A Trip to Asia for Leggett, and Questions of Cost Back Home

Head of Planning Sounds Discord on Music Hall

The County Council's planning committee played the role of referee between the Planning Board and County Executive Isiah Leggett's advisers for much of Tuesday's discussion on a pair of land-use measures designed to bring a Fillmore music hall to downtown Silver Spring.

Planning Board Chairman Royce Hanson has not hidden his disdain for Leggett's proposal that would shift oversight of certain arts and entertainment projects from county planners to the county executive. Hanson supports opening a music hall in Silver Spring but has warned that the zoning changes would set up the potential for less public open space and unimaginative design.

Several times during the meeting, Hanson interrupted to warn the council. "You're making a serious mistake," he said of phasing in landscaping requirements for the proposed site of the music hall on Colesville Road. "You're making several. Don't stop now."

Later, he took issue with an element of the plan that would essentially wipe out a requirement in the county's long-term plans for a pedestrian path on the land surrounding the site the Lee Development Group is donating.

"If you're going to make these decisions in this way, then you really don't need a planning staff or a Planning Board," Hanson said.

To which council President Michael Knapp replied: "You've said three times this is a bad idea. I understand. I'm not really thrilled with it, either."

The crescendo came when Hanson raised his voice and wagged his finger at the council.

"I want the council to think hard. For God's sake, people, think about what you're doing."

"We're not doing anything," Knapp replied, looking unruffled by the accusation. "We're just gathering information."

In the end, the three committee members -- Knapp and fellow council members Nancy Floreen (D-At Large) and Marc Elrich (D-At Large) -- could not agree on much and sent the bill to the full council with a long list of divided recommendations.

Floreen, for one, embraced the argument of Leggett's aides that the council must change long-standing rules to create a new economic development tool.

"If we keep comparing it to the way we've always done things, we're not going to get what we want," said Timothy Firestine, Leggett's chief administrative officer.

Chief's Departure Could Hurt Ambulance Fee Plan

Fire Chief Thomas W. Carr Jr.'s announcement this week that he would retire in the "near future" to take over the fire department in Charleston, S.C., comes at a critical time for the county's fire service.

Carr, 54, has been the public point man of County Executive Isiah Leggett's effort to create an ambulance fee that would raise millions for a department that is stretched to meet the demands of Montgomery's growing population. Carr has been making the administration's case at County Council hearings and community meetings in the face of fierce opposition from the county's well-organized network of volunteer firefighters.

The council's Public Safety Committee has not acted on the proposed ambulance fee, and Carr could step down before the full council votes.

Carr, who started his career as a paramedic-firefighter in the county in 1978, became the county's first fire chief in January 2005 and oversaw the reorganization of the Fire and Rescue Service.