by Pareesha Narang
After several disputes throughout the summer over proposed changes to Montgomery County's forest conservation law, the department of environmental protection from the county executive's office said it now has a strategy to expand the local bill to make it more comprehensive.
Stan Edwards of the department said that there is no official set of amendments or proposals currently on the table, but that they are planning to have some work sessions to put everything together.
In recent months, the county has twice postponed hammering out the details of legislation proposed by Councilmember Marc Elrich, who says that the county law must do more to protect the forest areas of the county. Elrich did not express concern with the delay.
"We're hoping it gets better and addresses a lot of the [different] concerns," Elrich said.
Environmentalists wanted the bill to cover both small and large lots. The previous bill only covered development plans over 40,000 square feet, but Elrich's proposal would cover smaller lots as well. It would require developers to replant trees that they got rid of during construction.
"Erlich's proposal [to the county law] would make the property coverage go down by 5,000 square feet," Edwards said.
Elrich said that although developers generally do not favor environmental regulations, some of the changes may benefit them. The slow process that builders currently must go through in order to get their development plan approved may be changed. "The executive's office proposed a setup where we would have an organization that would plant the trees for them," Elrich said
Builders would pay a fee to this group who would use the money to plant as many trees as the developer is expected to - it speeds up the process for the developers, Elrich said.
County Executive Isiah Leggett himself has not been involved and has yet to be informed of everything in detail by the members of the department of environmental protection within the office, Edwards said.
The statewide bill that the county law exists under sets the limits, but counties are permitted to propose legislation that strengthens - but doesn't weaken - the state law, according to Councilmember Elrich.
According to a press release, in 2007 Elrich held a series of meetings to talk about his proposed improvements to the law, which include making the law understandable; increasing onsite forest retention requirements; increasing replanting requirements after wooded land is removed; and give third parties rights to intervene when forest removal is to occur based on false or misguided information.
The law was first proposed in 1993.
Stay tuned for updates
After several disputes throughout the summer over proposed changes to Montgomery County's forest conservation law, the department of environmental protection from the county executive's office said it now has a strategy to expand the local bill to make it more comprehensive.
Stan Edwards of the department said that there is no official set of amendments or proposals currently on the table, but that they are planning to have some work sessions to put everything together.
In recent months, the county has twice postponed hammering out the details of legislation proposed by Councilmember Marc Elrich, who says that the county law must do more to protect the forest areas of the county. Elrich did not express concern with the delay.
"We're hoping it gets better and addresses a lot of the [different] concerns," Elrich said.
Environmentalists wanted the bill to cover both small and large lots. The previous bill only covered development plans over 40,000 square feet, but Elrich's proposal would cover smaller lots as well. It would require developers to replant trees that they got rid of during construction.
"Erlich's proposal [to the county law] would make the property coverage go down by 5,000 square feet," Edwards said.
Elrich said that although developers generally do not favor environmental regulations, some of the changes may benefit them. The slow process that builders currently must go through in order to get their development plan approved may be changed. "The executive's office proposed a setup where we would have an organization that would plant the trees for them," Elrich said
Builders would pay a fee to this group who would use the money to plant as many trees as the developer is expected to - it speeds up the process for the developers, Elrich said.
County Executive Isiah Leggett himself has not been involved and has yet to be informed of everything in detail by the members of the department of environmental protection within the office, Edwards said.
The statewide bill that the county law exists under sets the limits, but counties are permitted to propose legislation that strengthens - but doesn't weaken - the state law, according to Councilmember Elrich.
According to a press release, in 2007 Elrich held a series of meetings to talk about his proposed improvements to the law, which include making the law understandable; increasing onsite forest retention requirements; increasing replanting requirements after wooded land is removed; and give third parties rights to intervene when forest removal is to occur based on false or misguided information.
The law was first proposed in 1993.
Stay tuned for updates
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