Want to Express Yourself? Web Program Provides 24/7 Access to Sign Up to Testify Before Planning Board

SILVER SPRING, MD - To make it easier for Montgomery County residents and others interested in speaking before the Planning Board to sign up in advance, its planning staff has developed a new way to request to testify: boot up your computer.

The Planning Board meets most Thursdays throughout the year and considers 15 to 20 items during its public forums. On regulatory and other items open to public input, the board is eager to hear from its constituents. Interested speakers may sign up in advance online or by calling 301/495-4600. On the day of the hearing, speakers may submit their names to the board clerk in person.

To sign up to testify, go to http://www.daicsearch.org/planning_board/testify.asp and follow the prompts, which include questions about the hearing date, item number and whether the testifier will speak as an individual or as a group representative. Typically, individuals receive three minutes to speak; group representatives are granted 10 minutes.

Residents and other interested parties can put themselves on the testimony list about 10 days in advance of a Planning Board hearing, as soon as an agenda is posted online at www.mc-mncppc.org/board/agenda/.