Protecting Ten Mile Creek from Ongoing Developments

Clarksburg Gateway Sector plan

FoTMC actively engaged with M-NCPPC (The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission) Park and Planning staff throughout all phases of the development of the Clarksburg plan, beginning in July 2023, and ending in January 2026, when we testified before the County Council. As guardians of Ten Mile Creek and its watershed, our concerns were (and still are) on protecting the water quality of Little Seneca Reservoir, the DC region’s back-up water supply and recreational and wildlife resource. We provided staff detailed recommendations to minimize the impacts of the Clarksburg plan’s proposed developments on Little Seneca Creek, which flows through the Clarksburg Plan sector area and is the largest stream that flows into Little Seneca Reservoir. Key recommendations included preserving the forests, avoiding the construction of new roadways through forests, parks, streams, stream valleys, and wetlands, and limiting development on the COMSAT property to the existing open spaces and the building footprint.

Unfortunately, the Planning Board and the Council approved a plan that would add major new roads and development in the sector area, especially on the 200 acre COMSAT Property and the Linthicum Family Farm. They also approved the proposal to build a new I-270 interchange and significantly weakened language concerning the protection of Priority Urban Forests.

As a result, the historic COMSAT buildings and forests will be torn down and replaced with dense housing, roads and businesses. Not a single council member expressed any concerns about declining water quality in the Clarksburg Special Protection Area, forest loss or preservation of the historic COMSAT site.

Two bright spots in the plan will be the creation of a small new stream valley park along the Cool Brook Tributary of Little Seneca Creek. This will preserve some forest adjacent to the stream. Plus the cancellation of the MD 355 Clarksburg Bypass. This will assure that the Ten Mile Creek Watershed will not be impacted by a new bypass road. [Link to FoTMC Testimony to County Council, Clarksburg Sector Plan, Jan21,2026]

Sewer applications

A property owner on Clarksburg Road, in the Ten Mile Creek Watershed, filed a sewer category change request, which is currently under consideration. The applicant wants to connect to the Cabin Branch sewer system to facilitate building a 40-bed assisted living facility on the 5.7-acre property zoned RE-1. The 2014 Ten Mile Creek Area Master Plan Amendment purposely retained RE-1 zoning – one house per acre – to prevent an increase in impervious surface area in this high-quality watershed. Building this facility would require a zoning change that does not conform to the Master Plan. Despite the intent of the Master Plan and despite the staff’s recommendation to deny the request, the Montgomery County Planning Board recommended approval of the sewer category change to facilitate construction of the assisted living center. The County Executive also recommended denial of the request because it does not conform to the Master Plan. The County Council chose to defer a decision on the request pending a comprehensive review this fall.

The proposed assisted living facility sits on the headwaters of a tributary (LSTM#112) that drains into Ten Mile Creek. If built, this project would result in additional imperviousness and lead to more stormwater runoff into the Creek and degradation of water quality. Furthermore, requests for special exemptions or zoning changes could have a ‘domino” effect, laying the foundation for more intensive development and evermore imperviousness and run-off in the watershed. Whatever happens with the assisted living center proposal will set the foundation for what happens next.

FoTMC will continue to monitor this request and advocate for master plan compliance to protect the watershed from over-development.

Meadow Planting Proposal

This Spring, staff from the Montgomery County Planning Department contacted FoTMC about a meadow planting project in the upper watershed meant to comply with a forest conservation plan as part of the Ashford Woods development. Creating a meadow in this area would require cutting down forest to access the site and to plant and maintain the meadow, as there is no viable path to access the areas with the necessary equipment to create and maintain the meadow. We met on-site with the planners and expressed our disapproval of the proposal to create a meadow by cutting down forests to comply with the forest conservation plan. The planners agreed that this “meadow creation” would end up being far more detrimental to the environment than the hoped for benefits of the plan and cancelled the project.