Day is April 13th, 2026.

We have a full house in the chamber in an overflow, and we're happy to see everyone today.

We'll begin with a Pledge of Allegiance.

And to public stands my liberty and justice.

Okay, so I do want to note that we have a special uh day today.

We're going to focus on some proclamations and recognition, and I'm going to ask my colleagues to join me at the podium.

Good evening, everyone.

I'm uh Councilmember Zola Shaw, and it is my honor to read Financial Literacy Month.

Whereas the month of April is recognized as National Financial Literacy Month, a time to recognize the importance of financial education and empower individuals and families to make informed and effective financial decisions.

And now, therefore, the mayor and council of the city of Rockville do hereby proclaim April 2026 as financial literacy month and urge all residents to take advantage of available financial education resources, engage in activities that build financial knowledge and skills, and make informed decisions that support their long-term financial well-being.

Madam Mayor, I move the proclamation.

Thank you.

Do we have a second?

Thank you.

And I believe we have uh Lydia Vallet here to accept the proclamation.

Oh, we're thank you.

Thank you.

Okay.

Thank you.

Good evening, everyone.

We're really grateful to be accepting this evening's proclamation for National Financial Literacy Month, as well as on behalf of the relaunched Bank on Rockville Coalition.

We have representatives here this evening from the Latino Economic Development.

Center, thank you.

From LEDC from Truist Bank, and from Career Catchers.

And we also have the support of folks from other agencies like Community Action Agency within our Department of Housing and Community Development.

So we are very delighted to be bringing these supports and services to Rockville residents to support financial empowerment, pathways to employment, living wage careers, housing, and more.

So thank you so much for the proclamation and to our partners for being here this evening.

Can you share what the financial literacy program is?

Do you want to say anything about the financial literacy program?

Yeah, that's big on Rockville.

Bank on Rockville.

Do you want to say anything about it?

Sure.

So Mayor Ashton has encouraged me to share more about Bank on Rockville if anyone is interested.

We will be hosting programs later on this summer, opportunities to participate in financial empowerment workshops, homeownership counseling, and through our partners, we will also be extending events and opportunities for people to be learning how to connect with banking resources that support access to banking for folks who are underbanked and unbanked.

So again, please look for those invitations as events and activities become hosted and dates get shared.

Thank you.

We're all looking over here.

There we go.

Thank you.

Okay.

This is all literacy month.

Okay.

All right.

Next up is the proclamation in honor of Fair Housing Month.

This is a month that this mayor and council from day one.

Fair housing and all the housing issues in the city were a strategic priority and continue to be.

We have some phenomenal nonprofit partners, entities, city staff.

There are a lot of people that make Fair Housing Month possible.

You're going to learn a lot more about some young people that are making it interesting and engaging.

But we'll start off first with the proclamation in honor of Fair Housing Month.

Whereas the month of April marks the anniversary of the passage of the Federal Fair Housing Act of 1968, which prohibits discrimination in housing based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, familial status, and disability.

Now, therefore, the mayor and council of the city of Rockville, Maryland, do hereby proclaim their support for the children's bill of.

I'm sorry, that's a little bit of an error.

Now, therefore, the mayor and council of the city of Rockville do hereby proclaim April 2026 as Fair Housing Month and urge all residents to join in this commitment to eliminate housing discrimination, support equal housing opportunity, and recognize that our community is stronger when it is fair, open, and inclusive.

Madam Mayor, I move the proclamation.

Councilmember Shaw, second.

All those in favor, please raise your hand and say aye.

And we have some folks here to accept this.

So look around.

Excellent.

Thank you, Ryan.

Um all these wonderful people.

Whoever would like to say a few words.

You are more than welcome to open.

Great, please.

I will speak there.

Hi.

My name is Sarah Sonnet, and um I'm very happy to be here tonight on behalf of Main Street.

I want to thank you so much for this meaningful recognition.

Fair housing is more than just a policy.

It is a pathway to dignity, to stability, and to opportunity.

Main Street is both home and community.

It offers a safe springboard to the future, recognizing individual strengths and providing opportunities to build upon those strengths.

My family knows this firsthand, as my son Sam has lived at Main Street since the building opened five years ago.

A little extra support is needed to help us build uh the confidence that we need to move forward.

Finding that support in community reduces loneliness and bolsters whatever we need to go on to become more independent individuals.

And given economic reality, affordability and housing takes on increasing importance.

Sam's experience at Main Street has been transformative.

He has a place where he feels safe and truly independent.

He has built routines, friendships, and a sense of confidence that every parent hopes their child will one day have.

He has experienced kindness and understanding, and he is learning to pay it forward.

We are deeply grateful to Main Street and to the city of Rockville for recognizing how vital inclusive affordable housing is for the individuals and families in our own community.

Thank you very much.

Hi, my name's Stephanie Rudman, and I'm with Montgomery Housing Partnership, uh, MHP.

We are an affordable housing nonprofit uh provider in that works mainly in Montgomery County and then some in Prince George's County and in DC.

Uh but here we own over 3,000 units in Montgomery County, and we have two big buildings in the city of Rockville.

Uh most recently we purchased Bethany House, which is 250 units of very low-income housing uh by the Twin Brook Metro, and we also own a property called Beale's Grant, which is just north of town center.

Um we uh you know strive to provide housing for all types of people.

Um, and we want to thank the City of Rockville and Rockville Housing Enterprises and the staff here who have been incredibly supportive and helpful with us as we've transitioned this building to new ownership and new new management.

Um not only do we provide the bricks and sticks, but we also have a lot of services we provide to our residents.

So we have uh children's programs, we have preschool programs, after school programs, we provide healthcare services, educational services, um, and we also work in the communities that we have uh buildings, so we'll work with neighborhood associations with um kids in the community, and uh just working to make you know all of our our buildings and our communities better.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thanks for coming on.

Thank you.

You heard about uh Fair Housing Month, and I want to thank the Department of Housing and Community Development for all their work to build on our programs, and thank you to the nonprofit partners.

Uh I know you heard from some of them this evening, and it's very special that they are not only providing housing but the important wraparound services to help uplift people and to make sure that they're taking care of in a whole sense holistically from health to other support services to activities to engage, and that is so important to the quality of life and to helping people progress.

