Although the County Council is wrapping up its work on the Fairland Master Plan, the citizens advisory committee work isn't finished, according to some of its members.

"It's incumbent upon us as CAC members to make sure some of these things get implemented. The work isn't finished," said Patrick Zilliacus.

The County Council is scheduled to clarify some technical wording before approving the plan and sending it back to the Montgomery County Planning Board for adoption.

The plan, which guides development for the next 20 years, sets goals for lowering the housing density in the Fairland area, encouraging revitalization of business areas and improving roads.

Zilliacus said it may be necessary to look at innovative ways of financing some of the projects. And the community will have to lobby to get projects off the ground, said Tom Faringer, another CAC member.

"There are tight funding situations," said Faringer. "It's going to take time, if we get enough lobbying at the state level. In the meantime, we have to control growth so we don't find ourselves in a worse position."

A growth explosion occurred in the Fairland area with the 1981 master plan, which allowed higher density development and called for more public transit.

Much of the work on the recent plan concentrated on correcting the high density and the traffic congestion that has resulted, said advisory committee members.

"It took nearly five years, but it was well worth it, considering the previous plan was a disaster," Zilliacus said.

Members learned from the mistakes of the 1981 master plan. For example, transit-oriented development is unworkable, Zilliacus said.

"You can implement public transit and jack up the density, but in no way does it make it a livable community," he said. "It's not to say we shouldn't have public transit, but it wasn't the answer for suburban Fairland."

To improve transportation, the new plan calls for grade-separated interchanges along Route 29. Some money has been allocated for the State Highway Administration to begin engineering study work on the intersection at Route 198.

While the CAC didn't take a position on the proposed Intercounty Connector, the possible construction of the highway and any route it takes is a "wild card" that will affect Fairland development and provisions in the master plan, Zilliacus said.

Improving the roads and reducing the density should improve the area, Faringer said.

"We reduced the density on undeveloped properties so we wouldn't get gridlocked," he said.

Stuart Rochester, the chairman of the CAC, said he hoped the better mix of single and multiple-family housing will improve the stability of the east county.

One of the housing improvements will be the development of an upscale golf community with single-family homes.

"The golf course is a plus, but it will be up to [Prince George's and Montgomery counties] to work together," Rochester said. The proposed development straddles the county line.

Another important provision in the plan calls for revitalizing business areas, achieved through overlay and business zoning that allows a combination of support services in the employment areas of Cherry Hill Road, in West Farm Technology Park, and in the Burtonsville industrial area off Route 198.

The plan also calls for improving the heart of Burtonsville on Route 198.

"It calls for the development of a center in Burtonsville, out of that mish-mash in Burtonsville now," Rochester said.

The importance of such a cohesive town center was reiterated in the master plan, although existing businesses and the rest of the immediate community will have to work together to improve the area.

"It will require a public-private partnership to achieve that," Rochester said.

There was some debate about whether the master plan was the proper forum to call for the closure of Site 2, the sludge composting facility near Calverton operated by the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission, which has been the target of criticism because of the odor it has generated since it opened.

The language was reworked but included.

"We wanted to keep some language in about Site 2," said County Council president Marilyn Praisner (D-Dist. 4) of Calverton. "I don't think it goes far enough to take care of the problem, but it is indicative of the problem."

Rochester praised Praisner for her work on the language, and said the County Council members recognized the concerns of the advisory committee members and the inadequacies of the last master plan.

"We made few changes in what was forwarded to us," said Praisner. "We added additional language that reinforces the recommendations in the plan, and provides more rationale for those decisions."

The master plan was developed through the concordia process, which allows the citizens advisory committee more input into the development of the plan.

The work took a long time, but Faringer thinks the results will be worth the effort.

"The process has been the biggest contributor to the success of the plan," Faringer said.

"The length of time it took discourages some people from participating," Praisner said, but added that the people who did work on the plan were representative of the community.

"It's not the CAC that lengthens the process," Faringer said. In hindsight, Faringer said county staff members working on master plans should have pertinent information, such as an inventory of vacant land, compiled for the planning areas before the work begins on them.

"... I'm not criticizing them, there's so many planning areas in the county," Faringer said. "If they had all the data they needed at the beginning, it would have shortened the process."

"For the first time in 20 years, we have a master plan that focuses on quality and not quantity," said Rochester. "...It's a milestone plan. At the same time, it won't have as dramatic an impact as it would have had 10 or 15 years ago when Fairland wasn't as developed."