Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1961-04-20
BulI-Heoded Attitude

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The decision by school officials to go ahead with
plans to erect new school directly in the path of
proposed street with or without building permit,
reveals an arbitrary and bulheaded attitude that i'll
becomes Montgomery Countys largest public agency.
We do not intend to debate whether or not DR..
c. Taylor Whittier superintendent of schools has the
legal authority to proceed without permit He says
he has Maybe so. But the issue here far transcends
legal techncates.
What is at stake, it seems to u.s. is no less than
the continued orderly development of the county based
on master plans adopted by the duly constituted agen
cy charged with that responsibility.
If public agency can brazenly disregard those
plans the firm ground of expedency, then the
tvs entire planning program is not worth the paper
it is written on. the School Board do this, any
governmental body brush aside rules and regua-
tons and do what it wants to regardless of the effect
other agency programs well as the general pub
lie welfare.
Nearly two years ago, the County Planning Board
adopted master plan of streets and highways for the
Kensngton- Wheaton area. Included in that plan
the right-of-way provision for primary residential
street connecting Newport Mill I'd. with Kensington
blvd The plan well pubicized and the School
Board must have known about it.
Last year, staff coordinating committee COM
posed of representatives from the School Board and
the Planning agency considered the site proposed by
school officials for new high school in that same
area. The Planning Board representatives pointed out
clearly that the site would be squarey in the path of
the street right-of-way. The committees official
minutes, which sent to the School Board carried
this warning.
Despite all this, school officials went ahead with
their plans for the school on that very site. Two
weeks ago, their application for building permit was
denied by the Planning Board because the school
would be in the middle of the right-of-way.
A private citizen seeking to erect building there
would long ago have sought another SITE But not
school officials. They regard themselves somehow as
different privileged above the law So now they are
going ahead anyway, ignoring completely all of the
warnings and appeals for cooperation by the planners
Over the years, the Park and Planning Commits
sion, Of which the Planning Board is an integral part
has saved the taxpayers millions of dollars by reserv-
ing rights-of-way for streets and highways BY pre-
venting the erection of buildings in these righs-of
way, property damage has been kept to minimum
when the streets are built.
Now come the School Board and Supt of Schools
Whittier to endanger this invaluable program For if
they can get away with it, any governmental agency
can do the thing. And if this is so, what's to
prevent private citizens from following suit?
It's not too late for school officials to think and
to reconsider their willfu autocratc decision It's not
too late for them to take heed of the tremendous per-
haps rreparable damage they will be doing to orderly
planning If they persist in their attitude which is so
insensble to the public interest