(8/2019) August is here and the big issue that the County Council is currently wrestling with is a new planning document called ‘The Livable Frederick Master Plan.’ It clocks in just under 230 pages and covers everything from designating future growth areas for the county, health and safety of the community, economic development and supporting of the arts. It is a new way of planning and is really not possible to summarize entirely here.

The Council plans to vote on this document on Tuesday, September 3. This document represents hundreds of hours of staff and volunteer time, hundreds of thousands of tax dollars for consulting expended, and several years time and effort going back before the election. So far the Council alone has introduced 50 amendments. I have not yet decided how to vote on this although as a supporter of limited government, I bring general skepticism to the expansion of a local land use planning document into areas such as health care, promotion of the arts, and a healthy dose of environmental regulation.

I really do welcome your feedback into the document. One of my main concerns is that the document represents the views of too narrow a group of citizens of Frederick County. The document as it currently stands is not accessible to enough of the community. The people who have been vocal in support of it or certain aspects of the document are generally those with a specific interest.

I will give you an example. One of the amendments to Livable Frederick sets the table for future regulation due to the assertion that we are in a ‘climate change crisis.’ I voted against this amendment. The word crisis is alarmist by nature. A crisis can be used to justify virtually any type of response.

But the people that advocated insertion of the phrase climate change crisis were vocal. They were organized. They were persistent over many years. We literally heard from one citizen who urged us not to approve any more gas stations in Frederick County to reduce carbon emissions; this is the kind of advocacy a ‘crisis’ can bring out. I simply don’t believe that this position represents a majority view for citizens of Frederick County and therefore am skeptical that the document has been reviewed and commented on by a broad enough segment of the Frederick County populace. We need to hear from more regular citizens on this document which could be used to set policy and regulation for the next generation.

Finally, it is interesting to note that a Montgomery County Councilman has recently declared economic job growth in their county a crisis. It is truly a strange world when Montgomery County is declaring a crisis in job growth and economic development and Frederick County has declared our crisis to be climate change.