Two Thousand RedGate Fans Can't Be Wrong

This year's election for Rockville mayor and council members is less than three months away, and the deadline for candidates to file paperwork in order to be on the ballot is less than a month away. Not all declared candidates have submitted their paperwork to get on the ballot, and there still might be candidates lurking in the wings. Despite all this, it has become apparent that will be one of the more contentious issues on the campaign trail. Since Thursday, more than 30 comments expressing varying views, "facts" and figures on RedGate and its present state of affairs have been posted here on Patch.

However, a fact that never gets mentioned is that a petition to keep RedGate an 18-hole golf course, signed by 2,000 people, was submitted to the mayor and council last October. Those signing the petition include residents and non-residents, golfers and non-golfers, men, women and teenagers. Instead of viewing this as a mandate to keep RedGate a city-owned and operated golf course, there was, and there continues to be, accusations by some council members and citizens that the petition was misleading, and that people didn't understand what they were signing. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Who signs a petition if they don't understand what it says? At the time the petition was drafted, the City Council had invited developers in to present ideas of using the land for other purposes (baseball stadiums and 10,000-seat arenas). Councilman Mark Pierzchala posed the idea of selling the golf course for low-density housing. Councilman Piotr Gajewski hosted executives from DC United soccer on a tour of the golf course, with the idea they might consider it as a site to build a stadium. During one council meeting, Mr. Gajewski made a motion to close the golf course within two weeks, and it was actually seconded and voted for by Councilman Pierzchala. So, with that as background, here is the actual text of the petition:

The City of Rockville is considering selling or leasing RedGate Golf Course land. Several alternative uses for this 140 acre parcel of green space have been presented before and/or discussed by the City Council, including a baseball stadium and parking lot, a 10,000 seat indoor arena and parking lot and a “low density” housing development. This course of action would not be in best interest of the City, its’ citizens or anyone that cares about preserving what little remains of our open green space.

We, the undersigned, ask the City of Rockville Mayor and Council to put aside the idea of shutting down RedGate Golf Course, thus preserving the 18-hole golf course, and direct City staff to prepare a realistic business plan that can improve its’ financial picture. RedGate serves a diverse community of users, as do all City recreational venues and facilities, and should not be singled out as the only facility subsidized by the City, when virtually every other facility andHi  program in the Parks and Recreation Department is subsidized to some degree.

I think, and hope most of you agree, 2,000 individuals saying they want to keep RedGate as it exists today is a force that should not be ignored or dismissed as something disingenuous or misleading. Mr. Gajewski often speaks of his constituents telling him to close the golf course, but where are they when scores of supporters for the golf course come out to speak at council meetings, and thousands of others send their message to City Hall of "Don't close RedGate!"?

In a comment  on Friday, Mr. Gajewski states: "If you [Joe Busch] want to engage in a discussion on the merits, please don’t invent assumptions. The fact is that the land is zoned 'park,' and I led the vote for that zoning." This statement could be a case of Mr. Gajewski inventing facts. As a matter of fact, I personally testified at a public hearing on June 16, 2008, asking the mayor and council to approve the change in zoning for RedGate from R-S (residential suburban) to park land. Some time before that, I had personally contacted city staff and Representatives of Rockville Zoning Ordinance Review members, lobbying for this change, and was met with enthusiastic support. Here is how one committee member responded:

Joe, the main reason both ROZOR and the Planning Commission chose Park zoning for all city-owned park and recreation areas was to ensure that the acreage remained available to the citizens as passive/active land use. 

There were some points raised about the city just selling off, by right, any such currently designated R-60 land if it so chose.  I have been told – you would know – that part of the five-year fiscal plan for RedGate included the possibility of selling it for redevelopment.  None of us in either Group wanted that to happen nor with other city parkland.  Hopefully the M&C will approve what we have worked on. THEN there would have to be very significant public input if some future Administration wanted to meddle. ...

The RORZOR text and map amendments were approved unanimously on December 15, 2008, with no discussion. Motions to approve the text amendment and map amendment were made by council members John Britton and Anne Robbins. The map amendment shows RedGate zoned as parkland.

Finally, there are lots of numbers and figures flying around, so let me give you one that was presented to the mayor and council and completely ignored. In the 2011 budget, the per-household cost to Rockville taxpayers to subsidize all park and recreation facilities, events, programs, etc., was $658. This, fellow citizens of Rockville, is what we pay our taxes for—to have the best parks, playgrounds, community centers, swim center, after school programs, and yes, golf course, in the area. There is not one resident that uses all that is offered, but that shouldn't keep us from having them, because together they make Rockville the city that it is. Oh, and by the way, the $658 per household just covers the operating "losses" (unrecovered costs), and doesn't include the hidden costs (administrative and other indirect costs) for operating all those facilities and programs. But that is a lesson for another time.

The author is the chairman of the RedGate Advisory Committee. He is from Rockville.