Brickyard Site No Longer Slated for Soccer Fields
The county school board voted to cancel its lease of the Brickyard site in Potomac with the county, which had planned to develop the site with soccer fields.
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The Brickyard Road property in Potomac—owned by Montgomery County Public Schools and leased for use as an organic farm for the past three decades—is no longer being considered for lease to the county, which intended to turn it into soccer fields, MCPS announced Tuesday night.
In a letter to the county school board on Tuesday, Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett (D) wrote that the county was relinquishing the county's lease on the site, and that the county no longer intends to develop the property for recreational purposes.
The site—once slated for a middle school—has been the focus of months of controvery and legal wrangling. A group of Potomac activists, residents and farm supporters want the site to be maintained as an organic farm and educational site. They say the lease agreement with the county was executed without full public transparency, Patch reported.
On Tuesday evening, at a special school board session, the school board voted to cancel its lease of the land to the county. "The property is now in the possession of the Montgomery County Board of Education and remains a future school site," the statement said.
Nick's Organic Farm leased the property for the past 32 years, and for the past few years, the Brickyard Educational Farm on the property helped local kids learn about where their food comes from.
But when the lease was up, the land was to be leased to the county and turned into soccer fields.
Click here to read more about the controversy over the Brickyard Road site on Potomac Patch.
Earlier Tuesday, school security personnel began securing the property, cutting through fencing around the site and preparing to lock the property up, according to a statement from Save This Soil.
Sophia Maravell, founder of the Brickyard Educational Farm, said on Tuesday afternoon that "maybe the locks aren’t to keep us out, but to keep out the county, otherwise they would have locked Brickyard Educational Farm’s entrance."
Editor's note: This story has been updated to note that the school board vote was conducted in an open session, according to Montgomery County School Board President Christopher S. Barclay.
Alan Bowser
7:10 am on Wednesday, February 20, 2013
This is a great victory for residents and transparent government! Power to the people!
E. Whittle
8:43 am on Wednesday, February 20, 2013
More like power to the rich people that live along Brickyard Road.
Janis
11:29 am on Wednesday, February 20, 2013
But yesterday was all about hiding and closed door meetings. No change.
Rena Reese
11:54 am on Wednesday, February 20, 2013
A great victory for sure.... This is not about one street or one community. It is about a bigger picture. If people are boiling this down to "rich folks" getting their way it is sad and one dimensional---shallow too. Thank goodness those in a position of power have decided to respect this special parcel of land and the ORGANIC gift it gives us. If this is not understood, people have not been educated about the hoops that must be jumped through to be classified as an organic farm. When you know this info-- people better understand that the farm is a total treasure and cannot be replicated just anywhere--unlike soccer fields which are far easier to create on a parcel of land--basically any flat parcel that has been cleared and is well drained.
If you think about it-- this issue was a heartbeat away from nearly epitomizing those song lyrics, "They paved paradise and put up a parking lot."
Thank you to those who tirelessly educated and lobbied for this special farm. Thank you to the county for doing the right thing after all. May you find a fabulous parcel for our county's kids to play soccer.
pistachio
11:58 am on Wednesday, February 20, 2013
E. Whittle,
I'm sorry if you feel frustrated that this is a victory for the local community. Had this transpired in an underprivileged neighborhood, it would have been doubly unjust to force the residents into costly litigation. Citizens should never have to sue for a place in our democratic process. The precedents that have been set in this case will protect all residents of the county from such land deals in the future, and that's a victory for everyone.
Janis
12:26 pm on Wednesday, February 20, 2013
@pistachio - Wrong. No precedent here. Nothing to stop this from happening again tomorrow.
The Board of Education has been doing this for years, you just weren't paying attention. They do it to rich, poor, middle income neighborhoods. They do not discriminate in who they mow over.
Did you miss the Rosemary Hills/Lyttonsville Park disaster? No transparency, no public input, secret meetings etc...
Where were you for the closing of Monocacy Elementary School?
What about the Peary High School give away?
Did you weigh in on the emergency meeting to give away the Bradley Hils Middle School site to a private entity?
The list goes on and on and on.
No precedent. No stopping this behavior. The citizens of Montgomery County continue to elect officials who do not respect the Maryland Open Meetings Act.
Nothing has changed.
Caroline taylor
8:48 am on Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Great news- tenacity, righteousness and courage win the day!
Now begins the collaborative work to educate children and adults alike about the land that sustains us and the importance of a healthy food system!
Caroline Taylor, Montgomery Countryside Alliance
Baker Bell
10:42 pm on Wednesday, February 20, 2013
YES!
