SILVER SPRING, MD – On Thursday, January 10 at
approximately 7 p.m., Planning Board Chairman Royce Hanson will join a panel of
county officials and environmental and building advocates to discuss pending
changes to the Forest Conservation Law, which regulates how much forest is
protected when a landowner plans to build.
Hanson will join County Councilman Marc Elrich and
representatives from the environmental and business communities at a League of
Women Voters forum about forest conservation at the County Council office building
in Rockville. The council will consider changes to the existing Forest
Conservation Law starting with a public hearing on January 22.
Planning Board drafted a new law last fall that would require that more forest
be saved when land is developed, increasing the percentage of forest that must
be saved over the existing law by at least 5 percent. The board’s recommended
changes would require better care for newly planted forests by extending the
period for which they are maintained. The new requirements would apply to
property owners proposing to build on lots measuring 40,000 square feet or greater.
Hanson
will outline the board’s approach, which he describes as marrying conservation
with common sense. The board’s recommendations affect approximately 12 percent
of the lots in Montgomery County, given the 40,000-acre threshold that triggers
the law. By contrast, other versions of the law that reduce the applicable lot
size could affect up to 50 percent of county properties.
WHO:
Planning
Board Chairman Royce Hanson
WHAT:
League
of Women Voters Forest Conservation Forum
WHEN:
7
p.m. Thursday, January 10
County
Council Office Building, 7th floor
100 Maryland Ave.
Rockville, MD 20850