Evening star., 1954-12-08
Planners Ask Curb
By County Council
On Agency Blasts

The Montgomery County
Council got a warm reaction
yesterday from the Maryland
National Capital Park and Plan
ming Commission over a blast
fired at the planning agency by
the County Recreation Board
last week.
j. Bond Smith. the planning
commissions attorney, told men,
bers of the recently elected
Council he was authorized to
point out that pleasant, coop
erative relations will not be
possible unless there is complete
frankness and an interchange of
ideas" by the two bodies.
The Councils meeting with
the planning officials was ar
ranged as a get-acquainted con-
ference weeks ago. That was be-
fore the county Recreation
Board released a report criti-
cizing the planning commission
because 1t said the board was
unable to get an adequate ac-
counting of the money spent by
the commission for maintenance
of recreation areas.
IS Pct. Arrangement.
The county pays the planning
commission rs per cent of the
cost of maintenance of the COM
missions recreation facilities in
Montgomery County.
Mr.. Smith said the Council
has been used as a sounding
board for the attacks of others" !"
1--WE feel it is necessary to
bring the unfortunate effects of
this to your attention" he said.
"We had no indication that we
were not fully cooperating with
members of the Recreation
Board" In fact, Mr.. Smith said,
the recreation board sent the
planners a letter on December
2, thanking them officially for
aiding the county's summer rec
reation program.
Mr.. Smith said the commits
sion was not holding the Council
responsible for the action of the
recreation board, but he added:
please don't let it happen
again. These things grow. III
feeling grows.
Barrier Seen.
IF you allow your meetings,
your forum and your staff to
proceed in the manner in which
the Recreation Board has pro-
ceeded, you will be erecting a
most unfortunate barrier to this
kind of cooperation"
The Recreation Board, at a
meeting with the Council last
Wednesday, complained it was
unable to keep in touch with
community recreation activities
because the planning commission
has the authority to issue per-
mits for park and recreation
facilities. The Council then
agreed to ask the county's legis-
lative delegation what changes
would be needed in the planning
commissions laws to transfer all
recreation authority to the
county.
Mr.. Smith said the Recreation
Board "let loose this blast" with
out even consulting Sidney M.
Oliver, the commissions vice
chairman and park commission
er. who is a member of the
County Recreation Board He
said the report was released
to the newspapers presumably
with the sanction and certainly
with the implied Endorsement Of
the Council"
Blast Aspect Denied.
Council President j. Grahame
Walker said he was certain the
Council and planning commits
sion could work amicably. He
said he did not view the recrea-
ton report as a blast at the
planners, but rather as a state
ment of the Recreation Boards
problems to the new Council
members.
Planning Commissioner Dom
aid 3. Gingery dismissed the
whole thing as a furry. He said
the commission has a lot of
much bigger things to do-there
is nothing to this"
Using Mr.. Gingery's words,