By Adam Pagnucco.

In a letter to Council President Sidney Katz, County Executive Marc Elrich has asked the council to limit the work of the Planning Board to “noncontroversial” issues during the COVID-19 crisis.

Elrich begins his letter by noting that the council has delayed some hearings on non-budget issues due to problems of public participation stemming from social distancing. Elrich contrasts that with the planning board’s policies. He writes:

The Planning Board continues to meet, have substantive presentations, and take action on controversial matters important to the public. While its meetings are available on the website and the Planning Board has provided a form for public participation, the new process is complicated and subject to ‘technical difficulties,’ as happened on Thursday, April 2nd. The result is little, if any, participation by a distracted public.

After noting two issues of public interest before the board – an amendment to environmental overlay zones in Ten Mile Creek and ongoing work on the Subdivision Staging Policy – Elrich writes:

I ask that the Council give direction to the Planning Board consistent with its own decision to delay certain public hearings until such time as the public can more fully participate. Because sensitive environmental and major policy decisions require full public participation, I recommend that the Board limit its actions to those agenda items that are noncontroversial, necessary for the administrative functioning of the agency, and unrelated to major policy decisions that will come before the Council.

It’s unclear whether the council has the specific authority to direct the Planning Board in how to perform its work. The council does fund the agency and it appoints Planning Board Members. Complicating the issue is Elrich’s barely veiled contempt for Planning Board Chair Casey Anderson. Last year, Elrich told Bethesda Beat that he was “not a fan” of Anderson but the council unanimously reappointed him as chair anyway.

We reprint Elrich’s letter below.