Thanks so much to all that wrote into the Council on the Thrive 2050 draft. The record is now closed. The next step is the PHED committee taking up the draft before it goes to the full Council for a vote. The PHED committee will discuss Thrive on 7/14, 6/21 and 7/26. You can watch live or on-demand here.
Coverage of the first hearing from Bethesda Beat
Coverage of the first hearing from Bethesda Beat
The Thrive 2050 Plan is 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. (Scroll back through our many, many posts on this)
The plan seems to be speeding toward approval - with the record closing on 7/9. You would be forgiven for having just heard of this process - we have all had a lot on our minds recently. Unfortunately, the draft that is up for a vote at the Council is woefully lacking. Not only it is a missed opportunity to meet our moment by laying out plans for climate resilience, forest protection and equity - it pales in comparison to the Thrive 2050 draft that residents provided comment on in the public hearing. In fact, many of the specific action items from the earlier document were deleted or relegated to the appendix of the final plan - this includes forest and water protections, climate resiliency measures and strong support for the Ag Reserve.
(Ready to write to the council with our letter tool?)
A side by side comparison is instructive. Here is the Public Hearing Draft and the Current Final Draft. Because you likely don't have time to read through many hundreds of pages, we have done a word search for key terms that a plan guiding our county for the next decades should have. (Important to note that both plans have the same number of pages)
(Ready to write to the council with our letter tool?)
A side by side comparison is instructive. Here is the Public Hearing Draft and the Current Final Draft. Because you likely don't have time to read through many hundreds of pages, we have done a word search for key terms that a plan guiding our county for the next decades should have. (Important to note that both plans have the same number of pages)
Word |
Public Hearing Draft (10/2020) |
Current Final Draft (4/2021) |
"action" |
332 |
50 |
"protect" |
65 |
33 |
"goal" or "goals" |
128 |
28 |
"equity" |
74 |
29 |
"resilience" or "resilient" |
66 |
18 |
"forest" |
21 |
11 |
"climate" |
95 |
35 |
"food" |
32 |
6 |
"growth" |
120 |
132 |
-So - just by the numbers, the Thrive 2050 plan in front of the Council, in comparison to the one floated for public comment:
- 85% fewer suggested actions
-Half the protection
-Setting 80% fewer goals
-About two-thirds less concerned about the climate
-60% less focused on equity
-10% more focused on growth
-80% less concerned about food - be that growing it or accessing it
-Half the concern for forests
-73% less concerned with resiliency, climate or other wise
Your voice is needed to ensure that Thrive 2050 is a plan that works for Montgomery's future. We have so many challenges to meet - from climate resiliency and equity to housing and hunger- this is a moment to set bold goals and propose inclusive action. The draft speeding toward approval is not meeting these challenges.
Please take 2 minutes to sign a letter to the Council.
Please take 2 minutes to sign a letter to the Council.
