Rockville Planning Commission Meeting - October 8, 2025
Rockville Planning Commission Meeting - October 8, 2025
The Rockville Planning Commission convened on October 8, 2025, to review Final Record Plat applications for the Danick Technological Park Subdivision, a Level Two Site Plan for residential conversion at 198 East Montgomery Avenue, and to conduct a work session on the Zoning Ordinance Rewrite (ZOR). The meeting proceeded via WebEx with Commissioners Espinosa, Pittman, Fulton, and Mungsoon in attendance, while Commissioner Salhoudin joined late to the discussion on historic preservation.
Consent Calendar
- Final Record PLOTS (PLT 2025-00632 through 00636): Approved unanimously by the Planning Commission to resubdivide lots five, six, seven, and eight of the Danick Technological Park Subdivision. The applicant, Toll Mid-Atlantic LP Company Incorporated, expressed support for the action.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Resident Opposition/Concern: Connie Robinson, a resident of 2 Helen Hennigan Way, expressed concern regarding the new residential units being "super expensive" and questioned if they would be affordable. She also noted her previous disappointment that the "Residences on the Lane" were not designated as senior apartments and had design issues like long hallways. She sought clarification on whether residents of her building could apply for the new loft apartments. The applicant, through counsel Nancy Regan, confirmed they were looking closely at noise mitigation for the units but did not directly address the affordability or senior designation concerns during testimony.
Discussion Items
- Level Two Site Plan (STP 2025-00503): A motion was made to approve the conversion of 13,011 square feet of street-level retail into 13 residential units at 198 East Montgomery Avenue. The applicant, Comstock 33 Munro LC, expressed support for the design changes, noting responsiveness to prior feedback regarding urban frontages and privacy screenings. Commissioner Sutton raised a question regarding noise mitigation, to which the applicant confirmed they are utilizing the same noise-mitigating window technology as the building above. Commissioner Pittman expressed support for the project, noting satisfaction with the applicant's response to feedback.
- Zoning Ordinance Rewrite (ZOR) Work Session:
- Historic Preservation: Staff proposed changes including extending Certificate of Approval (COA) expiration from one year to five years and limiting who can nominate properties for local historic designation to owners, the Historic District Commission (HDC), or Mayor and Council. Commissioner Espinosa expressed concern that agnosticism from a property owner should not be treated as consent. Commissioner Seng suggested that if an owner is silent, the city's decision should prevail. The group discussed a three-pronged approach for designation votes based on owner consent (majority), silence (supermajority), or explicit refusal (unanimous). Staff also proposed creating a delisting process for properties that no longer exist or have lost historic characteristics and expressly prohibiting "demolition by neglect" of historic structures.
- Amenity Space: Staff proposed replacing open area and public use space requirements with a new "amenity space" definition to prioritize quality over quantity, setting a uniform 10% requirement. Commissioner Espinosa raised concerns regarding equity, suggesting that exempting senior and disability housing projects might have unforeseen negative consequences, though acknowledging the draft narrows the exemption to 100% affordable projects at 60% or less AMI within 1/4 mile of a park. Commissioner Seng questioned the definition of "high quality" amenity space and the reduction in quantity.
- Non-Conformities: Staff proposed creating strategic non-conformities that would disallow drive-throughs and gas stations in new Mixed Use Transit District (MXTD) zones while allowing existing ones to continue as non-conforming. They also proposed easing the alteration process for non-conforming uses and allowing a one-time expansion of up to 20% of original square footage. Commissioner Espinosa expressed concern that limiting a business's ability to expand due to regulatory changes is unfair.
- Subdivision and Plats: Staff proposed moving the authority to accept land dedication from the Planning Commission to Mayor and Council. They also proposed delegating the administrative approval of record plats for minor subdivisions to the Chief of Zoning. Commissioner Espinosa expressed concern that the delegation might be forgotten or hard to revoke in the future, while Commissioner Pittman and Commissioner Fulton expressed general support pending language to ensure the delegation is memorialized in the code.
- Neighborhood Conservation Plans: Staff proposed eliminating the ability to create new standalone Neighborhood Conservation Plans, suggesting that conservation elements should instead be integrated into the standard master planning process. Commissioner Espinosa expressed support, provided that conservation elements can still be included in the standard master plan.
- Recommended Rezoning: Staff updated a previous recommendation, proposing that the MX TD 200 zoning district (base 200 feet, 100-foot bonus) apply to areas within a half-mile of the Twinbrook Metro Station, rather than the previously proposed MX TD 235.
