Kai Hagen
Frederick Regional Action Network
The following is a short report about the public Q&A meeting with Thurmont Mayor Martin Burns last night.
Thank you to Mayor Burns for participating in the meeting in the first place, but also for his thorough update and forthcoming responses to the many questions and concerns raised about the Myers Farm Annexation and a variety of related issues.
Thanks also to the 25-30 who attended the meeting, including John Ford and Randy Cubbedge of the town Planning and Zoning Commission, Richard K. May, town Clerk-Treasurer, representatives from Frederick News Post, Gazette, Dispatch and Banner.
A show of hands suggested that about two-thirds of the people there were town residents and voters, most of the rest were from the Thurmont area, and one or two folks came up from Frederick.
The meeting went well, I think.
Mayor Burns started things off with a detailed description of what he knows, so far, about the proposed annexation (and about the general process of annexation). There were a lot of related questions, and responses, and a fair amount of open discussion about a number of overlapping issues, options,
visions of Thurmont and so on. The meeting lasted two hours.
It was also very clear that most of the people in attendance have significant concerns about the annexation, or were strongly opposed (or both, of course). Mayor Burns noted that roughly 95% of the email he has been receiving has been opposed to it, while acknowledging that is not a representative
sampling of the entire town.
Please note: While it is almost certain there will be a Petition for Annexation presented to the town (to annex the Myers farm for development), and though it's all good that elected officials and citizens are already discussing the issue, there is no petition on the table yet, and the timing of
that will be up to the landowner and developer.
One subject that came up a few times was the Thurmont Master Plan update process, which began recently. About 30 people attended the Community Brainstorming Workshop hosted by the town Planning and Zoning Commission on April 3rd, the "second in a series of public meetings and workshops that will
give Thurmonters an opportunity to guide the update of the Thurmont Master Plan which was last updated in 1998." FRAN will send out a notice about the next workshop soon.
Toward the end of the meeting, when the conversation turned to next steps, there was a short discussion about how folks find out about what is happening, what meetings are scheduled, and so on. Mayor Burns is going to set up an email list for those who would like to receive email to inform them
about upcoming meetings. If you would like to be added to that list, you can do so with a reply to this message or by contacting Mayor Burns directly at mburns@thurmont.com
Also, when the subject of county zoning came up last night, I mentioned that there was a current zoning map of the area up on the FRAN website. You can view it by following the link below.
Again, thank you to all who participated, and to everyone else who is paying attention!
