Letter to the Editor: Brickyard and a Look at Potomac's Master Plan

The following is a letter from Keith Williams, president of the Civic Association of River Falls, and Ginny Barnes, environmental chair of the West Montgomery County Citizens Association, regarding the Brickyard Road Soccer Field Project.

 

The county executive has made several assertions in support of his plans to have soccer fields built on the Brickyard Middle School site that do not stand up to close scrutiny when the facts are laid out. We will examine just two of these assertions to show just how far off base he is.

The County Executive and his staff have claimed that the terms of the 2002 Potomac Master Plan support their unilateral decision to attempt to have soccer fields built on the Brickyard Middle School site. This is simply not true, and if the County Executive is successful in making this end run around the Master Plan, then no county master plan is safe from being circumvented by the county.

The 2001 draft master plan considered the Brickyard site for a recreation park with unlighted ball fields if it ever declared surplus, but a "recreation park" is intended for sites with 50+ acres which can support intensive recreational development. The local community provided a significant amount of testimony in 2001 pointing out that this 20 acre site is not appropriate for recreational park status because it is on a narrow local road in the middle of a quiet community with no access to public transportation. Subsequently, the final approved and adopted  2002 Potomac Subregion Master Plan recognized these facts, and replaced the draft language by stating "All school sites not otherwise recommended in this Plan for environmental conservation should be considered for other public uses, including park land, if they are declared as surplus." The plan goes on to note that Brickyard could be developed as a local park with ball fields, and that the appropriate use should be determined based on an evaluation of other uses identified in the plan. 

It is important to note that the term "local park" has a very specific meaning in Montgomery County – it is defined as a mixed use park serving local needs, that could include multiple elements such as a play ground, open fields, basketball and/or tennis courts, ball field, nature trail, and picnic facilities, but is not intended to support only multiple ball fields.

The Master Plan clearly contemplates an evaluation process to determine the best use of the Brickyard site, and that this evaluation would be done if the site is declared surplus. The BOE has not declared Brickyard to be surplus. The County Executive has sidestepped the terms of the master plan by leasing the site from the Board of Education, and unilaterally deciding that soccer fields are the best use.  This is just plain wrong, and makes a sham of the entire master plan process.

The second assertion made in support of building soccer fields is that there is a need for more soccer fields in Potomac. But according to the data shown on page 10 of the 2005 Parks and Recreation Open Space Plan, which the County Executive references in support of his soccer field proposal, the truth is quite different. According to this data, there are actually an excess of 4.1 youth soccer fields in Potomac, and a need for 4.6 adult fields. Without an understanding of the underlying field inventory it is hard to understand why surplus youth fields could not be redeveloped into adult sized fields, or why fields are not being developed in existing available Potomac public recreational areas. This should certainly be more cost effective and easily accomplished than building new fields where none have ever existed and where the local community has not been clamoring for fields.

The questions surrounding field needs and availability and community park preferences are exactly the kinds of issues that would be explored if this property were to be declared surplus. We continue to urge the County Executive to cease his unilateral approach to this potential development, and initiate a public, transparent process to determine the best use of this property that is consistent with the needs and desires of the local community.


Keith Williams
President, Civic Association of River Falls

Ginny Barnes
Environmental Chair, West Montgomery County Citizens Association

 

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