Save Rock Creek Hills Park? Well, we sure tried!: Expert: MCPS Underestimates Cost of Proposed School by $18 Million.

Monday, March 12, 2012

Expert: MCPS Underestimates Cost of Proposed School by $18 Million.

Total Cost to Taxpayers Would Be $64.5 Million.

An independent construction budget estimate (ICBE) finds that the 2011 Montgomery County Public Schools feasibility study for a middle school on the site of Rock Creek Hills Park underestimated costs by approximately eighteen million dollars. The ICBE puts 2017 total costs at $64.5 million, almost 40% above the MCPS estimate. See page 7 (and attached ICBE) of the Rock Creek Hills Citizens Association Minority Report (below).

"This document contains the Minority Report of the Rock Creek Hills Citizens Association (RCHCA) dissenting from the recommendation of the second Site Selection Advisory Committee (SSAC).
...
The site selection process had some significant limitations, such as the lack of analytical application of each criterion, which we believe is reflected in the outcome here. Our comments, however, focus on only the most serious of these limitations: the lack of all relevant information required to evaluate and discern suitability of all sites accurately, thus compromising an informed determination.
...

The SSAC decision lacks analytical rigor and substantive integrity.
..."

-from the Minority Report of the RCHCA:

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Who Said That?

"When the [Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission] developed [Rock Creek Hills Park] in the early 1990s they accepted funds from the Program Open Space. This is a program managed by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources to distribute funds from the Federal Land and Water Conservation Fund to preserve open space. The use of Program Open Space funds was inconsistent with the reclamation terms of the transfer agreement under which the M-NCPPC took title to the property. This was the case since use of these funds places restrictions on future public use of parks, in contradiction with the terms of the original transfer agreement..."
– Dr. Joshua Starr, Superintendent, Montgomery County Public Schools.

From the MCPS Site Selection Advisory Committee Minority Reports:

The B-CC High School NAACP Parents' Council wrote that they "... cannot support the recommendation to build the new middle school in a potentially racially divisive and socially isolating location. ... We, therefore, ask the Superintendent and the Board of Education to decline to adopt Rock Creek Hills Local Park as the site for the new middle school."

The Lyttonsville Civic Association wrote that "...MCPS staff set inappropriate boundaries for discussion... ...MCPS staff cut off discussion to insist that a vote be taken before the committee had finished considering all their options. Staff ... made procedural rulings that affected the ability of some representatives to speak freely. Some representatives voiced concerns that they were being led to a predetermined conclusion."

Ms. Brooke Farquhar (Parks Department) wrote: "Costs were not thoroughly evaluated in the process and misinformation may have prejudiced the votes of committee members.... The process lacked a robust analysis. The potential sites should have been analyzed more thoroughly, based on detailed information that would allow consistent comparison across the sites."

Mr. Frederick V. Boyd (Planning Board) wrote: "[T]he rating process used for selecting sites did not provide a real opportunity to consider the community character and quality of life consequences of choosing a candidate site. ... [D]escriptions appear to have been written to enable easier consideration of some public sites..."