Few
attend planning workshop
BY JAMES RADA, JR.
Thurmont News Editor
THURMONT,
Md. – Thurmont resident Sabrina Massett has lived in town
for 48 years – nearly all of her life. She attended a
workshop to gather public input for the Thurmont Master Plan
on Monday, May 15 because she wants to have a part in planning
the future of the town.
“I
love this town and I want to be proactive rather than reactive,”
Massett said. “We need a vision.”
However,
she noted, as did others, that what the meeting to plan Thurmont’s
future lacked was people from Thurmont.
“I
wish more of us had come,” Massett said. “I don’t
know how to get residents more involved.”
Planning
and zoning commission member John Kinnaird said the commission
would take into account who was making the comments and recommendations
as the commission considers what to recommend to the town
commissioners. He, like Massett, would like more resident
input.
“I
tried to indicate to people I talk to that this is their future
and they should come out and take part in it,” Kinnaird
said.
Fewer
than 20 people attended the workshop at the Senior Citizens
Center and only about one-third of them were town residents
not associated with town government. Out-of-town residents
and building industry representatives outnumbered town residents.
When
asked why so many non-residents of Thurmont were there, Town
Commissioner Glenn Muth said, “That’s easy. They’re
here because of the pending annexation or rather they think
that there may be a pending annexation.”
This
was the second workshop to gather public input for Thurmont’s
master plan. The first workshop was April 3.
“There
is a sense from the first meeting that people are looking
for Thurmont to remain a small town,” said county planner
Denis Superczynski.
The current
Thurmont master plan was created in 1998. The town is in the
process of updating it before the county begins looking at
the regional plan for areas outside the town limits. The master
plan outlines the town’s goals and objectives for the
next 20 years, which are then implemented through zoning.
Superczynski
said the workshops are used to “test whether or not
the key components of that plan are still goals that resonate
with residents.”
The attendees
broke into three groups to study the town’s future economic
character, growth and land use and town services/infrastructure.
While
the town could see a lot of growth in the future, Superczynski
said, “Relative to the rest of the county, we’re
not taking a high portion of the new growth occurring in the
county.”