So we're also going to be noting that in addition to the nonprofit providers and the work that the city is doing, we have some incredible work that's been done uh for Fair Housing Month.

Uh the Department of Housing and Community Development on behalf of the city has initiated an annual Fair Housing Student Art Competition, and we are going to recognize some of the youth who have been uh selected as winners.

So my colleagues and I are going to share some of the names with you, and let's give them a huge round of applause.

Okay.

First, we have Alana Chan.

Do we have Alana Chan here?

Alana won first place for Fair Housing for All post a conference.

Thank you very much.

Next, we have Maidel Lopez.

May Dell won second place for the Fair Housing for All post-conference.

A contest.

Thank you.

And third place winner is Nila Butta.

Do we have Nila here?

Congratulations.

All right, and then I'll just um read what it says uh just so you have a sense of what we're honoring.

So the mayor and council, City of Rockville, Maryland certificate of recognition, and this is in recognition of these youth thousand uh outstanding artistic achievements in the 2026 Fair Housing Post-A Contest.

Thank you for sharing your talent and your creative vision on the theme Fair Housing for All, carrying forward Dr.

Martin Luther King's dream to promote equal housing opportunities and diversity in our community.

So congratulations again.

And we have a few more names.

Is Council Member Fultzon on the line?

Okay.

Mayor, I don't think so.

Okay, all right.

We're covering, we'll cover that one now.

All right, so I'll just do these three.

All right.

So we have Atalia Vayahu.

Okay.

Last name Vianu.

Beautiful.

All right.

Next, Jocelyn Connolly.

Very much.

Next we have Ruben Feinstein.

Okay, not here.

All right.

And I also want to acknowledge the uh coordinator who is Katie Dwyer.

Thank you so much.

Wonderful.

Okay.

All right.

Okay, sure.

We'll do a quick picture first.

Yeah.

All right, come on.

Come this way and then look that way.

Oh, yeah.

Great job.

Congratulations to you all.

All right.

So it's my honor to present the certificate of recognition to Oliver McKeever.

Um the community congratulates him, Julius West Middle School, eighth grader of for McKeever for his acceptance into the two thousand twenty-six Eastern Region American Choral Director's Association Inaugural Middle School SATB Gospel Choir.

So Oliver, come on up.

Thank you so much.

And we also recognize Miss Cynthia Deal, who's the choir coach for Oliver.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Congratulations.

Good evening.

It's so great to see everybody here on this beautiful spring day.

I have the honor of reading uh the Montgomery County Black History Knowledge Bowl team members.

And let me just uh make sure I have this correct here.

It's a team from Julius West Middle School.

I think I see the principal here as well.

Um this is the second year in a row that Julius West has won this, so I want to um I'm proud to have the honor of recognizing the team members and making sure I don't have them all here.

There we go.

So the first one I have is Sloan Mahaffrey.

Mahapi.

I apologize if I mispronounced your name.

Congratulations.

Beautiful.

Mahaffe, thanks for for the correction.

Uh the next student I would like to recognize is Ava Rogers.

Congratulations.

And then one to also recognize Ben Vivens.

Okay.

Cool.

And then I believe we have the coach here is is um Mrs.

Christina Templin here.

Awesome.

No one can take a quick picture.

Oh, yeah.

Great.

And thank you, Pamela.

Next, I have the honor of recognizing the Mountgomery County Public Schools National History Day competition.

And the the certificate goes to Salana Sternfield.

Congratulations.

And also the coach, Coach Miss Rachel Termanini.

Congratulations.

They're just adding up.

All right, back to me.

The next proclamation is one that I do hold very near and dear to my heart.

We had a celebration in honor of this day recently.

And that is Arbor Day.

And Arbor Day is a wonderful day that we can all kind of take a step back and recognize the many wonderful ways that trees are just quietly there providing shade and they're providing a way to protect against climate change.

They're protecting our community, and you know that the more we can do for our trees, the more we can do for our community.

And it is a great honor.

So we are we are very thrilled, and I I do love me a tree.

So I'm very excited to be able to present this.

Whereas in 1872, the Nebraska Board of Agriculture set aside a special day called Arbor Day for the planting of trees in response to a state proclamation urging settlers and homesteaders in that prairie state to plant trees that would provide shade, shelter, fruit, fuel, and beauty for residents of the largeless treeless, largely treeless plains.

Now, therefore, the mayor and council of the city of Rockville, Maryland, do hereby proclaim April 10th, 2026 as Arbor Day.

And we urge the Rockville community to encourage all efforts to care for our trees and woodlands and to support our city's community forestry program.

Madam Mayor, I move the proclamation.

Hi.

And accepting it is our wonderful forestry staff, Paula Perez.

Well, as always, I'd like to thank the Madame Mayor and Council members for the continued commitment for caring for the trees throughout the city of Rockville.

This June marks the completion of our first uh full five-year cycle of our tree street tree pruning program and ensuring that our 30,000 plus street trees are inspected by an arborist and receiving maintenance uh at least once every five years really demonstrates the city's strong dedication to both uh public safety and long-term health of our urban forest.

So thank you all.

And as you know, we celebrated our America 250 Arbor Day event last Friday at Millennium Garden Park.

And the weather could not have been better, and the sixth grade students from Julius West Middle School really enjoyed um planting our uh our commemorative tree, the white oak.

And the white oak is not only our national tree, but it is uh the Maryland State tree.

So it's a fitting and symbolic choice for this uh milestone celebration.

So thank you.

Yes.

I have the honor of reading our National Public Health Week.

Uh this proclamation means a lot to me as a former federal public health employee.

Whereas the week of April 6th through the 12th, 2026 is the 31st anniversary of National Public Health Week, and this year's theme is ready set action.

And now, therefore, the mayor and council of the city of Rockville, Maryland, do hereby proclaim the week of April 6th through the 12th, 2026 as National Public Health Week in Rockville, Maryland, and call upon residents of Rockville to observe this week by helping our family, friends, neighbors, co-workers, and leaders to better understand the value of public health and supporting great opportunities to adopt preventative lifestyle habits year-round.

And I believe Dr.

Jackson Vivian is here, my former coworker at NIH.

