Maryland Light Rail Moved to Avoid Golf Course and Residents Cry Foul

"Maryland officials have signed a legal agreement with the Columbia Country Club promising to shift the Purple Line’s proposed course to better protect the club’s Chevy Chase golf course — one of several concessions setting the country club apart from hundreds of other property owners along the route," reports Katherine Shaver. 

"Community concerns have prompted other changes to the Purple Line’s design, state officials have said, including a smaller train storage yard farther from homes in the Lyttonsville community of Silver Spring and improved pedestrian and bicycle access," she notes. "But other private property owners do not have legally binding agreements or guarantees of regular meetings with state transit officials, like those granted to the country club."

“I think it’s great the country club can secure these concessions and promises, but what about the rest of us without the same clout or resources?” said Phil MacWilliams, president of the Coquelin Run Citizens Association.