By Adam Pagnucco.
Artie Harris, the Vice President of Real Estate at Montgomery Housing Partnership, has been appointed chair of the planning board on a 6-5 vote. He is only the second Black planning board chair in Montgomery County after former army general Art Holmes served in 2001-02.
Artie Harris. Credit: Montgomery Housing Partnership staff page.
I may have more to say about why this happened, but first, let’s get to the mechanics. Council Member Natali Fani-Gonzalez nominated Harris and was seconded by Kate Stewart. Dawn Luedtke nominated former Council Member Hans Riemer and was seconded by Gabe Albornoz. After discussion, six members – Fani-Gonzalez, Stewart, Andrew Friedson, Sidney Katz, Kristin Mink and Laurie-Anne Sayles – voted for Harris and five members – Luedtke, Albornoz, Marilyn Balcombe, Evan Glass and Will Jawando – voted for Riemer.
The council appointed transportation and planning consultant Josh Linden to the other planning board seat. Seven members (Albornoz, Balcombe, Fani-Gonzalez, Friedson, Glass, Katz and Luedtke) voted for Linden while four members (Jawando, Mink, Sayles and Stewart) voted for American University professor Carolyn Gallaher.
Let’s recognize the council for restoring its former practice of holding split votes for planning board in public sessions. They changed their rules to do this in January and they have delivered.
With these appointments and the exoneration of former Planning Board Chair Casey Anderson, the council’s clean-up project at Park and Planning looks complete. The agency performs crucial work for the county. Good luck to Harris, Linden and everyone else at the planning board.