Fred Foo
9:43 am on Wednesday, February 20, 2013
What's that at the end about "cutting through fencing around the site and preparing to lock the property up". Why is the reporter asking Sophie M. for an explanation when it's the BoE that's doing it? (I went to the linked website but found no explanation.)
This article is entirely too sketchy. One interpretation of the event is that this is a huge victory for the Potomac "activists" and carries additional impacts in many areas of government. But who can tell because basic questions aren't addressed. There's not even a statement from the BoE.
Will Leggett or the BoE pay a price? Will the Farm be kicked off for another reason? Will further documents be revealed? Will the government or BoE reimburse the Potomac residents for their legal costs? Will any analysis be done about what went wrong and how it can be avoided in the future? If the government/BoE doesn't admit some fault, we can expect stuff like this to happen again.
Janis
11:29 am on Wednesday, February 20, 2013
To answer one of your questions, the farmer is already off the land. His lease expired.
To answer your last question, yes we can expect stuff like this to happen again. It has been happening for YEARS and Montgomery County citizens love it. They continue to re-elect the same people to the BOE and Council. Elected officials that ignore the Maryland Open Meetings Act are loved by the electorate. So yes, this will continue. In fact, yesterday was another skirting of the Maryland Open Meetings Act. Proof positive that the BOE will not respect the law.
cinda davey
10:42 am on Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Rich folks and their lawyers win over kids athletics ... sad
Janis
11:26 am on Wednesday, February 20, 2013
And hardly reality. MSI was lawyered up and and heavily invested waaayyy before anyone even knew this land was going to be transferred. Pretty lame to use "kids" when it was adults working behind closed doors that made this mess. No one with the best interest of kids would behave this poorly.
Linda
1:19 pm on Thursday, February 21, 2013
If you ask the kids, many would pick the farm. They have over 500 soccer fields to pick from. Nothing to do with rich folks.
Edward J. Guss
11:26 am on Wednesday, February 20, 2013
The wise decision by the County Executive, Isiah Leggett, to abandoned efforts to convert the Brickyard Road site into soccer fields by surrendering its lease with Montgomery County Public Schools for the 20-acre site is wonderful news for all the county citizens. The land is public land and should be used for public education. The Board of Education’s leasing of the land for organic farming over the last 32 years became a serendipitous precious gift to the all county residents. The BOE now has an extraordinary opportunity to use this land for farm based education for all the students of the Montgomery County. The Brickyard Educational Farm demonstrated what a wonderful learning experience the farm provided to the children last year. Imagine the generations of children who will be able to learn first hand about sustainable farming, healthy food and eating, and preserving the environment.
Ed
Baker Bell
10:42 pm on Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Yes! Awesome post!
organic friend
11:34 am on Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Alot of us fighting for education to continue on the land our community has dedicated to education are not "rich folks". I suspect that the members of the private soccer club that has spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to take land dedicated to schols for their private use in an illegal land grab that even the County Council has gotten sick of....i suspect that you are the "rich folks". On every legal and moral front the BoE and the County has been wrong. And all you can do is blame the "rich folks".
organic friend
3:19 pm on Wednesday, February 20, 2013
So, Potomac Patch; what's going on here? can you tell us what really happened? Can you answer the questions raised here byFred Foo? The County, in league with MSI uses political might and hundreds of thousands of dollars over many years to seemingly stealthily successfully force a new lease over the outraged community, creating many lawsuits and illegal actions by the BoE, a new law by the County Council to prevent this kind of abuse again, and suddenly Mr Leggit says "don't want it"....and that's all? What happened?
jnrentz1
4:50 pm on Wednesday, February 20, 2013
This is a very sad day for Progressive Montgomery County. Now we are stuck with more useless Green Space which would be better suited to High Rise Development.
The idea I liked best was to develop the Brickyard land into a 15 story high rise consisting of multiple enclosed soccer fields on each level. All would be regulation sized with the most advanced equipment and electronics imaginable. And it would all be FREE.
That would be a wise use of the land and allow the People access to Free Soccer Fields.
Let us hope there is no change of heart and that Gaithersburg City will continue with its efforts to ban Oktober Fest from Kentlands and permanently close and develop the useless open space called the County Fair Grounds.
Baker Bell
10:44 pm on Wednesday, February 20, 2013
:-))
Jim Burnetti
6:12 pm on Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Money won.
Janis
8:45 pm on Wednesday, February 20, 2013
And what won when the Board of Education was smacked down for violating the Open Meetings Act with regard to the Rosemary Hills/Lyttonsville Park?
Easy to type money won, but not factual.
