On August 1, 2017 Supervisor Geary Higgins championed the creation of the Route 15 Stakeholders Committee, which was supposedly intended to bring about true, meaningful improvements to the road between Leesburg and Point of Rocks. Included in this committee of concerned residents were representatives of several of the organizations we have highlighted in the past – the Catoctin Coalition, Journey Through Hallowed Ground, and Lucketts Ruritans among others. They all signed the below document promising to advocate for project success and provide feedback from the organization and people they represent.
https://fixroute15now.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Stakeholder-charter.pdf
As this stakeholder committee met and various public surveys and traffic studies were done, two things became very obvious – widening the road was the only way to handle the traffic volume currently on the road and 80% of the public was in favor of this widening. This is not what these representatives have in mind for us so they decided to actively work against the committee and in some cases attack it and Supervisor Higgins for what amounts to their own failure to communicate to the people they supposedly represent.
Their response to being part of a tiny minority of people wanting the road to stay the same as it is today was to form the Catoctin Route 15 Alliance in the Spring of 2018. Among other goals, the purpose of this new organization was to prevent, “if necessary through legal action” any attempt to 4-lane any portion of the current Route 15 corridor. They were also so proud of their work that they made all their members sign non-disclosure agreements promising to not even disclose their objectives, membership, or operational conduct. You can read their charter and list of members here:
https://fixroute15now.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Catoctin-Route-15-Alliance-NDAs.pdf
Fast forward to today. This group as well as its partner organizations are still being allowed to influence county decision making by submitting irrelevant and non-functional “suggestions” for Route 15 improvements. Two of these proposals are included in the package to be evaluated during the July 18 Board meeting. No other outside organizations are offered this luxury. Why? Why does Supervisor Higgins continue to waste the time of the Board and the lives of the local citizens by delaying real improvements in order to placate this small group of people who have already stated their intentions to prevent any improvements?
Are you tired of your daily life being held hostage by this small group of people? Are you tired of the needless death and destruction caused by an unsafe road that is 300% over capacity? If so, please attend the Board meeting on the 18th and let YOUR elected representatives know that you’re fed up with what is going on. Support REAL improvements to Route 15 and
FIX ROUTE 15 NOW!!!