The Montgomery County Council narrowly passed over Action Committee for Transit President Ben Ross, a Smart Growth advocate as well as the leading Purple Line activist, for a spot on the Montgomery County Planning Board. They instead elected Joseph Alfandre, developer of the New Urbanist but non-transit-oriented Kentlands community in Gaithersburg. Maryland Politics Watch has the details. Councilmembers George Leventhal (at large), Valerie Ervin (Silver Spring), Duchy Trachtenberg (at large), and Phil Andrews (Rockville-Gaithersburg) voted for Ross, while the rest chose Alfandre.

Since I’m still trying to get a handle on the various members of the County Council, I made this quickie chart showing the Councilmembers’ positions on Ross/Alfandre, on the subdizing library parking, and on which ones Maryland Politics Watch calls a a “slow-growth candidate” (which often means no growth in dense areas, pushing development to distant exurbs).

MemberDistrictLib. Pkg.Plan. Bd.“Slow Growth”?
Roger Berliner1 (Bethesda/CC/Potomac)MarketAlfandreSlow
Mike Knapp2 (Upcounty)MarketAlfandreNot Slow
Phil Andrews3 (Rockville/Gaithersburg)SubsidizedRossSlow
Don Praisner4 (East County)SubsidizedAlfandreSlow
Valerie Ervin5 (Silver Spring)MarketRossNot Slow
Marc ElrichAt LargeSubsidizedAlfandreSlow
Nancy FloreenAt LargeSubsidizedAlfandreNot Slow
George LeventhalAt LargeMarketRossNot Slow
Duchy TrachtenbergAt LargeSubsidizedRossSlow

There’s not a lot of correlation here; the Slow-Growthers were mostly together on the library, losing Berliner but picking up Floreen. Alfandre/Ross doesn’t resemble the others much. Anyone more knowledgeable about MoCo politics want to weigh in with more insight or opinions?

Update: I’ve gotten some emails with more information about Ross vs. Alfandre. Alfandre was backed by the opponents of greater density in Bethesda and Friendship Heights, and he refused to say whether he supports or opposes the ICC when asked by the Sierra Club (Ross clearly and publicly opposes it). As I said above, Kentlands is auto-only, though with some provision for future Corridor Cities Transitway access, and a New Urbanist semi-walkability while also being located far away from employment centers.

David Alpert created Greater Greater Washington in 2008 and was its executive director until 2020. He formerly worked in tech and has lived in the Boston, San Francisco Bay, and New York metro areas in addition to Washington, DC. He lives with his wife and two children in Dupont Circle.