Montgomery County Planning Director Rollin Stanley resigned at a staff meeting Thursday.
Stanley, who was appointed by the planning board in 2008, is leaving for another professional opportunity, though he would not say where, said Planning Board spokeswoman Valerie Berton. The company where he is moving plans to make a formal announcement next week, and the Planning Board will make its own formal announcement after that, Berton said.
Stanley recently came under fire for comments he made in a feature in Bethesda Magazine. While discussing his sometimes controversial views of an increasingly urbanized Montgomery County, he referred to community members who disagree with him as “rich, white women … spreading fear.” He later apologized for and retracted his comments, but not until after community leaders began calling for his resignation.
Berton insisted that his resignation was unrelated to the controversy. His soon-to-be employer reached out to Stanley in the winter, before he gave the interview, and offered him the job after Stanley sat down with Bethesda Magazine in January, she said.
Stanley has not returned a request for comment.
The Planning Board plans to discuss its next step in the coming weeks in terms of appointing Stanley’s replacement.
