(3/26) The Town Council agreed to put the Thurmont Boulevard Project on hold at the March 21 meeting, citing the necessary water treatment facility work as the main reason.
While the council still wants to continue with the Thurmont Boulevard Project eventually, they decided to use the funds set aside for that project for the new water treatment facilities that will have to put in to bring PFAS contaminants in the town ‘s water down to undetectable levels. The work will take about a year and a half and will include new structures and new equipment for the filtration.
[PFAS is the short name for a class of human-made chemicals known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances. PFAS chemicals are often called "forever chemicals" because they do not easily degrade in the environment or in the body, so they accumulate in both over time.]
"I’m still in favor of it," Mayor John Kinnaird said, referring to the Thurmont Boulevard Project. "I will be in favor of it if we get the funding for it, believe me I’ll be the first one to tell you we’ve got funding for it," Mayor Kinnaird said.
The Thurmont Boulevard Project was intended to relieve traffic on Thurmont Blvd by extending it by half a mile, connecting Moser Road and Frederick Road. The Town hopes it will ease traffic on Moser Rd. and Frederick Rd. by making it easier for residents in Thurmont and surrounding communities to get to Route 15. The project also addressed aging water and sewage infrastructure while also potentially creating new wetlands.
The Council had previously voted 4 to 1 at the February 28 meeting to move forward with the long-envisioned Thurmont Boulevard Project by approving the ability of the town to sell up to $6 million worth of Infrastructure Bonds for the Project.
While a previous estimate was about $5.3 million, Mayor John Kinnaird doesn’t expect the town to borrow more than $3 million from the bonds on this project. "What this does is it puts things in motion so that we will have access to funds to build the Thurmont Boulevard Project."
Commissioners Wes Hamrick and Bill Blakeslee both expressed their concerns about finances both for the town and for the taxpayers at the Feb 28 meeting. Blakeslee, the only commissioner to vote against the motion, wanted to pursue other funding options, especially the Frederick County Government, as the road would benefit residents of surrounding areas, not just Thurmont.
"I just want to go on record that, as it stands right now, I’m not in favor of the road but I’m leaning toward favoring getting the motion started and the discussions that we can facilitate," Hamrick said on Feb 28.
Powell assured the commissioners that the town is in a "healthy position" financially to take on this debt and that it would not be passed on to residents in form of a tax increase. Even with this new project, the town would be able to do other projects. "I think it’s important to emphasize this won’t adversely impact your other road projects because those other projects are funded by the highway user revenue," she said.
