After months of active, focused advocacy on the part of a coalition of business groups called the Livable Frederick Coalition (including the Frederick County Chamber of Commerce), large land holdings and individual property owners, the Frederick County Council voted to approve the Sugarloaf Treasured Areas Plan, but to “remand” the restrictive conservation overlay back to the Frederick County Planning Commission. This new overlay zone was intended to add restrictive regulations and covenants on any land within its boundary, essentially to maintain this land in its current form and to either discourage or prevent future development activity.
Several Council members had advocated aggressively for the adoption of this overlay, in community gathering, public meetings and media interviews. Predictably, those same individuals spoke out against remanding the overlay back to the Planning Commission. Conversely, a majority of the Council felt that there were still too many unanswered questions and potential unintended consequences and recognized that by sending the issue back to the Planning Commission, it would be left to the next County Council to decide.
Due to the impending election (Nov. 8), the Council cannot vote on items such as this after October 28.
Activists in the Urbana planning region, most notably a group called the Sugarloaf Alliance, has reacted with swift outrage to criticize the Council majority decision. This group was both informed and encouraged by members of the staff, Planning Commission and County Council to send cards, letters, email and offer public testimony. There’s no doubt that these folks thought they had enough influence to assure their desired outcome.
On the other side of the coin, the Livable Frederick Coalition had their own significant influencer, the Stronghold Land Trust. This land trust, created by DC lawyer Gordon Strong many decades ago, privately own the land we all know as Sugarloaf Mountain. This land trust was created for the sole purpose of preserving the land around the mountain against future development. The family who controls the land trust, the Websters, have been incredibly responsible stewards of this special place, and arguably the best people to continue this important legacy. They resented the inference that County government intervention was needed, and threatened to close the mountain to public access, something they could legally do to protect themselves from liability.
In the end, the mixed outcome may be the perfect compromise. The Council has indicated their preference that large-scale commercial and residential projects in the Urbana area will be focused on the east side of I270. There will be some limited commercial activity allowed on the west side, but only around the actual MD 80/270 interchange. While the use of a conservation “overlay” will need to be revisited by the Planning Commission and a future County Council, it’s clear that there’s a broad interest in maintaining Sugarloaf Mountain in its relatively native state, while allowing Stronghold to continue to exercise their very effective stewardship activities on this critical property.
This is just one more example of the kind of effective issue advocacy we practice at the Chamber. We partner with other groups and individuals to express our views on behalf of our Board and our members. We try to remain goal-focused; we avoid political attacks, and we follow and maintain ethical practices in how and with whom we interact. Our batting average is really very good, and because of our credibility, we know our elected officials at the local, county, state and federal levels listen to our input.
– Rick Weldon, President & CEO
Frederick Chamber Insights is a news outlet of the Frederick County Chamber of Commerce. For more information about membership, programs and initiatives, please visit our website.