One cannot help but detect a hint of “Fixing the Clarksburg Dilemma” as the rationale for reinstating Alternative 9. But the means chosen and the approaches taken imply, at least to me, a certain poverty of vision. Once more, we equate moving people with providing room for the navigation of individual vehicles. Just as planning in older communities down-county begins to coalesce around so called “smart growth”, mixed use and public transit, this plan seems to throw that commitment into reverse, and return to a “pavement-centric, bedroom community” approach. More economic development and local jobs could reduce the need for long-distance commuting that this design implies. We see here what was adequate thinking in 1960, but hardly in line with the county’s objectives for 2020 and beyond.
Mark J. Firley
(presented as public testimony to the
Montgomery Co. Council, Feb 5, 2012)
(presented as public testimony to the
Montgomery Co. Council, Feb 5, 2012)
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