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.