The Montgomery County Planning Board is coming under fire from the county council’s new president over transparency and lobbying issues, just as the county is expected to take up a new master planning document.
Montgomery County Council President Gabe Albornoz, D-At large, wrote to planning board chair Casey Anderson this week detailing past complaints from the public about notice of virtual public meetings and the board’s failure to keep a record of registered lobbyists doing business with the board — both of which the planning board has address since November, according to a copy of the letter posted on the Seventh State blog and The Washington Post.
Albornoz also questioned the board’s placing of items “that appear to fit the legal definition of a ‘major amendment’” on its consent agenda” — a portion of its meeting agendas that do not automatically trigger public hearings. Major amendments are subject to a public hearing.
