Carroll County does not want a mass transit system.
This attitude has led a member of the Carroll County Board of Commissioners to submit a resolution stating the board’s intention to prevent construction of any mass transit system that connects Carroll County with other counties, according to a Carroll County Times report. The commission plans to vote on it next week.
The northeastern corner of Montgomery County borders the southwestern corner of Carroll County.
Commissioner Richard Rothschild was quoted in the report saying that mass transit systems can act as conduits of crime. “We are not going to use mass transit to connect either Baltimore County or Montgomery County,” he said.
The report noted that Carroll County has no transit projects planned and that 2035 Maryland Transportation Plan doesn’t include any projects in the county.
Despite this, Doug Howard, another Carroll County Commissioner, said the resolution’s intention is to strongly state the board’s desire that a mass transit system not be built in Carroll County.
Montgomery County Planning Board Chairman Casey Anderson quipped about the report in a tweet Monday: “Carroll County residents rest easy; commissioners will not build mass transit that could bring criminals from MoCo.”
Carroll County’s population has grown from 123,372 in 1990 to about 167,134 in 2010, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau. The county’s largest city is Westminster, the county seat, with a population of 18,590, as of the 2010 census.