Protect Our Clean Drinking Water

Dear Chair Anderson and Members of the Planning Board:

In chartering the Maryland National Capital Park & Planning Commission, the Maryland General Assembly, recognizing the public good derived from land use regulation, also recognized that the Commission, in performing this function, “will displace or limit economic competition by owners and users of property.” (my emphasis)

As a citizen who drinks (and looks forward to continued drinking of) clean water, as a voter who pays attention to voting and advocacy records of public officials (elected and appointed), and as an advocate for the high-quality Ten Mile Creek watershed, which supports the cleanest tributary flowing into Little Seneca Reservoir, our backup clean drinking water supply, I urge you to reject the Pulte Development, “Creekside at Cabin Branch,” as currently proposed due to the devastating impact it would have on the two most sensitive and high-quality tributaries that flow into Ten Mile Creek.

In its current configuration, Pulte’s proposed development poses risks of irreversible degradation to the drainage area of the two tributaries that the Master Plan recognizes as the most sensitive and high-quality subwatersheds in the Ten Mile Creek watershed, and among the highest quality streams in Montgomery County.

An analysis of Pulte’s development plan shows that it would severely harm these subwatersheds by increasing their existing impervious cover from 1.6% to 6.9% in LSTM 110 (a four-fold increase) and from 1.2% to 12.8% in LSTM 111 (a ten-fold increase).

The Master Plan -and the science- make clear: to preserve the quality of these headwaters, imperviousness must be kept at or below 5%.

Impervious cover is widely accepted as the key indicator of the complex factors that affect stream condition. Simply put, higher impervious cover leads to higher amounts of stormwater runoff and urban pollutants that erode and degrade stream channels and habitat and the biologic communities they support, leading to degraded stream conditions.

As a Citizen of Montgomery County, I care deeply about our water resources and recognize that Ten Mile Creek warrants extraordinary protection, as directed by the Master Plan. Sadly, as development continues unabated in the upper county, preservation of our finite sources of clean water are not being adequately protected. We urge you to recognize the Ten Mile Creek watershed’s unique qualities and sensitive streams and ensure that development conforms to the Master Plan objective: “…if imperviousness is kept as near to five percent as possible, stream conditions can be maintained in the good to excellent range.”

Let’s not follow the path of Cabin Branch Creek, the sister tributary of Ten Mile Creek that flows into Little Seneca Reservoir, which has been severely degraded by an ongoing massive housing development. We know the importance of Little Seneca Reservoir to the future of our drinking water supply and the value of the Ten Mile Creek watershed to Montgomery County. It is our collective responsibility to protect them.

The Master Plan and the science, demands that you reject the Pulte Development, “Creekside at Cabin Branch.” I join my voice to the Master Plan and the science.

Please let me know your thoughts on this upcoming vote.

Yours for Clean Drinking Water,

Joseph Horgan, Kensington, MD.