Monday, April 29, 2013
The group sought reimbursement for legal fees paid to argue that the lease of the Brickyard property from the school board to the county was not conducted with full public transparency.
Coverage of attorney's fees will not be granted to those who argued that the lease of the Brickyard property in Potomac for use as soccer fields was not conducted with proper public transparency, Maryland Circuit Court Judge Robert A. Greenberg ruled last Tuesday, The Gazette reported. The Brickyard property, which is owned by the Montgomery County School Board, was leased out for the past 30 years to Nick Maravell for use as an organic farm and educational site. That lease ended in August 2012, and the school board then leased the property to the county for soccer field development, Patch reported. But months of controversy and legal wrangling ensued, as a group of Potomac activists, residents and farm supporters argued that the lease …
Monday, April 8, 2013
County Executive Ike Leggett announced in a Feb. 19 letter to MCPS that the county has terminated its lease on the Brickyard Road site, eliminating the possibility of bulldozing the 20 acres of farmland for the construction of soccer fields.
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
The county school board voted to cancel its lease of the Brickyard site in Potomac with the county, which had planned to develop the site with soccer fields.
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…
Monday, August 13, 2012
A tad more than 500 words on the 500 square miles of that miracle called Montgomery County. Did you know your cops were funny?
There may be bigger news fish to fry but when what's hot and battered is a Twinkie or a funnel cake, we must start this week's column with a tribute to the one, the only, Montgomery County Agricultural Fair, which continues through Saturday, Aug. 18. Where else can you celebrate the fact that a third of the land in Montgomery County is designated for farming by participating in a toilet-decorating contest? In addition to fried food, there are carnival rides, live music, monster trucks, a children's theater and, of course, live animals, including racing pigs. More than 200,000 people are expected to pay the $10 entrance fee to attend. Speaking of farming, it's the new cutting edge career in these parts. Montgomery County Executive Isiah …
Monday, November 21, 2011
Patch sat down with Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett for a one-on-one interview regarding the Brickyard property controversy.
Patch sat down with Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett for a one-on-one interview on the Brickyard property controversy. The following is the final in a three-part series with his answers to Patch’s questions. The Montgomery County Circuit Court in a month is scheduled to hear the Brickyard Road case, a legal battle between those who want to preserve an organic farm and those who want to convert it into soccer fields. The case pits Nick Maravell, the farmer who’s worked the land for more than 30 years against the Montgomery County Board of Education, which, Maravell says, violated an open meetings act when it transferred the Brickyard Road lease from him to Montgomery County. As the legal questions remain, in Part Three of this …
Monday, September 19, 2011
Upcoming rulings by the Montgomery County Circuit Court and the Maryland Department of Education will decide the future of the tract of land along Brickyard Road.
Organic farmer Nick Maravell and his family have held their farm in Potomac on lease for 31 years and survived multiple rounds of rival bidding along the way. But before this year is out, a pair of legal cases overseen by the Maryland State Department of Education and the Montgomery County Government Circuit Court will decide the future of the 20-acre property that houses Nick’s Organic Farm on Brickyard Road, and whether the family can farm the land for another season or if the land will be converted into soccer fields. “We’re in a legal cloud now,” Maravell said. In August, Maravell and 31 other claimants were approved by the Maryland Department of Education to appeal the Montgomery County Board of Education's lease of the …
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Potomac Patch's first editor says her final goodbyes.
Many of you have watched Potomac Patch grow over the last year and develop into a news source many residents have come to know and trust. It’s been my pleasure to be the first editor of Potomac Patch, so it is with a heavy heart that I announce my departure. Since launching in September 2010, the news and information site has covered many noteworthy stories in the community — whether they were about local businesses, schools, sports, crime or residents of interest. Shortly after launching, Potomac Patch was there to get an inside look at the PGA’s Senior Players Championship at TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm in October as well as a sit-down interview with rock band Better Than Ezra, who performed at the tournament. When long-time Potomac …
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Kassa Seyoum is the project manager for the Brickyard Road Soccer Field Project.
The Brickyard Road Soccer Field Project, which will transform a 20-acre organic farm into potential soccer fields, is drawing attention in Potomac as well as other parts of the Washington, D.C., metro area. The controversial project, like any other, needs a leader and Kassa Seyoum is the man for the job. As the project manager behind the Brickyard Road Soccer Field project, Seyoum receives feedback from the community and works to keep the project on course. Seyoum, who has worked for Montgomery County for 21 years, took some time to talk with Potomac Patch about his job, his role in the project and how he deals with the controversy. Patch: What is your role as project manager of the Brickyard Road Soccer Field Project? Seyoum: Obtain clear…
Sunday, July 3, 2011
A look at the top news in Potomac from June 26 through July 2.
This week in Potomac the community prepared for the Fourth of July weekend, welcomed a new Montgomery County Public Schools superintendent and learned about ways to include their opinions in the Brickyard Road Soccer Field Project. This past week, Montgomery County extended the deadline for concerned citizens to e-mail input for the Brickyard Road Soccer Field Project’s Request for Proposal (RFP). E-mail input was originally due to the county by June 30, but the county pushed it to Sept. 1 to give people enough time to submit their ideas, said Kassa Seyoum, the project manager. The RFP will be prepared for solicitation of private non-profit developers. MCPS ended a chapter with Superintendent Jerry Weast’s retirement on Thursday, but …
Monday, June 27, 2011
Those in support or opposition to the Brickyard Road Soccer Field Project have until Sept. 1, 2011 to send in their ideas for the RFP.
The Brickyard Road Soccer Field Project has been a source of controversy, but for concerned Montgomery County citizens it is not too late to offer input on the Request for Proposal (RFP), which will be prepared for solicitation of private non-profit developers. The Montgomery County Department of General Services and the Department of Recreation are accepting input for the draft of the RFP from the community via e-mail until Sept. 1, 2011. E-mail input was originally due to the county by June 30, but the county pushed it to September last week to give people enough time to submit their ideas, said Kassa Seyoum, the project manager. “We wanted to get the feedback from the community and we wanted more of that,” Seyoum said. “There’s no …
organic friend
10:09 am on Tuesday, April 30, 2013
So, unfortunatley, Nick & supporters have to pay to fight the illegal actions of our school board and for the political adventuring of the County Execuative. On the positive side, we have grown community connection and have shown some spotlights into some pretty dark corners of our local government. We are also blessed with lovely leadership growth amoung a number of us, which I'm sure will … more ›