Letter to the Editor: on the Montgomery County Council (August, 2006)
Last month, the Montgomery County Council appointed Dr. Royce Hanson—a nationally recognized land use expert and a respected consultant to the Council on the Clarksburg matter—to be the new Chair of the County’s Planning Board. Let us congratulate Dr. Hanson on his appointment and wish him well as he assumes his new position. All of us should hope that his appointment and his stewardship of this vital public agency will quickly restore the public’s confidence in the planning and development process.
However, Montgomery County residents should not think that this appointment alone will solve the problems we have discovered since the Clarksburg revelations. Indeed, the Planning Board only makes recommendations to the County Council; the Council should act in light of the Board’s guidance. And over the last few years, the present Council has taken action that has been opposite to several of the Board’s most important recommendations.
Where the Planning Board has generally recommended slower growth policies for Montgomery County, the County Council has ignored the Board’s advice on the annual growth rate policy, the transportation policy area review process, and maintaining an appropriate balance between housing and jobs. As a result, the County currently permits growth that far exceeds the capacity of our transportation and school infrastructure, resulting in traffic congestion, air pollution, school overcrowding, and a deterioration in our quality of life.
Dr. Hanson’s appointment is just the beginning of a new phase in Montgomery County’s planning future. There is a lot more to be done. This year’s elections for County Executive and County Council are more important than ever.
— Alan Bowser
Silver Spring, MD
President, Park Hills Civic Association
The writer was a candidate for
chair of the Planning Board