Montgomery, Prince George's Counties Fight Over Century-Old Joint Planning Commission

Prince George's County Executive Aisha Braveboy called the Sphere at National Harbor "the largest economic development project in her county's history" during a State House bill hearing, demanding what she described as "an amicable separation" from the century-old planning partnership she shares with Montgomery County. Montgomery County Council President Natali Fani-González had a different word for it: "outrageous."

The dispute centers on Senate Bill 1005, introduced by state senators representing Prince George's County, which would restructure the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission and end the two counties' shared legal counsel, procurement office, information technology, and human resources departments. The M-NCPPC, believed to be the only joint bi-county planning arrangement of its kind in the nation, has operated since 1927. Each county would retain its own five-member planning board under the proposal, but the centralized administrative structure binding the two together would be split.

The fiscal stakes are steep. The bill's policy and fiscal note estimates the restructuring could cost more than $10 million, though it acknowledges those figures are difficult to pin down with available data. The Montgomery County Planning Board, which formally opposed SB1005 at its March 12 meeting, warned that duplicating services would cost "millions of dollars each year" and weaken regional coordination on land use, transportation, parks, and environmental planning.

Layered over the governance argument is a stark financial imbalance: Prince George's County contributes about 64% of the commission's revenue, compared to Montgomery County's 28%. That gap has fueled Prince George's contention that the county deserves more independent control over development timelines, particularly for projects like the Sphere, which officials say have been slowed by shared administrative bottlenecks.

The opposition does not fall cleanly along county lines. Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich backed the restructuring, joining Prince George's County officials in a March 26 joint letter arguing that greater board independence would prevent delays in project review and hiring and increase accountability. But Fani-González, whose council operates within the same county government as Elrich, called SB1005 "a last-minute bill that comes out of the blue without any type of conversation between the counties" and questioned whether it amounted to a "power grab."

Even inside Montgomery's planning leadership, clarity is scarce. "I've heard we're gonna remain a bi-county commission, but I've heard we need an amicable separation. I don't even know what we're doing here," said Miti Figueredo, director of Montgomery's parks department. She warned the changes would ripple across planning, maintenance, projects, and programs and create anxiety for thousands of employees and retirees.

A group of 10 former members of the M-NCPPC and the Prince George's County Planning Board, including four former commission chairs and two former vice-chairs, published a letter on March 16 opposing the bill, warning of potential waste, corruption, and mismanagement. Questions also surfaced at a hearing about whether current employees would retain protections under the commission's merit system, directed at Darryl Barnes, chair of the Prince George's County Planning Board.

Maryland's 90-day General Assembly session closes on April 13, giving the bill's backers less than two weeks to move it through both chambers. Whether SB1005 clears that bar or not, the public dispute has confirmed that the M-NCPPC's next century will not resemble the last 97 years.