Good to see you.

So I'm very happy to accept this proclamation this week as a physician, as a scientist.

Yes, I work at the National Institutes of Health.

I care for patients who have various illnesses and diseases.

And I'm just grateful to be able to accept this proclamation in uh recognition of all the people of this great city, but uh throughout Montgomery County, to really um, as she she stated, Isola, to state that the readiness and preparedness for our health.

So just making sure that we take deep breaths as we go through life and throughout our day, a lot of times we're going, going, going, going, going.

We're not observant of just taking a breath and just taking it second by second.

So just small things like that to have you internalize and recognize where you are and in the present, really helped for you to center yourself, but then to also be able to help your your fellow friends and strangers and neighbors.

So just an importance of that.

So thank you very much.

Councilmember Shaw, you want to proclaim it?

Madam Mayor, I move the proclamation.

Thank you.

Dr.

Miles Seconds, all those in favor, please raise your hand and say aye.

One way to honor public health week is to make sure you schedule your checkups.

Uh and there are uh clinics in the city of Rockville as well as across the county that offer free and low-cost care.

So please schedule your checkups.

We want to see you all alive and happy.

Okay.

So I uh want to make sure that um this is a very solemn proclamation, uh, but it's an important one, and I wanted to co-present it with my colleague, Councilmember Van Grak.

Um, we are remembering Yom Hoshua.

It's a moment to pause and remember the six million Jews along Jewish people, along with millions of others who are murdered during the history's darkest chapters.

It's a day not only of mourning, but of reflection and responsibility.

And so uh we want to say a few words of uh Councilman Grackwood, and I would also encourage you you cannot forget the past.

You also cannot forget your humanity in the present.

And uh there is a there's some great movies about this horrible, horrible uh genocide that occurred.

And I think it's incumbent on all of us to look at those movies to reflect on the history and to remember and to make sure we never have a repeat again and speak out when we see inhumanity in our country and across the globe.

Councilman Van Grack.

Um, as someone who's has numerous family members who were killed in the Holocaust, I am truly honored to live in a city that recognizes um such a tragedy and remembers that this is something that we must ensure never happens again.

And given the rise of anti-Semitism in our world and anti in Islamophobia in this world, it is important for us to not only recognize what happened in the past, but to act within the present.

And it's uh last year I recited a poem by Martin Niemuller, which I'll recite again because it's important to remember.

And he said, first they came for the communists, and I was not a communist, so I did not speak out.

Then they came for the socialists, and I was not a socialist, so I did not speak out.

Then they came for the trade unionist, and I was not a trade unionist, so I did not speak out.

Then they came for the Jews, and I was not a Jew, so I did not speak out.

And then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak out.

Whereas Yom Hoshua, the day of remembrance, is a day set aside for the Jewish people to remember the Holocaust and is Israel's official commemoration of the six million Jews murdered during the Holocaust.

And now, therefore, the mayor and council of the city of Rockville, Maryland, do hereby proclaim sundown on April 13th, 2026 through nightfall of April 14th, 2026, as Yom Hoshua Day of Remembrance, and urge all residents to remember the victims of the Holocaust and reflect on the need for grace, dignity, and respect for all people.

Madam Mayor, I move the proclamation.

Thank you.

Do we have a second?

Councilmember Shaw seconds.

All those in favor, please raise your hand and say aye.

And then we have a and now I have uh former Councilmember Beryl Feinberg come up to say a few words.

So good to see you.

Um it's an honor to be here with some colleagues, um, although I'm no longer up there.

Uh it is a very important and solemn day, and it is one that regardless of anyone's political views, we need to remember what happened and the people who were murdered uh during the Shoah.

And during that, it was people from many different walks of life.

Um I just want to make sure to include the Roma, the Sinti, people with disabilities, and Poles, Polish people were also targeted for the destruction or the decimation of for racial, ethnic, or national reasons, and many more, including the LGBTQ, Jehovah's Witnesses, Soviet prisoners of war, and political dissidents also suffered the grievous oppression and death under the Nazi tyranny.

And remember all of those who were murdered needlessly.

Thank you very much.

I can't move the proclamation.

My twins is over there.

You could have moved.

So good to see you.

So and I said hi, please.

Awesome.

So here in Rockville, we take great pride in our public safety personnel.

But it's very easy to recognize the um members of the fire department, members of the police department that you see on the streets, but I have to tell you, some of the most important members of our public safety personnel are those who are part of the telecommunic telecommunication team.

In fact, very often the first people that you will interact with when there is a tragedy, when there is a problem, is someone over the phone.

And we here in Rockville take extreme pride of our amazing personnel within our operations.

I've seen firsthand behind the scenes the degree to which their system setup is incredible.

And I can tell you, numerous places, both with throughout the world and the nation are not as privileged as we are here in Rockville to have incredible personnel manning our telecommunication system and ensuring that all of our residents and anybody here in the city of Rockville is safe.

And I know we take deep pride in those of who are who are here.

So whereas the week of April 12th through April 18th, 2026 has been designated as National Public Safety Telecommunication Week.

And the police communications operations of the Rockville City Police Department's communication center are an essential link between our law enforcement professionals and the residents of Rockville.

And the communication center handled 66,61 calls in 2025.

And now, therefore, the mayor and council of Rockville, Maryland, do hereby proclaim April 12th through April 18th, 2026 as National Public Safety Telecommunications Week in the city of Rockville, Maryland, and call upon the residents to commemorate this observance by thanking our police communication operators for the in a incredible, amazing, great work that they do to assist in the protection and safety of our communities.

Madam Mayor, I move the proclamation.

Councilmember Valerie Seconds.

All those in favor, please raise your hand and say aye.

And now we have numerous members of our team.

Welcome.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

I didn't think I don't say if you were to take it away.

Well, I don't know if you really want to ask me if I want to say a few words, but first I'd like to say um thank you, Madam Mayor, Council members, city manager, and of course, police chief West.

We really appreciate everyone taking the time out of their busy schedule to acknowledge us.

The other thing I want to say is that I'm very happy to work for a city that stands tall on certain issues, even if it is not the safe thing to do, or the politically correct thing to do.

And that's all I'll say there.

