Rockville Mayor and Council Meeting Summary – May 19, 2025
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Rockville Mayor and Council Meeting – May 19, 2025
The Mayor and Council held Meeting No. 14-25 on May 19, 2025. The meeting included a special appearance by the winner of the “If I Were Mayor” contest, a brief city manager’s report, a community forum, the Board of Appeals annual report, approval of a consent agenda, a project plan briefing for a 100% affordable housing development, a discussion on cannabis zoning regulations, a work session on the Rockville Emergency Assistance Program (REAP), and a work session on city election reform. The council took several votes and provided direction to staff.
Consent Calendar
- Items 9A–9E approved unanimously: Authorization for the city manager to execute a cost-sharing agreement for the Hurley Bridge Replacement Project; sign an administrative order for the cross-connection control program with the EPA; approve Year 50 FY25 Community Development Block Grant sub-agreements; approve minutes; and execute a grant agreement for two electric senior transit buses.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Daniel Shirao spoke about Mental Health Awareness Month, shared his personal experience as a suicide survivor, and emphasized the importance of addressing mental health and social media’s impact on youth. He also requested assistance with expungement services.
Discussion Items
- Board of Appeals Annual Report: Chair Alan Frankel presented the 2024 report, noting two zoning variances approved, one withdrawn, and one special exception approved (Woodley Gardens swimming facility). The board’s goals are to consider requests objectively and ensure timely decisions.
- Project Plan Briefing – Momentum at Rockville Station (41 Maryland Avenue): The applicant, Stratford Capital Group and Comstock, proposed a 12-story, 147-unit 100% affordable housing building (50–80% AMI) with zero on-site parking, a 20-foot height increase, and relocation of 40 MPDU units from Boulevard 44 to extend affordability to 99 years. The council expressed support for the project’s intent and creative use of the site, but raised concerns about economic segregation, the MPDU relocation, and the parking waiver. Questions were asked about unit mix, ADA parking, open space, and resident transition. The project will return for a public hearing and potential adoption.
- Cannabis Zoning Regulations: Staff presented options for regulating standard cannabis dispensaries. The council discussed three options: (1) a ZTA mirroring state law with separation distances and a prohibition on on-site consumption; (2) increasing separation distances to half a mile (must be done by July 1, 2025, and would also apply to alcohol retailers); (3) no action. After debate, Councilmember Valeri moved to authorize a ZTA adding cannabis dispensary as a listed use with state separation distances but without the on-site consumption prohibition. The motion passed 4–1 (Councilmember Miles dissenting).
- Rockville Emergency Assistance Program (REAP) Work Session: Staff proposed changes including a $10,000 asset limit, 80% AMI income limit, adding child care as an eligible expense, increasing rental assistance from $2,000 to $3,000, a $4,000 per 12-month benefit cap, and removing funeral expenses. The council provided feedback: they supported most changes but did not support the 80% AMI limit (3 no votes: Mayor Ashton, Councilmembers Jackson and Valeri). They also requested increasing the prescription drug assistance from $300 to $600 and exploring mortgage support. Staff will implement updates and report back on program outcomes.
Key Outcomes
- Consent agenda approved (motion by Councilmember Jackson, second by Councilmember Shaw, unanimous).
- Cannabis ZTA authorized (vote 4–1) to mirror state law with separation distances but without on-site consumption prohibition.
- REAP program design: Council directed staff to proceed with the asset limit, child care addition, increased rental assistance, and overall cap, but dropped the 80% AMI income limit. Staff will also consider increasing prescription drug coverage and mortgage support, and will provide a written report on program outcomes.
- Election Reform: The council discussed numerous issues (ballot deadlines, campaign finance enforcement, drop boxes, public financing, term limits, ranked-choice voting, etc.). The consultant will bring back options for further consideration. The council also expressed interest in exploring lowering the voting age to 16/17, term limits, representative districts, and ranked-choice voting; staff will prepare options for a future work session.
- Meeting adjourned at approximately 11:30 PM.
Meeting Transcript
Welcome everyone. We have a special guest here today, our new Minnie Mayor, and you're gonna learn a little bit more about her, but her name is uh Mayor Domini Meta, and she's gonna open our meeting. Good evening, Rockville. Today is May 19th, 2025, and we will convey Mayor and Council meeting number 14 to 25. Please join me as you are able in the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for law. Thank you, Mayor Meta. I appreciate you opening the meeting. I just wanted to share a few words about uh Domini and how she came to be. So uh at least in terms of this mini-mayor role. So the Maryland Municipal League has an event called If I Were Mayor, and thousands of students all across the state of Maryland participate, and we had several hundred here in the city of Rockville. And Dumini's essay stood out among all those applications. And so I wanted to acknowledge her. She is selected, she's going to be uh participating and supporting a day with us here on Thursday. She's leading, helping us lead the meeting today. And I can say that she's got a lot of friends here as well. I want to acknowledge her family first, uh, Anna Rock and Kathy Dumini. And then we have her uh principal here, Yvonne Sonia from College Gardens Elementary School, very, very proud, and uh some of your friends, right? Yeah. So I want to welcome all of you to the City of Rockville's mayor and council meeting. Uh and I would just note that she was charged with writing an essay about building community for a new generation, and she had a chance to share all of her ideas. I had a chance to go visit her school. Uh that the competition was quite stiff. There are a lot of great ideas among our community. So I just want to say thank you to everyone who participated in if I were mayor contest. And we're gonna have her read her essay before us so that you can all hear it too. Okay. All right, do you want to come down to the phone? If I was mayor, I would make my city, Rockville, a better place for the future by doing many things. I want to solve as many problems as I possibly can. One of those problems is I want to try to stop pollution. Pollution is still a big problem in Rockville. Part of stopping pollution is adding more trash cans to our parks. I also want to increase the security in our neighborhoods. Part of that would be to hire more police officers. We can never have enough. We only have about 67. We can we can we also need to have friendships, like how other humans need other humans. Rockville should partner with other businesses. That might solve another big issue, unemployment, which might solve another big issue, homelessness. I would also like to create a better education system. And how does that help happen? Give teachers more money and housing. Also give schools more money. That way they can buy better lunches and school supplies. That is what I would do if I was mayor of Rockville to make it better for the future. If I was mayor, I would make sure that people felt like the community by having public park trash pickups. I would also build more community dog parks because people need to go outside more often. Also, there are several people in Rockville that own dogs.
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