What used to be the River Po in Italy - See how historic droughts are impacting waterways around the world in this slideshow from Reuters
This is a two minute action request of you.
Montgomery County Council currently has before it the draft update to the general land use plan - dubbed Thrive 2050. Among the myriad troubling deficiencies of the draft- scant reference to water - whether drinking or stormwater flooding, whether River, stream, or groundwater aquifer. And certainly absent is the effect of and response to the changing climate on water resources- climate change is relegated to reference in a non-binding appendix.
The Thrive process was paused, rightly, to address the identified absence of racial equity language.
But a deadline, September 1, to complete contractor product addressing equity is looming… and even the contractor has publicly expressed deep concern that the time is not adequate to properly engage the public and provide improvement.
Montgomery County Council currently has before it the draft update to the general land use plan - dubbed Thrive 2050. Among the myriad troubling deficiencies of the draft- scant reference to water - whether drinking or stormwater flooding, whether River, stream, or groundwater aquifer. And certainly absent is the effect of and response to the changing climate on water resources- climate change is relegated to reference in a non-binding appendix.
The Thrive process was paused, rightly, to address the identified absence of racial equity language.
But a deadline, September 1, to complete contractor product addressing equity is looming… and even the contractor has publicly expressed deep concern that the time is not adequate to properly engage the public and provide improvement.
The argument made by some that Thrive has been in the works for 2 years and there is no more time to mess with it… is nuts. Nuts!
The Planning Department describes this document: “The foundation of planning for Montgomery County is the General Plan. This vision has guided all plans and policies for more than five decades.”
Notwithstanding the frustration over length of update process… during a pandemic… with lack of public transparency and full stakeholder participation… the Council must provide the means to improve both process and substance by giving the needed time and attention to get this plan right.
Notwithstanding the frustration over length of update process… during a pandemic… with lack of public transparency and full stakeholder participation… the Council must provide the means to improve both process and substance by giving the needed time and attention to get this plan right.
