Six community members testified in opposition to a preliminary development plan for the Thompson Farm -- 434 acres located on the east side of Slidell Road, 4,700 feet southwest of Comus Road. The event was a reconsideration hearing since a preliminary plan showing 15 homes and two out lots had been approved in December 2002.

The board's denial of the new plan does not reinstate the former one, planner Rich Weaver said Friday. "It's denied; the applicant [Charles H. Jamison Inc.] gets nothing approved."

Planning staff had recommended approval for the new plan although a staff memo noted that under proposed zoning and subdivision changes awaiting consideration by the Montgomery County Council, more contiguous fields and open vistas could have been preserved.

In issuing the 3-2 denial, board members said the new plan did not conform to the Clarksburg Master Plan in terms of preservation of agricultural land, Weaver said.

"We probably will follow up with legal staff to see what shakes out of this denial because the three dissenting members and staff had different ideas of the master plan," Weaver said. "Staff has to understand more where the board is coming from."

According to the submitted plans, the 17 homes would have been built in various groupings off Slidell Road, Shiloh Church Road and West Old Baltimore Road, which runs through the property. Some of the property was to be donated to the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission for use as parkland and trails and the applicant had agreed to discuss selling 23.3 acres to the commission at market value.

Rustic Roads plan delayed

The County Council last week gave itself an extension until Feb. 23 to approve an updated Rustic Roads Master Plan as it awaits word on a controversial bridge project on one of the roads.

Reclassification of White Ground Road from rustic to exceptional rustic would prevent the county's Department of Public Works and Transportation from replacing a deteriorating one-lane bridge on the road with a wider two-lane bridge -- a move residents said would harm both the road and the community of Boyds.

Bruce Johnston, chief of the capital development division of the county's transportation department, said this summer that widening the bridge, located just south of Schaeffer Road, would save the county about $1 million by making it eligible for federal funding.

Council spokesman Patrick Lacefield said the council has asked the State Highway Administration to clarify the exact requirements necessary for that funding. The master plan passage was delayed since the response may impact the status of the road, he said.

House can come down

The County Council will not intervene to stop the destruction of a 100-year-old home outside Poolesville.

The council decided to take no action Dec. 9 on the historic status of the Solomon Owens House, located at 18200 Cattail Road. "We came to the conclusion that the 195 days had passed," Lacefield said.

By law the county had 195 days to act from the time that a demolition permit was filed for the home, which was on the county's atlas of historic sites.

The council's Planning, Housing and Economic Development Committee heard from lawyers representing the county and the homeowners who disagreed over when the clock started on that legal countdown. In the end the committee recommended Poolesville residents Brian and Robbin Kemp be allowed to go ahead with the demolition.

In September the Montgomery County Planning Board recommended inclusion of the house on the Master Plan for Historic Preservation, which would have protected it.

Upcoming

The Planning Board will discuss several upcounty projects Thursday including the Brink Road bridge over Goshen Branch; the addition to John T. Baker Middle School in Damascus; and a plan for building four houses on the Baker Property, 105 acres at the intersection of Cattail and Darnestown Roads. Those who wish to testify can call the community relations office at 301-495-4600.