Good evening and welcome to the City of Rockville Historic District Commission meeting number 11-2025.

Today is Thursday, December 18th, 2025.

I am HDC Chair Anita Neal Powell, and I'm joined by my fellow commissioners, Seth Dimbo, Peter Falseman, Michael Goldfinger, and Mercy Singhe.

We are also joined by city staff, Sheila Pazieri, Preservation Planner, Cynthia Walters, Deputy City Attorney, and Katie Gerbis, comprehensive planning manager.

The historic district commissions are conducted 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 at 1111 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 is held at www.rockville MD.gov slash video on demand.

The first item on the agenda is committee organization report, starting with a Peerless Rockville.

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

I am here, yes.

Welcome.

Thank you, Chair Neil Powell.

And hello to everyone and happy holidays to everyone.

As we wrap up 2025, I just wanted to, on behalf of Pierreless Rockville, and myself, thank all of you for everything you've done to further historic preservation this year and for all of the meetings and review of master plans and zonings and all the things that have gone into the year.

You've been doing great work and you are appreciated.

And I just wanted to share that.

As we look, you're welcome.

As you look forward, as we look forward to 2026, I just want to share that we will be working with the city on some activities related, of course, to the 250th of the nation and the county.

In particular, we will be working on a project for 250 Rockville, our American story.

This project will feature national themes in American history that have played out in Rockville over the last 250 years, as well as share local stories that have shaped life in Rockville.

We are going to invite the public, uh, probably starting in about May to join us and explore Rockville from the founding of Montgomery County in 1776 to the 21st century.

Starting in the spring, the Redbrook Courthouse will host a photo exhibit on 250 years of history in Rockville, and we will supplement that with additional lectures, tourists, and special educational events.

Not necessarily a contest, but we're still figuring that part out.

But we want to hear from the community as to what they feel is important and embodies Rockville's spirit.

So more to come on that as we all look forward to 2026.

Thank you.

Thank you.

The next organizational report on the agenda is to be Lincoln Park Historical Foundation.

I am the president of the foundation.

I had an opportunity to attend the meet and greet event and to hear from the candidates applying for the position of director of community planning and development services.

I thought their statements were good, and we will see who will be the next, who the next director will be.

Plans are underway to celebrate the 250th anniversary of America in Montgomery County.

As we continue to move forward, we will be sharing information with everyone.

If interested in learning more about those plans, you can contact us by sending an email to Lincoln Park H I St at AOL.com.

And this concludes my report.

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

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

If not, 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?

Commissioner Falsen.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Just wanted to note that other privilege of representing the HDC on the interview panel for the new position that you're just speaking of with the city and the director.

And we met with three really great candidates.

The city's lucky to have these folks applying for the position.

I know who my favorite is, but I don't think I'm supposed to say that, but um, they um all of them were very impressive.

Um and so thank you for that opportunity.

I appreciate it.

I think you're welcome.

Is there anyone else?

This time for Commissioner Golfinger.

Yes.

I uh again, as I've been doing the last couple of months, featuring a um historic building within the city, and just kind of a brief summary of it uh to raise appreciation of uh what we have in Rockville.

Uh tonight I'm gonna talk about Glenview Mansion.

Uh, Glenview Mansion on the site of Rockville's Civic Center complex wasn't originally the imposing building we know today.

Toward the end of the 1830s, prominent Rockville resident Richard Johns Bowie, who lived from 1807 to 1881, and his wife Catherine Williams established the Glenview Farmstead, two miles east of Rockville.

Richard Bowie was a member of the bar and served terms in the Maryland General Assembly and U.S.

Congress.

The Bowie's built the two-story Greek revival style plantation residence as part of a larger complex, including outbuildings, summer kitchen, shed, and barn.

It was one of several farms in the Rockville area that were built as summer estates for wealthy Washingtonians.

Remnants of the original house exists in the basement of the current building.

At its largest, Glenview Farm contained more than 500 acres.

Census records show that in 1860, the Buoys enslaved 26 people, some of whom resided in the house and others in two quarters on the farm.

These enslaved individuals raised crops and livestock or worked in the house.

Slavery was abolished in Maryland in November 1864.

Glenview Farm remained in the Bowie family until 1905.

In 1917, ownership of Glenview passed to the Smith family.

Following the death of Mr.

Smith, his widow, Irene Moore Smith married Dr.

James Alexander Lyon, a heart specialist from Washington.

Between 1826 and 1828, the Lions altered the estate significantly, expanding the building to 125 feet wide with two new side wings, resulting in the neoclassical revival house we know today.

The granite quarry, located in the vicinity of the nearby Croydon Creek Nature Center, is thought to be the source of the stone for the house.

The Lions frequently opened the estate to host many functions and receptions.

One such reception in July 1939 celebrated the dedication of the Rockville Post Office.

The property was a working farm until World War II.

After the death of Irene Lyon in 1950, Dr.

Lyons sold more than 100 acres of the estate to developers.

And in 1954, the Montgomery County Historical Society purchased the mansion and 28 acres.

In October 1956, Rockville's mayor and council voted to purchase Glenview for 125,000.

