That's too bad, I support his vision of smart growth, even though he was a bit clumsy with his words.

by Thayer-D on Apr 19, 2012 3:27 pm • link • report

Relatively speaking, since at least 2001 the Planning Department directorship has become a revolving door. This is an unfortunate circumstance. Eventually we will run out of progressive, experienced candidates.

by Eric on Apr 19, 2012 3:34 pm • link • report

B.S. about the career change. Yeah, it's a career change into a place with less over-the-top NIMBYism.

We lost a real professional who knew his stuff. :(

by Cavan on Apr 19, 2012 3:58 pm • link • report

Hire Dan Reed ;-)

by Paul S on Apr 19, 2012 5:05 pm • link • report

This speaks to the power of entrenchment of MoCo that a few voices can make a visionary resign and seek employment elsewhere.
The question is how can we attract someone else who is willing to buck the system, be progressive, be analytical with data (a strength of Rollin), and also be a salesman for smart growth?
Unhappy in Moco now.

by Lynn on Apr 19, 2012 5:36 pm • link • report

@Paul S

Thanks for the endorsement. (I hope somebody out there is listening!)

Rollin will be very difficult to replace. For all of his slip-ups, he was very talented at getting people to understand but more importantly, care about planning issues.

I remember watching him speak at a retirement community in Gaithersburg. Senior citizens are often stereotyped as being averse to change, but they were very receptive to his argument that denser development (in the right places) could not only create places that people enjoy being in, but also generated more tax revenue that could pay for other amenities, like better recreation facilities.

I deeply admire Rollin, his work, and his vision for MoCo. I'm sad to see him go, but I know the mark he's made on our community will last a long time.

by dan reed! on Apr 19, 2012 6:12 pm • link • report

A great loss for this area.

by Capt. Hilts on Apr 19, 2012 6:41 pm • link • report

Any guesses about where he's headed next? Recall that when all was the Bethesda Magazine stuff was going down he was unable to comment as he was traveling out of the country. Knowing Rollin, perhaps he's landed an opportunity in his favorite city, Berlin.

by Peter Witte on Apr 19, 2012 7:50 pm • link • report

Wouldn't be surprised if Rollin's heading back Canada.

Toronto's Chief Planner retired in March and folks there have been calling on decision makers to hire someone with a bit more audacity who will shake things up.

by eozberk on Apr 19, 2012 10:37 pm • link • report

is the chief planner in Toronto subject to the same hiring authority as the former director of the TTC? Meaning, things sure are crazy in Toronto governance these days, that I think it would be tough to attract people to work there, in high positions, although for obvious reasons Rollin Stanley would still probably find going back there.

by Richard Layman on Apr 20, 2012 7:27 am • link • report

Toronto, under the reign of [deleted for violating the comment policy] Rob Ford, is not as attractive a post as it might be under other circumstances, but it's still a very good post. The Toronto area - often despite Rob Ford - still has a higher batting average than DMV in making progressive and innovative planning and development decisions. One look at their new open concept subway cars and you realize the terrific innovation being employed there that would be impossible here for NIMBYism or fights among the District, VA and MD.

by Capt. Hilts on Apr 20, 2012 8:01 am • link • report

I agree that the likely catalyst is a pull rather than a push. If it's true that the relatively polite opposition in Montgomery County caused him to flee, then he's too thin-skinned to be effetive anywhere. But I'm going with the Toronto hunch.

by Crickey7 on Apr 20, 2012 8:54 am • link • report

Toronto seems sort of unlikely as he already was planning director there. There are other cities. But I suppose it's possible.

by David Alpert on Apr 20, 2012 9:19 am • link • report

Hm, news articles said he was "a top planning official" in Toronto, but maybe he wasn't actually director?

by David Alpert on Apr 20, 2012 9:20 am • link • report

Vancouver has an opening:
http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Brent+Toderian+Vancouver+director+planning+been+fired/6078346/story.html

Stanley was not the Director when he was in Toronto:
http://www.montgomeryplanning.org/department/documents/RollinStanleybioDec.2011.pdf

by Alex B. on Apr 20, 2012 9:28 am • link • report

I second the nomination of Dan Reed.

It would be great to have an East County guy as director of planning at M-NCP&PC Montgomery County.

by C. P. Zilliacus on Apr 20, 2012 11:06 am • link • report

@ David Alpert and others

Rollin was not Planning Director (Chief Planner) in Toronto, I think it was Paul Bedford back then. Not sure what other North American cities (doubt he'd go to another county, despite how urban it is) have Planning positions open that would qualify as a "much bigger job" than leaving one of the wealthiest jurisdictions with a population of nearly 1 million.

@ Capt Hilts and Richard Layman - I would agree with you about the job in Toronto given the current political situation if it wasn't Rollin we're were talking about. I feel like the Rob Ford administration is the type of challenge that he is up to. And while I'm not sure who is on the hiring committee, I do know some senior planners at the City of Toronto claim they 'taught Rollin everything he knows'. I'd love to see him there because local media would go bananas with his style and rhetoric. Meanwhile, the Paris-style open subway cars are a cool yet practical solution to the TTC's problem of trying to cram more passengers on an over-capacity line without having to spend billions on the fabled "downtown relief line".

My money was on TO because of the timing of Gary Wright's retirement, Rollin's likely attraction to a jurisdiction with higher quality of life than MoCo (subjective of course), and Nancy Floreen's comment about his reasoning as a 'family decision'.

Finally, I think Montgomery County should crowdsource their next Planning Director via Greater Greater Washington, in which case I also vote for Dan Reed!

by eozberk on Apr 20, 2012 11:57 pm • link • report

eozberk, another attraction of Toronto for Stanley is to preserve the Summerhill LCBO as an LCBO instead of converting it back into a train station for the GO line!

[Deleted for violating the comment policy.]

by Capt. Hilts on Apr 21, 2012 6:51 am • link • report

@Capt. Hilts
I'm all for converting the Summerhill LCBO back into a rail station for GO (as long as they keep the tasting rooms for $10,000 scotch). Not sure how Stanley feels about it, but I suspect the main opposition to its re-conversion might be Rosedale's 'rich white ladies'...

by eozberk on Apr 21, 2012 1:00 pm • link • report

Same here, eozberk, I think the Timothy's would GO [pun intended] before the liquor store.

I saw two fellows walking around with blueprints in the parking lot between the LCBO and the three thieves, so it's getting serious consideration.

I actually don't envision much opposition so long as the bulk of the LCBO survives, given that folks will just be transferring from GO to a grossly under-used subway station. Too bad Rosedal station isn't an option for this task, as it's even more under-used and the tile in the station is hideous.

by Capt. Hilts on Apr 21, 2012 1:04 pm • link • report

When I think of "smart growth", I think of Rollin Stanley. Rollin is going to stop the clear cutting in Calgary, Ayeh. I hope the next director is a visionary as Rollin.

by Anthony Juarez on Apr 24, 2012 9:02 pm • link • report