Clarksburg

County Council President Praisner
Calls for Analysis of Clarksburg Report

Release ID: 07-031
Release Date: 3/23/2007
Contact: Neil H. Greenberger 240-777-7939 or Jean Arthur240-777-7934
From: Council Office

County Council President Praisner Calls for Analysis of Clarksburg Report
Staff Team Formed to Study 98-Page Report on Development Financing of Emerging New Upcounty Town

ROCKVILLE, Md., March 23, 2007—Montgomery County Council President Marilyn Praisner has directed a staff team to do a comprehensive analysis of a 98-page report issued this week by the Clarksburg Town Center Advisory Committee (CTCAC) regarding development districts in Clarksburg.
The team’s establishment follows Councilmember Praisner’s statement earlier this week that the Council would “carefully and seriously” look at the report.
On Thursday, March 22, Praisner requested Steve Farber, the Council staff director, and Karen Orlansky, the director of the Council’s Office of Legislative Oversight, to form a joint staff team to analyze the report.
“I want to be sure that the Council receives a thorough analysis of the facts and allegations in this report,” said Praisner. She asked that the team’s study address “all issues raised by the report, including County history regarding development districts.”
Noting that the Council is about to enter an intensive two-month period on the Fiscal Year 2008 County budget, she asked that the team’s analysis be completed by June 15.
Additionally, Praisner wrote to the acting director of the Montgomery County Department of Planning, asking that the Planning Department to respond to two questions:

Does the report accurately reflect the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission’s role in the Clarksburg development districts?
Does the Planning Department have any other comments concerning the report that may assist the Council’s analysis of the issues the report raises?

Praisner said it was important for all involved to understand the history and timeline of development districts in Montgomery County, emphasizing that development districts are not something the County recently created just for Clarksburg.
Under County law, the County Council does not implement development districts. The County Executive must recommend to the Council whether a development district should be created. After one is created, the Executive must recommend whether the County should issue bonds to implement it.
“We had been waiting a long time for the former County Executive to decide whether he would recommend a bond resolution for the Clarksburg Town Center Development District,” said Praisner. “That decision is now up to the current County Executive.”
Praisner emphasized that development districts are not new, nor is the issue of creating new development districts for Clarksburg.
“Two development districts were successfully created in Germantown in the late 1990s,” said Praisner. “The policy to rely on development districts to finance infrastructure improvements in Clarksburg was prominently mentioned in the Clarksburg Master Plan that the Council approved in 1994. The law requires home sellers to inform home buyers in any area designated as a development district that the property is located in a development district and they may have to pay additional taxes as a result. A significant issue is not whether development districts are legal, but whether appropriate procedures were followed in all cases.”