Rockville Planning Commission Meeting – February 24, 2025: Plats, Time Extension, Site Plan, and Zoning Amendment
STREAMING COPY IN PREPARATION — RECORDING AVAILABLE FROM THE ORIGINAL SOURCE
Rockville Planning Commission Meeting – February 24, 2025
The Rockville Planning Commission met on February 24, 2025, to consider four review and action items, a zoning text amendment recommendation, and routine commission business. Items included final record plats for a Habitat for Humanity duplex and a condominium conversion, a time extension for a multi-phase office development, a level two site plan for 48 condominium units at 622 Hungerford Drive, and a zoning text amendment to modify parking requirements for certain MPDU townhomes. The commission voted unanimously on all action items and directed staff to send a letter to the Mayor and Council detailing concerns about equity, parking, and bioswale access related to the zoning amendment.
Review and Action Items
Final Record Plat PLT 2025-00626 – 107 Fleet Street
- Applicant: Habitat for Humanity Metro Maryland.
- Action: The commission approved a motion to resubdivide lot 6 into two lots (2,516 sq ft and 2,503 sq ft) to allow construction of a duplex. One unit will serve families at 50% AMI and the other at 65% AMI. Staff recommended approval with conditions. The motion passed unanimously.
Final Record Plat PLT 2025-00631 – 11511 Fortune Terrace
- Applicant: P.W. Jones Associates LLC.
- Action: The commission approved a motion to resubdivide part of lot 23 to create one final record lot for a 48-unit condominium building, replacing previously approved senior housing. Staff recommended approval with conditions. The motion passed unanimously.
Time Extension EXT 2025-00003 – 520–570 Gaither Road
- Applicant: FP540 Gaither LLC and FP Redland Technology Center LP.
- Action: The commission approved a 12-month extension of the implementation period for site plan STP 2016-00283 until November 28, 2025, to allow time to secure tenants for two class A office buildings. Phase one (café pavilion and landscape plaza) was completed. Staff and applicant noted the extension is routine for multi-phase projects. The motion passed unanimously.
Level Two Site Plan STP 2024-00490 – 622 Hungerford Drive
- Applicant: Toll Mid-Atlantic LP Company Inc. (Toll Brothers).
- Project: Construction of 48 two-over-two residential condominium units on 2.1 acres in the MXNC zone. The site currently contains vacant office condominiums and surface parking.
- Public Testimony:
- Sherry Heikio (College Square Board of Directors): Expressed appreciation for applicant’s engagement, requested continued communication during construction, and asked for clarification on a monetary contribution in lieu of on-site stormwater quantity management.
- Nancy Breen (College Square resident): Supported the project but raised concerns about potential flooding from impervious surfaces, suggesting permeable materials and a written guarantee for flood prevention.
- Henriette Engoulevon (College Square resident, online): Clarified that multiple community members were involved in discussions, not just a single voice.
- Staff/Applicant Response: Staff (Sean Murphy, Public Works) explained that the monetary contribution is for off-site quantity management via a storm drain extension, consistent with city code. The applicant noted that the project will reduce impervious surface and improve drainage compared to the current use. Traffic analysis showed the project will generate less traffic than the existing office use.
- Commission Discussion: Questions addressed traffic levels of service (LOS A/B), stormwater management, pedestrian lighting on Hungerford Drive, and the project’s compliance with MPDU thresholds (applied under older 50-unit rule; new threshold is 20 units).
- Action: Motion to approve the site plan subject to staff conditions. Passed unanimously.
Recommendation to Mayor and Council – Zoning Text Amendment TXT 2025-00268
- Purpose: To modify parking requirements for certain residential dwellings (townhouse MPDUs in planned developments) to address non-compliant garages at the Reserve at Tower Oaks. The amendment would reduce required parking from two spaces to one space per unit, provided the unit meets conditions: it is a townhouse MPDU in a planned development; there are at least 0.5 on-street parking spaces per townhouse unit within the site plan; and there is pedestrian access within 0.7 miles of a metro station, bus stop, or public parking facility.
- Background: 35 of 51 MPDU townhomes (Allen model) were built with garages where the interior width of one tandem space is 8’7” instead of the required 9’. Most owners declined free corrective repairs. The city has stayed enforcement pending the ZTA.
- Public Testimony:
- Ruhi Mirza (Attorney for Reserve at Tower Oaks HOA): Supported the ZTA but requested that the garage be required to have at least 20 feet of length available for parking to accommodate a standard vehicle.
- Irene Bowen (Stormwater Management Committee, Reserve at Tower Oaks): Raised concerns that the ZTA’s reduction in on-street parking ratio (from 0.66 to 0.5) could be problematic if bioswale access improvements remove additional spaces. Noted accessibility issues with bioswales and asked for marked parking and mitigation measures before final action.
- Carla Galfano (Allen model owner): Strongly supported the ZTA, stated the garage is functionally unusable, and that the builder’s proposed fix was unacceptable. She noted that because of the MPDU program, she cannot easily sell the home. She opposed a 20-foot length requirement, noting market-rate units have 18–18.5-foot garages.
