Doug Duncan's MoCo

Doug Duncan's administration is not exactly immune to abuse and misamanagement either. Take a look at this example:

A couple who bought and renovated an 82-year-old house in Chevy Chase must tear it down because Montgomery County officials erred in approving the project.

Marianne and Marc Duffy said the oversight was pointed out by some high-powered neighbors who pressured the officials into rescinding approval, which will force the Duffys into bankruptcy and to demolish their $725,000 home in the 3700 block of Thornapple Street.

"Our neighbors complained, then county officials informed us that they issued our building permits in error and that we'd have to seek a variance," Mrs. Duffy said. "This is after a county official testified under oath at hearings that we were truthful and forthcoming, and that they and the permitting office fully understood what it was approving."

Robert Hubbard, director of the Department of Permitting Services, said that the Duffys were issued permits for a renovation but that officials later determined they needed additional approvals from the county Board of Appeals. The first permit was issued January 2005, and construction was stopped June 9, 2005, the Duffys said.

Mr. Hubbard also said the agency has worked with the Duffys throughout the process and "is prepared to continue to be of assistance."

County officials deferred further inquiries -- including a call to County Executive Douglas M. Duncan, a Democratic gubernatorial candidate -- to the Department of Permitting Services.

The Duffy family, because of this snafu and the order to raze the house, will be forced into bankruptcy. Only in a county run like Montgomery County could somebody renovate a house, with the permission of the proper authorities, and then told to destroy the house and, in effect, go broke.

The real question with the Duncan administration is this: why was Clarksburg allowed to continue to be developed, but the Duffy family is forced into a situation that ruins their credit for years to come?