their other projects for inclusion in the capital budget.  The capital budget funds county construction projects.  These projects are prioritized in the CIP, or Capital Improvements Program, document which is developed in even-numbered years.  The CIP lays out a six-year schedule of actions (planning, design, and construction) for all the programs the county intends to undertake.

In December the County Executive develops a recommended budget and performance measures for county programs.  On January 15th, the County Executive submits his proposed capital budget to the County Council.  On June 1st, the County Council approves the final budget.

This is the arena where we need to focus our efforts.  Let the County Executive and County Council hear from you.  Contact information is as follows:

Montgomery County Executive	Montgomery County Council
Ike Leggett Executive Office Building 101 Monroe Street, 2nd Floor Rockville, MD 20850 Tel: 240.777.2500 TTY: 240.777.2544 Email: ocemail@montgomerycountymd.gov	Stella B. Werner Council Office Building 100 Maryland Ave., Rockville, MD 20850 Tel: 240.777.7900 24-Hour Comment Line: 240.777.7999 TTY 240.777.7914 FAX: 240.777.7989 Email: county.council@montgomerycountymd.gov

See Our Current Representatives