Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1962-08-16
Open Space Problem

II open
spaces We're all agreed they necessary and way
must be found to provide them And further that the time
to do it before gaoping suburba gobbes up all of
the green gently rolling hills of the upper county area.
While there is general agreement the urgency of
devsing workable open space pan there is wide disagree
ment over what method should be employed.
Bolstering the arguments of those who insist that
solution must be found now are these two factors:
l. The longawaited urgently needed general plan for
the entire county already prepared by the MaryandNa
tonal Capital Park and Planning Commission and soon
to be made public calls for open spaces large of
the county.
g. The National Capital Transportation Agency will
reveal Nov its plans for high speed rapid transit cor
rdors extending from the District into Montgomery Coun
ty Between these corridors it will be highly desirable,
not urgently necessary to maintain low density Tor open
spaces) coming that the bulk of the population will be
concentrated the corridors main arteries OF the
transit system.
general plan is long overdue to provide guide for
orderly growth 1t is apparent that form of high
speed transit is essential to prevent the Washington
area from becoming hopeessy clogged with automobile
traffic With both the general plan and the Meta plan
keyed to open spaces it would imperative then to
devise an open space pan
We don't have one now We are not even close to
getting Every plan put forward is bitterly attacked
by the people it hurts.
To begin with, any discussion of open space plans
must begn feel with the premise that the best way
to get is for the government to buy it. To get by any
means other than outright purchase approach to
government Historically when public necessity dictates
that there be utility lines roads, public parks and
ton and the like the public treasury buys the need
ed land.
On the other hand the open spaces concept-a rela-
lively one-involves much land it would be i'm
possible for the government to buy much needed
how lie
light will be shed this when the MNCPPC and the
Meta plans are brought out in the coming weeks.
Meanwhile open space by or in itself may not be the
end all or be all far to problems is
cerned Land developers have been in the past-and will
be we are in the willing to donate land for
parks and school sites and the like Better planned
muntes- and developers and builders are
Seeing the light thscan 60 long way toward end
ing ugly urban sprawl There many so-caled low dem
sty land uses that fall generally in the category of
spacesgoH clubs resort hotels inns hospitals nursing
homes, and various insttutions-these limited but
nonetheless effective open space of land
There is merit to the argument put forth by land de-
veope1s Spectators if you WILL that by rezoning their
land from the haacre status it had when they bought it
to five acres the government is changing the rules in the
middle of the game. They invested heavily-nuch any
businessman would invest in inventory hoping to sell
1t at pro-n the belief the land would at least retain
the coming classification it had when they bought it.
And suddenly they their investment wiped out But
Tie proposed IVedcre ZOnng category IS
mot solely from the developers SPECTATORS Upper Coun-
y property generally opposed individuals
They see in spreading suburba opportunity even
tuay sell their land for money Is this unreason-
able? Would the average homeowner Bethesda or Silver
Spring IT he were landowner in the Upper County char
taby and expansvey encourage the government to de-
value his land and make it into an open space? We
think not.
Where then lies the solution?
We frankly do not have pat answers. There are how
ever that not too logical for development These
could be starting points More rigid control where
ter and sewer lines extended is another answer We
are only kidding ourselves when say heavy develop
ent will not follow water and lines They should
extended to and not to other And the
areas where they not extended the more logical
ones for lowdensity Strict enforcement of well and
septic tank regulations another possible device Such
regulations should be made stringent and carefully
enorced This too inhibts development and brings more
open space.
We do know that the silly plan of the Washington
Suburban Sanitary Commission to extend sewer lines into
the Paent River Watershed not the right way to solve
our problem. We also believe that the WSSC par-ap-
proved by the County Councillor much wider arc than
was needed to the International Business Ma
chimes headquarters at Gaithersburg was hardly
sary This will bring development to wide area of the
Seneca Creek watershed that is premature.
Meanwhile, we do not agree with those who argue
that veacre coming classification should not even be
considered could be useful planning tool If were put
to work-in limited way and in the right places There
are still few people, particularly in Montgomery County,
who would like and could maintain home surrounded by
five acres of land.