Um something else I'd like to talk talk about that really makes most of us angry at work and sad at the same time is people who are constantly conned out of money.

It used to be scamps and frauders would go after the elderly people.

Well, they've gotten so good.

We've had scientists, doctors, even a teenager the other day that was scanned out of money.

And please tell your family, your friends, and ask them to tell their family and friends that the Rockville City Police, Montgomery County Police, the Sheriff's Department, the Social Security Administration, the FBI will never contact you and say, send me money so you're not getting arrested.

They won't say, go to the bank and Venmo me money.

They won't say get Bitcoin and send it to me.

They've gotten so good where some of these conmen and fraudsters make believe they're your niece or nephew that you're locked up in jail right now, and they need you to send the money immediately for bail to get out.

It just doesn't happen, and it happens way too often.

Where people really are scammed out of their hard turn heart, you know, hearts earnings and savings and so on and so forth.

And most of us have caller ID now on our phones and our cell phones, and it may look like it's from the police department or the Social Security Administration.

Take the information, don't say anything, hang up, and then do your own research and get look up the phone number for that police department or the Social Security Administration.

Or if you don't, you're not sure how to look up a phone number, ask your friend or neighbor.

And if you're ever unsure of someone you're talking to, hang up and give your local police department a call wherever you are.

So don't the bottom line is don't give away your money.

Don't give people your personal information over the phone.

Don't ever give them your credit card information.

It won't happen.

And like I said, we just see too many of it, and they've gotten so good now, because it's very easy to get, including mine, all of our personal information now with the internet.

With a little research and $19.95, you could find out information about all of us.

So again, if you're unsure of something, please contact the police and never ever give out your personal information or take money out of your bank account to give someone because you think you're in trouble.

Okay?

It just doesn't happen.

Thanks.

Thanks for letting me take the time out, everyone.

No, you were fantastic.

I literally had a friend who just got scale last week.

See?

Thank you for your hard work.

Hang on with us for a picture of seconds.

Thanks so much.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Oh, can I say one other thing?

We couldn't do what we do without our fellow officers, the public, the citizens of Rockville who help us tremendously, and also our wonderful new police chief, Chief West.

He's really put the department in a new in a new era, a very positive era that all of us who work here really appreciate it and stand behind him 100%.

Again, thank you, everyone.

Thank you.

And sometimes they're not even in this country, there are some other places doing that work, so please heed that advice.

I have the honor of reading our National Arab American Heritage Month proclamation.

This is a newer uh celebration.

I think it was around 2021 or 2022, but so important to see and make sure that we are recognizing the diverse community that we have in the city of Rockville and the county.

We have seen too much hate from all different kinds of hate, religious hate, uh gender hate, disability hate, so much language hate language filling our airwaves.

And it is very special that in Rockville, we get to say we appreciate you, we see you, you are welcome here, and we will speak up for you.

So I just wanted to say thank you to everyone for allowing us to take these few minutes to celebrate these important celebrations throughout every month of the year.

Whereas April is National Arab Heritage American Heritage Month and the 2026 theme is many voices, one community.

Whereas Congressman David Dingle of Michigan, with the help of several Arab American organizing groups, issued a resolution in 2017 recognizing April as National Arab American Heritage Month, and then in 2022, making it federal.

Whereas more than three point five, three point five million Arab Americans who live in the United States who trace their ancestry to 22 countries, from North Africa to the Arabian Gulf, and places including Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Sudan, and others.

And whereas the number of Marylanders of Arab ancestry has more than doubled since the census first measured in 1908 and is among the fastest growing Arab populations in the country.

Now, therefore, the mayor and council Maryland do proclaim April 2026 as National Arab American Heritage Month and encourage all residents to acknowledge, embrace and celebrate Arab Americans.

Someone please help me move the proclamation.

Dr.

Miles moves.

Councilmember Larry seconds.

All those in favor, please raise your hand and say aye.

Excellent.

Thank you.

And we have some recipients here to accept this and say a few words.

I want to welcome Samira Hussein, who is the founder of the Arab American Heritage Month and Chair of Arab Americans of Montgomery County and the Islamic Center of Maryland.

Come on up.

We'll also welcome Arwa Abed, Middle Eastern American liaison from the Office of Community Partnerships.

Okay.

And Reem Sharaf, Clinical Social Worker Outreach Committee, Islamic Center of Maryland.

Thank you very much.

Indeed.

Absolutely.

Good evening.

Good evening, everyone.

Thank you, Madam Mayor and every Council member.

We are honored to be in this to be part of Rockville City and honor the Arab American Heritage Month.

It has been founded in 1997.

And ever since we have done educational outreach, we have done you name it, we have done it because I think educating ourselves, educating our neighbors is the key issue.

We have been living in a lot of violence and a lot of hate, as was stated.

But I think it's going to be up to each of us to reach out and ask a question and communicate because that can knock all the dividing walls between us.

She probably got caught in the traffic.

And behalf of the Arab Americans of Montgomery County and the Middle Eastern American Advisory Group, we thank you from the heart.

Reem would continue.

Thank you.

As a first generation Arab American and daughter of immigrants, I was a first hand witness to my parents' journey of building a home in a new and unfamiliar country.

Arab culture is rooted in the concepts of community resiliency and the push to keep having hope and persevere despite the challenges.

That community was here.

And we've been here since 2000.

Um, as a mental health therapist in Montgomery County, PTA president at one of the local middle schools, and a proud parent of a middle schooler.

Um, I see firsthand the impact that mental health community building efforts and services and resources for our most vulnerable people can change the trajectory of a person's life.

Nothing is more valuable to a person's journey than the experience of being seen, heard, included, and supported, especially when needed.

It's true when they say it takes a village, and the Rockville and Greater Montgomery County area is like a village.

Yes, there are times where challenges and road bumps come along the way, as with everything in life.

But at the end, we can come together to celebrate and support one another.

I want to end by saying I stand here on the shoulders of all those who've paved the path before me.

I also stand alongside other communities who share equally resilient and beautiful journeys of creating a home in Rockville.

Just like my family was taken in by this village.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Good evening again.

I'm going to do my best, Councilmember Kate Fulton impersonation and be brief.

However, this is a as all proclamations are this is a very important one.

