Good evening and welcome to the Rockville Historic District Commission meeting number 07-2025.

Today is Thursday, September 18th, 2025.

I am HDC Chair, Anita Neil Powell.

I'm joined by my fellow commissioners, Seth Dimbo, Peter Falseman, and Michael Goldfinger.

Commissioner Mercy Shingley will not be in attendance tonight.

We also joined by city staff.

Sheila Pashiri, preservation planner, Cynthia Walters, Deputy City Attorney, and Katie Gerbis, comprehensive planning manager.

The historic district commission are conducting hybrid meetings.

Applicants 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 stream at WW.

Rockville MD.gov slash Rockville 11.

Each meeting is also available for viewing soon after the meeting.gov slash video on demand.

The first item on the agenda is committee and organization report.

Is there anyone here from Pierlish Rockville staff to give a staff report?

I'm here this evening.

Thank you very much, Chair Neil Powell.

Nancy Picard, Executive Director for Peerless Rockville Historic Preservation.

And it's good to see you all in person this evening.

Just a few things I wanted to share.

One is that we're very pleased that after uh somewhat of a delay, we have issued a call for a qualified researcher historian to assist us with our AAPI history in Rockville project.

We are going to be starting with demographic and documentary research.

We hope from there to move into gathering stories, oral histories, things like that that will be a little bit off as we connect with kind of the right parties and learn more about the community and meet individuals that are interested in contributing in that way.

The call went out just this week, so we are excited to see where that project's going to be going in the future.

Just a note on that we are starting with the Chinese and Taiwanese populations in particular, as they are the oldest and largest AAPI populations here in Rockville.

And in addition to grants from the city and the Arts and Humanities Organization of Montgomery County, this work is in particular supported by grants by the Miller History Fund through the Maryland History and Culture Center, Center for History and Culture, and also the Maritime Heritage Area Authority.

The project seeks uh greater understanding of this group that makes up more than 20% of Rockville's population.

Um we also want to thank everyone who attended our event last week at Glenview Mansion as part of our Glenview Mansion Peerless Rockville speaker series.

We welcomed U.S.

Park Ranger Brian Cheeseborough, and he did a very interesting talk on Washington, D.C.

and the DMV during the years of the Civil War, which is kind of some interesting parallels till today.

Um perhaps we'll have them back at some point.

We thank everyone who was able to attend.

Uh we want to invite all of you to consider and the public to consider joining us tomorrow at noon at the Red Brick Courthouse.

We will be repeating a walking tour that happened earlier this summer.

Um it's a walking tour in downtown Rockville that's going to look at the displaced African American community that had flourished after the civil war till early mid-century in the middle lane and north Washington kind of areas.

It is $10 a person, but we would hope that people will come out and learn a bit a little bit about this history of these um dispersed displaced persons.

Lastly, I just wanted to um kind of uh recognize and thank the city.

Uh we have been watching closely and excitedly the um progress of the King Farm uh review, the input from the public, the work of the consultants.

The input from the public, the work of the consultants.

We did attend.

I saw several of you all at those meetings.

And I just wanted to say I'm really happy to know that the city is here this evening and that you all will be getting a presentation on uh the next steps there.

So thank you.

Thank you very much.

Do you anyone have any questions?

Okay, thank you.

The next organization report on the agenda is the Lincoln Park Historical Foundation.

I am the president of the foundation.

The foundation will be hosting an event leading up to the 250th anniversary of Montgomery County in conjunction with celebrating the 250th anniversary of the United States.

Details to follow.

We will now move on to item C public comment and open forum.

This time set aside for members of the public who want to comment on any non-agenda item.

Is there anyone from the public wishing to comment on any issue not on the agenda?

Thank you.

I will close the public comment, open forum portion of this meeting.

Thank you.

We will now move on to item D, HDC and staff comments.

Are there any announcements or comments from the commissioners?

Is this time for to read this circuit?

Yes.

Commissioner Golfinger.

Yeah.

Um, good evening.

For uh thank you, uh Chairman.

Um for those who haven't been to recent meetings.

Um, I've been highlighting a different historic building within the city, just to remind us of uh what it is that the Historic District Commission is is uh is protecting.

So uh for this month's meeting, I've chosen the Red Brick Courthouse just talking a little bit about it and uh its significance in the city.

Um I put together a little talk.

Um, as perhaps the most significant historic structure in Rockville, the Red Brick and Stan Sandstone Building, known simply as the Red Brick Courthouse, opened in 1891.

Designed in the Romanesque revival style by Frank E.

Davis and constructed by Thomas Johns, both from Baltimore.

It is believed to be the fourth location of courts since 1776, when Rockville was named the county seat.

It is Montgomery County's oldest courthouse.

Between 1840 and 1891, the Montgomery County Courthouse that stood on this site was a setting for legal activities involving both the selling and emancipation of enslaved individuals as well as turbulent antibellum and civil war events.

Fugitives and those charged with the crime of abetting freedom seekers were tried here.

During the Civil War, the 1840 courthouse also served as a meeting place and hospital.

After 1873, and following the arrival of the Metropolitan Branch of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, Rockville's population and local business increased.

As a result, the city outgrew the 1840 courthouse, and it was demolished.

The Maryland General Assembly authorized a bond issue for the current building, which cost $50,000.