And in February 1957, the 30-room mansion was opened as Rockville's community center.

During the 1950s and 1960s, Rockville's civil defense headquarters that included a bomb shelter were located in the basement of Glenview Mansion.

Today, the Civic Center Complex includes the mansion and the F.

Scott Fitzgerald Theater, and is the site of many events throughout the year.

And that concludes my little talk.

Okay.

Thank you.

Thank you for such a thorough report.

Do you have any questions of the Commission?

Are there any announcement or comments from the staff?

Yes, Adam Chair, we have two things to report out to you all at this point in our agenda.

The first is a continuation of a discussion we had last month about deer fencing, both in the historic district as well as kind of throughout the city.

You all had requested that we bring that topic back up for discussion here tonight.

As a part of that authorization, they specifically said that they would like to reopen the issue of deer fencing throughout the city in Rockville and look at what the current guidelines and regulations are and potentially make some changes to that.

As a result, we are for lack of a better word, putting a hold on any enforcement of any deer fencing throughout the city, regardless of if it's located in a historic district or not.

So we have several properties who in the past couple of months have received notifications of violations for that deer fencing.

If they have not already, they will in short order be receiving letters informing them that we're kind of pausing enforcement for now until that issue gets brought up by the mayor and council and there's some additional direction on regulations there moving forward.

So that's the deer fencing update for you.

Similarly, a bit related is uh the zoning ordinance rewrite project.

Um so I believe it was in June or July of this past summer.

Um we had a work session with you all where we talked about some proposed revisions to the historic preservation section of the zoning ordinance and got your feedback and guidance.

Um now that the mayor and council have authorized the filing of that text amendment, um it starts about a six or seven month pretty heavy community engagement process that our zoning team is working on.

As part of that, they have reached out to all of the boards and commissions or liaisons for all of the boards and commissions in the city to see if any of the boards are interested in having zoning staff attend a future meeting to provide a briefing on the project, outline opportunities for input and feedback, things of that nature.

This would be a high level overview.

They're not going to go into like all of the details of absolutely every single thing, but we wanted to bring that up to this body um and take a straw poll to see if that's something you all were interested in dedicating time on a future agenda to discuss.

So are you taking a straw poll?

Yes.

Or any discussion of folks.

Three, okay.

Great.

So we will work with zoning staff.

Um they have quite a busy schedule because we have 30 some odd boards and commissions that they have given this invite to.

Um, but we will let them know what our upcoming meeting dates are in the springtime, and we will let you know um what date they're able to attend.

Okay, thank you very much.

And I'd like to thank you for the um update on the deer fencing and what's to be forthcoming.

So I'm excited about that.

So thank you very much.

Commissioner Sin, you want to are there any comments?

Okay, thank you for your report.

The next item on agenda is the 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 comment before the vote.

We have one item on the consent agenda, the approval amend is for November 20th, 2025.

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

Okay, thanks.

I move to approve the minutes for November 20th, 2025.

Thank you, Commissioner Singh.

Is there a second?

Thank you, Commissioner.

Um, Seb Dembo.

Are there any comments or questions on the motion?

Seeing none, all in favor of the motion, please raise your hand.

Right.

Okay, the motion passes five two zero unanimously.

The next item is item three, certificate of approval.

A 2026-212 CRT.

The applicant is Jeffrey Brouse, Architect James and Samara Abeo, and owners of 100 Lynch Street.

Request is for a courtesy review to construct a second story re edition.

Ms.

Bazier, is there a staff report or update on this application?

Okay.

This is a courtesy review for 2026, 2021 CRT.

This is 100 Lynch Street.

This is the house.

The house is located on Lynch and at the corner of Lynch and Anderson.

As you can see here.

So this is you can see how the grade drops down and how the garage sits low.

And so the house still being one story over the uh garage, and then it's a second story on the original house.

So the applicant is seeking to add an addition on top of the garage addition addition, not to change the footprint, but just to add an addition on top of the addition.

So this is a rendering of what the addition would look like.

As you can see, as it is right now existing, but with the addition on it, it would have a second story.

It would have a porch over the garage.

It would have uh columns, brick columns supporting the garage.

You're looking at changing the windows on the original um house, first story of the house where the garage was, and changing it to multi-light windows to uh match the windows around the house.

It's gonna have a gable roof like the house has, but it's going to actually intersect with the gable roof.

So the gable roof, once it um is together, it'll be sort of an L-shaped gable roof that will uh intersect with the original house.

And I'm kind of just giving you an overview, but we do have the architect here, and he will give you a deeper um deeper information into the materials and into the uh design and and and the thoughts because of the house, the way it was actually built, you know, and then added on to in 1985 and then designated in 2007.

So this is just showing a um view of the house from the side.

You can see that there is a enclosed porch on the side of the house and a bay window, and they're looking to change out those windows and change them into uh um one over, I mean that's more like six over six double-hung windows, and then adding an open porch there instead of the uh porch that's enclosed right now.

So adding an open porch with columns and with railing and with um a hipped roof, and just to make it more compatible with the house as it is.

