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Monday, January 9, 2012

Let's Condemn Private Land for Schools

It's a new low for the Montgomery County Board of Education...

 At the January 10, 2012 Board of Education meeting the Board will vote to proceed with requesting that a piece of farmland in Germantown be condemned for use as a school site.  
Northwest Cluster
Initially, think about the legal bills that the taxpayers of Montgomery County will be footing to fund this legal process.  Estimate of cost, anyone?  Remember the Board of Education legal advice comes via no-bid contract awards. Anyone know what taxpayers are paying an hour for these firms to give legal advice to the Board of Education? 


Then, take a look at the list of properties the Board of Education already owns. Remember that many sites are leased out to private entities, and one site in particular is being preserved for use by Comcast and cell tower companies rather than used for public school purposes.  


Close up of NW Cluster
The land the Board of Education wants condemned is in the Northwest Cluster.  It is farmland.  See images for an up close look at the Northwest Cluster of public schools.  The land is known as the Phillips Farm and is shown  with a yellow marker in the center of the Google Map below.  Click on any of the images to enlarge them for easier viewing. You might know this farm.  It's just 2 miles down the road from the Soccer Plex.
Location of farm landCondemnation
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5 comments:

  1. AnonymousJanuary 9, 2012 at 4:46 PM

    What other course of action would you recommend to acquire land for a school in this cluster?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Janis SartucciFebruary 1, 2013 at 9:15 AM

      Picking the most expensive property, of course. That's always the way to go for the BOE. They had a choice. They picked the most expensive. Money is no object.

      Delete
  2. AnonymousJanuary 9, 2012 at 6:12 PM

    It might be a farm today, but its underlying zoning is R-200. Any good appraiser will be looking at the highest and best use.

    R-200, with no density bump for MPDUs or clustering, should yield around 27 houses.

    There was talk of increasing the farms density during the Master Plan update, but not sure if that happened.

    I would think the appraisal would put the property at north of $3 million.

    I know the owners had been seeking $7 million as recently as 2007.

    An added bonus for the taxpayer is that the property is subject tot he preferential Agricultural Transfer Tax and they'll probably end up paying that 5% if the condemnation does go through. Unless, of course, the county carved out condemnation or county acquisitions from the Ag Tax.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Janis SartucciFebruary 1, 2013 at 9:13 AM

      It ended up being north of $ 3 million.

      http://parentscoalitionmc.blogspot.com/2013/02/breaking-news-boe-to-pay-4142500-for-nw.html

      Delete
  3. Janis SartucciJanuary 9, 2012 at 6:27 PM

    @4:46 Isn't the Northwest Cluster in Montgomery County? Is there some reason why this specific part of Montgomery County is exempt from the Maryland Open Meetings Act?

    Please provide the links to the meeting agenda, minutes and the final Report. Let's see why the Board is going to take this drastic action tomorrow. Let's see the public process that got the Board to this point.

    ReplyDelete

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