New Law Could Signal Shift to Slow Growth

ROCKVILLE, Md. - A new Rockville law that allows the city to reject development proposals if they would strain schools, police and local infrastructure, is a sign of dissatisfaction with the pace of growth in the region, according to some officials.

Passed last week, the ordinance blocks new residential developments near schools with enrollment of move than 110 percent of capacity. That designation now covers five public schools in the city of 52,000 people. A sixth is projected to reach that point in the next five years.

Rockville's action shows that residents in the heavily populated and fast-growing Washington suburbs may be leery of the way the region is being developed, said Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D.-Md.

"The pendulum is swinging toward more of a 'slow growth' or 'managed growth' sort of mood," he said. "There is a strong sense that the pace of development has gotten ahead of the community's ability to absorb that development."

Rockville Mayor Larry Giammo said the city has adopted a stricter policy for school capacity than Montgomery County. While his challenger in the Tuesday's mayoral election called the law, pushed for many years by Giammo, a "political ploy," Giammo said voters back the move.

"People in Montgomery County and the region have lost confidence in the infrastructure to serve development that has already happened will ever be built," he said.

However, other local officials say politicians are misreading voters. Richard Parsons, president of the Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce said Rockville is passing a law on an issue it has no control over - school size. Schools in Montgomery are run on the county, not municipal level. Most traffic clogged roads also fall under state or county authority.

"What people are still wanting is a solution to our traffic problems, and that's not going to come from posturing on growth," Parsons said.

Similar laws have also caused unintended consequences in other areas. Prince George's County is undoing a law passed last November that limited development based on response time for emergency services. That ordinance effectively shut down new construction, causing the council to back off.

(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)