Issue of outside counsel for White Oak development deal sparks debate

From reporter Bill Turque, Washington Post. To read the full story go here.

The Montgomery County Council on Tuesday abruptly postponed a proposal to hire outside lawyers to help execute an agreement with a private developer to build a life science town center in White Oak.

The item was pulled from the agenda after council member Marc Elrich (D-At-Large) objected to the selection of former Montgomery County Planning Board chairman Francoise Carrier as special counsel for dealings with Global Life Sci Development Corp., an affiliate of the developer Percontee. Carrier was chairman of the planning board in 2013, when it approved the White Oak land-use plan that included the life science town center concept.

BOE and Planning Board to Hide at Brookside Gardens July 19, 2012

Off camera.


No meeting agenda on Planning Board website.


The Board of Education didn't even list this on their master agenda until after the Planning Board posted it!  The Board of Education only posted the meeting agenda 48 hours before the meeting.


This is a joint public meeting of these two public bodies being held at remote location without cameras or webcast!


That's the way we like our government in Montgomery County!  


But, just so you know...this is a PUBLIC MEETING.  The public is WELCOME to attend.


Best part? It includes DINNER.  So come hungry, you are picking up the tab! 

6:30 PM	PUBLIC MEETING - BROOKSIDE GARDENS (Wheaton, MD)
	Joint Meeting of the Planning Board and Board of Education
	(No Public Testimony Will be Taken)

Accessory Apartments in Your Neighborhood!

The Montgomery County Planning Board is working on a new zoning ordinance that will allow attached and separate apartment buildings in residential neighborhoods all across the county. Yes, that would mean in your neighborhood, too.  Your neighbor -- or you! would be able to build an add-on or a separate apartment structure housing up to two new residential units.  An apartment-in-a-box in your backyard! Just think of it.  Currently these apartments require the builder to go through a public 'special exception' process with a public hearing at the Board of Appeals.  However, your Planning Board (appointed by your county council members) want to change that: why bother with a public process? Instead, let's have these apartments built 'by right.'  No discussion required.  No discussion of the additional parking spaces needed; additional classroom space needed; additional stress on infrastructure. Naw, why bother with those pesky questions?

Because of those pesky questions, the Planning Board has scheduled two meetings on Monday May 21st, please attend.  Originally these were to be 'Q&A' meetings.  But again, why bother with those pesky questions? Instead the Board has suddenly changed the format to an "open house" format with "stations."

DATE: Monday May 21
TIMES: 3:00 - 4:30 PM and 7-9 PM
LOCATION: Montgomery County Planning Board, 1st Floor Auditorium, 8787 Georgia Ave,. Silver Spring.  Metered parking in the rear.

Please attend -- make sure the Planning Board answers your questions.  And please let the County Council know what you think of new apartments in your neighborhood.  Email the council at county.council@montgomerycountymd.gov And, here is the email for the Planning Board: MCP-chairman@mncppc-mc.org.

Anger Management for Rollin Stanley?

Well, not quite. After his remarks published in the Bethesda Magazine article, "The Future is Looking Up," in which Mr. Stanley accused a group of long-time community activists of stalking him, Mr. Stanley issued a contrite apology, which appeared on the Montgomery County Planning Department's website, here. In the apology statement Mr. Stanley states that he intends to "enroll in mediation/conflict resolution instruction." Everybody happy now?

Activists call for ouster of Montgomery County planning director

From the Washington Post

By Lori Aratani,
Published: March 13

Some civic activists are calling for Montgomery County Planning Director Rollin Stanley to resign following comments published in a local magazine where he characterized a group that has questioned his vision for remaking the county as “rich white women . . . spreading fear’’ who “stalk his appearances before community groups.”

The remarks in a story about the county’s push to build more mixed-use, high-rise developments appeared in the March/April issue of Bethesda Magazine and drew an immediate reaction from civic groups, who said the comments were sexist and evidence of Stanley’s disregard for public participation in county planning matters.

And,

At least one civic group also has said Stanley should resign.

In a letter to the planning board, Peggy Dennis, president of the Montgomery County Civic Federation, wrote: “This latest example of his disregard for citizen opinion and disdain for those who do not support his views and tactics is, for us, the ‘straw that broke the camel’s back.’ As a result, we believe Mr. Stanley should be asked to resign immediately.”

Read the entire story here.

MC Planning Board "Mr. Stanley's comments did not portray these values..."

The Montgomery County Planning Board issued the following statement regarding comments made by the Montgomery County Planning Director in a local magazine article.