In the 19th and early 20th century, the courthouse provided a myriad of government services where residents have paying marriage licenses, recorded deeds, settled wills, paid taxes, attended trials, listened to traveling speakers, and bought dog tags.

In general, courthouses were large, were large, located predominantly in the center of towns, and symbolized government and judicial authority.

Electricity was installed in the Red Brick Courthouse in 1913, although by 1900, electricity had already been installed in the West End and for the trolley.

For many years, the courthouse has the Montgomery County Police Department, which was created in 1922.

After World War II and with growth of county population, government plans were made to demolish the Red Brick Courthouse.

On several occasions, between 1960 and 1984, it escaped demolition in urban renewal projects along with 10 other buildings.

But 111 buildings in the vicinity were demolished.

Each time protests for many groups, including the American Institute of Architects, Montgomery County Historical Society, Rockville City officials, children, historians, and news media saved it.

The Red Brick Courthouse was given historic designation by the Montgomery County Historical Society Inc.

on July 19, 1965.

And today it is a symbol of old Rockville.

In late 1979, attempts to bring activities to Town Center included a proposal to establish a dinner theater in the Red Brick Courthouse, though no evidence exists that this ever happened.

Restoration of the Grand Courtroom in the Red Bridge Courthouse was completed in 1996, funded by Friends of the Red Brick Courthouse.

Although Montgomery County and not Rockville owns the building, it is nonetheless an important historic landmark within the city.

In addition, Peelers Rockville leases a portion of the space for offices and a visitor center.

And that's a little bit of history on the Red Brick Courthouse.

Can we please get the sources?

Oh, um Yeah, um, I got the information from book by Eileen McGovern uh Rockville portrait of a city uh from historic markers on site.

And if anybody's interested, there's much more information that you can pick up by reading some of those signs that surround the Redford Courthouse and uh from the Peelers Rockville website.

Thank you, Commissioner Goldfinger.

Are there any questions or comments?

Okay.

Um either of you want to do you have any comments?

No.

Okay, thank you.

Okay.

Thanks to Ms.

Bajeri for sharing information regarding the 2025 National Alliance of Preservation Commission.

Virgil Summers short course held virtually last month.

I attended a two-day course and found it extremely helpful to me, and hopefully for other commissioners who may have attended the course as well.

I did receive certificates for each course I attended.

Also, the recordings of the course will be available online until November 2025.

And that concludes my remarks.

Okay.

Next on the agenda is number two, consent agenda.

Consent agenda items made.

Madam Chair, can we go back for some staff comments?

Oh, I'm sorry.

Yes.

Thank you.

We have quite a few updates.

Um, some of which you all asked for at our last meeting, and others that are just news to share with the group.

Um, so one thing that we discussed briefly at our meeting last time was about the distribution of bronze plaques that will be affixed to historic structures, indicating the year that those structures were constructed.

As I believe we mentioned in the past, um, this summer we both ordered new plaques for a new round of buildings that were missing their plaques.

Um, but also in a clean out event that we had, gosh, in July, maybe June, um, we found in storage a box that consisted of probably like 18 other bronze plaques, um, which started the fun task of trying to match up which plaque belonged to which structure and get in touch with owners.

Um, so of the five new plaques that we ordered earlier this summer, four of them have been distributed.

We're still waiting for the final property owner to come and pick up their plaque.

Um, in that box of older plaques, six of them have been distributed so far to property owners.

Um, there's quite a lot of puzzling going on to figure out which structures do we have of that year and which ones already have these markers, which ones don't.

Um, but that's a task that our team has been taking on and will continue to kind of take on in perpetuity.

So if you know a historic property owner who is missing a plaque, have them email me because I might have a plaque for them sitting on the floor of my office.

Um, a grant update, we talk about these quite a bit.

As we've mentioned, um, we applied for two grants this year, both of them administered through the Maryland Historical Trust.

Um, we recently learned that we have been awarded both of those grant applications, which is fantastic.

Um, so the first grant is for 2,500.

This is for continuing education and professional development funds for both staff, but also for you all as commissioners.

Um, so for those of you that attended the NAPSE Summer Course, we'll be able to get a reimbursement of your registration costs through this grant.

Um, if there are other continuing education courses that you all are interested in, let us know as staff, because we have these dollars that we will get reimbursed, so we want to make sure we're taking advantage of that.

Um, this is a grant that's administered through MHT as a result of our certified local government status.

So, because we are in good standing as a CLG, we have access to those funds.

Um, we had previously reported to you that we were tentatively awarded, but we were waiting for a federal government distribution of funds to the state that has gone through.

Um, so we have received that grant agreement.

You'll see it on an upcoming agenda for the mayor and council to go ahead and get that formalized, and then we can start the reimbursement process there.

The other grant that we received, and I don't know that we talked about this in July, because I think it was after our July meeting, um, is we did receive about $16,000 from the Maryland Heritage Areas Authority to continue the investigative work in the Avery Road Colored Cemetery back behind the Croydon Creek Nature Center.

Um you may recall in FY24, we received a similar amount of funds.

I think it was 15,000 and change to start that work.

Uh that phase of the project is complete, um, but we were not able to delineate the full bounds of the cemetery.

So we applied for another round of fund to do that same work and kind of expand the area with the goal of identifying the full bounds.

Um so we just received notification of that.

We are waiting for a grant award, um, but we will be working on that in the coming months as well.

The last update that I have for you all is just um a note about a staff transition within our department here.

