County Finds Planning Disorder

Council investigators said the disintegrating regulatory process has left a vacuum unfilled by the planning department, and to a lesser extent, the Department of Permitting Services. Together, the agencies were supposed to track development plans and building permits in the northern Montgomery community but failed to communicate with each other.

The developer was singled out for submitting flawed documents "that contained errors and internal inconsistencies." And when members of the developer's staff noticed errors in planning documents, they did not point them out.

Problems have also festered, the report said, because the County Council failed to oversee the planning agency.

Although the council report notes that flaws in the planning process date back to well before Berlage became chairman in 2002, it says problems have steadily worsened.

"We have the vision. We just don't have the management," said council member Michael Knapp (D-Upcounty), whose district includes Clarksburg.

The report describes an atmosphere at the agency that is unwelcoming to the public. "The Planning Board and its staff did not respond fairly or effectively" to questions from Clarksburg residents, Orlansky told the council.

Clarksburg Town Center residents, upset that the developer was trying to change the plans for the community's retail center, began arguing more than a year ago that something was wrong with the system, but they were marginalized and given conflicting information from the planning agency, the report said.

After ruling in April that there were no violations, the Planning Board reversed itself in July and cited Newland and the builders for constructing hundreds of homes too tall and close to the street.

The reversal came after the resignation of Wynn Witthans, who had managed the Clarksburg project for the agency. She stepped down in June after acknowledging that she made changes to site plans for Clarksburg so they conformed with other documents relating to the project. Loehr, the agency's director, took early retirement and left last month.

The report did not discuss Loehr's role but noted that Witthans, who was not named, did not act alone and kept her bosses, including the Planning Board, informed about what she was doing.

Council member Howard A. Denis (R-Potomac-Bethesda) said he thought the report took an important first step but left unanswered questions.

"I think we have to notch this up," he said, citing a need for more details and e-mails, phone records and other documents.

Amy Presley, a leader of the Clarksburg Town Center Advisory Committee, which unearthed evidence of irregularities and brought them to the county government, said she was disappointed in the report.

She said it should have widened its probe to look at the roles of developers and builders, not just procedural issues.