BROOKEVILLE -- Two weeks after he stood in the center of this tiny town and insisted he would never build a bypass of Route 97, Gov. Parris N. Glendening made a U-turn.
In a letter yesterday to Montgomery County Council President Isiah Leggett, the governor promised to restore the 1 1/2-mile road to the planning process if the county meets four Smart Growth requirements.
The offer -- quickly accepted by Leggett -- heads off a confrontation next week at the Board of Public Works between Glendening and the two other board members, state Comptroller William Donald Schaefer and state Treasurer Richard N. Dixon.
State Sen. Christopher J. McCabe, a Republican who represents Brookeville, was surprised and pleased by Glendening's announcement.
"With the Board of Public Works scheduled to hear this appeal Wednesday, I think that everyone benefits from a win-win solution instead of a high-profile showdown," McCabe said.
Glendening's decision will increase pressure to put back funding for projects elsewhere in the state, including two bypasses and a police training center in Carroll County.
"I would pray that he would see his way to accommodating Carroll County in the same way that he did Montgomery," said Del. Donald B. Elliott, a Carroll Republican. "It's heartening to see that maybe we have a chance."
Del. Joseph M. Getty, a Carroll Republican, noted that after the governor delivered for a Democrat-controlled county with the Brookeville bypass, it would be "unfair" not to respond to the concerns of his Republican-controlled county.
Glendening spokesman Ray Feldmann left the door open to talks with Carroll officials.
"The governor is certainly willing to talk to other communities about anti-sprawl measures," he said.
Feldmann said Glendening didn't reverse himself on the project. "This is not the Brookeville bypass that Montgomery County was talking about. It is a bypass, not the bypass," he said.
The Montgomery and Carroll transportation projects were cut from the five-year capital budget in January because state planners felt they encouraged further suburban sprawl.
Montgomery officials led by County Executive Douglas Duncan and McCabe filed an appeal of the decision, quickly gaining support from Schaefer and Dixon.
Bypass supporters said the project was a safety issue, not a growth issue.
Route 97 -- also known as Georgia Avenue -- carries more than 9,000 vehicles a day through the village of 48 homes. Tractor-trailers and school buses often wind up in residents' yards as they try to steer through a sharp dogleg in the center of town.
With local officials and residents in tow, Glendening toured Brookeville Feb. 19, but the visit ended on a sour note when the governor stated emphatically: "There is nothing to appeal. There is no project there will not be any money in the budget."
Leggett said he spoke to the governor and his staff several times after the tour to determine whether the bypass could be saved.
"The governor needed to be assured that what we wanted to do did not run contrary to Smart Growth, and we all support that," Leggett said.
The deal requires the county to prohibit development adjacent to Brookeville; to create a permanent buffer around the two-lane road to prevent widening; and to work with the state and Howard County to develop a "traffic calming" control point north of town to cap traffic capacity. Finally, if the growth controls fail, Montgomery County must reimburse the state for the full cost of the bypass, approximately $13 million.
The council is expected to begin work on the issue Tuesday.
"We couldn't ask for anything better," said Al Gardner, president of the Brookeville town commission. "We knew that even if we won the appeal, he [Glendening] wasn't going to put the money in the budget. Now we have the governor's commitment to the project."
Sun staff writers Gady A. Epstein, Thomas W. Waldron and Mary Gail Hare contributed to this article.
Pub Date: 3/06/99