The Bowersox Engine: How a single floor-mover became the operational center of gravity of Leesburg's Planning Commission

On January 22, 2026, the Leesburg Planning Commission denied the second filing of Lake Bright-Brighurst — 202 acres, 502 residential units, $2.3 million in developer-funded CR-470/CR-48/CR-33 intersection mitigation as a recorded reverter — on a 3-3 tie. The same meeting, Vice-Chair Sanders' motion to approve Cronin-Dewey Robbins SSCP-25-813 died for lack of a second; not Sennett, not Robertson, not Simeone, not O'Kelley, not Bowersox would second a staff-recommended approval at the procedural courtesy stage. Marshall and Carter were absent. The bloc moved anyway. Eight weeks later, on March 19, 2026, the same commissioners approved a 16-bed adaptive-reuse ALF and a Certified Recovery Residence in the same R-2 district, both 6-0. The denial pattern is not a denial pattern. It is a substantive review filter operated by a floor-mover the body's title structure does not include. Bowersox is the engine; the chair holds the title.