Imagine how desperate developers must be to craft a bill that targets one little ole Planning Commissioner, Kim Hosen. Kim is the executive of the Prince William Conservation Alliance.
I will freely divulge that I am a friend of Kim’s and she is one of the most honest, selfless, decent human beings I have the privilege of knowing. She has a policy of fairness for all, developer and citizen alike. As a planning commissioner she simply expects that everyone will follow the rules that are intended to be applied to development practices, and for that, she is clearly feared by the development community.
Corey Stewart appointed Austin Hayes who is a partner in Christopher Realty. Apparently for one of his very first cases before the Planning Commission he recused himself. So a Developer is perfectly fine as a Planning Commissioner but someone who has no direct monetary gain is NOT!
Citizens should be furious, I know I am. Kim has nothing to gain but ensuring that PWC citizens have access to clean water and air, she works hard to prevent PWC taxpayers from footing the bill for bad development proposals.
She is only one voice and yet, her voice must be very powerful to have scared so many.
I will be writing more on this in the near future, but I felt it was critical to get the information out ASAP.
PWC Dem. Delegate Luke Torrian has introduced HB 405, which seeks to limit participation on Planning Commissions and appears to target nonprofits. It is online here, although the amended language is not yet posted. The bill was referred to the Committee on Counties, Cities and Towns, which met this morning and voted in favor of HB 405 with the following amended language:
“In Planning District 8, no private citizen may be appointed as a member of the commission who is a compensated employee or a compensated member of the board of a nonprofit association or organization where such organization advocates for or against the environment and land use policies or regulatory determinations of local government.”
PWC Chamber of Commerce and PWC builders testified for the bill.
Mark Flynn of VML spoke against the bill, citing the unusual nature of targeting one specific Planning District, of the need for qualified people from differing perspectives, of the exemption of homebuilders/developers from this, and because in one quick amendment the bill could be applied statewide.
A Fairfax County rep also spoke against the bill, noting that the PC is advisory to the Board of Supervisors which makes the ultimate decision, that it is hard enough to get citizens to serve and this further limits the pool, that PC’s can have a diversity of viewpoints, and that the conflict of interests statute already covers relevant situations.
http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?121+sum+HB405
I wrote this last week but tabled it as I was told by Delegate Torian’s aid that they were working very hard on getting the bill pulled from committee. They were indeed successful and pulled the bill. It is officially dead and will not rise again from Delegate Torian’s office.
The News and Journal Messenger has written a comprehensive accounting of the “we don’t want Kim Hosen serving as Planning Commissioner” HB405 bill. I will share with you that citizens were concerned that Kim would be targeted as Planning Commissioner, but no one EVER thought it would be through Richmond. Was Corey involved behind the scene? Is Corey afraid that Kim makes him look bad while he runs for Lt Governor?
Mayor Porta had a fabulous quote about this legislation.
It appears to use state law to specifically target an individual who
cannot be removed through Prince William County’s normal processes
because that individual continues to have the support of the county
supervisor who is responsible for her appointment,” stated Porta in a
recent email sent to Torian.
Shame on the PWC Chamber of Commerce for using their influence to try to get rid of a planning commissioner they don’t like, how incredibly juvenile. If you don’t like the development rules in PWC then work to change them, don’t sneak around behind closed doors like cowards.
Here is the inside nova link
http://www2.insidenova.com/news/2012/feb/03/legislation-one-ar-1660570/
link to Prince William Conservation Alliance
http://www.pwconserve.org/
Torian et al were clearly completely wrong in this. Hosen’s dual hats occassionally create conflicts of interest which she should be careful to avoid, but nothing in that category can come close to the inherent ongoing conflicts of interest Austin Haynes faces. The PWC developer industry is a relatively small, close knit group. Haynes is advocating for and voting on cases involving his professional cronies with every vote he makes. This is no slam on him personally. But Stewart’s appointment of Haynes, and Haynes acceptance of the appointment, not to mention the BOCS’s vote to approve it, show very poor judgement all around.
Totally agree, Blue Moon.
How about the realconflicts of interest between the Supervisors and donors to their campaigns! Where is the legislation addressing the real problem?
Wow. This legislation was jacked up!
@marin
It sure was jacked up and jacked up to knock out one person–Kim Hosen.
————————————————————————————————
You know, I see a couple of people’s slime prints all over this one and it isn’t Luke Torian.
Let’s see…who do I know that has it in for Kim Hosen? Could it be a person who wears a chameleon coat of many colors? Could it be a person in the county who cross pollinates more than the average bee? He knows who he is. Was he doing his master’s bidding again?
That was one slick move there, cry baby! Too bad developers weren’t targeted since they seem to be sitting on the planning commission as we speak.
Sorry marin, I used to response to you about the jacked up bill to do a little finger wagging. I am not going to call the person out by name but I think he knows who he is.