09/02/2026
Thank You Diane Fouchè for Frederick County!
Last night I added my public comment to the many others, including Jeff Holtzinger for County Executive, asking the County Council to hold off on sweeping approval of the land use changes being foisted upon the County by the IW2 recommendations. See my comment at 2:51:00 on the video. And yes, I was talking with my hands. :)
Jeff spoke immediately after me and it was a reminder of the fact that Frederick has the most amazing opportunity in this November's election to elect both Jeff and myself- two individuals who actually understand the breadth of our County's government and WANT to serve the people of Frederick County, not themselves. Folks who are actually qualified to hold the offices that they are running for. Two people who only want to make things better here, not use the office as a stepping stone to a higher office for themselves.
I first implored the County Councilmembers who have accepted campaign contributions from the wealthy landowners who will financially benefit from the zoning changes to recuse themselves from this decision lest residents begin to question their integrity.
Afterwards, I went into the impossibility of proper representation when making this large number of land use changes to SO MANY different parcels of property.
Land use changes that would normally be conducted at the landowner's expense were paid for with YOUR tax dollars. Land use recommendations made by wealthy landowners who will MAKE MONEY on the backs of Frederick residents. The intent of the IW2 workgroup was to make recommendations to benefit the County, not themselves. The intent was that recommendations would follow the Livable Frederick Master Plan, but nothing follows it LESS than making sweeping changes over the whole without appropriate consideration being given to each on an individual basis to honor the residents impacted by that change.
This should deeply concern all taxpayers.
There is a time and place for re-zoning, but this is neither the time, nor the place. There is a time and place for growth, but this plan does not allow for the careful growth that our beautiful Frederick deserves.
This poor level of planning and ex*****on is typical of an administration running out of time to appease the people pulling their strings. We need to reach out to our Council representative and remind them who they represent.
This entire process is a reminder that when politically connected developers get to choose where to develop, they do so at the expense of our taxpayers. And as we all know, when developers win, you lose.
We HAVE to VOTE CHANGE.
https://frederick.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=10&clip_id=10745