Five vie for two Montgomery Planning Board seats - Gazette

by Margie Hyslop | Staff Writer

Montgomery County Council members will interview candidates for two positions on the county Planning Board on Tuesday.

Five of 14 applicants were chosen for interviews, among them incumbents Joseph L. Alfandre, a Democrat, and Norman M. Dreyfuss, a Republican. Both are developers who live in Potomac.

But according to an email circulated among council staff Monday, Alfandre has withdrawn his application after notifying planning board chairwoman Francoise Carrier that he has taken a job that will require too much travel to do both.

Neither Alfandre nor a planning board spokeswoman returned calls.

Vying for one of three majority party seats on the five-member board are Democrats Casey Anderson and Alan Steele Bowser, both of Silver Spring.

Anderson, a community and bicycling activist who serves on the Planning Board's zoning advisory panel, is a principal in a legal strategy research firm that advises lawyers on antitrust, intellectual property and product liability cases. He has bachelor's and law degrees from Georgetown University and a master's degree from Columbia University.

Bowser, a private practice lawyer, served as chief of staff to Duchy Trachtenberg during her one term on the County Council. He also has a law degree from Georgetown as well as a master's degree from Johns Hopkins and a bachelor's degree from Princeton University.

Dreyfuss, who was appointed by the council in 2010, is chief operating officer of IDI, which developed the Leisure World retirement community in Silver Spring. He has a law degree from American University and bachelor's degrees in mechanical engineering and fine arts from Rutgers University.

Alfandre and Dreyfuss both joined the board to finish terms of members who died in office.

Vying with Dreyfuss for one of two non-majrity party seats is fellow Republican Matthew J. Zaborsky Jr. of Olney, a community activist and member of the county's property tax assessment appeals board. Zaborsky is a former mortgage company president and has a bachelor's degree in business from George Mason University.

mhyslop@gazette.net

http://www.gazette.net/stories/05182011/montnew183742_32540.php