Council Knocks School's Deal Over Disputed Violations

Montgomery County Council members criticized the Planning Board on Tuesday for entering into a deal with an all-girls Catholic school that allowed it to avoid hundreds of thousands of dollars in potential environmental penalties and instead expand its curriculum and provide scholarships to two local girls.

"It looks odd; it looks ad hoc," said council member George Leventhal (D-At Large), who said he had been contacted by many constituents concerned about the deal with the Connelly School of the Holy Child in Potomac.

County inspectors visited the school last winter as part of the school's application to build an artificial turf athletics field. The inspectors raised questions about apparent violations of a forest protection plan required when the school applied to construct a building in 1999. The potential penalties were steep: as much as $250,000. A public hearing was set for May. The school denied wrongdoing and threatened to sue the county if the Planning Board pursued the allegations.

But in an unusual arrangement, Planning Director Rollin Stanley canceled the hearing, agreeing to drop the penalties and keep the allegations out of the public record. The school agreed to expand its environmental education curriculum and give two scholarships to local girls.

"This was a public violation partially satisfied with a private benefit," said council President Phil Andrews (D-Gaithersburg-Rockville). "That concerns me and other council members."

Council member Marc Elrich (D-At Large) echoed those views, saying he was puzzled that scholarships to a private Catholic school would benefit the public. "That's why we have public schools," Elrich said.

The agreement between the planning agency and the school, made available to The Washington Post after a public-records request, was the subject of an Aug. 31 article. The arrangement appears to have no precedent at the agency.

"Most board members thought the arrangement was reasonable and served the public interest," Planning Board Chairman Royce Hanson told the council Tuesday, noting that the school agreed to correct the violations and plant additional trees.

Planners are reexamining the procedures it uses to settle legal disputes in light of the Connelly School agreement, he said.

"In all these cases, we have got to look at what's the outcome, what is the benefit to the public. We are going to have a lot of cases where there will probably be a settlement," he said. The agency might cap the amount of prospective penalties it is willing to forego, he added, but no final decision has been made.