Town Council Spars Over Sector Plan

In what was expected to be a routine meeting about light fixtures and historic preservation, members of the Kensington Town Council butted heads Monday night over the proposed sector plan, accusing one another of spreading misinformation about the plan.

At one point, Council Member Mackie Barch suggested the town attorney draft a resolution of censure against Council Member Lydia Sullivan for the next meeting, but he has since changed his mind.

At the meeting, Barch accused Sullivan of exaggerating the sector plan's possible effects on the town through pamphlets, a website and statements at public meetings.

Sullivan said the mayor and other council members have misled the public on the details of the plan, most recently in a letter from Mayor Peter Fosselman, which was sent to all town residents and approved by everyone on the council but Sullivan.

She said she has warned residents of the plan's potential for overburdening schools, traffic and parking in the town, but Barch said she has continuously taken extreme possibilities and stated them as fact.

"There are people who now believe there are backhoes at the idle to tear down the business district," he said.

Sullivan responded to Barch's criticism with some of her own: "You guys are having an extended temper tantrum. You can't handle that someone on the council has an opinion other than yours."

Fosselman, who has been a vocal supporter of the plan, also questioned Sullivan's conduct.

"You know damn well that you spread misinformation around town, and you do not present the facts," he said.

Council Member Sean McMullen said the body has more important things to discuss than internal politics.

"I think it's very dangerous to start censuring people," he said. "If we're going to move forward on the issues that are important to the town, we can't be doing this."

In an interview with Patch after the meeting, Barch said that he is no longer proposing an immediate vote on censuring Sullivan but will keep the option on the table.

"At this time, I’m not pursuing any resolution of censure, however, if there’s a continued pattern of misleading residents (from Sullivan), I think the council has no choice but to publicly document the fact that it is unacceptable to mislead residents for your own political purposes," he said.

Council Member John Thompson said after the meeting that while he initially supported a censure resolution, last night's back-and-forth between Sullivan and the rest of the council may have negated the need for one.

After the meeting, Sullivan said the proposed censure was a "thuggish, clumsy" attempt to quiet opposition on the council.

"This is a policy disagreement," she said. "They're fighting for monied development interests, and I'm fighting for the neighborhoods."

The council had no sector plan-related agenda items slated for last night's meeting, and the plan itself will next go before the Montgomery County Council's Planning, Housing and Economic Development Committee in an as-yet-unscheduled work session.

Earlier this month, the County Council , at which both Fosselman and Sullivan testified. The full County Council will have final approval of the plan and will vote on it some time after the committee's work session.