Planners, architects and historians reveal how politics and policies shaped the community
SILVER SPRING, MD – In November, the Montgomery County Planning Department is launching its Winter Speakers Series, titled “A Once and Future County: Lessons on How Planning Politics Shaped Montgomery County.” The five evening sessions will offer presentations by Royce Hanson, former chairman of the County’s Planning Board; panel discussions among regional planning experts; and question-and-answer sessions with attendees. Topics will reflect the subject of Hanson’s soon-to-be published book: Suburb: Planning Politics and the Public Interest in Montgomery County 1910-2010.
Each 90-minute event is free to the public and will be streamed online live. All sessions will be held from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the Planning Department headquarters at 8787 Georgia Avenue, Silver Spring, Md.
Learn more about the Once and Future County speakers series.
The first session, “Planners, Politicians and How Montgomery County Got This Way,” will be held on November 12, 2014 from 6 to 7:30 pm. It will focus on development in the county from the end of the First World War to the present day. The presentation will examine the competing interests in approaching development; the strategic decisions of governing regimes; and the evolution of public engagement within the planning process. Panelists include the following experts:
Gus Bauman was Chairman of the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission from 1989 to 1993 after serving as its legal counsel in the 1970s. An attorney who focuses on land use and environmental issues, Bauman currently advises on comprehensive planning, project development and natural resource regulation. His writings on land use and wetlands regulations have been cited by the Supreme Court. Before joining the Washington firm of Beveridge & Diamond, he was litigation counsel and legal department director for the National Association of Home Builders.
Lucille Harrigan served as the Legislative Information Coordinator for the Montgomery County Council for more than two decades. Before assuming that position in 1977, Harrigan worked as a speechwriter for the US Department of State and a contract writer for the Defense Department and US Information Agency. She has also taught courses in comparative government at Montgomery College. Recently, Harrigan co-wrote a series of papers on urban sprawl and metropolitan growth in the Washington region.
Harry Lerch is one of the most influential land use and zoning attorneys in the region. His law practice, Lerch, Early & Brewer, focuses on eminent domain and condemnation proceedings, zoning, planning, traffic mitigation, historic preservation and legacy open space. Prior to joining the Bethesda firm in 1970, Lerch served as general counsel for the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission and was a member of the Maryland House of Delegates. During his tenure at M-NCPPC, he oversaw the purchase of more than 14,000 acres of park land and was responsible for drafting legislation affecting zoning, subdivision and planning.
The second session on December 10 will address “Retrofitting the Suburbs: From Friendship Heights to White Flint,” tracing the evolution of strategic land use decisions in key areas of the county. Discussion will focus on the influence of residential and commercial interests, the County Planning Board and its staff, County Council and County Executive, and changing approaches to planning. Panelists include the following experts:
Julie Davis is a retired partner of Caplin & Drysdale, a Washington law firm specializing in national and international tax issues. However, for over 40 years, she has represented Montgomery County communities and civic associations on a pro bono basis in planning and zoning matters. She has also served on the Citizens Advisory Committee appointed by the Montgomery County Planning Board for the Friendship Heights Sector Plan, on the Planning Board’s Transportation Policy Review (“TPR”) group, its Centers and Boulevards study group, and most recently its Zoning Advisory Panel. In addition, Davis has been a member of the Montgomery County Charter Review Commission, the Western Montgomery County Citizens Advisory Board, and the Friendship Heights Transportation Management District Advisory Committee.
Evan Goldman is Vice President of Development for Federal Realty Investment Trust. He is responsible for managing the transformation of Rockville’s Mid-Pike Plaza Shopping Center into a mixed-use project and is an active participant in the White Flint Partnership, an advocacy organization of commercial property owners. Goldman led the grassroots community campaign to secure the passage of the White Flint Sector Plan by the Montgomery County Council in 2010. Prior to joining Federal Realty in 2008, he was a partner at the Holladay Corporation, a development company in Washington, D.C., where he began his involvement with the White Flint Partnership.
Session three on January 14, 2015, “Trials and Errors of Corridor Cities Planning,” focuses on the planning politics and development in the Rockville-Gaithersburg area; the challenges of a new town in Germantown; and the planning and development of Clarksburg.
Session four on February 11, 2015, “Creating and Sustaining the County’s Agricultural Reserve,” traces the 30-year effort to protect the rural landscape and the working farms of upper Montgomery County. The technical planning, legal and political challenges that were overcome to establish the Agricultural Reserve in 1980 and sustain a working landscape against continuing efforts to compromise its integrity will be discussed.
On March 11, 2015, the final session, “Hunting the Snark: Growth Policy and the Public Interest,” evaluates the effects of the 40-year evolution of county growth policy on development patterns. It will discuss the institutional structure of planning in Montgomery County for effective and democratically accountable land use policy.
Learn more: https://www.montgomeryplanning.org/department/onceandfuture/
Use hashtag: #onceandfuturecounty