By Nancy Trejos and Miranda S. Spivack
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, November 9, 2006
Montgomery County Executive-elect Isiah Leggett (D) quickly asserted himself yesterday, pledging to push for growth limits to slow development in a jurisdiction rife with concerns about traffic congestion and school crowding.
Leggett was swept into office Tuesday as part of a wave of voter frustration in Maryland and Virginia with what many perceive as unchecked growth. In Montgomery, the County Council generally sets development policy, but the executive's bully pulpit is significant, and Leggett signaled yesterday that he will use it to try to push the county to slow construction.
Speaking yesterday at his transition headquarters in Rockville, Leggett said one of his highest priorities will be to urge the council to revisit a 2003 vote that effectively lifted a building moratorium in areas with roads and schools deemed unable to accommodate growth. He said he wants the council to begin a review as early as January and to decide on a policy before budget negotiations begin in the spring.
He stopped short of suggesting that he would push to reinstate a building moratorium in some areas, saying such a move was "not planned, but it could happen."
Although the power of elected officials is limited by market forces, they can broadly affect growth and development, and how they wield that influence is often a major issue in local politics.
Leggett, who is known as a careful politician, said little between the Sept. 12 Democratic primary and Tuesday's election about his plans for office.
He thrashed his two opponents in Tuesday's general election, capturing 68 percent of the vote to Republican Chuck Floyd's 22.5 percent and independent Robin Ficker's 9.5 percent. In the primary, he handily defeated council member Steven A. Silverman, a leader of a 2002 slate of candidates who ran on a platform of lifting restrictions on growth while raising taxes on the building industry.
Montgomery voters also ousted the council's only Republican Tuesday and elected four new members who promised to better manage or slow growth. The newly constituted council could give Leggett the political backing he needs.
"I feel very good about the council," Leggett said in an interview after introducing his transition team leaders at his news conference. "They recognized what was a very strong mandate from citizens in Montgomery County."
Support for slower growth was a factor in elections in other suburban counties Tuesday.
Although several slow-growth Charles County Republicans failed to win spots on the Board of Commissioners, the Democrats who swept the five seats have committed to restricting growth to a designated district. In Calvert County, the incumbent Board of Commissioners touted its slow-growth strategy, and the four incumbents seeking reelection appear to have won, pending absentee vote counts.
In Frederick County, which is quickly shedding its rural character, Jan H. Gardner (D), an outspoken advocate for controlling growth, was the top vote-getter in the race for five seats on the Board of County Commissioners. Other supporters of restricted growth -- two Republicans and a Democrat -- also won. Two GOP commissioners who had supported more development lost.
In Anne Arundel, state Del. John R. Leopold (R) was leading the county executive race after making independence from developers a defining issue of his campaign.
In the race for chairman of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors, voters chose Occoquan supervisor Corey A. Stewart (R), who ran on the slogan "Controlled Growth for a Change." He pledged to put the squeeze on residential growth by raising developers' proffers -- payments made to offset the impact of new housing on roads, schools and other services.
"This is why people elected me, and if I did anything else, they'd put me out of office," Stewart said.
Leggett's win in Montgomery was considered by political observers to be a repudiation of some of the pro-growth, pro-business policies of outgoing County Executive Douglas M. Duncan (D). A Washington Post poll of Maryland voters earlier this year showed growth and traffic congestion to be leading concerns across the state, but particularly in Montgomery.
Leggett, a former County Council member and past chairman of the Maryland Democratic Party, said he wants the council to restore elements of "policy area review," which used formulas to determine whether communities were too overwhelmed by traffic to accommodate new housing. The council, with Duncan's support, eliminated that process in 2003, while imposing Maryland's highest taxes on development. But this year, county officials acknowledged that the taxes have not brought in as much revenue as expected.
"Ike's race crystallized the feeling that people felt that it had been too much for too long," said Roger Berliner, a Democrat who ousted the council's sole Republican, Howard A. Denis (Potomac-Bethesda), from the District 1 seat. "So it was a question of let's slow it down and let us put some of the controls that were eliminated back in."
Some newly elected council members said they are willing to reevaluate the council's 2003 decision.
"It would seem to me changes are on the way," said Duchy Trachtenberg (D), who won an at-large council seat and has pledged to better manage growth.
Council member Marilyn Praisner (D-Eastern County), a slow-growth proponent who won reelection in District 4 and will seek to become council president, said she expects a debate on the issue.
Some county politicians disagreed that the general election was a referendum on growth. Denis, who often voted for development but also pushed to eliminate "mansionization" and excessive tree cutting, attributed his loss to tough national and local environments for Republicans.
Staff writers Daniel de Vise, Nick Miroff and Philip Rucker contributed to this report.
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