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A county hearing examiner has recommended installing sidewalks on Quince Orchard Knolls' high-traffic streets.

If the county executive signs off on the decision by Assistant Chief Administrative Officer Diane Schwartz Jones, the sidewalks could come to the Gaithersburg neighborhood as early as spring — to the consternation of some opposing residents now arguing that the expense is extraordinary during a recession.

"I know how to save the county $400,000, maybe more," wrote Peggy Psallidas of Apricot Lane in a Feb. 15 letter to Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett. "Your generosity is greatly appreciated, but not needed…This money should be spent on schools, libraries and on the county employees that are losing their jobs. My emotions run raw on this topic."

Leggett is expected to make a decision within the next two weeks, said Esther Bowring, a county spokeswoman on Tuesday.

Seventy-nine of 329 homes on Apricot Lane, Bunchberry Court, Bunchberry Lane, Cherry Grove Drive, Clover Knoll Road, Peach Leaf Drive, Peach Leaf Lane and Winesap Drive would be impacted by sidewalk installation explored since summer 2006. The community has been torn, drawing more than 70 residents to a heated community meeting that required facilitation by a hired county mediator. In February 2008, scores of residents presented their cases to Jones at a public hearing.

The walkways will run on one side of the street in high-traffic areas. Psallidas wrote that she and other residents will lose 7- to 8-feet of parking space when the county builds on the public right-of-way.

The North Potomac community, situated between Quince Orchard Road and Route 28, was built without storm drains or sidewalks around 1972, said Paul Morrison, a member of the association's Sidewalk Committee.