So these are um just elevations showing or giving you a better view of what the house would look like as it is originally now and what it would look like with the addition.

So you can see it does the um addition on the second floor does add to it substantially on the Anderson side, not so much on the Lynch side, but on the Anderson side, but it's a little more appropriate than what it looks like now with the flat roof.

This is the front of the house.

You can see what it looks like with the addition showing from uh the front of the street.

So you can see the mostly the addition will be seen, the roof and just the side portion above the porch there.

And then another elevation looking at it from the north side of the house.

So it really doesn't give that much of a difference except for you know the the second story there.

And then looking at it from the rear of the house.

So you can see the garage doors will change.

Uh, you can see how the windows will uh change as well, and just with the porch there and the um French doors behind it will just a little bit more cohesive.

Because he found some some oddities in the uh house as he was looking at it originally.

And this is all part of uh a rehabilitation on the inside of the house.

They were uh remodeling the basement, I believe.

And so this was all part of that of remodeling the base, if I'm not mistaken.

Okay, it's probably not, but he will tell you more.

I can tell you the basement's been completed and love it.

Oh good, okay.

So, as detailed in the report, the proposal meets the Secretary of Interior Standards for rehabilitation number nine and technical guides um for out alterations number four, new additions.

Uh so staff recommends that the HCC provide suggestions to the applicant for incorporation of the proposed addition into the final submittal.

Do you have questions for me?

Vice Sheriff Also many then Commissioner Shengye.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Not a question, just a comment.

Um I'm quasi neighbors with the applicant, and the applicant's daughter interacts with my dogs, but I don't think that's a conflict of interest.

So I just want to note that for the record.

All right.

So how about Queensal about the foundation?

So I'm just excuse me one second.

Could you come to the podium and identify yourself, please for the record?

Okay, thank you very much.

Sure, certainly.

Uh good evening.

My name is Jeff Broadhurst.

I'm with Broadhurst Architects.

Uh I'm a resident of Rockville.

I designed it, built my own house here in Rockville.

So I practice out of my home in Rockville and have had the opportunity, the great opportunity to work on many historic residences in the city.

Um this particular project, I'm thinking back to when Jim first contacted me.

I believe he has said something like, We're over on this part of the neighborhood.

You probably know it as the nice old historic house with the big ugly box on it.

Um unfortunately, that that is kind of the history of this house.

It's a beautiful house.

Uh this addition was put on before the house was designated.

My understanding is that the previous owner um may have used this space for a uh a ground floor bedroom, a convalescent space for someone.

Um I it is not the most handsome uh addition to this house.

And I think the house um uh when we were talking about adding a second floor, uh I talked to my clients about it gives us a the great opportunity to kind of uh correct some mistakes of the past and try to tie the second floor into the first floor and that whole two-story addition into the original house.

Um what my office term we use all the time is respect.

We want any addition to any building we do to respect, be respectful of what is there before.

And certainly um we if we think of that for all projects, but certainly for historic properties, um, you know, it it's mandatory and and we want to live up to the standards that uh the Secretary of Interior um gives us.

So uh the drawings that Ms.

Bashiri kind of went over with you, um we're we are wanting to totally respectful of the original house.

Talking about the original house very quickly, one thing that was referred to is um it appears to us that in 85, when the previous owner built this addition, they claded it in 14-inch exposure material that is either painted cedar or potentially a cement, possibly asbestos-based material.

And unfortunately, they chose to put that same material over the historic house as well.

And they put it over the existing siding so that as we all know, uh siding wants to run into trim and have some relief behind the trim.

And on this house, uh the the new siding on the historic portion is out in the same plane as the trim, clearly giving us the clue that this is an original, but the original is behind it somewhere.

So uh one thing that the report that was provided mentioned is that we wanted to use uh or the siding would be different between the old and the new.

And I spoke with Ms.

Bashir and just reminded her of a conversation we had earlier, which is that the 14-inch exposure that on the on the current house now.

I don't know that there's any precedent for that.

Uh we would prefer to see what was on what is under the uh the new siding on the historic house, see if it can be rehabilitated or at a minimum provide a new siding that has the same exposure, the same scale as what uh was on it originally.

Um we don't intend to change any fenestration on the original house.

Uh as you heard, we just completed a basement renovation that was a precursor to the the bigger project.

But the addition, we're taking the liberty to change fenestration, uh remove the bay window and create a family room space where it is now a very large bedroom.

Um second floor above it gives my clients the space they need for their family, so parents and children can be on the same floor, which they aren't at this point.

Um but it is it is our intention, and I hope I hope the drawings um uh bear this out that that our goal was to try to improve the old addition, add more on top of it, but not not adjacent to it, just stack something on top of it, but then create from that a portion of the building that is respectful of the original part.

Um in the report, it was also noted that uh this this house is quirky in that the original house was built before there was a zoning ordinance.

Um so it was it is non-compliant with the setbacks on Anderson when the owners in 85 uh chose to build the addition, they just aligned it with the existing house.

So it is also non-compliant.

So we did go before uh the Board of Appeals last year, and uh did again a variance to allow us to put a second floor on top of the the first floor.

