Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1960-09-29

llclQ III Tic duulIOAlullA VI AAO
Maryland National Capital Park
and Planning Commission in
Silver Spring on the Prelimi-
nary Residential Land Use Plan
developed by the professional
staff of the Planning Commits
sion. This hearing may be the
last opportunity the citizens of
the Upper County will ever have
to support a program for future
development of their area which
preserves it's scenic beauty and
natural resources. At the mo-
ment all efforts to incorporate
such an objective in the prelim-
mary master plan stand to be
defeated-almost by default-by
land developers who equate I'M
inhibited and unguided land
utilization with the best inter-
ests of the county.
What the Planning Commits
sion staff has done is to prepare
a general guide for future ac-
tons on coming and construc-
ton of public utilities which
will accommodate the entire
population which can be expect
ed in Upper County by 1880 and
at the same time preserve the
stream valleys, wooded areas,
and open spaces from discon-
tinued patches of intense devel-
opment. Such plan is possible
because there is a large over-sup-
ply of land If even the largest
estimates of the 1880 population
were absorbed under the pres
ent coming regulations which
permit minimum residential lots
of u acre throughout the entire
central portion of the Upper
County. The plan which is now
proposed would concentrate
high density deve l o p m e n I
around particular areas where
logic and circumstances indi-
cate the suitability of satellite
communities for example in
the immediate vicinity Of Cath
ersburg and Germantown. Such
areas can economically be pro-
vided with public utilities and
services. Land between these
satellite communities would
generally be reserved for home
sites of average lot size not un-
der two acres. This type of de-
velopment would not require
public utilities or drastically al
ter the character of the land
scape.
Opposition to the plan has
been most vigorously expressed
by E. Brooke Lee, large land
owner and subdivider. Speak
ing at the first public hearing
for a majority of the Is men,
bers of the Montgomery County
Farmers Club, Col. Lee roundly
land for As minutes) attacked
this amazing" plan as "destruc.
tive to the investment or devel-
opment value of large areas,
and as new, arbitrary, and I'M
reasonable attempts at land use
regulation well beyond the linn
its of such control previously
attempted by local government
tai agencies. I'VE believe, Mr..
Lee argued, that a family
home continues to be the desir-
able and strongest bulwark and
cornerstone of the American
civilization, and that an Amer
lean family should be continued
to be allowed to locate, and
should even be encouraged to
locate a home, in such parts of
this County, State, or Nation
where it Is not harmful to the
local public health or welfare.
We know of and admit to no
right to regulate the location of
an American home beyond the
reasonable requirements of the
local public welfare, the local
public health, and the local pub
liz safety"
The proposed plan would not
place limitations on where a
home could be built but only on
the density Of development in
now rural areas. 1t is true that
such a density regulation does
limit the American tradition Of
uninhibited use of land for
domestic construction, but 1t is
also true that entirely new prob
lens in land use and city plan
ming have come about by the
population increases of the last
20 years. What one wishes ones
county to be like 20 and 40
years hence is very important,
even If it has to be accompanied
by modest reduction in the in
vestment or development value
of land in the Upper County.
But there is a subtlety here
which the opponents Of the pres
ent plan have not understood.
As long as there is large over
supply Of land under present
coming regulations, only a small
fraction of that land can be sold