Dumfries Planner Leaving for New York City

By KJ Mushung

DUMFRIES, Va. – Dumfries has hired a new town planner and zoning administrator to replace David Moss, who is leaving in three weeks to take a job in New York City.

Moss will be replaced by Morgan Brim, who was the planner for Cottonwood Heights City, Utah, near Salt Lake City.

According to Moss, Brim has a master’s degree in planning. He starts the new job today. Moss will stay on until April 20 to train Brim on the job. Then Moss will start a job for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority in New York.

Moss took the job in July 2011 and had not intended on leaving so soon. However, his wife got a job offer that she just couldn’t turn down in New Jersey, where she’s from, in November that same year. So the town of Dumfries has conducted a nationwide search for a new planner and zoning administrator since that time.

“My wife got a spectacular opportunity to work in Manhattan and so she actually moved up there. She started working there in mid-November. So I’ve been staying here since then to close out what I have to do and to bring on the new person and to train them before I go up there,” said Moss who added that he didn’t want to leave the town without a planner.

Prior to working for Dumfries, Virginia’s oldest, continuously chartered town, Moss worked for Prince William County’s Planning Department where he served as a zoning technician, a Planner I and Planner II and the county’s BRAC coordinator. Prior to working for Prince William County, David was an associate planner for Heyer, Gruel & Associates in New Jersey.

Brim’s responsibilities as the town planner and zoning administrator for Dumfries will include providing guidance in land use and permitting cases, updating town codes, developing short and long-range planning initiatives, reviewing site plans, working with developers and various special projects related to development in the town.

“When we were doing interviews, we were looking both for somebody who had the technical skills to do it who’s been involved in planning and zoning because so many applicants we got had done a lot of planning but didn’t have much zoning. So we wanted a mix of both planning and zoning. But we also wanted somebody who has the technical skills, for instance drawing maps… And [Brim] actually worked as a draftsman. His initial education started in architecture,” said Moss. “He’s got a similar background as me, where I started in architecture and switched to planning in college.”