Um and and that was passed, and um I think it makes perfect sense to do that.

Um other thing Ms.

Bashiri mentioned is that uh our drawings show taking what what I believe was an original porch on this house that was since enclosed and and renovating that as part of the project.

Um in our drawings, it is illustrated as an open porch with a roof on it, but just columns and an open porch.

The current owners uh have grown very fond, and and their daughter has grown very fond of that porch enclosed porch space.

So they wanted me to be very clear to you that you know, should this project go forward, they're not sure yet if they would want it to be an open porch or an enclosed space that looks like a porch.

I believe we can make either one look beautiful, beautiful, but that's just one thing that um has not been decided at this point.

Uh besides that, I'm happy to answer any questions you may have, or I'd be happy to let Jim come forward and and share with you as well.

Thank you very much.

Um, Commissioner Shenge.

Okay, so I'm just wondering if it's the foundation because you're going to be stocking things on the building.

So tell us it's a bit about the foundation.

The foundation of the building.

Uh the the addition, the 85 building, you can see it's it's it's a brick and block foundation.

Uh it will remain there.

It has the capacity to support what we're putting on top of it.

Um we haven't we the owners and I haven't talked in great detail, but I would I would suggest that we paint the brick out to match the foundation of the original house.

Um just so it doesn't look distinctly different.

Um, but the foundation is intended to remain as it is.

We're simply stacking on top of what is there now.

I can thank you.

Good.

Okay.

And the commissioner Danbow.

Um thank you for that.

That was uh um uh great report.

Um you mentioned about the siding, is but you didn't say whether restoring that old siding or replacing it was is part of this current project.

Or if that's I think we I I think we would like it to be.

I think there still is the issue of when this happens and the budget for it and whatnot.

I think in a perfect world, uh it this would be the a great time to review it and see what can be done.

It's quite possible I can't speak for the owners of how far they want to go, but we'd like you to know that we would like you to consider that possibility.

And if you were to approve it, we wouldn't be mandated to do it, but we'd like to know that we have the leeway to do that and make that improvement if if it's it's possible.

Thank you.

Um finger.

Um yeah, thank thank you for that uh presentation.

Um aesthetically, I do like the uh the addition and what you're planning to do.

I think it it's a great improvement to what's there now.

My only concern is that I believe in the um Secretary of the Interior's standards, there is a uh a phrase about um and the addition should not overwhelm the original house.

Um and apparently this fits within that.

Um it looks like it's overwhelming, and that's my only concern.

Um aesthetically, I like it.

I think it should go forward, but how do we address that?

Uh Ms.

Bashiri and I had several conversations over a year ago about about this issue.

Um the current design, uh you you're right, because the grade is sloping away, when you're looking at it from this particular angle, you're seeing the highest part of the building.

That's a given, and that's due to the eight feet of grade change that that Ms.

Bashiri talked about.

We did bring the roof down from where it was.

We brought the two ridges so they're not aligned and brought one down the uh uh below the other.

Uh in plan, you'll also notice that we created these indentations to preserve the rear corners of the original building and create this slot between the two to make it clear where the original was.

What that was about, okay.

Yeah.

And that happens on on the the uh Anderson side and and the the opposite side as well.

Um and be and beyond that, if I may, it's it's simply we're working with existing floor and ceiling heights and getting of habitable space under a roof.

No, I'm again I'm comfortable as long as as you know it's not in violation of anything that uh historic.

So um go for it.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Are there any other questions?

Comments.

Is there anyone from the public waiting to comment on this agenda item?

Okay.

Uh Ms.

Mazier, do you were any written comments provided to you?

Thank you.

No, we didn't receive anything.

Okay, thank you.

If there are no further questions for staff or the applicant, I will close the public hearing and open a floor for the commissioner's discussion.

Are there any other comments from the commission?

Not may I hear a motion for you?

I have I have some, Madam Chair.

Commissioner Dimbo.

Um really positive.

I think this is great.

And I too was thinking very similar things to what Michael was thinking, my fellow commissioner Goldfinger was thinking about the the massing of the of the addition in terms of its relationship to the size of the house of the original structure.

Um, but you know, everything else about this project is clear that there's a lot of thought and care going into the preservation of the house and and the um and the you know preserving what they can while meeting their needs while meeting the current owner's needs.

And you know, yeah, and and the fact that they're making uh rather not I mean, I guess not to put too fine a point on it.

Ugly addition look a lot nicer, is goes a long way, I think, to to uh to helping.

I I don't have you know, this is we don't get courtesy reviews for properties that are this that are obviously this this clearly in line with the kinds of things that we we tend to approve very often.

I'm pleased it's nice to see that the owner and the architect cared enough to bring it to us for a courtesy review, but I can't see any real major issues that would make me question what's going on here when we when this comes to us in the uh for for our approval.

So well done to you both, and thank you for looking after the historic properties.

I'm kind of curious what when I know it was 20 years ago now, but were you the owner when it got when it got designated?

I'd be happy to address that constraint.

No, we purchased this uh property approximately uh excuse me, can you sorry Jim Abel, uh one of the owners along with my wife Samara.

