Planning board 'a development production agency'

"Montgomery County's planning department, once a national model of efficiency, has fallen into disarray, with morale at an all-time low and staff members complaining that they are under pressure to approve projects quickly, a nationally recognized expert told the County Council," the Washington Post reports.

"There is some concern among the staff that they have become a development production agency," Royce Hanson, who chaired the planning board from 1972-1981, told council members. "There are strong feelings that they were expected to move projects expeditiously and get stuff built. . . . . There is currently a morale crisis."