UPDATE at 12:30 The Montgomery County Planning Board on Wednesday announced it selected Gwen Wright, a former county planner who now holds a similar job in Alexandria, as the Department’s next director.
The announcement came a year after former Planning chief Rollin Stanley left the county for a similar post in Calgary. Wright said she will not take the same aggressive approach to smart growth that sometimes rubbed civic leaders the wrong way, though she made it clear she believes the county must utilize those concepts where appropriate.
“I very much believe in smart growth. I believe in good urban design. I think if anyone came and looked at the projects I’ve been working on in Alexandria, they would demonstrate that,” Wright said. “But I also think that Montgomery County is too big for a one-size fits all approach and that we have to spend some time listening, looking, thinking about how all the different parts of the county could actually grow in an appropriate way.”
Stanley found himself in hot water after comments to Bethesda Magazine about critics of his move toward denser, more urbanized development.
He referred to “rich white women,” who were “sowing discord,” remarks many feel were aimed at a group of his critics that included Chevy Chase Village Board member and former Planning Board Commissioner Pat Baptiste and Chevy Chase civic activist Meredith Wellington.
“I don’t want the fact that I am saying it’s important to listen to everyone to say that I don’t hold strong views,” Wright said. “I do hold strong views, but I also understand that those views really do have to reflect the character and the desires and the goals of the people who live in Montgomery County. I’m not going to approach it in the same way.”
Wright, who will start as director on July 1, cited a project in which the city put affordable housing units on top of a fire station, as an example of the unique type of urban development she was a part of and could work on in Montgomery County.
Wright worked at the Planning Department from 1987 until 2008, most recently as the acting director of the department and before that, the chief of countywide planning. In Alexandria, she served as the chief of the development division for the city’s Department of Planning and Zoning.
There, Wright played a role in the transformation of Landmark Mall and Potomac Yard.
A press release said Planning Board commissioners vetted candidates for several months since Stanley’s departure and that the process “resulted in a number of qualified candidates who were considered before the Board made its final selection.”
Dan Reed, a Montgomery County blogger and activist who follows planning issues, wrote that Wright’s challenge will be to mend fences between those who seek Stanley’s vision of a more urbanized county and those wary of the effects of development on the county’s infrastructure:
Montgomery County is changing. It’s gone from being the “perfect suburbia” to a majority-minority county with substantial urban areas, and with it the discussion over how and where we should grow has shifted.
Gwen Wright’s task is to make sure Montgomery County can continue to attract new residents and businesses while directing investment to the right places, particularly near transit, in close-in urban areas, and in the underdeveloped East County. The big question, however, is whether she can do it while acknowledging different perspectives and making everyone feel welcome.
The Planning Board also thanked Rose Krasnow, who served as the acting Planning director since Stanley left. Krasnow, a former mayor of Rockville, has indicated her interest in running for Montgomery County Council in 2014.
Wright said she foresees her primary challenge as dealing with a changing county that has a diverse mix of uses and neighborhoods.
“I think the challenges, frankly, are pretty well identified by my predecessor,” Wright said. “We have a county that is changing and, at least in downcounty, is urbanizing. We have to look at how to accomodate that kind of growth. We also have a very diverse county. You aren’t just dealing with urban areas.”
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