Chapter 2—Public Participation
additional communitywide meeting was needed to discuss these issues. Several members of the team, including a transportation engineer and a trails expert, returned to the community on March 26, 2009, to verify preliminary transportation recommendations. Fifty-six residents and business owners attended this meeting. A lively question-andanswer session followed a presentation of general issues and specific recommendations for the area’s major roadway corridors and neighborhoods. At this meeting, residents generally concurred with the planning team’s recommendations for future roadway, transit, and trails improvements.
outreach through e-mail, flyers, posters, and visits to local businesses. Approximately 120 people attended this meeting, including county and state elected officials.
During the months of March and April, the planning team worked with a consultant to develop draft urban design scenarios for two of the sector plan focus areas, the Seabrook MARC station, and the Vista Gardens Marketplace area (see Chapter 11 on page 199 for additional information). These two areas represent places within the sector plan area where change is most likely to occur over time.
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Preliminary Urban Design Recommendations (April 2009)
The consultant team presented these draft design concepts to the public, explaining the fundamental principles that underlie the scenarios and asking for feedback on these design ideas. Over 30 residents and business owners attended this meeting, many of whom had very specific questions about the design scenarios. Participants generally agreed with the Seabrook MARC focus area scenario but raised several important questions about the Vista Gardens concept (see Table 50 on page 200). At the conclusion of this meeting, the planning team determined that revised design scenarios would be presented for additional comment at the next community meeting.
Preliminary Plan Recommendations Final Meeting (April 2009)
The final meeting on preliminary plan recommendations was held at DuVal High School on April 30, 2009 (see Public Meeting Agenda on page 27). This meeting encompassed all plan elements, with project staff presenting major recommendations from each element. As with the December 2008 meeting, members of the planning team conducted widespread 26
The meeting began with a staff presentation of the eight main principles of the plan and associated policies. Meeting attendees then participated in a question-and-answer session and finally visited multiple stations to focus more specifically on each plan element. Stations included: •
Natural resources/environment
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Historic preservation
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Public facilities
Parks and recreation
Transportation (including trails) Urban design
Each station displayed presentation boards highlighting key issues identified by the community and major recommendations for a particular plan element. Recommendations for each plan element were grouped into short-term strategies (1–5 years) and long-term strategies (5–20 years) to help meeting participants understand priority items and the need for incremental steps to many of these improvements. Feedback on the recommendations and new questions/concerns were noted for later consideration by the planning team. (Two examples of the presentation boards are provided on Public Meeting Agenda on page 27.)
Public Hearing
The preliminary plan received the Planning Board’s permission to print on July 23, 2009, and a joint public hearing between the Planning Board and the County Council was held on October 6, 2009, to receive comment on the draft document. Revisions to the preliminary plan, based on public comment, were made prior to the Planning Board’s consideration of adoption. The sector plan was adopted by the Planning Board and approved by the District Council in spring 2010.
Glenn Dale-Seabrook-Lanham and Vicinity Approved Sector Plan and Sectional Map Amendment