Planning experts will discuss challenges and successes of influential land use policies over past four decades
SILVER SPRING, MD – The Montgomery County Planning Department, part of The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, is hosting the final event in its Winter Speakers Series on Wednesday, March 11 from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at the Planning Department headquarters (8787 Georgia Ave., Silver Spring, MD.). The series is called “A Once and Future County: Lessons on How Planning Politics Shaped Montgomery County” and is hosted by Royce Hanson, former chairman of the County’s Planning Board.
The March 11 session, titled “Hunting the Snark: Growth Policy and the Public Interest,” evaluates the influence of county growth policy on development patterns over the past 40 years. Hanson and a panel of experts will discuss the challenges of planning in Montgomery County for effective and democratically accountable land use policy.
The title of the event is inspired by a poem written by British author Lewis Carroll about the quest to catch a mysterious creature called a Snark. “Like the snark in Carroll’s poem, county growth policy seemed to vanish or turn into something else just as it was within grasp,” says Hanson. “Some policies were followed and worked; others fell short of promise or failed. The system is valuable, not because it was invariably right, but because it maintained a high standard of integrity in a policy arena fraught with conflict, political influence and opportunity for corruption.”
Joining Hanson at the March 11 event to discuss growth policies will be the following experts:
Richard Hall served as the Maryland Secretary of Planning from 2007 to 2015. He joined the Maryland Department of Planning in 1992 and, as Director of Land Use Planning and Analysis, was involved in comprehensive plans, zoning ordinances and smart growth policies. Hall is a past president of the Maryland Chapter of the American Planning Association, a former board member of 1000 Friends of Maryland and an affiliate faculty member of the University of Maryland’s National Center for Smart Growth Research and Education.
Glenn Orlin is the Deputy Administrator of the Montgomery County Council, advising on matters pertaining to transportation and infrastructure financing. He has reviewed growth policy since 1986 for the County Executive and Council. Orlin analyzes proposed policies, budgets, plans, programs, projects, laws and regulations affecting transportation, infrastructure and development, and he makes recommendations to the Council based on the results of these evaluations. Orlin serves as the Council’s capital budget coordinator and assists in the direction of the Council Office.
Richard Tustian is an architect, planner and educator with more than 50 years of experience in managing the built environment. Between 1969 and 1990, Tustian was Planning Director for Montgomery County, where he was instrumental in developing its comprehensive growth management system. He has been engaged as a consultant by a wide variety of municipalities across the nation and as an educator by organizations such as the Lincoln Institute of land Policy, American Planning Association and Universities of Maryland, Pennsylvania and Johns Hopkins.
Event Details:
– The 90-minute event is free to the public and will be streamed online live. It will be held from 5:30 to 7 p.m. on March 11 at the Planning Department headquarters at 8787 Georgia Avenue, Silver Spring, MD.
– Watch the video from the previous Winter Speakers Series event on February 11 that focused on Montgomery County’s Agricultural Reserve.
– Learn more about the Once and Future County Speakers Series.
– Use hashtag: #onceandfuturecounty