Categories

Contacts

  • For media inquires, please contact the following:

    Parks

    Kelli Holsendolph
    Media Relations Manager
    (301) 650-2866

    Planning

    Valerie Berton
    Media Relations Manager
    (301) 495-4602

    Brookside Gardens

    Leslie McDermott
    Brookside Gardens
    (301) 962-1427

    Montgomery County Park Police

    Lt. Karen Petrarca
    Maryland-National Capital Park Police
    Montgomery County Division
    (301) 929-5989

« County Planners, Lyttonsville Community Team Up to Create Exhibit Featuring African-American Heritage | Main | ***CANCELED DUE TO SNOW PREDICTION*** MEDIA ADVISORY: Montgomery County’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin Recipient of Shoppers Food & Pharmacy Black History Month Donation »

February 19, 2008

Environmental Reviewers Want Planning Board to Encourage Better Protections for Upper Rock Creek Area Around ICC

SILVER SPRING, MD – Montgomery County environmental specialists, reviewing the state’s proposed environmental mitigation measures for where the Intercounty Connector (ICC) will cut through the Upper Rock Creek area, have recommended that the county Planning Board ask for greater protection of the sensitive watershed.

The board, which provides advice on local environmental and park issues to the State Highway Administration (SHA) and other agencies working on the highway, will hold a public hearing at approximately 1 p.m. Thursday to consider the proposed environmental protections for the Upper Rock Creek Special Protection Area.

Montgomery County’s Special Protection Areas protect sensitive, high-quality stream systems – which include forests and groundwater recharge – by limiting construction and requiring extra environmental protection measures. The Montgomery County Departments of Permitting Services and Environmental Protection join county environmental planning staff in reviewing all projects within Special Protection Areas. The Upper Rock Creek Special Protection Area, which contains Upper Rock Creek and North Branch, is bordered by Woodfield Road, the North Branch of Rock Creek and Muncaster Mill Road in central Montgomery County.

While the ICC is a state highway project not subject to county laws, highway officials have said they would respect the Special Protection Areas in the ICC’s path and participate in hearings with the Planning Board so the public could scrutinize its proposed environmental measures.

In a report to be heard by the board on Thursday, specialists from the county Department of Permitting Services who reviewed the SHA’s proposed stormwater management said the protections don’t go far enough to protect sensitive resources. According to the specialists, the plans do not meet minimum design requirements for water quality, water recharge and channel protection and require significant changes to do so.

In addition, the state’s reforestation plans fall short, county environmental planning staff said. Under county forest protection rules, the state should reforest about 87.5 acres to compensate for forest to be cleared in the SPA. Instead, the state has proposed 40 acres of new forest planting in the watershed. Environmental reviewers also have recommended lengthening a proposed highway bridge over a North Branch tributary to better protect a forested wetland in the stream valley, reflecting one of the county’s goals for the Special Protection Area.

Visit our ICC page to learn more about highway plans.

WHO:
Montgomery County Planning Board

WHAT:
Public hearing on proposed environmental measures in the Upper Rock Creek Special Protection Area to mitigate for the ICC

WHEN:
Thursday, February 21, approximately 1 p.m.

WHERE:
Park and Planning Headquarters
8787 Georgia Ave.
Silver Spring, MD

Posted at 01:42 PM in Planning |