Testimony of Friends of Sligo Creek to the Montgomery County Council concerning proposed modifications to the Sligo Creek Golf Course

Presented on Feb 5, 2008 by Bruce Sidwell, President of Friends of Sligo Creek
On behalf of the Board of the Friends of Sligo Creek, I wish to say how much we appreciate the opportunity to address the County Council about a significant threat to the park. We strongly urge you to support County Executive, Ike Leggett's recommendation to defer approval of the Montgomery County Revenue Authority's proposed modifications to the Sligo Creek Golf Course.

The Friends of Sligo Creek is a citizen group dedicated to protecting, enhancing, and enjoying Sligo Creek Park. Despite damage from heavy urbanization in the watershed, thanks to County, Park & Planning, and citizen efforts, the park is improving in water quality, forest cover, wildlife habitat, and beauty. A year ago, the Revenue Authority announced a proposal to add to Sligo Creek golf course, a large driving range and miniature golf courses. These would be lighted and open at night. The Friends of Sligo with the rest of the community near the golf course, are deeply concerned that the large overhaul of the golf course will inevitably damage the park and the surrounding neighborhood. The modifications are sure to significantly increase traffic, noise, trash, and light pollution. The changes would also degrade water, air, and wildlife habitat, including the mature forest existing at the golf course site. These problems were communicated to the Revenue Authority last summer, and they signalled on a number of occasions that they would adequately study and address them.

We were led to believe that a public meeting on January 9th was to be a significant step by the Revenue Authority to share the results of their analysis of neighborhood concerns. Unfortunately, the more than 200 citizens who attended the meeting were sorely disappointed in the quality, breadth, and integrity of the information provided at the meeting. Many concerns including trash, noise, air pollution, and impacts on wildlife habitat were not addressed at all. Others including stormwater, impact on trees, traffic, and light pollution were dealt with only superficially.

Since to date, no adequate response has been made by the Revenue Authority to address community concerns we strongly support the County Executive's recommendation that the Revenue Authority's request for approval of the project not go forward. We look forward to working with you to protect and enhance our parkland.

Thank you for your attention. I invite you to look over our website () for more information about our group.

Bruce A. Sidwell
President, Friends of Sligo Creek
(president@fosc.org)