And I have the privilege in this instance to present the proclamation declaring April 2026 as autism acceptance month in Rockville.

Let's see.

I think this is an extra.

There we go.

Cooking with gas or electricity now.

All righty.

What I'll do is read uh one of the proclamations and then call folks up to receive them.

And I believe you all have a few words to share as well.

Is that correct?

Okay.

I'll um read this as follows as whereas April 2026 is autism acceptance month, and this year's theme is celebrate differences.

And the city of Rockville is honored to take part in the annual observance to help raise awareness to promote autism acceptance, to celebrate each individual's unique differences, and to foster inclusivity and connected to connectedness, rather.

Now, therefore, the city of Rockville.

I'm sorry, the mayor and council of the city of Rockville of Maryland do hereby proclaim April 2026 as autism acceptance month in the city of Rockville, Maryland.

And we urge everyone to increase their knowledge of the condition and specific programs that have been and are being developed to support individuals with autism and their families.

So I have three people to recognize in particular.

Um, and we have some that will speak on speak as well.

I have um Miss Brittany Bledsoe, the mother of Ace Alexander, are you here?

Oh, my apologies.

Oh, Councilmember Fulton's shaking her head at me.

Madam Mayor, move the proclamation.

Thank you.

We have a second.

Council Jackson seconds.

All those in favor, please raise your hand and say aha.

All right.

Sorry, Miss Bledsoe.

Take two.

Can you come down for us, please?

It's like the price is right.

Come on down.

Well, she can spin the big wheel.

Thank you for what you do, ma'am.

And I want to also bring up um Rebecca Murphy.

An assistant who's the co-chair of the Rockville Human Rights Commission.

Good to see you.

And Tara Owens, the executive director of Main Street.

Oh, yeah.

And a couple of guests with her.

Awesome.

And in keeping with Councilmember Fulton, I'm gonna shut up and let y'all speak.

Go for it.

Council member Miles, we forgot to add sunflower bakery.

That is also here.

So blankery, please come up.

Yes.

Thank you.

I'm so sorry.

Did you?

Autism acceptance is more than awareness.

It is about recognizing the inherent value and contributions of autistic individuals and ensuring they're supported, included, and celebrated for who they are.

Each year, standing up here feels a little bit different.

What began as a call for awareness has grown into something far richer, a genuine conversation about belonging.

Acceptance means that autistic people are not asked to mask who we are in order to be welcomed.

It means our community makes room for the full range of how we think, communicate, and contribute.

We're grateful once again to see so many of the organizations that support autistic individuals and their families here with us today.

Their presence is a reminder that this work is shared and that Rockville continues to be a place where neurodivergent residents are seen as neighbors, colleagues, and friends.

On behalf of the Human Rights Commission of the City of Rockville, and as a proudly autistic community member myself and Becca, we graciously accept this proclamation from the Mayor and Council.

Thank you.

Thanks for me here.

How we find jobs, how we make friends, and how we interact with others.

And because of it's important to not judge anyone, especially when they are having a hard time.

Personally, I sometimes repeat myself and uh accept patients, and as I work through my thoughts that the patient understanding may make a difference.

Um sometimes, like now I struggle with speaking sometimes.

And there's days where I catch myself repeating over and over again, which is okay to do that.

Um accepting means being seen for who you are.

It means having a community that understands you and supports you.

For me, Main Street Connect has provided that community, and I'm grateful to have found a place where I can truly be myself.

Thank you for recognizing Autism Acceptance Month and for helping create a more understanding and inclusive community for everyone.

Thank you.

Today, about one in 36 children in the United States are diagnosed with autism.

That means millions of individuals like me are part of our schools, workplaces, and neighborhoods.

For a long time, people talked about autism awareness, but holding awareness was just a start.

From awareness, we need to move to acceptance.

Acceptance means understanding inclusion and opportunity.

It means seeing our strengths, supporting our challenges, and making space for us all to live full and meaningful lives.

Because of places like Main Street and the programming of Main Street Connect.

And for helping create a community where everyone belongs.

Thank you for this proclamation.

I'm not sure I can follow that.

But one thing I can appreciate with this evening is is the word inclusion, and I've heard it more than once.

And it's it's nice to hear, and and clearly Rockville values that so Mayor Ashton and County Council members, thank you for taking time to give us a promotion for recognizing autism acceptance month at Sunflower Bakery awareness and acceptance is just a starting point.

Um our real focus is on opportunity, dignity, and high expectations.

Every day our students and graduates shows what's possible when people are given the right training, the right opportunity, and the right environment to show what they can do.

We're proud to partner with the families, with our stakeholders, with the city, and with this community to build pathways to employment for young adults with learning differences, and we work with a large population who are on the autism spectrum.

So thank you for the work that you do to contribute to the community that we live in.

Absolutely.

Mayor Ashton is uh helping me.

Um so every year we have a wonderful graduation where we highlight and lift up our graduates.

We are honored to recognize 46 individuals who will be graduating from our pastry arts hospitality and culinary programs and honoring community members who have either made an impact to Sunflower or the disability community, and we invite you to join us on April 26th at the Montgomery County Cultural Arts Center.

So everyone is welcome.

I want to thank Mayor Ashton and the council.

My name is Brittany.

Um Arts Memes Month is different to me.

My son drowned in the city of Rockville.

I just want to say thank you to everybody that came, and that supports this.

This isn't just for me, it's for everybody else.

Learning about autism is different than just a book reading it in front of you.

Everybody's different.

There's nobody the same.

I just want to say we that thank you to everybody, and thank you to you two for not leaving me since happiness.

Thank you to Brittany Bledsoe.

Uh a tragedy has turned into creating awareness for so many.

And uh last year we announced uh scholarships for children who are who have autism to learn how to swim.

Uh so just wanted to say that was an honor of ACE.

Yeah.

And uh tragedy can't always be prevented, but we try, and uh we really appreciate you sharing your story.

Thank you to this entire community for being here.

Can we give a clap out for inclusion?

Two roads or double?

Yeah, yeah, I know.

No.

No, no.

I know.

We're very curious.

Awesome.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thanks so much.

All right, so it's my honor to uh proclaim uh April as Earth month.

