New planning commissioners hailed as focused, sensible

Alfandre, Presley join board as county begins to develop new growth policy

Presley was the County Council’s unanimous choice for the non-Democratic opening on the board.

Alfandre, who lives in Potomac, developed the Kentlands in Gaithersburg, renowned as a prime example of a ‘‘new urbanist” community where small yards, front porches, sidewalks and large public spaces allow people to live and work in less space, but encourage a sense of community.

The council elected Alfandre, a Democrat, unanimously after a series of votes in which he got three, then five votes.

Any honeymoon will be short for new members. On Thursday, the board reviews a staff analysis that shows the county’s housing stock for people with household annual incomes of less than $90,000 was more than 40,000 units short in 2005 and is projected to be short 40,000 in 2030.

In the fall, the board again faces the difficult task of drafting a new growth policy to shape residential and commercial development and the roads, schools and transit meant to serve them against the backdrop of traffic congestion that is among the nation’s worst.

Hiring for 20 vacant positions, which would bring the staff total to 180, is on hold as the agency struggles with an economic downturn and as the number and size of development applications are smaller but more complicated.

Both Presley and Alfandre had the backing of the Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce and the Bethesda Chevy Chase Chamber of Commerce, which, in its endorsement called them ‘‘business-focused candidates” who ‘‘would hold the Board and the applicants ... to high standards.”

Presley, a Republican and strategic marketing consultant, won the support of the Montgomery County Civic Federation and the Sierra Club; Alfandre, along with Presley, drew letters of support from the members of the Clarksburg advisory committee Presley co-founded.

They also had the backing of Esther P. Gelman (D), who served on both the Planning Board and the County Council.

‘‘Amy Presley will bring a searchlight to the process; more diligent than she has been, I don’t think is possible,” Gelman said.

‘‘Joe will bring the experience and know-how of the practical end of the process,” said Gelman, who served with Alfandre’s father, also a developer, on the Planning Board in the early 1970s. ‘‘He proved [through projects like Kentlands] that when a first-class builder serves, he can accomplish more with practical advice than planners can with theories,” she added.

‘‘They complement each other pretty well,” agreed County Council President Michael J. Knapp (D-Dist. 2) of Germantown.

Knapp, chairman of the council’s Planning Housing and Economic Development Committee, said their ability to bring people and developers together to build communities that will be more urban is what the county and the Planning Board will need over the next few years.

Emily Lederer — one of many Clarksburg residents who have been torn between pushing for everything that Town Center developer Newland Communities said they would provide and settling for something less to get the stalled retail development started — said she hopes Presley will temper her zeal as she fights for what she thinks is right.

‘‘It’s a Catch-22, because she can fight for things, but that can also turn people off,” Lederer said, adding that it may be easier for Presley as a board member than an advocate because it won’t be as personal.

The planning department has hired about 30 new staffers since the Clarksburg Town Center Advisory Committee exposed the oversight failures in Clarksburg and criticized the agency for allowing developers to negotiate last-minute ‘‘amendments” in private meetings.

The Planning Board approved a plan of compliance in lieu of fines, and Newland and CTCAC went to arbitration over site plans. But negotiations broke down, and the committee has asked court to stop the arbitration.

Whenever the dispute goes back to the Planning Board, Presley said, she would recuse herself.

As a developer, Alfandre could also be required to recuse himself occasionally.

Planning Board Chairman Royce Hanson said the staff is impressed with both Presley, who will be sworn in Thursday, and Alfandre, who will join the board July 10.

‘‘I don’t think anybody is at all concerned — I think they will work well with everybody,” said Hanson, a nationally recognized planning expert and former Planning Board chairman whom the council called back to lead the agency two years ago in the aftermath of the Clarksburg debacle.

Consistency and reliability is what most people are looking for, Presley said. ‘‘I’ll do my best to abide by the process and uphold procedures and plans and, when we hit on something that isn’t working, to address it head on and in the open,” she said.

Alfandre called new rules requiring more community involvement in the development approval process ‘‘a good first step,” but said he wants to see more developers collaborating with their communities’ would-be residents and neighbors.

‘‘I think we have a suburban mentality while living as an urbanizing county — I would at least like the conversation to recognize that we need some new rules,” Alfandre said.

Planning Board

The five-member Planning Board is charged with reviewing and approving or rejecting development plans, shaping and pacing growth, managing almost 33,000 acres of county parks and recommending sites for historic designation and preservation.

Members may serve two successive full four-year terms.

Members are:

Royce Hanson, Democrat, chairman, first term expires in 2010.

John M. Robinson, Democrat, vice chairman, second term expires in 2009.

Jean B. Cryor, Republican, first term expires in 2011.

Amy Presley, Republican, first term expires in 2012.

Joseph L. Alfandre, Democrat, partial term expires in 2011.

For agendas and more,go to www.montgomeryplanningboard.org