Um Ricky Barker, who is our director of CPDS, is retiring from his position here.

Um so we will have an acting interim director effective on Monday.

I think it's yeah, on Monday.

We'll have um a new folk there, and then we'll be doing a nationwide search for that replacement.

Um so we will keep you in the loop, and once we have a new director, um, hopefully we'll invite them to a meeting in the future so they can meet you all.

You can put a name to a face.

Um and in the meantime, we're in good hands with our existing leadership team and some moving around the staff here um to keep things moving in that absence.

Okay, thank you.

Are there any questions?

No, okay.

So is there a list of the property owners with currently that um have Bronx plates or there is a list of property owners, or there's a list of historic properties.

We are currently reaching out to property owners to identify which ones have the plaques.

So it's not a complete list, it's a work in progress.

I'd say we're 50 to 60 percent of the way through confirming who does and who doesn't have a plaque.

Okay, so maybe we can get the list at our next meeting.

Uh potentially maybe October, October, November.

Perhaps.

I mean, because we may have more yeah, yeah, it's a it's a work in progress.

We're working on like a bigger update to our inventory here to kind of clean up where we're storing all of that.

Um, but yeah, we can work through that.

Okay, thank you.

Okay, so we go back to number two consent agenda.

Consent agenda items may be approved per the staff report without discussion.

However, any person may request that the chair remove an item from the consent agenda for discussion and public comments before the vote.

We have several items on the consent agenda.

Would any other commissioners like to pull anything off the agenda of the consent agenda?

I just have a minor correction on the um on the minutes.

Okay.

Say that now.

Um 3A.

I both made the motion and was recused.

I think that's a hangover from the when I was recused in the meeting for something else.

So just need to delete the recused Commissioner Denbow.

Okay.

Thank you.

Um the two items on the consent agenda is approval minutes of July 17, 2025, and review and action of Montgomery County Historic Preservation Tax Credit Application.

Since we're not uh pulling it now, we don't need to go through the oh, we do need to vote on them.

You can vote on them as a package.

You don't need to go individually.

Correct.

That's what I said.

Okay.

Some comments on the minutes is stuff.

Oh, okay, yes.

Commissioner Goldfinger.

Um, I noticed in the um minutes for the uh July meeting.

Um it had a um it had the list of um meetings for 2026, and I believe that our January meeting is on the 15th.

I think the um the list showed the 17th.

January for 2020 26.

2026.

I think the 17th, which was listed is a Saturday.

Commissioner Goldfinger, where in the minutes are you seeing the listing of maybe that was um well, maybe it wasn't in the minutes, and in I just made some quick notes um in the package that was sent down.

Maybe it had the uh the list of all the yep, I see that that's on page three over packet.

That is not in the minutes.

I'm sorry.

We can make that correction generally speaking, but yes, yeah, yeah, not in the minutes.

Um, yeah, and in the minutes, just to to um be clear.

I was here in person.

It shows I attended the July meeting uh virtually.

That was the June meeting I intended virtually so just to clarify.

Thank you.

Are there any other questions or comments?

Okay.

If not, is there a motion to approve the consent agenda?

Is there a motion to approve the agenda?

I'll look to approve the consent agenda as her comments.

Correct.

Is there a second?

Second.

Oh, you want to so Commissioner Goldfinger made the motion.

Yeah.

Yes.

Okay.

Per the corrections of the code.

Well, yeah, including the uh the corrections that we just noted.

Okay.

Are there any questions or comments on the motion?

Seeing none.

All in favor of the motion, raise your hand.

Okay.

The motion passes four to zero.

Next item on the agenda is number three, evaluation of significance.

The applicant is Colleen McPherson.

At one two oh one Parish Drive.

And it's a request to evaluation of significant demolition.

Demolition proposed.

Is there a staff report?

Yes, serious.

Okay, this is an evaluation of significance for HDC 2025-0120 for 1201 Parish Drive.

The evaluation of significance is for the purpose of demolition.

The applicant or the the owner is seeking to demolish the house and build a new one on the same site.

And it's right sitting on the corner of Parish Drive and Henry Road.

This is uh pictures of the site itself of the side yard off of um Henry Road.

And then you can see here there's the corner lot tried to kind of encompass the whole lot just so you can kind of see where it sits at on the corner and the amount of property that's around it.

So the house itself is uh built in 1952, believe I have to look at my notes again.

But the house um is part of the twin brook homes that were all built pretty much kind of cookie cutter style.

They have some differences, but mostly they're very similar.

So this particular one um is a ranch style home.

It is part of a series of other ranch style homes that were built with the same kind of window designs in them and the side the porch off to the side.

Some of the houses have the porch off to the side where you approach it from the side.

This one approaches from the front.

Uh the porch itself has been rebuilt as you can see, it's a wooden deck now.

Um it does have um the uh applied brick on the bottom of it, and then the um vinyl siding on the top, and it also has vinyl replacement windows, slider windows, and also um the windows uh to the left there are um just replacement windows as well, and you can see they do have six solar panels on the top.

This is side elevations of the house.

Uh once again, vinyl siding.

You can see the north side when you can see the rear porch on it, and yeah, also you can get a better look at what the side porch, I mean front porch looks like and then looking at the south side elevation, uh you can see the stairs leading down from the back porch there.

So it's pretty basically simple.