So you already know about Arbor Day and um what Rockville does uh for the trees, and uh Earth Day is really important as well.

Uh we have actually well, Earth Month, sorry.

We have on the web spot site a lot of events that uh take place during uh Earth Month, stream cleanups, um, uh uh other things that are really, really exciting and important for adults, for uh children, and for older adults.

Uh just uh uh I would be remiss, not to mention, because uh I'm on the uh commission own aging, that this Saturday, April 18th, is uh Rockville Villages Go Green and it's at the senior center.

And you can learn more information by going on the website and looking it up.

Now uh we'll read the proclamation for uh Earth month or Earth Day.

Whereas the first Earth Day was proclaimed in 1970 to foster public environmental awareness and whereas Earth Hour, an annual global event organized by the World Wildlife Fund, calls on individuals, governments, and businesses around the world to turn off all non-essential lighting for one hour between 8 30 p.m.

and 9 30 p.m.

on Saturday, March the 28th, 2026, to call attention to climate change and loss of biodiversity.

And now, therefore, the mayor and council do hereby proclaim the month of April 2026 as Earth Month in the city of Rockville and further proclaim Wednesday, April 22, 2026 as Earth Day, and Saturday, March 28th, 2026, between the hours of 8 30 p.m.

and 9 30 p.m.

as earth hour, and urge all members of the community to take actions to promote a healthy and sustainable environment.

And with that, Madam Mayor, uh, move the proclamation.

Do you have a second?

Council Member seconds.

All those in favor, please raise your hand and say aye.

Aye.

It is unanimous.

And I believe we have Cindy Buquet of the Environmental Uh Commission, the Rockville Environmental Commission, to come up and say a few words.

No, you're welcome.

Thank you, Councilmember.

My name is Cindy McCabe.

I'm with the Rockville Environment Commission, and this is Charlie.

Do you want to say hi?

Well, I just want to say that I'm so proud to be a resident of Rockville, hearing all of the proclamations that have come before me.

It's hard to follow any of them.

Um some of them were very heartfelt.

Um Thank you, Councilmembers.

Um Mayor Ashton.

Um I'm pleased to accept this proclamation on behalf of the Environment Commission and all who are engaged in protecting Rockville's environment.

And we also have uh Commissioner Summer here as well representing.

Uh we appreciate uh the mayor and the council's support for environmental programs, uh, the city's climate action plan, which is going great, um, and the electric vehicle readiness plan.

Earth Day is April 22nd, but Rockville is hosting lots of events, some of which were already mentioned.

So I'll try not to double up, but you may have to forgive me.

Um, to learn about all of the events, you can go to Rockville MD.gov slash EarthMonth.

Um, some of them are uh Rockville Weed Warriors, an invasive plant removal event, uh climate solutions webinars, including how to landscape with native plants, um, and how to install solar with our switch together campaign, which is on June 4th.

The Corden Creek Nature Center hosts many events like the City Nature Challenge in April and the Spring Festival in May.

We love the Nature Center and all the turtles.

Uh green permit fee waivers are in effect for April.

If you know any contractors or anyone who is getting a green upgrade on their home, like installing solar electric vehicle chargers and efficient heating and cooling systems, the permit is free for the month of April.

These are just a few examples.

Go ahead and check the website, Rockfell Reports, and the Environment and Sustainability e Newsletter if for more events and details.

Thank you so much, Council and Mayor, for this.

Thanks for the work.

Thank you.

So there are a number of um health conditions that we often issue proclamations of because they're really not the community isn't aware of the degree to which it's important to both get checked, but also to recognize those who might be suffering from these conditions.

And so one of those is Parkinson's disease.

And we recognize every um April, declaring the month to recognize and bring awareness to this condition that is affected that many people are affected by.

Whereas Parkinson's disease is a chronic progressive neurological disease, and then the second is the second most common neurodegenerative disease in the United States.

In fact, Parkinson's disease is estimated to affect approximately approximately one million people in the United States, and the prevalence will rise to 1.2 million in 2030.

And now, therefore, the mayor and council of Rockville, Maryland do hereby proclaim April 2026 as Parkinson's Awareness Month in Rockville, Maryland, and call upon all residents to join all communities and across the region to understand this disease, support research, and all efforts to find a cure.

Madam Mayor, I move the proclamation.

Do we have a second?

Councilmember, seconds.

All those in favor, please raise your hand and say aye.

All right.

And I believe we have um Dr.

Aviva Alenstein from the Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorders Neurologist to come and say a few words.

Welcome.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Hello, everybody.

Uh it's really my honor to be here.

I'm just one of many neurologists in this area and more so one of uh many movement disorder neurologists who've really dedicated our education and professions to taking care of people living with Parkinson's disease.

Also many folks in this area, as you know, study Parkinson's disease.

And along with trying to advance treatments and find a cure, uh, it's I think equally important to keep a focus on prevention, which is really getting a lot more attention these days.

We don't fully understand how to prevent it, but I would ask everyone to keep their eyes on things we can do in our communities to decrease exposures to things that might contribute to uh Parkinson's disease later in life.

Um I happen to just be a movement disorder doctor here because we're down the street from the NIH where I trained, and so I accept this proclamation not only on behalf of everyone living with Parkinson's disease, those of us taking care of them, but also my mentor who ultimately brought me here, uh Dr.

Mark Hallett, um, who recently passed, and so I I accept this also in his memory.

And here in this area, we are not only blessed, I would say, to have lots of doctors more than many other regions in the country, uh, but we also have a fantastic non-profit organization to support people living with Parkinson's, their spouses, their caregivers, they are family members, and here tonight also is Jared Cohen, who's the president of our regional Parkinson Foundation of the National Capital Area.

If we have a minute, you would have come up and say something as well.

Thanks, Jerry.

Thank you so much, mayor.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council.

Thank you, Mayor, for taking a moment to um recognize Parkinson's this one one month a year, but it people live with it all year long.

Um PFNCA for more than 30 years has been providing programs and services to help people live well with Parkinson's and to let everyone know we're we're we're providing programming now in Rockfell at Title Boxing and also at the Preston.

So if you know people with Parkinson's, please and encourage them to learn more about uh local opportunities that can help them live well with the disease.

