The Brickyard Road property in Potomac—owned by Montgomery County Public Schools and leased for use as an organic farm for the past three decades—is no longer being considered for lease to the county, which intended to turn it into soccer fields, MCPS announced Tuesday night.
In a letter to the county school board on Tuesday, Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett (D) wrote that the county was relinquishing the county's lease on the site, and that the county no longer intends to develop the property for recreational purposes.
The site—once slated for a middle school—has been the focus of months of controvery and legal wrangling. A group of Potomac activists, residents and farm supporters want the site to be maintained as an organic farm and educational site. They say the lease agreement with the county was executed without full public transparency, Patch reported.
On Tuesday evening, at a special school board session, the school board voted to cancel its lease of the land to the county. "The property is now in the possession of the Montgomery County Board of Education and remains a future school site," the statement said.
Nick's Organic Farm leased the property for the past 32 years, and for the past few years, the Brickyard Educational Farm on the property helped local kids learn about where their food comes from.
But when the lease was up, the land was to be leased to the county and turned into soccer fields.
Click here to read more about the controversy over the Brickyard Road site on Potomac Patch.
Earlier Tuesday, school security personnel began securing the property, cutting through fencing around the site and preparing to lock the property up, according to a statement from Save This Soil.
Sophia Maravell, founder of the Brickyard Educational Farm, said on Tuesday afternoon that "maybe the locks aren’t to keep us out, but to keep out the county, otherwise they would have locked Brickyard Educational Farm’s entrance."
Editor's note: This story has been updated to note that the school board vote was conducted in an open session, according to Montgomery County School Board President Christopher S. Barclay.
Now begins the collaborative work to educate children and adults alike about the land that sustains us and the importance of a healthy food system! Caroline Taylor, Montgomery Countryside Alliance
This article is entirely too sketchy. One interpretation of the event is that this is a huge victory for the Potomac "activists" and carries additional impacts in many areas of government. But who can tell because basic questions aren't addressed. There's not even a statement from the BoE. Will Leggett or the BoE pay a price? Will the Farm be kicked off for another reason? Will further documents be revealed? Will the government or BoE reimburse the Potomac residents for their legal costs? Will any analysis be done about what went wrong and how it can be avoided in the future? If the government/BoE doesn't admit some fault, we can expect stuff like this to happen again.
Ed
To answer your last question, yes we can expect stuff like this to happen again. It has been happening for YEARS and Montgomery County citizens love it. They continue to re-elect the same people to the BOE and Council. Elected officials that ignore the Maryland Open Meetings Act are loved by the electorate. So yes, this will continue. In fact, yesterday was another skirting of the Maryland Open Meetings Act. Proof positive that the BOE will not respect the law.
If you think about it-- this issue was a heartbeat away from nearly epitomizing those song lyrics, "They paved paradise and put up a parking lot." Thank you to those who tirelessly educated and lobbied for this special farm. Thank you to the county for doing the right thing after all. May you find a fabulous parcel for our county's kids to play soccer.
I'm sorry if you feel frustrated that this is a victory for the local community. Had this transpired in an underprivileged neighborhood, it would have been doubly unjust to force the residents into costly litigation. Citizens should never have to sue for a place in our democratic process. The precedents that have been set in this case will protect all residents of the county from such land deals in the future, and that's a victory for everyone.
The Board of Education has been doing this for years, you just weren't paying attention. They do it to rich, poor, middle income neighborhoods. They do not discriminate in who they mow over. Did you miss the Rosemary Hills/Lyttonsville Park disaster? No transparency, no public input, secret meetings etc... Where were you for the closing of Monocacy Elementary School? What about the Peary High School give away? Did you weigh in on the emergency meeting to give away the Bradley Hils Middle School site to a private entity? The list goes on and on and on. No precedent. No stopping this behavior. The citizens of Montgomery County continue to elect officials who do not respect the Maryland Open Meetings Act. Nothing has changed.
The idea I liked best was to develop the Brickyard land into a 15 story high rise consisting of multiple enclosed soccer fields on each level. All would be regulation sized with the most advanced equipment and electronics imaginable. And it would all be FREE. That would be a wise use of the land and allow the People access to Free Soccer Fields. Let us hope there is no change of heart and that Gaithersburg City will continue with its efforts to ban Oktober Fest from Kentlands and permanently close and develop the useless open space called the County Fair Grounds.
Easy to type money won, but not factual. When the BOE violates Maryland law - which they do often - if citizens speak up the BOE is forced to withdraw their illegal actions. It happens a lot around here because our BOE has no respect for Maryland law. When they are challenged, they back down because they have been caught.
There is no choice presently before the BOE. The land is dedicated public school land held in trust by the BOE for the benefit of public school children. Period. The land does not have to used for anything. It can be held for a public school.
Possible uses: a public school, a school bus depot, a cell tower compound (they already have one of those on another site), or the land can be left vacant.
While other states are working hard to setup educational farms, our school board wants to kill it. We have leaders without vision. Educations is more than test scores it's about connecting with kids and getting them excited about what they've learned. In Connecticut, kids go to sustainable farm schools for the whole school day and where trouble youths who didn't connect in the classroom are excited to go to school. Superintendent Starr is missing a valuable resource if they decide to kill this farm. I hope the School Board gets replace with people who have vision!!! http://www.potomacalmanac.com/news/2013/feb/20/board-education-locks-out-organic-farmer/
A future school site? There's already an awesome school on it waiting to take off!!! The school board can't see what's right in front of their faces. Seems to me the School Board and Superintendent are out for vengeance. I pity them. Get ready for another fight!
http://www.bethesdanow.com/2013/01/22/county-council-approves-controversial-wildwood-apartment/ To characterize the development as controversial is an understatement. Please review the above article and express your displeasure at this travesty of over development. What are these developers and their fellow travelers thinking?
A BOE school site on Bowie Mill road was transferred to a developer. No public notice was given. Even the people involved in the master planning process were blindsided. Once we found out, it was too late too change it. Now they are building low-income housing on the site.