Um it's got asphalt shingle on the roof, it's got a concrete um well, not concrete, but uh foundation and a masonry foundation, so it's very basically simple.

So the house itself, we couldn't find much inner information as far as you know, we kind of lost who was the um who it actually went to and even with digging, it was actually difficult to get a real good history on it.

But the current owner is here, and and they may have more information than I was able to find.

But anyway, finding that the building uh proposed for demolition at 1201 Parish Drive does not meet any of the historic district commission's HDC adopted criteria for historic significance or architectural design and landscape significance.

Staff recommends against historic designation.

Um do you have any questions for me?

Commissioner Falsom.

Um thank you, Madam Chair Sheila.

Thank you for the excellent report as usual.

Um I've said this before, but just to reiterate uh when some of these homes are um demolished like that.

I've said this before, but just to reiterate, uh, when some of these homes are demolished like that, if there are things such as those windows, and I noticed solar panels, if any of those things are still in working order, HopTap for Humanity will gladly take them.

And so that's of course a form of recycling.

I hate to see stuff just go into the landfill.

So thank you.

Mike, please.

Yeah, um, I have no um no argument with staff recommendations, but I just want to point out as I've done many times before, that um this house and and others represents a period of time in Rockville's growth.

Um the other hand, if you look at the evolution of cities throughout history, um things were built, they were demolished, bigger and better things were put in their place, and that's what we're seeing in in in Rockville.

Um, much to our good fortune.

Uh the other um side of that coin is someplace like Williamsburg, which is basically a museum, and we don't live in a museum, we live in a thriving community.

But I'm just sort of um I'm just want to throw this out to my fellow commissioners to keep in mind that when we do these sort of things that it um it alters what the historic nature of that community was.

And um perhaps the best thing we can do is to document um this as part of the the growth, as we've done in so many other areas throughout the city's history.

Um that this was post-war um post-war development, opened up the city to um to young families um and and uh was part of the the tremendous growth that we see in Rockville's weather as well as other suburban uh cities uh of this type, and we just need to keep that in mind as we as we go forward.

Um it's nice to see old buildings like this torn down and bigger ones built because it represents um the increasing affluence of the local community, and that's a good sign, and we don't want to stifle that, but at the same time we should remember where we came from uh and and not lose our history.

That's it.

Thank you all.

Thank you.

Um would the owners like to have we have the are there any more questions for the staff?

Comments?

Yeah.

Okay.

So here and no additional questions, the applicant on owner, would you like to give a presentation?

Or would you like to comment on that?

If so, please come forward and identify yourself.

Hello.

Uh I'm Colleen McPherson.

Um basically, this is my father's house.

Uh he passed away, and we were trying to actually fix it to live in and add like an addition for our family and my brother.

But um there was some structural issues that were going to cost a lot of money, of course.

And so um that's why we went with the demolishing of the house.

Of course, we didn't want to, but it just had to be, fortunately.

But yes, thank you so much for reviewing this.

I appreciate it.

Oh, you're welcome.

Thank you.

Are there any questions of the owner?

I I just want to go finger.

Yes.

I'm sorry.

I just but um I I appreciate what you're doing.

I think it's it's um it will be a wonderful addition to the neighborhood.

And we're seeing that sort of thing all over Rockville.

I as I said just a little while ago, that it um it just um uh symbolizes the um the economic growth uh of our wonderful city, and so um thank you very much.

Of course, yes, and I am gonna we are gonna look at um donating the windows because they're still in very good condition and everything.

So thank you.

Yeah.

It's good that's good to know.

Thank you.

Okay, thank you very much.

Thank you.

Um is anyone from the public waiting to comment on this agenda item?

Okay, Ms.

Bashiri, were any written comments received for this item?

No.

Okay.

If there are no further questions for staff or the applicant, I will close the public hearing and open the floor for commissioners.

Um comments.

Are there any comments from the commission?

Um Madam Chair, I have a couple of comments, yeah.

Okay.

Um I don't I I want to raise these two things.

I don't think either of them, at least for me, we're um come up to level of disagreeing with the the um recommendation that staff has made in their report.

Um but the first one in relates to what Michael has said, and I think Nancy has brought this up at our meetings before.

Um at what point do we say, oh, there aren't enough resources to keep the integrity of this historic district in our community, right?

So we have a you know, there the the particular houses within this district are not are not for the most part, you know, they they're they're listed because they contribute to the the community to the neighborhood, right?

So at some point you're gonna we're gonna have in theory have given up enough of these properties that that district loses its integrity.

And I know there's a lot, and you know you make that point very clearly that there are a lot in this community, and that's one of the reasons why I don't think this particular objection, right?

Comes up to the level of saying no, we shouldn't allow the the owners to tear the house down.

But I do think it's something to consider that you know that as you start losing these resources, you eventually lose the integrity of the of the neighborhood, and it stops being making sense as a historic district.

So I think that's the first thing.

Um the second thing is that you you mention um Monroe Warren in your report and say he was a notable DC builder.

Um, but then when you list the um the criteria under architectural design represents the works of a master architect, craftsman, or builder.

I think it could be argued that Mamor Warren Sr.

was a master builder.

Um he he was a major developer in Britain in in the DC area and in the Maryland suburbs of DC for the for a pretty significant portion of the first half of the 20th century and into the 1960s.

His company um built the um what's it called?