Planning Board Statement March 8, 2012

Before we get started this morning, I must take a moment to publicly respond to the article by Eugene Meyer that appeared in Bethesda Magazine last week, “Past Present and Future,” quoting our Planning Director, Rollin Stanley. The statements attributed to Mr. Stanley regarding certain members of the community, and the sentiments expressed, in no way reflect the views of this Board or this agency. This agency has a responsibility to the public, to invite public participation in the planning process, to encourage public discourse, to solicit the views of all residents of the county, from all backgrounds, and to remain respectful to those individuals and organizations regardless of the opinions they hold. Unfortunately, Mr. Stanley’s comments did not portray these values. It is our experience that the quality of our master plans and other planning efforts is enhanced by input from members of the public. We encourage everyone in the community to continue to participate in future meetings with planning department staff and the planning board. 

While we are grateful to Mr. Stanley for the work he has done on behalf of the Agency and for this county to date, we did not sanction his interview with Mr. Meyer, nor do we condone the views he expressed. This Board does not take lightly the potential implications of his words, and we will be taking appropriate corrective action.

"...chilling effect on public participation"

Below is the text of the letter that was sent to the Montgomery County Planning Board concerning statements made by the Planning Director in a local magazine article.  

The Montgomery County Planning Board did, in fact, make a statement regarding this incident on March 8, 2012.. 

March 4,2012

Chairman Francoise Carrier and Planning Board Members, Montgomery County Planning Board,  8787 Georgia Avenue, Silver Spring, MD 20901 

Dear Chairman Carrier and Members of the Montgomery County Planning Board: 

We are writing to provide you with a copy of a letter that we sent to Steve Hull, editor of Bethesda Magazine, on March 2, 2012, in which we take strong exception to statements made by Rollin Stanley, the Director of Planning, that appear in the article “The Future is Looking UP” in the March/April 2012 issue. Mr. Hull has already agreed to publish our letter to the editor in its entirety in the May/June issue of his magazine. 

In this letter, we ask the Board to take certain actions in light of these statements by Mr. Stanley. In the article, Mr. Stanley is clearly speaking in his capacity as the Director of Planning, and he appears to bespeaking on behalf of the Planning Board itself when he characterizes us as “rich white women,” who “spread fear” and “sow discord”, who “stalk” him in his appearances before community groups, and who describe ourselves as members of a “coven.” 

Through these remarks, Mr. Stanley has impugned our integrity,attacked our credibility, and damaged our personal and professional reputations. We ask the Planning Board to publicly disavow his remarks.We also ask that the Board additionally state in open session its policy—as well as the policy it has adopted for its employees—with respect to Board and staff comments about the public and the public’s participation in matters before the Board.

Further, we believe that these remarks raise a serious question as to Mr.Stanley’s fitness to continue to serve as Director of Planning in this County, inasmuch as a substantial part of his job is interfacing with County residents who have concerns about their own property, or about what is going to happen to properties near them. 

We believe that his printed remarks are wholly inconsistent with his responsibility to treat all citizens of Montgomery County with respect,and to recognize that in Montgomery County—unlike other places—there is a strong tradition of public participation in land use issues. Mr.Stanley’s job is to foster public participation, not to work actively to discourage it by using his position to verbally abuse County residents in public simply because they have the temerity to question current efforts to “urbanize” the County. 

We are very concerned that Mr. Stanley’s remarks will have a chilling effect on public participation. They suggest there is a culture that is developing within the Planning Board staff in which citizen participation is neither welcome nor even tolerated. Even in a welcoming environment it is difficult for the uninitiated citizen to plunge into the world of land use, and to testify and/or write with questions and concerns. When citizens must be concerned about personal attacks or dismissive contempt for different points of view when participating before the Planning Board, they will think twice before participating. 

Finally, what message is Mr. Stanley sending to the planners who work under him in terms of how Commission employees should treat the public? What kind of training are young planners receiving in terms of answering questions from the public, providing materials to the public,and explaining to the public the processes of the Planning Board to the residents of Montgomery County?
All of these are matters of great gravity if the Planning Board is to maintain the public’s trust in the integrity of Montgomery County’s land use processes. 

We thus respectfully ask the Board to address the issues publicly, and specifically Mr. Stanley’s comments in the Bethesda Magazine article, at your earliest convenience. It is critical that this matter be put behind us, so that all County residents can once again feel free to voice their views on critical land use planning issues to the Planning Board and its staff. 

