Public Safety Committee Meets on July 17, Archery & Innovation on Agenda

The Montgomery County Council’s Public Committee will hold a worksession at 9:30 a.m. on July 17, to discuss Expedited Bill 35-14 that decreases the “safety zone” for archery hunters in the County from 150 yards to 100 yards from a dwelling, residence, church or other building occupied by human beings.

The Public Safety Committee, which is chaired by Phil Andrews and includes Couoncilmembers Roger Berliner and Marc Elrich, will meet in the Third Floor Conference Room of the Council Office Building at 100 Maryland Ave. in Rockville. The meeting will be televised live by County Cable Montgomery (CCM—Cable Channel 6 on Comcast and RCN, Channel 30 on Verizon). The broadcast also will be streamed through the County Web site at:
www.montgomerycountymd.gov/council/ondemand/index.html .

Bill SB 309, enacted by the Maryland General Assembly this year, reduced the archery hunting safety zone from 150 yards to 100 yards. Expedited Bill 35-14 would keep Montgomery law regulating archery hunting consistent with State law.

At a public hearing on July 15 on the bill, the testimony centered on the increasing deer population in the County and that decreasing the safety zone for archery hunters would help the efforts to control deer.

The committee also will get a report from Dan Hoffman, the County’s Chief Innovation Officer, on current public safety projects ongoing in the County. He will present information on the SCALE (Safe Community Alert Network) project that uses advanced sensor and receiving technology to create an automated safety alert system than can protect vulnerable populations. The system can detect different environmental factors like smoke, heat, light, carbon monoxide, power and other elements that may indicate safety issues.

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