Community Proposal to Incorporate Is Rejected

The Montgomery County Council yesterday unanimously rejected a plan by residents of a Chevy Chase subdivision to convert their community into a self-governing village.

Council members said they were worried that the proposal, backed by more than 500 Rollingwood residents, would divert more than $1 million annually from the county's treasury. They also expressed concern that other wealthy enclaves would be emboldened to become municipalities and siphon off county funds.

"I have reluctantly concluded that advancing the interests of Rollingwood . . . would be in conflict with the needs of our larger community," said County Council member Roger Berliner (D-Potomac-Bethesda), whose district includes the community of about 800 homes near the District line just west of Rock Creek Park.

Leaders of the incorporation movement said they will ask the council to reconsider the proposal in the fall. Had the council approved the plan yesterday, residents would have voted later this year on whether to become the county's 20th municipality.

Residents who backed the plan said they wanted their own government to do a better job than the county does collecting trash, removing snow and maintaining roads. Incorporation, they said, also would create a more unified community with a voice in local and state politics.

"We can create more accountable local government," said Charles W. Garrison, a lawyer and leader of the incorporation movement, after the vote.

In rejecting the bid, the council said incorporation could cause inequities "in the distribution of essential public services . . . and impair the county's capacity to plan, coordinate, provide and sustain essential public services."

Opponents said some sections of Rollingwood were dragged into the fight against their will and had no interest in becoming a town. They also argued that incorporation would essentially privatize the neighborhood, allowing local needs to be met more lavishly. On the wish list of those favoring incorporation was twice-weekly trash collection from the back door, something the county suspended several years ago.

Council members said other items on the residents' list, such as better communication with county leaders and police, could be achieved with a strong civic organization, rather than by electing a council and hiring a town manager.

But residents favoring incorporation said that was unrealistic. "It is naive to suggest . . . political leaders would not be more responsive" to elected municipal leaders, said J.P. Montalvan, a local real estate agent.

Garrison said civic associations can sometimes be hijacked by the most vocal or those with the most time to devote.

Mau VanDuren, a leader of the opposition, said the yearning for better services was exaggerated. "I don't need those services," he said.

University of Maryland political science professor Joe Oppenheimer cited academic studies at a hearing last week that he said show wealthy neighborhoods set up their own governments and spend extensively on their needs, then oppose tax increases for schools or other services for the county.

Council members said they also opposed the referendum because Rollingwood had not begun as a "special taxing district." Most of Montgomery's municipalities, including the small villages in Chevy Chase bordering Rollingwood, were formed long before the county built roads, removed snow and collected trash. They set up their own tax systems that were never folded into the county's treasury. All of the municipalities use county schools.

Council member Marc Elrich (D-At Large), who formerly served on the Takoma Park City Council, said he generally favors municipal government but worried about the tax drain from a new town. He encouraged Rollingwood residents to rework their proposal to seek a referendum on a "special taxing district," which would allow residents to tax themselves more to pay for enhanced services.