Uh we purchased this property in 2018.

Um I grew up in a home in Chattanooga, Tennessee from the 1920s, so I was immediately drawn to this house.

But I was a little curious um because I said, well, it's a beautiful historic home.

And I thought, I wonder how they got that addition approved if it was historic.

And then we dug into the history and we realized, oh, this was added before it was designated.

And so, you know, our our key goal, and we appreciate work the opportunity to work with the commission, work with Jeff and the Historic Preservation Commission is to try to remedy and and make it harmonious as much as we can, you know, basically playing the hand we were dealt.

And so we really appreciate the opportunity um to perhaps restore some of the architectural consistency and really respect the historic design of the main part of the home.

We absolutely love it.

Um it reminds me of of my childhood home growing up.

I've I'm a fan of historic homes.

I love them.

Um they sometimes require a lot of work and they require a lot of love, but that's what we're committed to.

And so we we appreciate the opportunity to come and present our ideas here before the commission.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I mean, and it is worth reiterating that the reason, I mean, there's a lot of historic, there's a lot of homes in Rockville from that period that are not necessarily designated.

It's designated because of because of the famous resident, not so much because of the house itself.

That's not I mean, that's neither here nor there in terms of your project, but it's uh it's worth noting.

So do you know how it got came about?

I mean, I'm just curious.

It's for my own interest really.

Has nothing to do with the proposal.

There was quite a few houses designated around 2007 to 2009, I believe, maybe 2001.

And some of them that I've looked at, I was curious as to what made it historic, well, how it got designated, but they're designated now.

And I think that's part of the there was just a campaign, I believe, to get a bunch of houses designated, and that was part of it.

Not that it wasn't deserved, but no, it's getting some treatment, I believe, that would help help the look of the historic house.

It is Commissioner Golfing.

Oh, you're welcome.

Commissioner Golfinger.

Now, just uh um a further thought on what I said before, and I think my concern is because it does sit on a corner, and um the side of the house is quite visible from Anderson Street.

Um, but according, you know, strict uh I I guess a strict interpretation would be that um minimum visibility of additions from the front.

So if you take that uh the house clearly uh you know is much more in compliance than what would be um you know visually what am I trying to say?

Um from the side, it looks it looks like a massive addition, but the side doesn't count, it's from the front that that counts.

So I would tamper what I said before with that addition, additional statement.

Thank you again, Commissioner Madam Chair, because this is a courtesy review.

We don't we don't need a motion, right?

It's just okay, thank you.

So we appreciate you for keeping the house in its historic character and bringing it to us for courtesy review before filing an application.

So thank you very much for that.

Thank you all.

So we all clear?

We're all clear.

Okay.

So next item on the agenda is for discussion.

AO business.

Item one, King Farm Farmstead Project.

Are there any updates?

Yes, just a very brief update.

Um the King Farm Farmstead Master Plan was adopted by the mayor and council at their meeting on December the 8th.

Um, so a week and a half ago, if I could do math, something like that.

Um the one thing that I think this body will appreciate is it was adopted with a caveat that some additional language be put in the plan about opportunities for historic interpretation on the site.

Um so our team has worked with recreation and park staff to add a few additional lines.

It's not specific, it's not saying exactly what that looks like, exactly where it's going, um, but talking about you know, interpretation can look like a lot of different things, and as plans continue to develop for the site that we want to be mindful of opportunities to include that um throughout the campus.

Okay, thank you.

Any questions?

Uh not a question, I have a comment.

Um that's good to hear.

I mean, the the plan itself isn't kind of very specific in lots of ways, right?

It's an early, even though they're calling it a master plan, it's an early phase kind of plan anyway.

So I'm glad there to hear that.

And I just wanted to say I saw um Councilman Jackson uh last week, and he made a point of saying that that our letter was helpful and he was they were that they were glad to have had input from the HDC.

Okay, thank you.

Commissioner Falsom.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I just wanted to thank um uh Mayor Ashton and also City Council member um Jackson for reaching out to me and also um just really um hugging the opinion of the historic dresser commission.

It's it's refreshing and I appreciate their efforts to um hear what we have to say.

As I echo that, and I appreciate the fact that they, you know, really use the letter that was submitted about HDC in the consideration of moving forward with the um third review.

So we thank you very much.

So is there anything else?

Okay.

I'm very thankful that HDC um agreed to submit the letter, and we have an author of the letter, and we appreciate you writing it for us.

And then get it all about.

I didn't write the letter.

No, you drafted the staff wrote the letter.

I give you a lot of things.

We drafted some notes and then we did some copying policing.

Yeah.

Yeah.

We all had input, but we thank you for taking the lead on that.

Happy to do it.

Thank you.

Okay, this item is new business.

B new business.

Um, one is the 2026 preservation month event.

Is there any update?

Um actually uh one and let you know that um yeah, I know you wanted to do Glenview Mansion, but you will have to get together and determine what dates you would probably want for us to be able to present dates to them.

But I do want to say that um HDC, you will definitely need to take the lead on this, knowing that both Katie and I are going to be in and out of the office uh during the time that this is being planned.

