Elrich plans to veto Planning Board member’s appointment — again

Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich said he intends to again veto the County Council’s decision to reappoint James Hedrick to the planning board, after opposing Hedrick’s initial appointment in 2023.

The County Council voted 10-0 last month to reappoint Hedrick to a second four-year term. Council member Laurie-Anne Sayles was absent and did not participate in the vote.

Hedrick, a Democrat and the executive director of Rockville Housing Enterprises — the public housing authority for the city of Rockville — was first appointed to the board by the council in 2023 after its five members resigned in late 2022 following allegations of misconduct.

Elrich vetoed his appointment then, citing social media posts that were critical of the county executive’s views on housing policy. The council unanimously overrode Elrich’s veto, citing Hedrick’s right to free speech.

During a media briefing Wednesday, Elrich told reporters that he plans to write a letter to the council outlining why he still disapproves of Hedrick’s appointment.

“Not everybody’s as upfront dismissive as he is, I’ll just put it that way,” Elrich said. “Nobody should be surprised that I’m vetoing him again.”

Hedrick, who previously worked for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, declined to comment on Elrich’s promised veto in a text to The Banner on Friday.

The council could again vote to override Elrich with a supermajority of nine members.

Elrich has vetoed several decisions made by the council in his nearly eight years as executive. The council has overridden each of them.

During an interview with the council in June, Hedrick said he believes that his work in affordable housing has benefited the board.

“Housing supply is a key factor in the affordability equation,” Hedrick said. “We need to address having different types and styles of housing in the county.”

Control MoCo Spending challenges elections board in court

The committee behind the Control MoCo Spending ballot initiative is challenging the county elections board’s finding that the group failed to procure enough signatures from eligible voters to place a proposed charter amendment on November’s ballot.

According to documents obtained by The Banner, the committee filed a judicial review petition Tuesday in Montgomery County Circuit Court arguing that it had collected the required 10,000 valid signatures.

The proposed charter amendment would have capped Montgomery County’s annual spending increases at the rate of inflation and required the County Council to vote unanimously to increase the operating budget above the rate of inflation.

County officials, including Elrich, have opposed the proposal.

The elections board determined that 9,698 of the 14,074 signatures submitted by the committee were valid.

The committee said that more than 325 signatures rejected by the elections board are valid.

Gilberto Zelaya, a spokesperson for the board, declined to comment on the filing.

Data center developer withdraws challenge to Elrich’s moratorium

The developer behind a proposed data center in Dickerson has withdrawn its legal challenge to Elrich’s six-month moratorium on data center development.

Atmosphere Data Centers filed the appeal in July after Elrich issued an executive order that set a six-month moratorium on permits for data center development, after months of debate among elected officials over how to address concerns about the centers’ environmental impact.

Bethesda Today first reported Friday that Atmosphere withdrew that appeal, which had been filed with the county’s zoning board.

The County Council voted unanimously last month to pass an 18-month moratorium on data center development, one that will supplant the current six-month pause and will likely be harder for developers to challenge.

A representative for Atmosphere did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Banner on Friday about whether the company plans to challenge the new moratorium.