For immediate release:
July 1, 2009
For more information, contact:
Valerie Berton
Communications Manager
Montgomery County Planning Department
301/495-4600
SILVER SPRING – Montgomery County planners are seeking the go-ahead from the Planning Board and County Council to revise a piece of the 1994 blueprint guiding growth in Clarksburg to address environmental concerns.
The 1994 Clarksburg Master Plan specifies construction to occur in stages in the northern-most, last-to-be-developed corridor city in Montgomery County. The final phase to be developed was tied, among other things, to protecting water quality in Ten Mile Creek, a major tributary of the Little Seneca watershed. This area is part of the Clarksburg Special Protection Area (SPA). The county protects particularly sensitive, high-quality stream systems by designating an SPA requiring extra stormwater management and sometimes placing limits on impervious surfaces. Excess impervious surfaces such as paved areas and rooftops keep runoff from filtering through the soil, which can deteriorate water quality.
The planners’ foresight in the 1994 plan was warranted. Long term water quality monitoring by county environmental officials in the Clarksburg Special Protection Area found that the creeks are feeling the effects of development in their watersheds and that development in the Ten Mile Creek watershed – with all of the impervious surfaces that accompany it – would harm water quality.
Those findings prompted planners to write a report – to be presented July 9 to the Planning Board – recommending that development for Clarksburg stage four construction be held until they can revise the plan to better address water quality concerns in the Ten Mile Creek watershed.
While the Planning Board may decide to adopt the planners’ recommendations, ultimately the Council must approve any new master plan effort and add the task to the Planning Department’s work program along with the necessary resources. Planners note that the effort should include considerable public engagement as well as contracting with a national expert experienced in low impact development strategies such as rain gardens, impervious limitations, and increasing groundwater absorption.
The recommendation for a revised master plan only affects the Ten Mile Creek watershed, not the approved part of the Town Center and other areas now under construction or plan review.
Among their recommendations, planners advise finding a new location for a maintenance depot proposed for the area. The depot, which would repair and store buses and other county vehicles, would pose a risk to water quality, planners say.
Learn more about the Clarksville Master Plan.
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