Sincerely,
Pat Baptiste 

Meredith Wellington 

Julie Davis 

Jenny Sue Dunner

Planning Board: "...we will be taking appropriate corrective action."

Update, 3:25 p.m.: Planning Board Chairwoman Françoise Carrier addressed Director Rollin Stanley's remarks before a meeting Thursday, saying they in no way reflect the opinions of the board.
Carrier said in a prepared statement that the Planning Board encourages public participation in its process, and Stanley's comments fall out of line with the department's values. 

"While we are grateful to Mr. Stanley for the work he has done on behalf of the agency and for this county to date, we did not sanction his interview with (Bethesda Magazine), nor do we condone the views he expressed," she said. "This board does not take lightly the potential implications of his words, and we will be taking appropriate corrective action."

Continues at PATCH:   Planning Chief's 'Sexist' Remarks Under Fire

Council "Streamlines" Public out of the Development Process

Welcome to the new transparent Montgomery County! Here is the latest from your elected officials: they plan to "streamline" the development and permitting process to make it more "user friendly."

And what's the best way to do that? Hold forums in the middle of the day so working men and women can't attend!

Here is the text, below. Here is the link where you can see the text illustrated with a lovely photo provided by -- wait for it -- developer JBG. Just so it isn't clear already who is running the show here in Montgomery County.

The Streamlining Development initiative is a collaborative multi-agency effort to analyze the entitlement process from project conception to occupancy and identify where within government and quasi-government authorities there are bottlenecks, duplication of reviews, inconsistent positions and process inefficiencies. The objective is to streamline the approval process so that it is more user-friendly, understandable, reliable, consistent and efficient without compromising public participation, quality of development, environmental protection or public safety.

The information acquired during the forums will be used by work groups to investigate expressed problems and recommend solutions.

Representatives from the following agencies will be present to listen to your comments regarding the development process. Written comments can be posted through March 31, 2012 on the Streamlining Development website at http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/permittingservices/
DPS/streamlinedevelopment/StreamliningDevelopment.aspx

Please register for one of the two public forums by clicking on the links
below.
Board of Appeals
County Council
Department of Permitting
Services
Department of Economic Development
Department of Environmental
Protection
Department of Fire and Rescue Services
Department of Housing
and Community Affairs
Department of Transportation
Maryland National
Capital Park and
Planning Commission
Office of the County
Attorney
Office of Zoning and Administrative Hearings
State Highway
Administration
Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission

Sign language interpreter services or oral language interpreter services can be
provided upon request with at least 5 days advance notice. Alternative formats
of this document are availableupon request as far in advance as possible, but
not less than 5 days prior to the event. If youneed other services or accommodations to participate in this activity, please call Alexia Roundtreeat (240) 777-6280, Voice or (240) 777-6256, TTY. Or you may send a request via email to Alexia.
Roundtree@montgomerycountymd.gov

Streamlining the Development Process
Public Forum
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
2:30pm – 4:30pm
Executive Office Building, 101 Monroe St.
Lobby Auditorium
Rockville, MD 20850

Streamlining the Development Process
Public Forum
Friday, March 9, 2012
1:30pm – 3:30pm
Executive Office Building, 101 Monroe St.
Lobby Auditorium
Rockville, MD 20850

“It’s kind of a mini Reston Town Center.”

DRI Development Services LLC, the developers of the Rock Spring Centre have unveiled their plans for development across the street from Walter Johnson High School. Get ready!

Washington Business Journal reporter Missy Frederick wrote,

The project, at Old Georgetown Road and Rock Spring Drive in Bethesda…received site plan approval from Montgomery County in February.

It will include about 550,000 square feet of office space within two buildings, 210,000 square feet of ground level retail, a 200-room hotel, 161 housing units and a movie theater.

Read more at the Washington Business Journal.

MoCo Planning Board wants Significant Density Increases

The Montgomery County, MD Planning Department has been working on an enormous overhaul of the zoning codes in our County. Planning Department staff are promoting tremendous density increases. Citizens involved in this 'process' are becoming alarmed at the direction it is taking. Please read the article below by Meredith Wellington, who is a former member of the Planning Board. The tremendous increase in density that the Planning Board is pushing will of course put added stress on our school system.

Former Planning Board member Meredith Wellington has written the article below, out of concern for the direction of the new zoning ordinance.  She suggests if you are concerned please contact the county council, and the Planning Board.  To contact the Council, go here.  The chair of the Planning Board is Francoise Carrier.  To contact Ms. Carrier, go here.


Montgomery County MD Zoning Rewrite ZAP Article Residential Zone Proposals