The warrant the Kennedy Warren Building, which is both on the National Register of Historic Places and a DC listed building, um his own house that he built in in Chevy Chase is uh is a Maryland um listed building and quite a few of and other neighborhoods that he has that he developed, including Twinbrook, are um our historic districts.

Um so I think and and and we're quite groundbreaking.

I mean, you've said you say in your report the the extent to which Twinbrook was groundbreaking in that it it was a new kind of development.

Uh Woodley Gardens is another one um which he um which his company developed and was you know took some of those ideas even further and was one of the first sort of more upscale suburban developments uh in the in the northeast of it at its time from what I understand.

So I think that it could be argued that he is a um a master builder, was a master builder, um given given the influence he had on on the on the whole area um and also on on how developments were built in the in the um in America at the time.

So I think so so I mean again I don't think this Rick this comes up to the level, but I think it's it's worth noting that he was he was a pretty influential his company and his you know he and his brother and then his son who joined the company later on were pretty influential builders in the DC area in the 20th century.

So that's all I have for the question.

Thank you, Commissioner Dimbo.

Are there any other comments from the commission?

Okay, may I hear a motion for HDC 2025-01 200?

I'll make a motion, madam chair.

Uh finding that the building proposed for demolition at 1201 Parish Drive does not meet any of the historic district commission's adopted criteria for historic significance or architectural design and landscape significance.

I move that the HDC recommend against historic designation.

I'll say a second.

Okay.

Any discussion on the motion?

Okay.

Okay, all in favor of the motion, raise your hand.

Hi.

All opposed, say nay.

Nay motion passes three to zero.

Three to one.

Three three to one.

Yeah, three to one.

So thank you.

And good luck with your project.

Okay, the next item on the agenda is number four presentation.

A King Farm Farm State Project.

Chris Henry.

Oh, there she is.

Deputy Director, Department of Recreation and Parks.

Welcome.

Thank you.

Good evening.

Madam Commissioner, Chair and the Commission.

As you say, I am Chris Henry, the Deputy Director of Recreation and Parks, and I'm here to give you an update on the King Farm Farmstead Master Planning process.

Just an outline of the presentation this evening.

Just wanted to provide the purpose and expected outcomes, the uh the support of the guiding principles for the mayor and council, the feedback from the community, our timeline, alignment with the mayor and council's direction, the community outreach and engagement, and how our process and the results will tie in and support the recreation and parks strategic plan, as well as building uses and program concept review and then questions, and I'll follow up with uh the next steps uh for us and the work sessions with the mayor and council.

Next slide, please.

The uh project timeline we started about a year ago on this process, and um have had started out with a work session with the mayor and council to make sure we were going down the right path, and that the mayor and council had any feedback for us prior to our our start.

And then we once we had that feedback, we launched into uh an engagement process.

So we launched the Engage Rockville website for King Farm Farmstead Master Plan.

We worked with our uh communications or our communications and community engagement department for outreach and to get uh initial feedback.

Then in the spring, we started with five uh visioning sessions in person and virtual, and all along these times uh anybody at any time can participate in surveys and uh information gathering on the website.

So it's at their leisure and and at a time that works for them.

As we were entering May and June, we had fine-tuned our uh visioning uh sessions and the the feedback from them, fine-tuned them and put together the three visioning or uh filtering sessions so that we could uh really kind of hone in on what the community was looking for and um they could visualize what we were we were thinking and um proposing based on their feedback.

The uh in July we went back to the mayor and council for feedback and to make sure that uh we were uh moving in the right direction, get a check-in, and also we wanted to make sure that the the four of the four uh options that we had provided, which one we wanted to uh fine-tune it so that we could move forward with cost estimation for construction as well as some economic analysis.

And so at that meeting, the mayor and council uh directed staff to move forward with uh exploring more uh in-depth option two and as well uh option four, which really is option two plus an addition, and I will get into that.

So uh stay with me here for a minute.

Um and then uh August, we worked on the economic analysis and the construction cost estimates, and in September, we will have a work session on September 29th.

So please stay tuned and follow along.

That will provide us uh the fine-tuning and the feedback that we need from the mayor and council, and the plan is to come back to them in October and October 20th.

We have a work session, but that date will depend on Mayor and Council's feedback and um how much work we have to do towards uh fine-tuning the the two concepts into one.

Next slide.

So at the session about a year ago, the the mayor and council's direction were to focus on attracting local and regional attention and uses.

As well, accessibility to the buildings and connectivity is very important to us.

And the green space, it was very apparent that the existing community gardens are well loved and well used, and so to keep them existing as they are, and to make sure that the connectivity in the open space is considered in the planning as well.

Here, just a slide.

Just shows the some of the numbers.

Thousands of people visited the site and provided feedback and played along and followed along and participated both in person and virtually.

So we feel really good about the effort to get the word out and to get feedback.

As this ties as process, this process ties into the strategic plan.

One of the big moves in the strategic plan is to read to find an adaptive reuse and to construct renovate the site and really get moving.

We've had this for far too long, and the mayor and council are very motivated, and the strategic plan was very specific about making sure that we move forward with this project.

So at about a 64,000 square feet deficiency.

So this would help in providing opportunities for residents and community members to participate in activities that we that we provide, and also some new ones, we hope.

