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Proposed New Development
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The Montgomery County Revenue Authority - which leases and operates the County Airpark, golf courses and other self-supporting facilities for public use - is proposing major changes to Sligo Golf Course. The current plan is to reconfigure the original 9 holes around the edge of the small 70-acre golf course and add to the center area a lighted driving range and one or two miniature golf courses. In the face of community opposition, on Feb 4, 2005, the Montgomery County Revenue Authority decided the project to modify the course needs more study. The project would need to be approved by the County Executive and Council as a Capital Improvements Project (later the project would also need approval by the Park & Planning Board). The Revenue Authority removed it's request for $5.5M to work on the course beginning in 2009 and replaced it with a request for the Council to approve $100,000 for additional study of the project.
Send ideas for a solvent golf courseAs most of you know the plans to add a driving range and miniature golf to the existing Sligo Golf Course is at least stalled at this point, but it will be useful if Friends of Sligo and the surrounding community offer some reasonable alternatives that might make the course stop losing money. If you think you've got a bright idea send it to President of Friends of Sligo Creek. But before you do, you should first check the ideas collected so far by the surrounding neighbors to see if someone hasn't beaten you to it.
What's the Problem?The Board of Directors of Friends of Sligo Creek, joined by many members, are concerned about the negative impact of the proposed changes on the health of the Creek and the critters who live there.
The Proposed PlanIn early January, the Montgomery County Revenue Authority released an 84-page document on its Conceptual Plan, dated December 18, 2007. It includes reports from several consultants, who provided technical evaluations of some aspects of the issues of traffic, lighting, and environmental impact; the document also includes financial projections. The file is quite large (13.5 MB) and may take some time to download; many people report that opening the pages with the images has caused their computers to freeze. The images are found on pages 12-18, and it maybe helpful to read the text by selecting page numbers, while avoiding the pages with the images.Conceptual Plan and Technical Evaluation from Montgomery County Revenue Authority The maps from pages 12-15 of the PDF file can be seen from the following links: Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Several of the large images from the Greenhorne and O'Mara engineering firm maybe accessed separately by the links below. Preliminary Plan Development Opportunities and Constraints Stormwater Concept Plan
More Detail & HistoryIn 2006 the Montgomery County Revenue Authority (MCRA) became the county's sole golf authority and it now operates all public courses in the county. Some of these courses, such as the Sligo Creek Course are leased from the Department of Parks. The MCRA's mission is different from the Parks Department and, consistent with that mission, it intends to make the golf system profitable. Thus, in its 2007 Golf Master Plan, the MCRA proposes upgrades and improvements to each of its recently acquired courses. However, the changes proposed for Sligo go beyond simply bringing the course up to standard.Changes would include:
The MCRA Golf Master Plan includes no such changes or additions to any of the other courses in the county. Conceptual Site Plan Map - January 2007 MCRA Golf Course Master Plan document - March 2007.
How You Can Help
More InfoThe following links contain additional information on the proposed changes to the golf course.January 16, 2008, Gazette article - Residents: No need to change golf course Report of Meeting October 27, 2007 by Ross Campbell - a public meeting held at the Golf Course Clubhouse about the proposed golf course reconfiguration September 5, 2007, Gazette article - Residents' proposal for Sligo Creek course aims to make financial, environmental sense March 21, 2007, Gazette article - Opponents chip away at golf course proposal for Sligo Creek March 15, 2007, Washington Post article - Neighbors Reject Plan For Sligo Golf Course March 14, 2007, Gazette article - A change of course for Sligo Creek golf? |
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