- Ahmad Totachil (Allen model owner): Described difficulty entering/exiting the garage and noted families have 5–8 members but only ~1,000 sq ft of living space. Supported the ZTA as the only viable solution.
- Commission Discussion:
- Concerns about treating MPDUs differently from market-rate units and potential slippery slope (shrinking unit sizes).
- Staff (Nick D May, City Attorney) explained that zoning uniformity requires a generally applicable amendment; the scope is intentionally narrow.
- The amendment is a stopgap; the broader zoning rewrite will revisit parking standards.
- Action: Motion to recommend approval of the ZTA to the Mayor and Council, and to direct staff to draft a letter summarizing commission concerns: (1) inequitable treatment of MPDU versus market-rate parking, (2) potential loss of on-street parking due to bioswale fixes, and (3) need for marked parking and accessibility accommodations. The letter will be sent under the chair’s signature. Motion passed unanimously.
Commission Items
- Staff Liaison Report (Jim Wasilak): Upcoming meetings include a site plan for 437 units at Twinbrook Metro (February 26) and a first review of the Shady Grove Metro annexation plan. Upcoming zoning rewrite work sessions and a project plan amendment for 198 East Montgomery (Boulevard Ansel).
- Old Business: Chair noted the Town Center Master Plan was adopted January 27, 2025; a floating zone ZTA will come in March. Commissioner Fulton noted the Champion Billiard site (previously approved project plan) now has a “for sale” sign; staff confirmed an extension may be needed.
- New Business: None.
- Minutes: No minutes for adoption at this meeting; future meetings will include minutes for prior meetings.
Key Outcomes
- Approved unanimously: Final Record Plats PLT 2025-00626 and PLT 2025-00631, Time Extension EXT 2025-00003, and Level Two Site Plan STP 2024-00490.
- Recommended approval of ZTA TXT 2025-00268 with a letter of additional concerns to the Mayor and Council.
- Next steps: The ZTA public hearing before Mayor and Council is scheduled for March 3, 2025. The letter will be drafted by staff and signed by the chair.
Meeting Transcript
Good evening, Rockville. Today is Wednesday, February 19th, 2025. This is meeting 01-25 of the City of Rockwell Planning Commission. I am Jamie Espinosa, Chair of the Planning Commission. I am joined by Commissioners Cheyenne Salahoudin, Commissioner Susan Pittman, Commissioner Eric Fulton, and Commissioner Mengsoon. Tonight's meeting is being conducted in person and virtually by WebEx. Tonight's agenda items include four review and action items, including record plat application PLT 2025-00626, final record plat application PLT 2025-00631, final record plat application EXT 2025-0003, and final record plat application STP 2024-00490. This will be followed by a recommendation to the mayor and council and zoning text amendment TXT 202500269, followed by our regularly scheduled commission items. So I anticipate we will be here. Good. Is there I sent an email this morning? I realized it's kind of late notice about moving the last agenda item first because it involves existing housing that people are already living in, and they may be there may be people wanting to testify. I don't know if that's possible to move that first. So they're not here late. Yeah, that's certainly up to the commission. Um we haven't had any advanced notice of to anyone that that was going to occur, though. Yeah. Can I ask? Can I pull the room? How many folks in the room by a show of hands are here to provide public testimony on uh the commission's final agenda item, the recommendation to Mayor and Council on zoning tax amendment TXT 2025? Actually, not that many. So I don't think we need to move anything based on that show of hands. So we'll just proceed. Um with our first agenda item, which is final record plat application PLT 2025 00626 to resubdivide record lot six block A of the Victory Court Subdivision located in the MXT Mixed Use Transition District Zone in Rockville Heights, Historic District at 107 Fleet Street, Habitat for Humanity Metro Maryland is the applicant. Um Mr. Wasalak. Is there a presentation from staff? Uh yes, thank you, Mr. Chair, and members of the commission. Uh Principal Planner Nelson Ortiz, who is online, will make the staff presentation and uh I will swear him in before he does that. Mr. Ortiz, could you identify yourself for the record? Nelson Ortiz with Community Planning and Development Services Department. And will you provide truthful testimony this evening? I will. Please proceed. Sorry, that was the wrong presentation. Let me make sure I'm sharing the correct one. Okay. Uh good evening again, Nelson Ortiz for the record. This is uh final record plan application PLT 2025 00625. The subject property is located at 107 Fleet Street. The property is.115 acres in size. It's located within planning area four, west end, and woodley gardens east west. The land use designation of the property is office commercial residential mix and the zoning is MXT mixed use transition. Just some background on this property. The planning commission approved level two site plan application STP 2010 00034 on June 23 2010. This uh the subject property was included within this level two site plan application, but no plan was uh shown for the subject property was essentially left alone and blank. Um the purpose of the level two side plan was uh primarily for the apartment the apartment building that is uh next door to this um uh property to the rear of the property at 209 Monroe. Uh the uh subject property was then uh subdivided uh through final record plant plt 2011 00505 again planning commission approved this plant on October 27, 2010, and this plat created the existing lot six more recently on November 8th, 2024, a minor site plan amendment application was approved administratively for this subject property.
openpublica.com