Next slide, you are very well aware of the facilities, the complex, but for the the audience, um we're at the in the King Farm neighborhood with 355 Frederick Avenue or Frederick Road as one boundary and ridgemont as well as Grand Champion, and then the new Farmstead District development to the north.

So they built that as part of the annexation agreement.

We asked everyone that participated what makes King Farm Farmstead special, and just a few in an infographic, just a few words that come to mind, which you know probably everybody knows, but it's always good to really understand the larger words are the ones that were more popular.

So community, open space, history, community gardens, beautiful.

I think they did a nice job of summing that up.

As we said, there was quite a lot of engagement.

Almost 250 people responded to our survey, and 70, a large number, 76% of them were Rockville residents.

Performing arts, active spaces for recreation, teen and youth programs, senior programs, so really covering activities that we have and that we continue to provide, as well as open space and the importance of activity and instruction and gathering places.

Again, just another version of it, and the participation again is really strong by Rockville residents, so we were really happy with that with the visioning open houses.

This slide just shows some of the activity in the outdoor spaces and the potential for use of the outdoor spaces.

And then outdoor spaces and some of the activities that are existing, like the community garden and gathering spaces in under the picnic pavilion, and we do rent the picnic pavilion.

Now we're getting into more of the programming and of the option.

And so this is just a graphic of some of the activities and the programs that option two cover.

Really, you'll see a lot of similarities between them with the difference in option four being an addition to the buildings.

So in option two, we'll start with option two, and the activities are performing arts and activities, youth activities, senior programming, wellness programs, multi-purpose, and something that was very popular was a teaching kitchen, and then arts and tech or STEM or STEAM programming.

But you'll see a theme here, kind of moving things around and providing flexible multi-purpose spaces.

This slide just shows the other the rest of the buildings on in the complex.

So not as cut up, but more of a large open area for example dance or yoga martial arts or other active activities.

The garage could be maker space and maker space could be anything from high-tech, which would be examples with 3D printers and laser cutters with or low tech arts and crafts, Lego bricks, or heavy on equipment, like a woodworking shop with equipment and tools and resources available.

The farmstead in this in this scenario is something with youth or teens, teen center, a program space.

Um, in that meeting in July, the mayor and council were very interested in space for child care.

That is one of their key initiatives.

And so that is one thing that they had um wanted us to hone in on in this next iteration.

Moving to the the option four, really, you'll see very similar activities and and programs and services uh with the addition of in the back on the left-hand side just below the the graphic that says uh dairy barn programming, you'll see an option for an addition, which would connect the two barns together, which really kind of gives you some economies of scale.

Instead of building uh elevators in both of the buildings, you could provide that accessibility through the um through that addition.

It also provides an opportunity to kind of build something that has a higher ceiling and and maybe is is structurally built for the activity that we want to provide.

If it's gathering space, if it's you know, so high ceilings, um floor, you know, one floor, and so that would be um that's kind of the addition from option two creating option four for with the addition as the same um graphics for option four for this for the other buildings, um similar activities, um, conference room space, gathering space, community gathering meetings, as well as all of the maker spaces and the wellness activities.

Going back to the the timeline.

So now we're we've caught up, and on September 29th, we will be presenting and having a work session with the mayor and council for their final feedback, and then hopefully coming back in October for approval and um any final uh words or and and the big the big change for the September will be they will have the information on construction uh order of magnitude construction costs as well as the um economic uh analysis of programming that we've suggested in these options and a phasing plan of how we there maybe some options of how to phase up an a phased approach to the construction.

Thank you for your time.

I'm here to answer questions or have any discussions that you'd like to have.

Are there any comments or commissioner falsomer?

Um thank you, madam chair.

I would more of just a comment.

Well, first of all, thank you for the excellent report.

I appreciate it.

Um I remember uh that this issue was on the very first HTC meeting that I was a commissioner, and I think I got extremely passionate about the loss of trees, if I recall, and really um uh uh advocated to make sure that the trees that were removed are replaced.

Um having studied landscape design after undergrad, I very passionate about the trees and so forth.

So um you guys have come a long way, and so thank you for that.

Audience, the comments.

Commissioner Dimbo.

Yeah, I have a another comment.

Um I mean, thank you again for the presentation.

I think the work that's been done is is impressive, and I attended one of the the um community visiting sessions, and they were great.

Um I'm a little concerned by the fact that in your uh word cloud um by the largest word right in the middle was history.

I think that was the last time you mentioned it.

It wasn't there's no indication that in any of this work that there will be any done to sort of highlight the history of the farm, highlight the role of the farm in the community, highlight the history of Rockville during the period when the farm was at its in its A-day.

Those kinds of things.

I mean, I you know that may be in the plans, but it wasn't in your presentation.

And so I'm I'd like to know the how the extent to which that will be, and I'm not asking for an answer to that question right now.

I know this is this is a longer a long process, but I I'd like to know the extent to which there those things, those concerns will be addressed in the in the project, and whether those you know that that particular issue has been or will be presented to mayor and council.

Thank you.

Thank you for for uh that comment.

Uh yes, that was a very strong um information that was that was provided by the mayor and council as well.

And so um part of we're not quite there yet in terms of detail for that.

We're really looking at the uses at this point, but that was uh definitely a strong comment for interpretation and for um any signage and walking patent tours as well as galleries within some of the spaces.

So there's a lot that that needs to be unpacked for and and get down to the details of that.

But yes, absolutely.

