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The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission has backed down on its longstanding policy of requiring permits for carrying signs, picketing, collecting petition signatures and conducting surveys or interviews on parkland.

A notice suspending enforcement was issued early last week to inform park police and other officials of the agency that operates county parks in Montgomery and Prince George's counties.

According to the notice, permits still could be required for sign-carrying demonstrations by more than 25 individuals and for signature collecting and survey conducting if those activities would interfere with legitimate use of the parks by others.

The change came a week after the American Civil Liberties Union's Maryland chapter sent a letter to the agency, calling its permitting requirement a violation of First Amendment protections of freedom of expression. The ACLU cited Supreme Court decisions to make its case that the previous policy was overly broad and gave park officials "unbridled discretion to grant or deny a permit."

The ACLU took up the cause after Montgomery County Council candidate (and former Maryland House member) Robin Ficker told the group that park police threatened to arrest him because a volunteer was carrying a campaign sign while he spoke with people who had gathered at Germantown Regional Park on July 4 during a fireworks display. "We were not disrupting the solitude of a park, it was a public event" including a band and pyrotechnics, Ficker said.

"I'm happy that change has been made peacefully here," Ficker said, adding that he believes "we'd be in court" if the agency had not changed the rules.

M-NCPPC general counsel Adrian Gardner said he will begin meeting with the ACLU within the next two weeks to address the issue and "make sure what we are doing is appropriate."

The permitting requirement was last reviewed in 2002, Gardner said. But, "the law has evolved since then," he said, referring to some recent court rulings. He was unsure when the policy on permits was adopted, but said it had been in place for many years.

In a joint statement issued with the parks agency Oct. 21, ACLU lawyer David Rocah called M-NCPPC's response "exemplary."