Rockville Historic District Commission Meeting 05-2025 - June 26, 2025
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Rockville Historic District Commission Meeting 05-2025 - June 26, 2025
The Rockville Historic District Commission (HDC) held its meeting 05-2025 on Thursday, June 26, 2025, at 7:00 PM in the Mayor and Council Chambers at Rockville City Hall and via WebEx. Chair Anita Neal Powell presided, joined by Commissioners Seth Dimbo, Peter Falseman, Mercy Sinye, and Michael Goldfinger (via WebEx). Staff members Sheila Pazieri and Cynthia Walters were present. The meeting covered committee reports, consent agenda items, a certificate of approval application, a discussion of the May Preservation Month event, and new business items including a new application platform and a strategic planning proposal.
Committee and Organization Reports
- Peerless Rockville: No report was given.
- Lincoln Park Historical Foundation: Chair Anita Neal Powell, as president of the foundation, reported on the 134th anniversary of the Lincoln Park community held on Saturday, June 21, 2025, at Mount Calvary Baptist Church. The event included proclamations, citations, awards from elected officials, a parade, and activities for children. Voting and expungement opportunities were also offered. The celebration was recorded and can be viewed on Channel 11. Planning for the 135th anniversary has already begun.
Public Comments & Testimony
- No members of the public spoke during the open forum for non-agenda items.
HDC and Staff Comments
- Commissioner Goldfinger presented a short historical highlight on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Station at 98 Church Street, built in 1873, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974, and relocated in 1981. He proposed beginning each future meeting with a similar feature.
- Staff Announcements:
- The City has been notified of a conditional Certified Local Government (CLG) funding allocation of $2,500 from the Maryland Historical Trust for education and training, though the formal award is pending federal approval.
- No applications have been received for the July 2025 meeting (deadline passed), but the meeting will still be held to review tax credit applications and other business. The commission will not meet in August 2025; the next meeting after July will be September 18, 2025.
Consent Calendar
- Approval of Minutes (May 15, 2025): Commissioner Goldfinger initially noted he could not locate the minutes but later confirmed he had them. A motion was made and seconded to approve the minutes. The motion passed unanimously, 5-0.
- Montgomery County Historic Preservation Tax Credit Applications: The commission approved two tax credit applications (HDC 2025-01185 and HDC 2025-0087) as a block. The motion passed unanimously, 5-0.
Discussion Items
Certificate of Approval – HDC 2025-01197 (310 West Montgomery Avenue)
- Applicant: Scott H. Allen (architect) and owners James and Megan Owen.
- Proposal: Replace an existing one-story rear addition with a new addition, add a covered porch, a large patio with a curved masonry seat and fire pit, an outdoor kitchen, a hot tub with screening, and landscaping. The existing rear addition, steep stairs, and small patio would be removed. Materials include HardiePlank siding and aluminum-clad windows and doors.
- Staff Presentation: The house, built in 1887, has undergone several alterations (porch removal, bay window, half-timbering removal). The new addition would extend about five feet beyond the existing bump-out, but arborvitae screening would limit visibility from the right-of-way. Staff noted the work meets Secretary of the Interior Standards for Rehabilitation (Standard 9) and the technical guide for alterations (New Additions).
- Public Comment: None.
- Commissioner Discussion: Commissioner Dimbo praised the design. The applicant explained the house’s history of additions (doctor’s office, carport, etc.). Commissioner Goldfinger asked about the foundation, which was not altered.
- Vote: Commissioner Michael Goldfinger recused himself due to a personal friendship with the owners. The motion to approve the certificate of approval passed 4-0.
Discussion of May Preservation Month Event (May 17, 2025) and Brown v. Board of Education Anniversary
- Commissioners expressed strong satisfaction with the event’s turnout, presentations, and the use of the historic courthouse location. Suggestions for future events included surveying attendees about their origin and possibly selecting a different venue to ease staff logistics. Staff noted that photos were taken but had glare issues. The event was seen as a team effort, and planning for next year will begin in advance.
Key Outcomes
- Approved: Minutes of May 15, 2025 (5-0).
- Approved: Two Montgomery County Historic Preservation Tax Credit applications (5-0).
- Approved: Certificate of Approval for 310 West Montgomery Avenue (4-0, with one recusal).