And um, I wanted to do broad strokes for this because we are right in the middle, but absolutely um good point, and uh that will absolutely be included.

There are many ideas out there already, uh talking about not only signage but also the use of of areas within each of the buildings.

So, yes, that will be part of it, and I appreciate you bringing it up and should have put it in there, but didn't want to get too far in the weeds.

Audience questions.

Thank you.

No, okay.

So when you get to that point, will you come back to HDC to give us another presentation, or will it just be held at the mayor and council, or how can we be involved?

Because I mean, I did attend the um the listening session, both at the um site over Glenview and also as well as at the mayor and council.

And I just wanted to make sure that HDC along with staff, I know staff is involved, but HDC will also be involved as well.

So, how do we maneuver that?

How do we stay in touch?

I know you're giving a presentation tonight, but hopefully this isn't the last one.

And as we continue to move forward with your with the project, and um did owing um Commissioner Dimbo's comments is especially about the history, because there's a lot of history there.

I mean, there's a lot, there's also some black history there as well.

So we'd be happy to come back and and either give updates or provide feedback.

You can as a body can uh write something and and provide that to the mayor and council as well.

You're welcome to do that.

Um Katie Gerbis has been a part of the master planning process as well.

So um feedback we we've been making sure that that she is a part of and hearing uh what the community has to say as well as making poking us and making sure that we're covering uh the historic side and the and the history.

So um either we can come to you, we can provide reports uh in the next month.

So we we present to mayor and council on the 29th of this month, and depending on what um the the feedback is there and how much activity needs to happen between that and October 20th.

Um that October date is not solid, just wanted to get it on the calendar.

And um, but hopefully it's solid if if things go well.

Um, but you this just the beginning step.

This is just getting us to a roadmap to how we can proceed and and what the uses within the buildings will be.

So it's it'll be there'll be plenty of time, but we can provide you with updates at times when you're interested.

Okay.

Thank you very much.

Any other questions or comments?

Thank you very much for your presentation.

Thank you for your time.

Appreciate it.

You're welcome.

Steph, you didn't have any comments, correct?

You were just listening.

Did staff have any comments that they wish to?

Okay.

Thanks again.

So next item on the agenda is discussion.

Um business.

I don't want historic preservation code update.

Is there a staff report?

Are there any questions?

We don't have a formal staff report, just an update for you all.

As you may recall, in July, we shared um what staff's proposal was for changes to our historic preservation code.

At that meeting, we had indicated that the mayor and council would be having a work session and providing some direction at their September 15th meeting.

That meeting got pushed.

Um so that has not happened yet, and that will now happen on their September 29th meeting, which is in a weekend change.

So we wanted to make sure you all as a body were aware of that date change.

In the brief book, which I believe will be made public tomorrow.

They have a transcript of the discussion that we had at our July meeting with the questions you all had, the feedback you all had, et cetera.

So they will have that to kind of inform their conversation and decision making there.

Really, the purpose of their work session on the 29th historic preservation is one of probably eight or nine different zoning topics.

So it's going to be a long, lengthy agenda item that they have ahead of them.

But the purpose there is to get some kind of initial feedback and direction from the mayor and council on what they do and do not want to see included in the draft code that will be released to the public in December.

We're currently aiming for December 1.

Take that with a little asterisk next to that date and something gets pushed.

But that's our timeline right now is to release a public draft of the code December 1st.

And we don't anticipate adoption of that until May of 2026.

So there would be an approximately six month period where we would have many, many public hearings, additional work sessions, public meetings, all sorts of stuff in that time frame there.

Okay, thank you.

Are there any comments?

Okay.

Okay.

Moving on to item two, historic district commission annual report.

The annual excuse me, the annual report is going to be on October the 6th with the mayor and council at 6 p.m.

Um, Anita or Commissioner Paul, you'll be giving a presentation.

And I'll be getting that to you.

It's all ready, and you will be getting it to you soon.

Um hopefully commissioners will attend so that we can show support for the uh HDC and for um Commissioner Powell for Chair Chair Powell for presenting this to the public and to the mayor and council.

Okay, thank you.

Sorry.

Julie, could you repeat what was the date again?

October the 6th.

And their meetings are at 6 p.m.

now.

6 30 p.m.

now.

Yeah.

6 30.

6 30.

October 6th at 6 30, correct?

Yes.

Are there any questions or comments about the annual report?

Thank you.

So item three, commissioner's strategic priority.

Is it a staff report or update from the July HDC meeting regarding the priorities we discussed?

Yep.

So the purpose of having this time on the agenda was to continue the discussion in July.

As you recall, we were here quite late and decided it might be better to get some sleep and revisit it with fresh eyes.

So in that time, you all received a copy of our latest internal kind of staff tracker for the historic preservation work plan.

It lists out all 40 some items that was in that work plan and where staff are tracking for when those projects would begin, when we think those projects would end, who's on staff leading those things of that nature.

We thought that could be helpful to help inform this discussion of what you may want your priorities to be.

Certainly, you as a commission can make whatever decisions you want.

For your knowledge, staff's priorities are based on that work plan right now.

So those items that you see currently happening or in progress, those are what we're currently focusing our energy and resources on.

But certainly interested to hear the commission's thoughts.

Okay, thank you.

Are there any questions or comments?

Okay, thank you.

One last little bit on that.

Um we are, although it is September, um, and we are only two months into FY26.

