More News

The fact-finding mission is over and residents of Clarksburg must now decide if they want to pursue incorporation, said Gordon Taylor, who led the effort for the Clarksburg Chamber of Commerce.

"It's not a slam-dunk to a clear road where this is beneficial," Taylor said. "The key advantage is to have a representative body be thoughtful on the issues and really focused on what [residents] need and want."

Several Clarksburg residents attended a chamber-sponsored meeting earlier this month with Tom Reynolds, a researcher for the Maryland Municipal League, and Mayor Jeffrey Slavin of Somerset to get more information on incorporation.

Since most chamber members live in other communities, any decision to pursue incorporation would be up to the residents. Greg Fioravanti, a resident who became interested in the issue a few years ago, said he is willing to lead the effort.

"I think one of the bigger problems we have in Clarksburg is we don't have a leader — mayor, council or whatever, any elected body to protect our interests," Fioravanti said. "The county hasn't been doing a good job of managing growth."

The county has been unable to manage the public/private partnership with developers to complete the retail centers or build parks, roads and schools, he wrote in an e-mail to The Gazette.

"There are huge disparities in the level of service downcounty and the level of service in Clarksburg," he wrote.

Catherine Matthews, director of the Upcounty Regional Services Center, does not agree.

"We all know there were issues with the development in Clarksburg, ranging from communications to site plan approvals not adhering to conditions to the whole complexity of multiple developers building a road when they're not all ready [to build] at the same time," Matthews said.

But the county cared enough about Clarksburg to hire an ombudsman to work full-time on fixing problems, she said.

Matthews will be taking over management of Clarksburg at the end of January when funding for the ombudsman's position runs out. Current budget conditions prevent the county from keeping the ombudsman, she said.

Clarksburg is projected to grow to nearly 40,000 residents within the next 20 years as the community is developed according to the 1994 Clarksburg Master Plan. A change in state law in 1954 means that the county does not cede planning and zoning authority to newly incorporated towns.

"They expect us to pay into the regular pool of county services that go to things like roads and schools for the county as a whole and community-specific projects such as the tens of millions [of dollars] going to improve Silver Spring specifically for the residents of that community," Fioravanti said. "Our local improvements, however, are expected to be funded exclusively from the residents of Clarksburg."

The county created urban districts in Bethesda, Silver Spring and Wheaton and residents and businesses in those areas pay a special tax, Matthews said.

The county would pay attention if the community spoke with one voice through an elected body, Fioravanti said. The county can ignore a civic association, but it cannot ignore an elected body, he said.

"Our responsibility is to organize ourselves and prioritize issues for the county," Fioravanti said.

The community would have to approve incorporation in a referendum. Reynolds told the group incorporation would take years of sustained energy and cost $10,000 to $20,000.

"I'm not convinced one way or another," said Barry Fantle, vice president of the Clarksburg Civic Association. "I'm still just listening."

Fioravanti understands gaining the backing of the community will be a challenge.

"Frustration has desensitized residents," he said.

Maryland has 156 incorporated municipalities, according to the Maryland Municipal League.