But again, thank you to the mayor and to the council.

Sorry.

I'll bring it up so I'm not too many positions that we have.

Thank you so much.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Awesome.

Oh, you're dealing with me again.

Hopefully, I have my act together better.

I have the honor of presenting a proclamation for Science Day.

Uh, I think we have a number of science geeks up here, so this uh this this uh yeah, this this one is good, as all of them are.

The proclamation reads as follows, whereas on April 22nd, 1990, the Rockville Science Center held its first Rockville Science Day and has continued Science Day as an annual event in the city of Rockville, and now therefore the mayor in Council of Rockville, Maryland do hereby proclaim.

Actually, before I do that, let me skip up one because this is an important date.

Whereas on Sunday, April 26th, 2026, the Rockville Science Center will present its 35th annual Rockville Science Day on the Rockville campus of Montgomery College, which will include hands-on activities for kids of all ages and technical and technological innovations of interest to adults.

Now, therefore, the mayor and council of Rockville, Maryland, do hereby proclaim April 26th, 2026, Rockville Science Day, and Rockville and urge all members of the community to participate in this opportunity and connect with science in the real world.

With that, Madam Mayor, I move the proclamation.

Council and Gracks.

I can't do it in the hands and say, Oh, I think we have some scientists in the building.

Come on down.

You want to come down?

Yeah, say a few words.

Say a few words.

All right, thanks for coming out tonight.

I know I like this.

Awesome.

Yeah.

So thank you so much.

Exactly.

So yes, thank you.

Thank you so much.

Thank you so much for uh for the proclamation for our 35th Rockville Science Day.

I'm Ulysses Santa Maria.

I'm the current president of the Science Center.

So yeah, please come by, check us out.

So Rockville Science Day at this point, we now call it the biggest science event in Montgomery County.

At our 35th year, we are incredibly proud to be able to offer this for now 35 years and for many more years to come.

We will feature over 120 exhibitors, and we have about 4,000 people who come and join us for the day for a wide variety of hands-on activities, demonstrations around the sciences.

And for us, the sciences is a very large swath.

So you come, you don't know what you're gonna see, but it's gonna be great.

And yeah, but also the other important message to relay is uh, you know, with the celebration of our 35th year also comes the understory.

Uh we are also uh working on getting relocated uh to maintain ourselves here in Rockville.

Um so in addition, uh you know, we have that sort of promotional uh aspect to uh science science day this year.

So for us, we have a uh 50-50 raffle they'll also be doing at the event uh with the starting ticket price of seven dollars for our uh nice slogan save sevens for science to make sure that we're able to uh find a new home here in the region and be able to stick around for the long run.

That way we can be here uh when the 70 70th Rockville Science Day comes around.

So but no, seriously, uh I hope to see you all there and thank you all for the support that you've given us uh over the years here at the science center.

And you know, we we I can't actually imagine Rockville Science Day happening anywhere else but Rockville.

So thank you.

So this time I didn't bring the rockets that way the photo is a little bit easier thank you.

Thank you guys.

Hope to see you all see you all here.

We're doing a little block.

Yes, we have some refreshments.

Thank you.

Oh, no, thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you to everyone who came out to celebrate our proclamations and recognition.

And this building in this city, we celebrate inclusivity and science, and we really appreciate everyone indulging us and and really raising awareness on important topics.

Thank you.

I know colleagues, given the time, I think we roll light into our meeting uh just because we want to make sure that we can get to community forum and our public hearings close to time.

Okay.

With that, we'll move to agenda review.

Miss Sarah Taylor Farrell.

Madam Mayor and Council members, we did make a change to this evening's agenda.

Um the work session on budget number three for capital improvement debt.

Thank you.

Review and final balancing has been moved from tonight's meeting to next week's meeting on April 20th, and it reflects on tonight's meeting, and it has already been added for the April 20th meeting.

Thank you.

And uh just one for the listening public.

This is gives us a chance to listen to everyone's comments in the budget public hearing and then to come back again next week.

It also means that you won't be here till midnight.

So thank you for everyone to everyone for making that adjustment.

Now we have the city manager's report.

Mayor Ashton, members of City Council, ladies and gentlemen, good evening.

Mayor, I rarely do this, but I only want to use the time tonight to recognize two city employees, but I think it's really worth it.

Um first I want to recognize a Recham Park team member.

That's seniors program manager, Terry Hilton.

Terry Hilton won a really impressive award.

It's called the World Changer Award.

It's from the Women in Parks and Recreation, a professional group that connects and supports women in the field of recreation and parks across the United States.

So this is a national award.

And here's why um Ms.

Hilton is receiving the award, and this is a quote.

She embodies the true essence of servant leadership and commitment to making a meaningful difference and for being a role model whose work enhances the lives of those around her and beyond.

That is very high praise for Terry.

Anyone that knows her will acknowledge that that's exactly who she is and what she does every single day.

So I want to call that out tonight.

Secondly, I want to call out and congratulate police lieutenant Dan Romrill, who um a couple of weeks ago graduated from North the Northwestern University School of Police Staff and Command.

This is a very rigorous police leadership training academy, and it's really important to note Dan's um continuing appreciation and commitment to um continuing education but also professional development.

It's really impressive that he would take the time to go through that.

So congratulations to Dan.

And lastly, I think this is really cool, and I'll share with with you at the entire graduation ceremony.

Guess who gave the keynote address?

Our own police chief Jason West.

That's really impressive as well.

Did he sneak out?

He did.

Dog on him anyway.

That's pretty impressive.

So I just want to call that out.

Thanks for the time, I appreciate it.

Thank you.

I just also want to thank staff for a number of uh responses from RCPD managing some public safety to public works.

There was a one of our long-standing employees had his last day on Friday and dealt with a major water main break on Wooten Parkway.

I think he's been here over 50 plus years.

Uh and he put his retirement ceremony on hold to go out and do one more watering break that shows a commitment to him uh and to the city.

Uh I also want to acknowledge the volunteers and the staff who put on the volunteer reception, Mr.

Mahalich.

It was fantastic.

I think we counted 2,000 volunteers uh uh and over 61,000 volunteer hours.

Uh and that is not in capturing everything, encapsulating everything.

