TOWSON, MD—The Baltimore County Council is taking steps to secure more control over the County Executive’s planning board picks. The council is considering legislation that would require the County Executive’s picks for the planning board to be confirmed by the full County Council.

The planning board is currently composed of 15 members, with eight of them appointed by the County Executive. The remaining seven are appointed by the County Council. Each council member gets a planning board pick. If the proposed law passes, the full County Council would also have to confirm the appointments.

Councilman David Marks, who is sponsoring the legislation, says the planning board is “aggressively pro-development.”

Marks told WYPR, “Even if that was not the case, I think it’s a general principle of checks and balances that the County Council should have some role in confirming the nominations to this body.”

Marks added, “If the County Council is going to approve members of the Animal Hearing Board and other more obscure bodies, then why aren’t we at least reviewing the names that are being put forward for the planning board?”

Planning board members currently serve three-year terms.  The chair receives $20,000, while the other two members receive $15,000 each, as of last year.

The new proposal requires a change to Baltimore County’s charter. WYPR reports that the proposed legislation has enough support on the County Council to put the question on the November ballot.

The County Council will consider the proposed charter change at its meetings on April 30 and May 14 of this year.  A final vote would then occur on May 23.

This article was written with the assistance of AI and reviewed by a human editor.

Photo by Sora Shimazaki from Pexels