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Sunday, July 12, 2009

Dumpster Yields Document

More artificial turf fields planned for Montgomery County?

A Montgomery County Department of Parks document has now been posted to the Save Sligo Golf website that shows the possible options for the Sligo Golf Course if the land is no longer used as a golf course. According to the Save Sligo Golf.com website the document from the Montgomery County Department of Parks was found in a dumpster.

Why is this document of interest to this blog?
Because two of the proposed uses for the Sligo Creek Golf course have MCPS tie ins as part of their "sales" presentations.

1. One of the options for the Sligo Golf Course is to turn the land over to MSI Soccer, Inc. (MSI). MSI wants to turn the land into 4 artificial turf and 2 grass soccer fields. (See page 36) According to the document found in the dumpster, MSI "envisions a partnership with Montgomery County Schools". Would that be Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS)? Interesting because MCPS has just turned 2 high school football fields over to private soccer organizations and neither one was MSI.

The document seems to state that MSI was not able to have an in depth discussion with MCPS about the use of school fields. Yet, two other private organizations have been able to secure leases to use artificial turf fields at two high schools in the last year.

It is important to note that MCPS did not put out a Request For Proposal for either of these field leases. In the case of the Richard Montgomery HS "deal" the private soccer company that was given the lease was allegedly selected by the principal, not by a competitive bid process.

When the County Council approved the conversion of Richard Montgomery High School's football field into an artificial turf field, with 837 hours leased out to a private adult soccer company, the proviso was that there would be a six month review of this arrangement. The review would encompass "information about scheduling, fees, and community impact before a plan is developed for expansion of this effort to other high schools." Part of the selling of the RMHS plan was that the renting out of the artificial turf field at hours not used by the private soccer company would yield a profit for MCPS.

The Richard Montgomery HS private lease commenced February 15, 2009. Obviously, there hasn't been a six month review since the first 6 months of the lease hasn't even run yet.

Nonetheless, the County Council has already approved another private lease of public land for another MCPS high school artificial turf football field. In this new lease at Walter Johnson High School, the private soccer company will be given 895.5 hours of field time per year. The amount of time leased out in this new deal has increased almost 60 hours, and the lease at RMHS has only been in effect for 5 months.

One of the many issues surrounding these arrangements that the County Council hasn't discussed is that when artificial turf that is put down on public land it becomes something to be protected, maintained and cleaned. At $600,000 to $1.2 million per field, these fields are not something that you can just leave lying around for the public to use. They need to be fenced in and protected with 24/7 security cameras. There is the cost of cleaning and maintenance to be considered. Will these field "deals" make a profit or will they require continued county funding?

2. Another proposed use for the Sligo Creek Golf Course is to turn it into a Disc (think Frisbee) Golf Course. As part of that proposal (see page 39) the presenter said that a long term goal would be to have a disc golf education program in schools. Now seriously, does this seem like a realistic goal, or are "schools and kids" being used in both of these presentations to evoke some sort of warm, fuzzy feeling?

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UPDATE July 29, 2009: Sligo Creek Golf Course to Stay Open Another Year

4 comments:

  1. This 'document' was written by the Parks Department staff under the authority of the Planning Board, which is appointed by the county council THAT YOU VOTED FOR. Oh, except when the county council as represented by Phil Andrews and the Planning Board chair, Royce Hanson, get together off the record and decide not to appoint a new board member to the Planning Board, as required by the law, because it would be too much trouble and would interfere with the 'off the record' plans that have been made for you already, years ago. And where is your county council? Here is a quote from Councilmember Marc Elrich on this issue: "I don't know why we are doing this." Once again, thanks to you Democrats for our Cronyist Government. You have succeeded beyond your wildest dreams. Have a banana.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Disc golf is in fact being taught in schools across the country. And yes, it seriously is a realistic goal. If pickleball can become a mainstay in our schools, disc golf certainly has a place.

    http://www.edgediscgolf.com/schoools.htm

    Brad Beeson

    ReplyDelete
  3. Pickleball? Never heard of it in our Montgomery County schools.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Profiteering has expanded to national government and now Montgomery county. Public transportation, public recreation and even public schools sell out diabetes-causing junk food to make a short-term buck. Is public safety next? Are we going to be asked to pay for our sex assaults kits like Alaska?

    The amenities of the county are why we live here. They also keep our property values high - and costs of those amenities should be returned through taxes on those high values. If the programs need money, budget for it. Don't get it thorugh commercialization and profiteering.

    ReplyDelete

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