The Council voted on an application from R.A.M. Investing Ltd. for sewer service on Nov. 26, the last day of the last Council session.
The vote extended sewer service even though it violates approved county policy and is contrary to the guidelines of the Potomac Master Plan, which the same Council approved last March.
Because the sewer service application was a deferred item — deferred from a Council session on Oct. 22 — "there is no, strictly speaking, legal requirement to advertise it again," said Callum Murray, Potomac team leader for the Potomac Master Plan. "But, I think, the fact that it was added to both agendas after they were both published left the neighbors and citizens associations upset. It didn't give them any chance to respond."
“More often than not, the agenda remains the same after it has been published,” said Keith Levchenko, legislative analyst for the County Council. However, Levchenko did acknowledge that sometimes changes are made.
“If something gets added, no one would know unless they have ESP and would think to call,” Levchenko said. There is language on the agenda stating that it may be altered at any time. But since the item had been deferred, there was no need for another public hearing, he said.
After the item was deferred in October ,"it appeared that this was something that was going to be settled by the new Council sometime probably in December or January, " said Alan Soukup, of the County's Department of Environmental Protection.
Isiah Leggett (D-at large), then chairman of the Council's Transportation and Environment Committee that voted to approve the application, said he was not the one responsible for ensuring that the item was properly posted.
"As I recall, we indicated we were going to come back and look at it," Leggett said. Leggett is no longer on the Council.
The committee voted 2-0 on Nov. 25 to recommend the approval of the application. They voiced their recommendation to the Council the next day.
Soukup and Council staff reminded the Council of the inconsistency of the application with the adopted policy of the Water and Sewer Plan and the recommendations of the Potomac Master Plan that was adopted in March.
But the Council voted 5-4 to approve the application.
The Council's resolution does contain language that the approved application would not be precedent setting.
Murray, who had worked on the Master Plan for over four years, said he did not know about the Council's vote until after the fact.
"I found out when I got calls from citizens who asked, 'Did you know about this? Why didn't we know about it, why wasn't it on the agenda?'" said Murray.
"Citizens are examining options right now. I suppose they could ask the new president of the Council if this can be reconsidered, but I can't recall a parallel circumstance," he said.