Save Rock Creek Hills Park? Well, we sure tried!: "We believe that we provided the court with essential information to make a determination on the merits…"

Saturday, March 8, 2014

"We believe that we provided the court with essential information to make a determination on the merits…"

From the Rock Creek Hills Citizens' Association website:

Dear Neighbors,

As you may know, our litigation seeking to enforce the law and protect Rock Creek Hills Park has reached the appellate stage. On Wednesday, March 5, an oral argument was held before a three-judge panel of the Court of Special Appeals in Annapolis. The judges were engaged, well prepared, and the dialogue with our counsel, Bil Chen, was on point and civil. Bil was very well prepared and anticipated all the questions that were asked by the panel. The Board of Education and the County made the same arguments as they did at the initial trial, regarding standing and land use issues. The three state agencies involved also repeated their arguments regarding their twenty-year administrative practice. The M-NCPPC did not present an oral argument. We believe that we provided the court with essential information to make a determination on the merits, which should be rendered in the next three to five months. We will keep you informed of any further developments.

Sincerely yours,
Jim Pekar – RCHCA President
John Robinson – RCHCA Litigation Committee

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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..."