Um I'm going to be gone most of January.

I do believe that um Katie will be leaving around the end of February.

So um and then I have a conference in March.

So you definitely will have to work with one another, take the lead on this to push it forward.

You can uh like if there's something that we need to do in order to get it done, and the staff that will be there if neither one of us is there, we'll be able to help you.

Uh, but for example, when you get your dates, let us know that so we can contact Glennview to see if those dates are going to work, and if not, looking for another venue to um make it happen.

But it's on you.

All on you.

I think she gave it all heck to us.

We come up with a theme or not.

No, and we haven't done really you have a lot of work to do.

But you got six months.

You started early, and you know, you have time to get it done, but you got a lot of work to do.

Can I just so you're just gonna be doing the logistics?

That's what I okay.

We can do that.

We we we got this right.

Right.

You did a good job last time.

Yeah.

We did everything.

What Michael and I did everything last year.

I don't know what the three you did, but um, just one question.

Would it be easier to find out what dates are available at Glenview and then doesn't totally work that way?

No.

Their calendar um gets updated every 12 hours, and it is constantly shifting and changing.

Um so it is better for us to come to them.

I think the other thing that this body should consider and make some decisions on is not only theming of the event, but what is the style of the event to know if Glenview is even the appropriate venue for something.

Are we talking about something like we did last year where we had a few folks lined up and it was kind of like presentation style?

Are we talking about having um say a tour of a facility as the event?

You know, there's different ways you could choose to celebrate this.

And I think the format that you choose in part plays into the location a little bit.

Um, additionally, theming may or may not um play into that as well.

Um, you know, if we're talking about if the theme is around some specific historic site in Rockville, it probably makes sense to have it be at that historic site.

Or yeah, one idea staff has kind of thrown about is and we've talked about in a lot of depth tonight is the 250th anniversary of Montgomery County in the United States.

Perhaps that's an opportunity um to tie that theme into this event, whether that's HDC doing a standalone event, or maybe that's HDC partnering with one of our partner organizations that is already doing programming and kind of using preservation month to advocate and promote these other events that other organizations are actively working on for that celebration.

It's up to you all.

Um, but even we have time, but as Miss Bashiri mentioned, um, staffing is gonna be a little odd for us in the fall.

You will have staff, you're not gonna be all by yourself.

Um, but you're not gonna have you know the dedicated bandwidth of Sheila and I that we've had historically for years past.

So we just need to spread the work out a little bit amongst more folks.

I mean that you've given us a lot of um a lot of things to think about.

So yeah.

Oh okay.

Sorry, madam chair, can I?

Yes, okay.

Just missing the suggest that maybe given what Katie has just said and um the fact that it's our December meeting that we all go away and think about some ideas and put something on the agenda for January so we can actually have a kind of coherent conversation about it.

Um kind of table it for tonight and move it to plan for a big conversation so we can start really thinking about it in January.

Okay, I was thinking the same thing, Commissioner Falsema.

Yeah, thank you, Madam Chair.

Are we it's a I guess a legal question?

Are we permitted to discuss this via email amongst us?

As long as we don't decide or take a vote or whatever.

I'm gonna ask our deputy city attorney to chime in here.

I suspect the answer is no.

Okay.

But um that's why we've kind of created subcommittees in the past, right?

In the past, yeah, that's at least subcommittee, just having a couple of people working on it and then bringing it to.

But if we if we all discuss it, throw ideas around, then a couple of people could try to start moving forward with it, maybe.

It could be that a couple of people would like to co-chair so we can continue to have the discussion.

So I'm my concern was the time frame.

I'm thinking because I wasn't it didn't dawn on me until tonight.

It's already December, and we want to get our act together.

So I was thinking we could save some time if we hashed out some ideas on the email, but I understand if we're not supposed to I'm sending a message now, and we'll see.

But couldn't we send our ideas to the staff?

And that way we're not talking to each other.

So you I think you can still do that.

But we couldn't but we could include the commission when we send you an email.

Or I think we should probably not be doing that.

Okay.

Um but you but you could send it out to the whole commission.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So where the opens meeting act, open meetings act gets tricky is when it's actions of the body that are being taken.

They have to be taken in public, you know, forum.

So it gets a little weird if you're you know, sending an email that's like how to Saturday work for you.

That's not necessarily a committee, you know, action that's being taken.

But the concern with email is that in the past, if there is a lot of back and forth rapid email, that ends up being a conversation and a discussion, and whether it might not be a formal vote of the body to do something if decisions are being made outside of that public forum, that's where we get gray.

Now, this is a little different, in my opinion, not being an attorney.

Um, in that, you know, making decisions about a case, for example, where we're putting on our quasi-judicial hat, that is a hard absolute no.

What we're talking about now is, you know, an activity, it's an event, it's kind of a nicety that we do, but it's not official business of the committee.

It's not like a standing legal decision that's being made.

Um, so if Ms.

Walters has anything to say and chime in here, and I'm gonna send her a note here too.

Um, I think this would be a good thing to just clarify with her.

Thank you.