When the BOE violates Maryland law - which they do often - if citizens speak up the BOE is forced to withdraw their illegal actions. It happens a lot around here because our BOE has no respect for Maryland law. When they are challenged, they back down because they have been caught.
Mimi Segal
8:59 pm on Wednesday, February 20, 2013
School Board land to be used for all residents of Montgomery County rather than only MSI members seems much more fair and equitable. Five hundred and three fields in the county for MSI members only (a private soccer club) to play on vs. the one and only open to the public Educational Organic Farm for people of all ages. The only fair choice is the Educational Farm. It serves more people. I've managed my daughter's MSI soccer team. I'm all about MSI, but when it comes to this decision I have to say it's easy to say the Farm is better for the community, it's open to all and MSI fields were not.
Fritz Hirst
10:40 am on Thursday, February 21, 2013
A question for those of you who have been involved with this matter. -- Has MCPS decided to lease the land to an educational institution? Press reports seem to suggest that future use of this public property is still to be determined.
Janis
12:06 pm on Thursday, February 21, 2013
The only fair choice? No. If everyone wants and Open and Transparent process then pre-selecting a vendor to take this land is not an Open and Transparent process!
There is no choice presently before the BOE. The land is dedicated public school land held in trust by the BOE for the benefit of public school children. Period. The land does not have to used for anything. It can be held for a public school.
Janis
12:09 pm on Thursday, February 21, 2013
@Fritz Hirst - The only decisions the BOE has made are to terminate the leases of the land. First they terminated the lease to the farmer, then this week they terminated the lease to Montgomery County. This land is not on the BOE Agenda for any further action at this time. If and when the BOE decides to use this land for something and OPEN and TRANSPARENT process would allow all possible uses to be discussed, considered and voted on by the BOE.
Possible uses: a public school, a school bus depot, a cell tower compound (they already have one of those on another site), or the land can be left vacant.
Linda
1:29 pm on Thursday, February 21, 2013
Why does the MC School Board and Superintendent Starr have to be dickwads about the whole thing. So, now they are trying to lock out and push the farmer off the property!
While other states are working hard to setup educational farms, our school board wants to kill it. We have leaders without vision. Educations is more than test scores it's about connecting with kids and getting them excited about what they've learned. In Connecticut, kids go to sustainable farm schools for the whole school day and where trouble youths who didn't connect in the classroom are excited to go to school. Superintendent Starr is missing a valuable resource if they decide to kill this farm. I hope the School Board gets replace with people who have vision!!!
http://www.potomacalmanac.com/news/2013/feb/20/board-education-locks-out-organic-farmer/
Mindy
2:05 pm on Thursday, February 21, 2013
"To be clear, it becomes a future school site," she (BOE member Patricia O'Neill) said, "and at some point the board will have to decide that matter. Correct?"
A future school site? There's already an awesome school on it waiting to take off!!! The school board can't see what's right in front of their faces. Seems to me the School Board and Superintendent are out for vengeance. I pity them. Get ready for another fight!
Janis
4:24 pm on Thursday, February 21, 2013
Really? Where is the funding for this imaginary school?
Michael H
4:10 pm on Friday, February 22, 2013
We need to correct one item here: Some of the comments seem to paint MSI as an elitist small private club. MSI is a non-profit organization and, I believe, one of the largest youth sports organization in the county. Per their website, 15,000 of our children play soccer for MSI each Fall and Spring. Finding or building a space that benefits 15,000 children isn't evil...it is just a different benefit than the farm is/was. Different priorities doesn't always make them wrong.
Janis
10:06 pm on Sunday, February 24, 2013
http://parentscoalitionmc.blogspot.com/2012/02/abc7-jerry-pasternak-at-center-of.html
jnrentz1
1:26 pm on Sunday, February 24, 2013
For those of you who care about the over development of our County, here is another boondoggle in Bethesda adjacent to Wildwood Manor and its Shopping Center (Old Georgetown Road, Cheshire Drive, east of where Democracy intersects).
http://www.bethesdanow.com/2013/01/22/county-council-approves-controversial-wildwood-apartment/
To characterize the development as controversial is an understatement. Please review the above article and express your displeasure at this travesty of over development.
What are these developers and their fellow travelers thinking?
Twang
1:02 pm on Monday, February 25, 2013
Congratulations to the folks in Potomac. This happened in Olney a few years ago.
A BOE school site on Bowie Mill road was transferred to a developer. No public notice was given. Even the people involved in the master planning process were blindsided.
Once we found out, it was too late too change it.
Now they are building low-income housing on the site.