Montgomery County Council
100 Maryland Avenue
Rockville, MD 20850
Ref: Funding for Legacy Open Space Plan
I am submitting for your consideration a petition with 110 signatures of Montgomery County constituents asking you to fully fund the $100 million Legacy Open Space Plan for Montgomery County. These signatures were not collected from environmental groups, but were collected from attendees at the Rockville Science Fair. This is important information since it reflects the opinions of individuals who were totally unaware of the Legacy Open Space Plan until it was explained to them at the Fair. I’d like to offer the following observations from my discussions with these individuals.
This plan was enthusiastically supported by an overwhelming majority of the constituents to whom it was presented. This correlates well with the Public Opinion surveys taken by Parks and Planning which shows nearly 75% of the people in Montgomery County attach a high priority to protecting streams, forests and wildlife.
Without exception, everyone I talked to at the Fair had not previously heard of the Legacy Open Space Plan for Montgomery County. This reflects poorly on the publication of information concerning this important plan and also would account for a low numbers of responses to it. I suggest the Council work to publish information to residents concerning the Legacy Open Space Plan concepts and its importance to county residents.
My previous concerns toward the plan are still unresolved. The acquisition of ecological significant land to protect streams, forests, and wildlife in Montgomery County should not be subservient to acquisitions of property of lesser importance. The priority of acquisitions should be evaluated based on their ability to achieve environmental protection and funds should be allocated accordingly. Those parts of the plan that provide little or only moderate value toward the objective of environmental protection should be discarded.
Sincerely,
Bob DeGroot
President, MAGIC