Community Corner

County Planning Director Takes Job in Canada

Montgomery County Planning Director Rollin Stanley will leave his post next month for a position in Calgary, Alberta.

When Montgomery County Planning Director Rollin Stanley , he'll head north to Calgary, Alberta, where he will head the city's planning, development and assessment department.

Calgary — which, at one million residents, is Canada's third-largest city—recruited Stanley last winter after interviewing him several years ago for another position and after an international search, according to a Montgomery County Planning Department news release.

Stanley did not seek out the position, read the statement, but considered the offer "too good to refuse" because he would be responsible for managing Calgary’s growth and because it could present professional opportunities for his wife, who is also a planner.

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Stanley, who has directed the 140-member county planning department for the last four years, announced his resignation last week.

In Calgary, he will head a department of 800 employees.

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“We’re sorry to lose him,” Montgomery County Planning Board Chair Françoise Carrier said in the statement. “He motivated all of us with his ideas and energy, and he helped set a great course for the county. Our focus now is to keep up the momentum to implement the county’s vision for its future.”

Carrier expects to hire a new planning director by year's end, and an announcement regarding interim management is expected within the next few weeks, according to the statement.

Stanley is known nationally for his "smart growth" approach to planning, about which he has written on his director's blog. But Stanley has also come under fire for controversial statements he used to describe his detractors, .

In an interview with Bethesda Magazine, Stanley called some of his detractors "rich, white women" who spread fear about his initiatives. A group of activists asked him to publicly apologize, Patch reported.


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