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Sandy Spring-Ashton Rural Preservation Consortium
The
SSARPC (PreserveAshton.net)
supports
development in Ashton that conforms to the Master Plan.
We
are pro-Master Plan, not anti-development.
Let Your
Voice be Heard!
As members of SSARPC and the Ashton
community we know that you care about the developments planned for downtown
Ashton.
Recently, the Gazette ran a front
page article about the updated status of Ashton Meeting Place
(AMP). It reported that the Park and Planning staff is leaning towards
recommending denial of the project because of the following concerns: legal issues concerning parking, an
environmental issue involving encroachment into the nearby wetlands and the
stream buffer, and other issues that involve the design of the center.
The SSARPC Steering Committee supports the design of the compromise plan, except for our concerns for
the wetlands. We defer to Park and Planning’s opinion
regarding the environmental concerns.
Let your voice be heard - now! You
can make a difference.
Now is the time for you to speak
out and let your opinion about the Ashton
Meeting Place
development be known! Your input will be included when the Park and Planning
staff presents its opinion to the Planning Board. Recently the staff has not
received many letters from our members. Do not rely on your neighbors to write
a letter! Also, if you are planning to speak at the hearing, you need to sign
up for your time now by calling (301)
495-4605.
We urge each of you to express your opinion by writing or emailing to the
Planning Board and/or speaking at the public hearing. The hearing is currently
scheduled for April 12, in the conference room at the MNCPPC
building at 8787 Georgia Avenue. The time of the public hearing has not
yet been determined (we will let you know as soon as we find out).
1)
Write a
letter to the Planning Board about your opinion of the project (preferably by March 29)
Address letters or email
to:
Royce Hanson, Chairman
MNCPPC
Planning Board
ATTN:
AMP Development
8787 Georgia Ave.
Silver
Spring, MD 20910
Email:
mcp-chairman@mncppc-mc.org
We
suggest you keep your letter to one page and state whether your current letter
supersedes any previous letters you may have written.
Note:
Letters received by March 29 will be in the Planning Board packets,
but the Planning Board will receive copies of all letters that arrive prior to
the hearing date.
2)
Sign up
to testify at the public hearing scheduled for April 12 by calling (301) 495-4605. There are new rules for public
hearings that went into effect in January. There is no longer any ceding of
time and citizen presentations are limited to 3 minutes. If you plan on speaking you should bring 10 copies of any written testimony. To read the new
rules, go here.
3) Plan on attending the hearing!
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