Montgomery County Planning Board Chairman Wins Leadership Award

SILVER SPRING, MD – A year after Royce Hanson returned to lead the Montgomery County Planning Board in his second stint as board chairman, a key regional planning group has recognized his contribution to improving quality of life in the region by giving him a prestigious lifetime achievement award.

The American Planning Association’s National Capital Area Chapter has awarded Hanson its 2007 Frederick Gutheim Distinguished Leadership Award, recognition given to an individual who has raised the profile and importance of planning. Hanson will receive the award on Thursday, November 8, at the National Music Center at the Historic Carnegie Library in Washington, D.C.

"Dr. Hanson is an obvious choice for this year's leadership award," said Art Chambers, president of the National Capital Area of APA. "Our judges were impressed by the length and breadth of his service, his sense of purpose and his wide vision for the future of the region. Montgomery County is fortunate that Hanson was available to once again lead the parks and planning agency.”

A career educator who worked in education and leadership roles at American University, the University of Minnesota, the University of Texas at Dallas and the University of Maryland-Baltimore County, Hanson first served on the Planning Board from 1970-1981. During that time, Hanson helped the board develop a national reputation for forward-thinking planning and parks management.

Hanson is recognized for being a lead architect of the county’s famed Agricultural Reserve, a 93,000-acre swath along the county’s northern and western borders permanently set aside for agriculture. The reserve is considered one the most significant environmentally friendly land-use decisions in county history and is heralded as one of greatest examples of land conservation policies in America.

In addition to his teaching and planning work, Hanson has served on a variety of boards, including the Maryland Environmental Trust and the Center for Agro-Ecology at the University of Maryland. Hanson has authored numerous book and articles on urban policy and politics.

The Montgomery County Council selected Hanson as Planning Board chairman in 2006.