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…
Thursday, October 4, 2012
Send your letters-to-the-editor to potomac@patch.com
Mark Traversa of Potomac sent Patch this letter addressed to Doug Schuessler, executive director of Montgomery Soccer Inc. The letter concerns the Brickyard Road controversy: I am a supporter of MSI and have been for many years as both of my children played in MSI. However, the development of fields at Nick's Farm is a bad move, especially given there are plenty of soccer fields around that could be upgraded in concert with the County. Please don't let a dispute with the Soccerplex end up destroying a national resource. It is creating nothing but ill-will. Mark Traversa Have an opinion about the development on Brickyard Road in Potomac? Send a letter to the editor to katie.griffith@patch.com to have it featured on the site.
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Send your letters-to-the-editor to potomac@patch.com
Ginny Barnes, environmental chair of West Montgomery County Citizens Association (WMCCA), an organizational member of the Brickyard Coalition, sent Patch this letter addressed to the Montgomery County Community and the Montgomery County Board of Education. The letter addressed the Brickyard Road controversy: As of this week, the Board of Education (BOE) has spent in excess of $200,000 defending their actions in leasing the Brickyard Road school site to Montgomery County so the County can lease the same 20 acre site to MSI at $1500 a year for 10 years. Not much of a return for the cost of keeping an unwise decision in place. With this continuing financial bleed on taxpayers in mind and in the hopes of finding reasonable solutions and …
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Montgomery County Public Schools Superintendent Joshua Starr has sent a letter officially allowing the farm to stay on the property for the time being.
An organic farm in Potomac has been granted a temporary extension while property disputes play out in higher courts. Nick’s Organic Farm faces eviction by Montgomery County and Montgomery County Public Schools so the land can be developed into MSI soccer fields, but a Circuit Court judge last week nullified a lease agreement between Montgomery County and Montgomery County Public Schools, throwing the project in limbo. Montgomery County Public Schools Superintendent Joshua Starr on Friday wrote a letter to Nick’s Organic Farm and the Brickyard Road Educational Farm allowing the farmers to continue harvesting, while the property awaits court further decisions. “Given the complex legal issues and that they are not resolved yet, I didn’t …
Saturday, August 18, 2012
Catch up on the top news in Montgomery County this week.
Bethesda Hugger Still On The Loose BETHESDA -- There has been no arrest so far in the case of the "Bethesda Hugger," a man who police believe is hugging women after approaching them from behind at night. Read more on Bethesda Patch. Volunteer Firefighters Drop Effort to Block Montgomery County's Ambulance Fee ROCKVILLE—Montgomery County volunteer firefighters signed an agreement with the county on Monday that volunteers say will avoid a repeat of the 2010 ambulance fee referendum and allow the fee to take effect in January. Read more on Rockville Patch. Report: Jury Finds Hang Guilty in Stabbing Death of 12-Year-Old Gaithersburg Girl After deliberating nearly seven hours, a Montgomery County jury Wednesday found David Rich Hang guilty of …
Thursday, August 16, 2012
Was it appropriate for the governor to get involved in a local controversy over an organic farm?
A local controversy got some high profile attention Tuesday when Gov. Martin O’Malley weighed in on whether Nick's Organic Farm in Potomac should be converted into soccer fields. O’Malley came out in favor of the farm and against Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett and the Montgomery County School Board, which want the acreage to be used as playing fields. O'Malley's statement favoring Nick’s Organic Farm added fuel to what already has been an intense conflict between county residents and county leaders. O’Malley wrote the letter in response to an Aug. 6 meeting with farm supporters, including the Maravell family, which operates the farm. The governor’s comments made national headlines. The Huffington Post’s headline was: “Martin O'…
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
The decision came shortly after Gov. Martin O'Malley called the plan a bad idea.
A Circuit Court judge Tuesday nullified a lease agreement between Montgomery County and Montgomery County Public Schools that would give the county the right to build soccer fields on an organic farm in Potomac. The Brickyard Soccer Field Project, headed by Montgomery County, would turn a piece of land owned by the school board and that currently houses a 30-year-old organic farm in Potomac into soccer fields. The county is in dispute with citizen groups and residents over use of the land, the legality of the county’s decision to develop the soccer fields and the transparency of its actions. Circuit Court Judge Robert Greenburg today granted a stay, halting plans for Montgomery County to take back organic farmer Nick Maravell's farm on the…
Gov. Martin O'Malley has written a letter in support of Nick's Organic Farm and the Brickyard Educational Farm to Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett and the school board.
Gov. Martin O'Malley Tuesday issued a letter in support of Nick's Organic Farm in Potomac as the farm owner and citizen groups sit ready to go to court again in what could be a final decision on the farm's fate. Addressed to Shirley Brandman, president of the Montgomery County Board of Education, and Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett, the letter condemns the Brickyard Road Soccer Field project as "a big mistake." The project, headed by Montgomery County, would turn a piece of land owned by the school board and that currently houses a 30-year-old organic farm in Potomac into soccer fields. O'Malley wrote: In our State, where we believe in growing jobs and growing opportunity; where we believe in children growing healthy, growing …
A circuit court judge on Tuesday granted the farm a stay, halting soccer field development for the time being.
The sight of children running around fields picking vegetables, feeding chickens and painting garden signs -- the scene at Brickyard Road in Potomac just a few days ago -- may be here to stay. The children are visiting the Brickyard Educational Farm, part of the property currently housing a 30-year-old organic farm in the heart of Potomac. The farm faces eviction by Montgomery County and Montgomery County Public Schools so the carefully tended plots can be developed into MSI soccer fields, but a Circuit Court judge Tuesday nullified a lease agreement between Montgomery County and Montgomery County Public Schools, potentially allowing the educational farm to stay on the land indefinitely. The county and school board are in dispute with …
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Opponents of a decision to lease the Brickyard Road school property for soccer fields say they will continue their fight.
The Brickyard Coalition will likely appeal a Maryland State Department of Education decision that supports a plan by Montgomery County to turn an organic farm into soccer fields for kids. The Maryland State Board of Education on Tuesday sided with Montgomery County Public Schools over the decision to lease the Brickyard Road school site to Montgomery County. The Brickyard Coalition, an umbrella organization made up of civic organizations and private citizens opposing the Brickyard Soccer Field Project, released a statement saying it would fight the decision. “The [Maryland] State Board of Education’s decision… to affirm the local school board’s decision to lease public land on Brickyard Road to a private, commercial enterprise is not …
Twang
1:02 pm on Monday, February 25, 2013
Congratulations to the folks in Potomac. This happened in Olney a few years ago. 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. more ›