Key Outcomes
- Unanimous Approval (Consent Calendar): Final Record PLOTs PLT 2025-00632, 00633, 00634, 00635, and 00636 for the Danick Technological Park Subdivision.
- Unanimous Approval (Site Plan): Level Two Site Plan STP 2025-00503 for 13 residential units at 198 East Montgomery Avenue.
- Work Session Directives: The Planning Commission provided feedback on the ZOR work session topics, including support for the delegation of minor subdivision approvals (with caveats regarding code language), support for the removal of Neighborhood Conservation Plans in favor of master planning, and general acceptance of historic preservation updates pending further clarification on voting thresholds for owner silence.
- Next Steps: Staff will release the draft Zoning Ordinance and map amendment to Mayor and Council on December 1, 2025, expecting final adoption in late spring 2026.
Meeting Transcript
Good evening, Rockwell. Today is Wednesday, October 8th, 2025. This is meeting number 13-25 of the City of Rockwell Planning Commission. I am Jamie Espinosa, Chair of the Planning Commission. I am joined in chambers tonight by Commissioners Susan Pittman and Eric Fulton, and online by Commissioner Mungsoon. Commissioner Cheyenne Salhoudin should be joining us in chambers shortly. Tonight's meeting is being conducted in person and virtually by WebEx. Tonight's agenda includes final record plat applications subdividing lots of the Danick Technological Park Subdivision, a level two site plan application at one ninety-eight East Montgomery Avenue, a work session on the zoning ordinance rewrite, and all this will be followed by a regularly scheduled commission items. So our first item tonight is final record plat applications PLT 2025-00632, PLT 2025-0063, PLT 2025-0634, PLT 2025-00635, and PLT 2025-00636 to resubdivide lots five, six, seven, and eight of the Danick Technological Park Subdivision in conformance with project plan PJT 2017-00007 and level two site plan stp 2020-00393, located in the MXE mixed use employment zoning district at one five eight one five Shady Grove Road, one five eight two five Shady Grove Road, two choke Cherry Road, and twenty ninety-two Gaither Road, Toll Mid-Atlantic LP Company Incorporated applicant. Over to Mr. Waselak for any staff presentation. And our principal planner, Kimmy Azopagarion, is here to make the staff presentation. Thank you, Jim. Good evening, uh, members of the commission. As noted, this is a final record plot application for the Shady Grove Neighborhood Center Plots, and you will be seeing the presentation for that on the screen. This uh is a presentation for a total of five of the plates that are included in which is uh PLT 2025 dash zero zero six three two through six three six. The subject property as shown on the aerial map seen on the right here is located at the addresses of one five eight one five and one five eight two five Shady Grove Road, two choke Cherry Road, two zero nine two Aether Road. The land use is OCRM office commercial residential mix. The zoning district is MXE mixed use employment. It consists of a land area of approximately eleven acres, which combines uh all the five proposed plots and the existing uses office. What you can see on the aerial image here is the existing four lots of five through seven. Uh just a little bit of background for this application. A project plan PJT 2017-0007 was approved in 2019. Level two site plan SCP 2020-00393 was approved in 2020 for phase one of the approved project plan. An additional major site plan amendment SCP 2024-00489 was approved in 2024, amending one of the conditions of the site plan level two site plan that was originally approved back in uh 2020. The applicant is proposing to resubdivide lots five, six, seven, and eight of the Danach Technological Park Subdivision per SCP 00393. Uh, and a one-acre park is also approved with the original site plan, which will be conveyed to the city. With that, staff recommends approval with conditions of final record platz, PLT 2025-00632, 00633, 00634, 00635, 00636. And this concludes the presentation with a recommended motion as shown on the screen here. Thank you. Do any of my fellow commissioners in the chambers have questions of staff at this time? Hearing none, uh, Commissioner Sun online. Do you have any questions? Do we have a presentation by the applicant? Representatives by the applicants are on the call. Um, and uh I will let them take over any uh presentations that they might have. Sorry, my apologies. I was muted. This is Pat Harris on behalf from Lurch Erlean Brewer on behalf of Toll. We have no comments. We're happy to be at this point in the process and looking forward to delivering needed townhouses to the city. Thank you. Thank you. I think this one's gonna be a short one. Does anyone have any follow-up questions? Hearing nothing in the chambers, Commissioner Sun. Hearing nothing, uh staff. Can we put the proposed motion back on the screen? Do any of my fellow commissioners uh want to make a motion? I move that we approve final record platz PLT 2025-006320633, 00634, 00635, and 00636 to resubdivide lots five, six, seven, and eight of the Danek Technological Park Subdivision, subject to the conditions in the staff report.
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