I have a question that coming.

Okay, so is it possible for us to since we are all together, look for a date in me?

And let everyone know to remember.

Is it possible to get to date now?

Since we're together, at least not like it's also the in me.

So that we'll kind of put the application that's possible.

If you all would like to, you certainly can.

I guess one of the things uh we would should if you would like to have it on a Saturday.

Is it Saturday?

We can as well.

Do you have any objection to having a conference on a Saturday?

No.

Yeah.

Okay.

Commissioner Dimbo.

Um I do believe that's where you're going to run into problems trying to get Glenview.

Wedding season.

Wedding season, you know.

Okay.

But given that we've just said that we're not sure we want to do Glenview.

Wouldn't it make sense to I know I'm um I'm not trying to push off decision making and and put things, but wouldn't it make sense to figure out what we want to do and what the appropriate venue is before we sort of propose dates.

What did you say?

I'm just kind of suggesting that we don't we haven't got a kind of even a basic idea of what we want to do this year yet.

And given that there's a lot of possibilities for that, we might not want Glenview in the end anyway, right?

Correct.

Because it might not be appropriate.

So kind of coming up with a a date is a bit putting the cart before the horse if we don't have a plan for what we want to do and where we might want to do it.

Oh, but that um since May is preservation month, and we're thinking of even though we don't have it's always like to be announced or something like that.

Um, but I think we should come up with a date, a Saturday.

Would you have a Saturday you would like to have?

We know it won't we know one Saturday it won't be, it's the Saturday at Memorial Weekend.

Correct.

So we can act that out.

At least use one Saturday.

So I think Miss Bash mentioned that Saturdays with time for weddings.

Other than I'm sorry, other than um Glenview Mansion.

I think that's what um Commissioner Dimbo was saying, since we don't know where we're gonna have it.

Yeah, we probably have some options, and maybe we can think about where we would like to have it other than Glenview magic.

But have any I think one thing you could you might think of as the pump house, though they have limited parking, but you can park on the street.

I think it's North Stone Street or South Stone Street, North.

It's not South Stone Street, but that's kind of small.

All depends on what we plan on doing, yeah.

Okay, yeah.

Because we we've had many community meetings in there when we were planning guidelines and things like that, and we were able to set it up so it quit it fit quite a few people, so there is that.

Yeah.

I do have if the body wants to entertain it.

Um, Nancy with Pierre Less Rockville has her hand raised, and she wrote in the comments that she has something to share about Glenview.

It's up to you all if you'd like to open that.

Okay, in a few minutes, but what else were you all saying?

I was just gonna note there minus memorial weekend that we have, which is typical.

We have four Saturdays to work with in May.

Is any one Saturday stick out more than another?

Any of the other ones?

We have second, nine, sixteenth, twenty-third, and thirty.

The thirtieth is on the second, yeah.

I guess I'm not as popular as I used to be because I don't have anything on any of these.

What about um Saturday?

So I'm available on all four of them.

What's your schedule?

Okay, I'll be available.

Microphones, please.

I'll be obviously what are you saying?

She's available.

That's what you're saying, right?

Who's available?

She does.

Okay, I want to say something.

Okay, but we have an out discussion right now.

Can we get microphones?

So we were looking at dates, and I think no one, what about you?

Um, Commissioner Goldfinger.

Uh I have nothing in the other than the third third.

No conflicts yet.

I don't have anything.

Commissioner False means, so are you good for all Saturdays except the 30th of May?

Commissioner Singhe.

Yeah, I'm okay.

Okay.

So Memorial Day weekend is actually the 23rd of May and not the 30th.

Okay.

Uh thank you for that, correct.

I think that's just how the calendar falls that year.

Yeah, that's correct.

Because the 25th is the last Monday of the month.

Okay.

So the 30th would be open.

It would be the second, 9th.

No.

The only reservation I would have about the 30th is a lot of people take that entire week off.

So if we're looking for a larger audience, might be better to do it the first part of May, maybe.

The second, ninth or the 16th.

Right.

That was three days.

Yeah.

That's what I'm thinking.

Okay.

So you don't have any updation to any of those days.

So at least we have nailed it down to the first three weeks, even though we haven't come up with a particular Saturday, we can think about it and then come back.

Um in January.

So Ms.

Picard.

You have your hand up.

Yes, thank you.

Um, I just wanted to share.

I don't know that I you guys talked about this last week, last month, and I'm sorry, I forgot to send an email about it, but I don't know that you're aware.

If you do decide to do Glenview, it could be interesting just in that um the addition and the whole renovation of the building was in uh 1926.

So next year is the hundredth anniversary, and I believe Record Park is thinking of maybe um acknowledging that some way.

So it could be an opportunity there to you know, maybe do something with Record Park or do something that talks about the building as for its hundredth anniversary.

That's all excellent.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

So um how would we be able to find out what wreck and parks will be doing and if they're gonna be doing something staff can coordinate with them.

Okay, try to get a report out for January.

Okay, thanks.

Commissioner Falton.

Um thank you, madam chair.

Just uh one thing to think about for maybe our January meeting in terms of themes.

