Sugarloaf Mountain's future hangs in the balance - The Washington Post

Stronghold, Inc., the nonprofit entity that owns the fashionable hiking and birdwatching destination about 30 miles from the District, has agelong opposed aspects of a region conservation program for the region. That absorption boiled implicit successful caller months into threats from Stronghold’s lawyers to extremity nationalist entree to the park.

Late past week, authorities was submitted to the assembly that mostly bends to the owner’s wishes. For immoderate section activists, the caller developments are a capitulation to the owner’s “extortion.”

“We volition not presumption it arsenic a full nonaccomplishment astatine all,” said Steve Findlay, president of the Sugarloaf Citizens’ Association, a assemblage radical heavy successful the trenches of the nationalist debate. “But we cannot enactment it.”

The latest mentation of the program volition beryllium the council’s past changeable earlier the November predetermination could propulsion a caller radical of radical onto the council.

“The bottommost enactment was that adjacent aft a fig of compromises that we made to immoderate of Stronghold’s concerns, they were inactive threatening to adjacent the mountain,” said Kai Hagen, an at-large subordinate of the council.

The Sugarloaf statement besides hints astatine troubling signs for aboriginal improvement crossed the Washington area, arsenic much exurban grasslands and forests autumn successful the crosshairs of developers who privation to physique residential and buying areas.

Sugarloaf’s aboriginal is being fought retired by groups who each admit the biology value of the region. But they person antithetic ideas of however that bequest is champion protected, whether by authorities oversight oregon backstage stewardship.

A typical for Stronghold did not reply to aggregate requests for comment.

Sugarloaf Mountain is unsocial successful that it is backstage onshore for nationalist use. The area’s archetypal proprietor was Gordon Strong, a affluent patent attorney. He purchased the country to unfastened to the nationalist for hiking, birdwatching and different outdoor activities. Following his 1954 death, his volition created Stronghold to support the country for the nationalist astatine nary outgo to visitors. The country contiguous includes much than 500 taxon of plants, high-quality waters and parts of a Civil War battlefield.

But implicit the past decennary oregon so, section residents, conservationists and others repeatedly person had to combat disconnected adjacent onshore usage projects that could person disturbed the adjacent wilderness, including a weapon scope and megachurch. As portion of a larger countywide readying process, Frederick readying officials began putting unneurotic what would go the Sugarloaf Treasured Landscape Management Plan.

“One of the stated reasons for the program was other extortion for these landscapes to debar these implicit knockdown, drag-out fights each mates of years,” said Steven Black, a Frederick County husbandman and president of the Sugarloaf Alliance, a nonprofit assemblage radical progressive successful past and existent nationalist debates implicit the land. According to Black, the unit to make much onshore on Interstate 270 is being acutely felt successful the portion astir Sugarloaf Mountain.

“If you don’t instrumentality nationalist enactment done onshore readying and zoning enactment to sphere the ground, you hazard that the improvement unit volition eclipse the wishes of the radical connected the ground,” helium said.

As portion of the process for putting unneurotic a program that would representation retired the aboriginal acceptable uses for the region, the region acceptable up a 16-member advisory committee that met 7 times betwixt aboriginal 2020 and July 2021. Stronghold had 3 seats connected the board.

“We’ve had many, galore meetings with Stronghold and their attorneys,” said Tim Goodfellow, the pb region planner connected the project. “They person been progressive intimately from time one.”

However the last absorption program stretches good beyond the Sugarloaf Mountain country to see astir 20,000 surrounding acres. The program would restrict definite uses that could interaction earthy resources oregon obstruct views. The ineligible mechanics for implementing the program would beryllium the council’s transition of an overlay district for the covered area. That would rezone parts of the 20,000 acres, bringing accordant standards for improvement and banning uses specified arsenic rodeos and shooting ranges.

But erstwhile the Sugarloaf program got to the assembly this October, the park’s owners bristled, saying they would beryllium “unnecessarily restricted” by the conditions of the overlay . On Oct. 3, assembly members rejected authorities that would person exempted Stronghold’s spot from the program and overlay.

An lawyer for Stronghold addressed the assembly with a stark ultimatum.

“If the Sugarloaf program arsenic presented for nationalist proceeding connected Oct. 11, contiguous passes, Stronghold volition cease allowing wide nationalist entree to Sugarloaf Mountain, a privately owned mountain, to let Stronghold, my client, clip to measure the effects of the program connected its operations,” lawyer Noel Manalo told the council. He added that Stronghold representatives had been successful interaction with section instrumentality enforcement astir wherever champion to spot signs speechmaking “No trespassing.”

“Stronghold remains committed to its ngo of the preservation of the earthy resources of Sugarloaf Mountain,” Manalo continued. “We person successfully fulfilled this ngo accordant with Gordon Strong’s intent for galore decades without assistance from Frederick County government.”

Walling disconnected the parkland from nationalist entree — was it a bluff oregon existent possibility? Both assembly members and onshore conservation groups accidental they were not definite whether Stronghold was negotiating oregon serious.

To code the owners’ concerns, the assembly projected a caller zoning class that would designate the Stronghold acres a “private park.” This caller zoning would let Stronghold to adhd features specified arsenic pavilions, acquisition shops, and concessions stands.

The park’s owners, however, did not bespeak they approved the program going into the council’s Oct. 18 meeting, wherever the broad plan, arsenic good arsenic the overlay and backstage parkland exemption, were connected the agenda. According to assembly members and section activists, nary 1 knew what Stronghold wanted.

“They person been bad-faith actors successful our presumption successful this process,” said Findlay of the Sugarloaf Citizens’ Association. “They person not been transparent astir what they privation oregon what their interests are successful the future. The lone happening they person been transparent astir is the threat.”

At the Oct. 18 meeting, aft proceeding hours of impassioned commentary from locals that included tears, an a-Cappella rendition of a Woody Guthrie song, and nary connection from the owner’s representatives, the assembly voted to propulsion the Sugarloaf votes backmost a week, with Hagen announcing the seven-member assemblage did not person the votes needed to walk the broad program and the overlay and backstage parkland exemption.

Later that week, Hagen released an update of the plan. In that version, the Sugarloaf Mountain’s country would beryllium chopped retired from the larger overlay zone. Still, arsenic Hagen pointed out, the Stronghold acres are already protected by the county’s astir restrictive zoning category, known arsenic assets conservation.

But aft getting ostensibly what they want, Sugarloaf Mountain’s owners person yet to publically endorse the compromise, which volition beryllium voted connected astatine the Frederick County Council gathering connected Tuesday.

“Their lawyer has noted that the region has addressed each the circumstantial issues primitively raised by Stronghold,” Hagen said Sunday. “They are inactive conferring among themselves, it seems. They person not issued immoderate nationalist statements.”

Hagen added that helium is “hopeful” that the program up for information volition fulfill everyone.

Many of those involved, however, conscionable seemed exhausted with the process — a saga that had started with section residents, politicians and the mountain’s owners agreeing to enactment toward the aboriginal extortion of a beloved area, and that ended with nationalist threats and anger.

“We admit the world of needing this compromise to hap to marque the larger program and overlay happen,” said Black of the Sugarloaf Alliance. “So we enactment this. We admit having nary program is worse.”