On June 29th, MCA, along with many other civic groups and concerned individuals testified the the Thrive 2050 plan (full testimony transcript and video below) - a sweeping update to the County's master plan that will guide growth, transportation and land use for the coming decades. In other words - a highly consequential document. (Full plan here) (We've written extensively on Thrive 2050, scroll back through the posts here)

MCA along with many others have serious concerns that this plan does not meet the moment in terms of climate challenges, water protection, and notably addressing the missing middle housing without gentrifying vulnerable residents out of established neighborhoods. As part of the Stormwater Partners Network, and as MCA individually, we made our concerns known - among them:
-Generally the plan as approved has taken out portions related to Environmental protection and relegated them to an appendix section, a section that is non-binding and not part of the plan to be implemented. Across the board - the October 2020 version parts that were relegated to the appendix need to come back to the main, implementable document. 
-Much effort went into developing the County's Climate Action Plan (CAP) - the Thrive 2050 plan needs to mirror these commitments in land use, transportation and environmental protection.
-The Thrive plan also needs to specifically state a "no net loss of forests" policy and adopt policies to increase forest canopy, particularly in underserved areas where studies are showing tree canopy is disproportionately lacking-with real impacts on public health. 

See the video of our testimony, and right after, Amanda Farber's call for "Trees and Truth". As our Executive Director Caroline Taylor says in her testimony (transcript below) " as the plan itself states, there is 'little room for error' to get this sweeping and consequential plan correct. 
You can take two minutes to send a letter to the Council (before 7/9) here. 

Good evening, I am Caroline Taylor testifying on behalf of Montgomery Countryside Alliance. The draft plan aspires to much but, as has been noted in comments from others, including our colleagues Stormwater Partners, the CAP coalition, Audubon Naturalist Society and the County Executive there is work needed to improve it.

The draft plan falls short in ways that significantly weaken its ability to guide our County toward resilience. Between December 2020 and March 2021 various revisions made to the public hearing draft erased content largely relegating environmental protection, climate change response and the role of the Agricultural Reserve to an appendix of suggested actions. The transmittal letter noted that the appendices are not part of the plan. We ask that that council review the previous draft and return to the plan those deleted sections that best help Montgomery County meet its goals, especially those related to climate change resilience.

Hear our plea for a necessary focus on the environment, with emphasis on water resources and forests, through the words of county resident Rachael Carson:
Of all our natural resources water has become the most precious. In an age when man has forgotten his origins and is blind even to his most essential needs for survival, water along with other resources has become the victim of indifference.   Rachael Carson from Silent Spring

In conclusion:
We applaud the plan’s focus on racial equity and social inclusion but caution that the focus on urbanism to the exclusion of or indifference to environmental stewardship, a robust local food system, and climate change response is deeply concerning. By what standard do we measure this plan’s success? If we employ only a short term focused economic lens… we fail and we agree with the Plan when it notes that there is “little room for error.”
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Other Civic Organizations are also expressing their concerns: 
- Audubon Naturalist Society 
-Darnestown Civic Association
-The Agricultural Advisory Committee

The pandemic has left all of us a little distracted to say the least. While we were all trying to adjust, Montgomery County has been planning sweeping changes to how our county lives, works, plays and gets around as the master plan gets an update through a planning process called Thrive 2050. This resulting plan will chart county growth for the coming decades (much more background here).

A letter this week came from County Executive Elrich to the County Council outlining how some sweeping rezoning proposals to radically alter neighborhoods that are part of the plan are going forward despite the fact that the full plan has not yet been approved by the Council (the draft of the plan went to the Council in May 2021)  Elrich also points out that  there are still equity and climate considerations that are not being taken into account in the plan. The full letter is here. 

At MCA we similarly want to see this process undertaken with more care and input from residents, particularly vulnerable residents - input that will be far easier to gather once the pandemic recedes. As the nation and world think of ways to build back better, Thrive 2050 is a way to carefully take stock and ensure that our goals are aligned with climate resilience, self sufficiency and equity.  

Among the highlights of the letter:
"I. INTRODUCTION— Montgomery County residents are confused and inadequately informed about Thrive Montgomery 2050 and know little, if anything, about the Attainable Housing Strategies Initiative’s complicated rezoning proposals that will make sweeping changes to their neighborhoods. I request that the Council separate the two projects and ask the Planning Board to stop work on elaborate rezoning proposals that would implement Thrive Montgomery before the plan has even been approved."

"The Executive objected to the county’s moving forward with Thrive Montgomery 2050 during an historic pandemic that overwhelmed government and residents with unceasing concerns about working and schooling while confined to home and experiencing economic hardship, business dislocations, and potential illness, and even death. These have not been circumstances in which our residents have had time to consider the first revision of the General Plan in 28 years, one that will shape the county’s future development over the next 30 years. "

"Montgomery County is already experiencing the impacts from climate change. These will only get worse. The General Plan should include specific recommendations related to enhancing resilience. "

"The county must reaffirm its unconditional support for the Agricultural Reserve and reject the Planning Board’s attempts to weaken the Reserve by no longer supporting farming as the preferred use in the Reserve. The Planning Board draft recommends that the county “...manage the areas designated within the footprint [of the Reserve] for a rural pattern of development for the benefit of the entire county.” The draft retreats from the support of farming as the preferred use in the Reserve, instead supporting the economic viability of farming and policies to “facilitate a broad range of outdoor recreation and tourism...” p. 20 15 Planning Board draft, p. 132. The General Plan must reaffirm the county’s commitment to the Agricultural Reserve, and to the 1980 Preservation of Agriculture and to the 1980 Preservation of Agriculture and Rural Open Space, Functional Master Plan as it did in the 1993 General Plan Refinement."