We are starting budgets for FY27 next week.

Um, so as our team starts to work through what our operating budget would look like, um, which as you all I believe know, it's rather small.

It's really like our basic everyday expenses here.

Um but as we also look at other projects that we may be requesting funding for, we can keep you all in the loop on that.

Um, and to the extent this commission is interested in echoing what staff has put in for project and budget enhancements, uh, we would greatly appreciate that.

So can you repeat what you just said in terms of the timeline, not about the budget?

Because that was going to be my next uh X was about the budget.

Yep.

Because I know we talked about it.

So we start it internally.

I think our kickoff is next week.

Um, so that's not a public kickoff.

That's staff, making sure staff know deadlines and you know what's expected of them, whatever.

Um, there's kind of two prongs to the budget process.

There is our operating budget, which are kind of our everyday funds that pay for our copy or leases and the water bottles on your dais right now, you know, all those little things.

That's not something I think you're gonna be very interested in because there's not a lot of money in there.

Um, but what's gonna be of more interest to you is every year staff have the opportunity um to do what we call a budget enhancement.

So that's a request for additional funds above and beyond our operating funds for a specific program, a specific project, things of that nature.

Um, so we will be internally over the next couple of weeks looking at our work plan, looking at items that we have slated to upcome in the next year that might require resources, um, and then we will be submitting enhancement requests as a part of that budget process.

So we can keep you in the loop once we have those.

Um the quick version of how that works is I submit those requests, the director then looks and refines them, city manager looks in for them, so it kind of works its way up before getting to the mayor and council at that point.

Once it gets to the mayor and council, that's a public budget draft and that's available for anyone to review.

And we, as you know, we have several public hearings every year on the draft budget prior to it being adopted.

Okay, thank you.

Okay.

So uh we're gonna move on to new business.

Um actually is B.

Is there anything you would like to discuss or have questions of staff that has not been discussed?

Or would you like to bring back to the next month's meeting?

Commissioner Goldfinger.

Yeah, no, I just um I don't think I was asleep.

Did we talk about the tax credit application?

Yeah, or has that been tabled?

I don't that was in the brief book.

Yeah, that was they were approved as a part of the consent.

Oh, we so that's okay.

When we did the minutes, it was probably a little confusing because we talked about changes to the minutes and then forgot all lumped in.

Okay.

Yeah, but we did identify A and B with the historic um with the taxes as well as the um minutes.

And I I just had a few things I noticed on it, but um that's okay, they're not major.

No, if you did, you can take your comments now.

Sure.

Okay.

Now just some um small items.

The um I noticed there was some invoices from SKA from 2023.

And uh I was wondering if those were included.

That is to say, paid in 2024, so that they can be included in the in the current um tax credit application.

Does anybody know?

I can answer that question for you because I spent many, many hours on that tax credit application.

Yeah, so um, in some instances where we have a project that maybe started at the end of a calendar year but continued into the next calendar year and more importantly was paid in the calendar year of 2024.

We can count that towards that's what I said.

Were they so though those were paid in 2022?

Correct.

Yeah, I knew that, so I just it wasn't clear.

Um the other thing I noticed is that um you um the brief the uh brief book showed images of checks.

Um but you had three actually total of nine images of the same check and number ending in three two two.

So I'm wondering if those amounts were counted, or was this just sort of a glitch?

It was counted as one check.

It was submitted by the applicant that many times because that check, the sum was for several different individual pieces of work.

So they attached a copy of the check for each receipt, but it was one big check that was the total of all of those individual receipts.

Okay, I didn't go into the and I didn't get at my I spent a lot of time doing this, Matthew.

Yeah, I figured somebody would have it.

Okay, that was it.

Thank you very much.

Okay, thank you.

So I have a question um in reference to the budget.

And I know one of the things we talked about last month was it's part of the budget is updating the African American brochure, and then I know we've added some additional signage.

Um did we add anything for the loss Rockville for the what lost Rockville brochure?

The second one.

I'm not aware of that.

There is a microphone.

It's a lost rock bill tour.

Yeah, and it had a brochure to it.

Yes, but I don't know that we have those anymore.

And actually, what's been happening?

We have been clearing out our paper.

In here in city.

There was a room in the basement, in fact, that we were storing things in.

And I was down there yesterday and I don't recall seeing that uh Lost Rockville tour.

Okay.

I don't see recall seeing the brochures down there.

Yeah, so we've had you know both brochures.

And so I was thinking maybe that's something that you know when we talk about the budget that we could update them because currently I think we have some sites.

Um but the was it Jed Scott?

Not Jad Scott.

Is that Thompson?

Yeah, you know that's not there.

And and then the Glenview Mansion, you know, that's an additional one, and so and we will be updating these things on the website.

Where you you were talking about getting paper pamphlets as well?

Yes.

That would you as part of the budget.

Okay.

Yes.

That's all I have for right now.

I may have some stuff for next for next month.

Okay.

Is there anything else?

Um on the topic of Zed Thompson.

Has the new has the replacement been installed, delivered, all that?

Yes, it has.

Good.

Okay.

The next item on the agenda is number six adjournment.

Is there a motion to adjourn the meeting?

I'm gonna readjourn the um September HTC meeting.

Okay.

Is there a second?

All in favor of the motion to adjourn the meeting.

Thanks, I have motion passes four to zero.

Thanks, everyone.

Thank you.