Some Baltimore County residents are voicing concern about County Executive Johnny Olszewski Jr.’s efforts to shape the leadership of the Planning Board shortly before voters head to the polls to consider new checks on the board.

On the day before a County Council work session, the agenda showed Olszewski had nominated researcher C. Scott Holupka to be Planning Board chair and real estate professional Emily Brophy to be vice chair. Both are already members of the board.

County voters are set to decide next month whether to amend the county charter to limit the terms of Planning Board members and require County Council confirmation for all nominees, effective Jan. 1.

The county executive currently appoints eight members, and each of the seven County Council members make an appointment. Currently, the council only can confirm nominees for chair and vice chair.

The council supported the charter amendment, as some board members were asking to rezone properties outside their districts and council members considered the 15-member board — particularly the county executive’s appointees — to be too pro-development.

“I find this stupefying,” said Pam Ecker, president of the Boring Community Association, which was formed by residents following a recent zoning dispute there. “I do not know why Johnny O is trying to do this 30 days before the referendum vote. We’re offended there was no notice. We feel disgusted.”

The nominations come after Nancy Hafford, the longtime Planning Board chair, stepped down last month before her term was up. The board has considerable influence over the county’s 600-square-mile terrain, from developing the 10-year master plan to working on a comprehensive process every four years to rezone properties.

In addition to concern about the timing of the appointments, some residents have reservations about the personal and political ties of Olszewski’s nominees for chair and vice chair.

Holupka has known the Olszewski family for more than two decades and contributed a total of $1,610 to Olszewski’s political campaigns since 2011. That was the year that the county executive’s father, John Olszewski Sr., then a Dundalk councilman, appointed Holupka to a partial term on the Planning Board. He then served a second term, until 2015. The younger Olszewski appointed Holupka to the board in 2022; he is now vice chair. That same year, Holupka’s wife, Amy Menzer, was hired as a senior planner for Baltimore County.

Planning Board members serve three-year-terms. The council last year approved paying members $15,000 a year and the chair $20,000 a year.

Brophy once managed commercial malls but now has her own tax, accounting and real estate firm based near Catonsville. She has been on the board since January 2023.

Olszewski is the Democratic nominee for Congress in Maryland’s 2nd District, which includes most of Baltimore County, a portion of Carroll County and a small piece of Baltimore. In response to questions, his press secretary, Erica Palmisano, emailed a statement late Wednesday night saying that, “Scott and Emily are experienced and qualified candidates; one the current vice chair and former chair of the Board’s Capital Budget Committee and the other a past president of the Towson Chamber of Commerce.”

Palmisano said the pair “will continue to provide invaluable support” as the county seeks to strengthen communities.

Paul B. Merritt, president of the Hanover Road Association in Boring, wrote to Baltimore County Inspector General Kelly Madigan in June to express concerns about Brophy’s handling of a rezoning request for the community fire hall. Madigan has a policy of not confirming or denying whether she is investigating matters; she issues a report when an investigation is complete.

Santo Mirabile, a past president of the same association, had bought the property at a steep discount from the volunteer fire company. During the four-year comprehensive zoning process that wrapped up last month, Mirabile asked the Planning Board to recommend the property be zoned for light manufacturing use so he could move his construction business there.

Residents of the northern Baltimore County hamlet strongly opposed the change. Many flooded the Planning Board with calls, letters and emails begging board members to keep the zoning intact. Brophy recommended the manufacturing zoning, saying Mirabile “clearly has a vested interest in the property and the neighborhood” and noted his past leadership role in the community association.

Merritt noted that the association forced Mirabile to resign “due to using his position to advance his financial interests and personal gain in the subject property.” Mirabile and his wife previously said the fire hall purchase was aboveboard. Santo Mirabile, who was the neighborhood improvement association president in 2020, said he had recused himself from transaction-related dealings.

Both community associations opposed the zoning change.

“She persistently advocated for the Petitioner with disregard for the input and testimony the Community has provided in writing and in person resulting in irrefutable harm,” Merritt wrote.

The Planning Board voted 7-6 to change the zoning to manufacturing, rejecting the recommendation of county planners to keep a rural zoning designation. Ultimately, Boring’s councilman, Julian Jones, had the final say, and he chose to keep the zoning rural.

As word spread through the community of Brophy’s nomination, Boring resident Sam Blum was among several who said they would have attended Tuesday’s council work session to protest had they known about it. “Brophy tried her best to destroy our small rural town of Boring with a large industrial complex,” he said.

Brophy disputed that characterization. ”We have hundreds of pieces of testimony that we receive from multiple issues, and we always review both sides of the issue. So it’s not that I voted for or against it for one specific piece of testimony. It was just based on everything I read, that was my opinion,” she said.

Holupka said his wife’s work in the planning office is not an issue because he won’t oversee personnel issues. As for the comprehensive rezoning that the county tackles every four years, when planning staff and the board often disagree, Holupka said his term will expire before the next rezoning in 2028.

Council members praised the two nominees, but made clear to Holupka that they wanted to see a more formal process for how planning board members engage in rezoning. Planning Board members can ask to rezone properties they do not own for whatever reason they wish. One member in the Catonsville district sought to rezone property in the Dundalk district without alerting the council members or the property owners, frustrating all parties.

Holupka agreed the “rather informal” process needed some guardrails.

Eric Rockel, a Lutherville resident and longtime planning board critic, was somewhat reassured after hearing Holupka’s testimony.

“It is absolutely imperative they set up some sort of policy,” he said. He and a colleague, Gregg DeHoff, are also concerned that Planning Board members do not know the neighborhoods for which they make decisions.

“I’ve sat in on a couple of these Planning Board meetings,” DeHoff said, “and the comments that are made show me that they do not understand the area or what it is that they’re actually approving.”

Every state planning board operates differently. Article 66B of the Maryland Annotated Code states that all members shall “above all, represent the public interest.”

Hafford said she recommended elevating Holupka and Brophy. She said Brophy has been “an excellent board member” and that Holupka would be a great chair. She said objections come with the position on a board that oversees development, farms, affordable housing and parks.

“Not everyone is going to agree with you all the time. You have to go with your gut and do what you think is best,” said Hafford, executive director of the Towson Chamber of Commerce. “Sometimes, you go against what the community wants, thinking it’s the best thing for the community in the end.”

The council will vote on the nominees at its regular meeting Monday.