- New Business:
- Staff announced that starting July 1, 2025, HDC applications will be submitted through the My Government Online Connect (MGOC) portal instead of via email. No changes to application requirements.
- Chair Powell proposed a strategic planning session during a future meeting with a lighter agenda to discuss signage, budget items, the African American booklet, and other commission priorities. Commissioners supported the idea.
- Commissioner Falseman suggested holding the July 2025 meeting virtually due to the limited agenda. Staff will explore logistics.
- Adjournment: The meeting adjourned at approximately 8:30 PM (motion passed 5-0).
Meeting Transcript
Welcome. Good evening and welcome to the City of Rockville Historic District Commission meeting number 05-2025. Today is Thursday, June 26, 2025. I am HDC Chair Anita Neal Powell. I am joined by my fellow commissioners, Seth Dimbo, Peter Falseman, and Mercy Sinye. We are also joined by City Staff, Sheila Pazieri, Cynthia Walters. The Historic District Commissions are conducting hybrid meetings applications, and the public may join the meeting virtually via WebEx or in person in the Mayor and Council Chambers at Rockville City Hall, 111 Maryland Avenue. The public is invited to participate in person or virtually via WebEx. The virtual meetings can be viewed on Rockville 11, Channel 11 on County Cable, and live streamed at WW.RockvilleMD.gov slash Rockville 11. Each meeting is also available for viewing soon after the meeting is held at WW. RockfieldMD.gov slash video on demand. The first item on the agenda is number one committee and organization report. Starting with Peerless Rockville, she will not be here this evening. The next report is Lincoln Park Historical Foundation. I am the president of the foundation. The foundation hosted the 134th anniversary of the Lincoln Park community at Mount Calvary Baptist Church on Saturday, June 21. The anniversary started with an opening ceremony, which included proclamations, citations, and awards from elected officials representing the city, county, and state, including the governor, and a statement from our senator and musical selections provided by the Crusaders Baptist Church of God. Greetings were also delivered from community and other invited guests. The historical parade which followed the parade, which followed was outstanding, and those who participated had an opportunity to parade around the community. Finally, we celebrated the anniversary, Juneteenth and Black Music Month with DJ Gus with an opportunity to visit the resource and vendor tables, voting and expungement opportunities were offered and received. The children were able to play inside the Moon Bounce as well as outside on the slide. The celebration of 134 years as a community brought forth families and friends inside and outside the Lincoln Park. The celebration can be seen on Channel 11. We are grateful for the participation of the volunteers, people, and organizations that spent time and their child with us to make this anniversary a success. We have already started planning for the 135th anniversary, and this concludes my report. We will now move on to C, which is public comments in open forum. This time is set aside for members of the public who would like to comment on any non-agenda items. Is there anyone from the public waiting to comment on any issue not on the agenda? Thank you. I will close the public comment, open form portion of this meeting. We will now move on to item D, HDC, and staff comments. Are there any announcements or comments from the commissioners? Okay, thank you. Since our last meeting, I attended the official opening of the Barn of Farmstead District in King Farm Street naming ceremony in honor of five black educators, Henson Norris, Margaret Taylor Jones, Dr. George B. Thomas, 9 o'clock, and Odessa Shannon. As mentioned at our last meeting, I attended and participated in the King Farm Farmstead Visioning Project and was able to add my thoughts on this future development. I would like to thank the staff after many years for updating the George Washington Carber Junior College and High School sign. This sign is located at the MCPS site, 850 Hungerford Drive, and is connected to the other signs as part of the Rockville's African American Heritage Walking Tour. This concludes my announcement. We have been notified of conditional certified local government funding allocation of $2,500 from the Maryland Historical Trust. This is the full amount staff applied for as a part of the fiscal year 2025 CLG grant round for education and training funding. MHT is unable to issue a formal notice of an award as MHT is still awaiting the FY25 notice of funding from the Department of Interior and National Park Service. These funds have been appropriated by the by Congress, but have not been issued to MHT yet. Staff will keep the HDC informed on the note on the status of this grant as we learn more. Our second announcement is that we have no applications so far for July. Well, not so far. We have no applications for July because the time uh deadline has passed. But we're still be we'll still be holding the meeting. We do have a lot of tax credit applications to look at and discuss um several things, you know, that we are working on.
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