Um the meeting or the the conference doesn't necessarily have to be all in one place, too.

We could do it where it might take place in more than one place.

We'd have to deal with transportation, but meaning um it could be like I'm just thinking out loud, which sometimes is dangerous, but um like it could be like a walking tour type thing, or we could be migrating to a couple different key historic sites in the city, maybe something outside, maybe something inside, depending on the weather.

Um maybe keep that in mind, just kind of shift it up for some something different to do.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you.

Any other ideas or could you like to share?

So we will come back to our meeting on in January and have some discussion.

So it was on the table, but would anyone like to or two people like to coach here?

I'm happy to help again if we don't have enough people.

I don't work well with Seth.

Oh my I'm happy to do it if Seth.

Yeah, no, I'm only if we can't get two other people.

I'm happy to do it.

So I think that we have two co-chairs.

We have Commissioner Falseman and we have Commissioner Gimbo who have volunteered their services to head up the preservation conference in May, and they will come back next month with some ideas in terms of what we can do.

They will probably send information to the staff and have that conversation.

Oh no, you just haven't taken a breath since you started speaking.

Because I didn't want you to say, excuse me.

So we're all in agreement.

Did you want me to be quiet?

No.

Oh, okay.

Okay, thank you both for agreeing to co-chair the preservation conference for 2026 and perhaps bringing in some of the 250th anniversary and the 100th anniversary, and trying to really make it in terms of preserving the history of Rockfield.

So thank you very much.

Um question.

Okay, so we have two co-chairs.

Um the legal aspect, is it permissible for any of the commission members to send thoughts or ideas to directly to those two co-chairs, or do we still work through your office?

I will confirm that with legal staff and let you know.

We've always been able to email as long as it's not a quorum, right?

As long as you just correct.

Sorry.

Yes, but because this body is five, any more than two is a quorum.

Right.

So if Michael is emailing two others, that becomes a quorum.

Oh, he could email to you, and then you can send it out.

I'll confirm.

I'll confirm tomorrow, and we'll let you guys know.

Legally because Commissioner Dumbo and I are now a committee.

Legally, it's viewed as one body.

So a single commissioner emailing a body.

No, it's true.

Okay.

All right.

So we're good.

We're all on the same page.

Okay.

So thank you very much.

So the next item on the agenda is the two.

Did we finish?

Did staff have any more anything else they would like to say?

You're all zapped out.

Okay.

Um election of HDC chair and vice chair.

Do we have any nomination for the chair of the commission?

Do you want to do it again?

No.

Well, oh, come on.

Oh no, I'm good.

I'm good.

How come you didn't talk to any of us about this board?

I would like to nominate Vice Chair P.

Falserman to become the chair of the historic district commission.

I second.

We need a motion to say all in favor.

Okay.

You do.

Wait a minute, wait a minute.

Before I do that, I have to say make sure there's no other nominations.

Let me do my job.

Let me do my job.

Are there any other nominations?

Are there any other nominations?

Are there any other nominations?

Seeing none.

Commissioner Falserman, would you agree to accept the nomination of becoming the chair for HDC?

I would be happy to.

It's large shoes to fill though.

You're absolutely correct.

You caught me off guard, so um yes, I would be happy to do that.

Okay.

Thank you.

Okay, so we have a motion on the table.

Um we have a second.

All in favor of the motion to approve the nomination of vice chair Falconomy to become the HDC chair starting in January 2026.

Say raise your hand and say aye.

Hi.

You can vote for yourself.

I don't think I can.

I was gonna abstain.

You can't you just put your hand up.

It's motion still passes regardless.

The motion passes five to zero.

So thank you very much for accepting.

So the next item is to elect a vice chair of the commission.

Are there any nominations for a vice chair of the commission?

Commissioner Chenge.

I don't need Commissioner Michael Goldfinger to be the chair of this commission.

The vice chair of this commission.

Okay.

Are there any other nominations?

Are there any other nominations?

Are there any other nominations?

Seeing none.

Um commissioner Goldfinger, would you accept the position of vice chair for the history of district commission?

Sure.

Yes.

Yes or no?

Okay.

Yes.

Thank you very much.

Um questions.

Okay.

So is there a motion to I'll move, madam chair, but um Commissioner Goldfinger become the vice chair of the historic district commission.

Is there a second?

A second.

Okay, all in favor of election commissioner Goldfinger as vice chair of the commission.

Raise your hand to say ah.

Hi.

You can go for yourself too.

Okay.

The motion passes five to zero.

So I would like to thank my fellow commissioners for allowing me to serve as the chair of the historic district commission, and would like to thank the commissioners for accepting the roles of serving as chair and vice chair of the historic district commission.

So thank you both.

And I'd like to thank the staff as well, as well as the other commissioners.

So congratulations on your election, and you will be starting your position at the next meeting of January 2026.

So that means I get to finish out this meeting.

So okay, move the next item on the agenda is number five to adjourn.

Is there a motion to adjourn the meeting?

I moved to adjourn the meeting.

Please raise your hand if you agree to adjourn the meeting.

The vote is five to zero.

And it passes.