I know that was for Wreckham Parks only, so there's so many people who are doing volunteers work throughout the city, and we appreciate them.

Uh your team also helped us with the youth town hall as well as a number of cleanups in the housing needs assessment.

So we've been very busy in the city trying to implement our priorities but taking care of the community.

So uh thank you to everyone who participated.

All right.

We'll now move on to community forum.

I do want to clarify that we have community forum.

We also have two public hearings later.

So if you're interested in having your remarks count towards a public hearing, please hold and we'll have community forum for general issues, but then there will be a public hearing and we'll call folks up.

Uh the public hearing will be just in a few minutes after consent agenda, so it won't be too long, but there'll be one on the zoning text amendment as well as um uh zoning text amendments, zoning ordinance rewrite, as well as uh on our budget.

So I wanted to note those.

So if you're willing here to speak on that, just hold a sec and we'll get to that shortly.

Okay.

Now we're gonna open the floor for community forum.

This is a time where we welcome your ideas, your concerns, uh, your feedback, and you will have up to three minutes.

We request that you address the mayor and council, you speak in a civil and courteous tone, and uh we appreciate everyone who has signed up in advance, and I'll call for folks if you inspire to speak after those who've signed up in advance.

Please let us know.

All right.

First, I'd like to welcome Jake Jacobek.

Is Jake Jacobek here?

Okay, is he on?

Okay.

Just also check to make sure he's on a line, please.

Uh we'll move on to Will Riso.

Do we have he had to leave?

Okay.

Next, uh Libby Adams.

Welcome.

Hi everybody.

Who are you?

Welcome.

Um, can you turn the mic toward you, please?

Thank you.

Okay.

Um, so I'm back.

Um, unfortunately, my stuff is all of our belongings are being held hostage in the apartment across the street, unless I come up with 12,000 dollars to pay to clean it.

Um, right now I am still waiting for something to be done as far as you know, back in at the end of November, our unit was deemed clear and free of mold, and our family was forced to go back in there as of March 25th.

I've done another test, and it shows it says fungal growth is evident in portions of the dwelling dwelling.

Fungal growth is believed to extend to areas not accessible at the time of inspection to include ceiling or wall cavities.

This is just little blurbs out of it.

Debris and elevated moisture levels inside HVAC system and duct work have created conditions conductive to mold growth.

Possible cross-contamination occurred during previous mold remediation.

Testing and analysis showed elevated concentrations of fungal spores, including a lot of ones that I can't name, but namely black mold.

Okay.

Uh special note elevated levels of mold airborne as confirmed on laboratory analysis.

Mold categorized as potentially toxigenic confirmed airborne on laboratory analysis.

Investigation and development of corrective measures and verification of corrective measures should be done on the HVAC system, which wasn't done the last time.

Yet my unit was deemed clear and fine.

Obviously, it was not.

At present, there are no government regulations in place to regulate the removal of mold, bacteria, and or what are permissible levels.

Common sense has to prevail.

Namely, elevated concentrations of potentially potentially toxigenic microbial organisms were noted in the living room, kids' room, rear bedroom, and HVAC system of the property, which means that it is currently being dispersed across the whole building and essentially the whole row of buildings, which I've been saying since the beginning.

And you know, um, but it's funny that I end up here on the day that you guys are talking about public health and fair housing and even Parkinson's.

Mold can cause symptoms that end up developing into Parkinson's as well as many other issues.

All of the molds that are listed, I don't know if you guys have been on the emails.

I don't know if anybody's paying attention.

Um the levels are outrageous, and that is after four months after the city inspectors cleared our apartment, said it was livable and free and clear of mold.

That was another four months that my family was forced to live in there being exposed to that because the Rockville City Department cleared my place as habitable.

I'm just, you know, I know that maybe you guys weren't equipped back then, but if you're not equipped, then you guys shouldn't be clearing things unnecessarily.

So it's a shame that I'm back here.

Um and it's a shame that there are other people that are still over there that are being ignored.

So that's all I have to say.

Thank you, Mr.

Mahilek.

Is there someone who can speak to Miss Adams, please?

Thank you.

Okay.

Next, we have Anush, Miss Anusha.

She's welcome.

Thank you for this opportunity, as always, to be in front of you and say a few words, mostly to say thank you.

I'm happy to live in this city, and I appreciate everything that you guys do to include us.

Today uh I'm celebrating Sri Lanka's new year.

That's why I am dressed in this color.

This is the color of the new year, apparently.

But uh I'm mostly here to say thank you to the mayor for including us in the events uh that have taken place in this city.

It started with the Richard Montgomery performance.

The the drummers had a wonderful experience.

And then you continue to invite us to the International Night performance.

And then we are going to be on the stage in a rock with the city during the hometown holidays.

We are very happy about that.

And to be walking in the parade.

My goodness.

What an opportunity.

Thank you so much for recognizing Sri Lanka and for giving us an opportunity to be ourselves in this city.

Excellent.

So as I always say, every experience is an opportunity for us to become the light we are meant to be.

I thank you for giving me that opportunity.

Thank you.

Welcome.

You're gonna wait.

Okay, thank you.

Mr.

Jacobek.

I think you're working to get him a link.

I know they sent him a link.

Is he on?

Is he putting that?

Is there anyone else who would like to speak?

Okay, Ms.

Jack, go ahead.

Yes.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Sorry for the mix-up.

Um hi there.

Good evening, Mayor and Council.

My name is Jake Jacobek.

I am live in 319 Grandin Avenue in Croydon Park.

And I am the chair of the Rockville Bicycle Advisory Committee.

I'd like to first commend the city council for its hard work in making Rockville a better city to ride a bike to make it safer for all of us who wish to take all kinds of ways of getting around to be safe around the city.

And as part of our work on the committee, we host regular events, bike rides, and such, and with the beginning of bike month next month.

I wanted to formally invite uh Madam Mayor and the council to our inaugural bike month ride on May the 2nd at 10 o'clock, starting at City Hall.

It'll be a short six, seven mile bike ride around the city, going at a leisurely pace, very social.

Everybody hanging out, just enjoying themselves.

And I'm formally invite all of you to come and join us on that ride that day on May the 2nd.

I understand it is on your calendar.

And uh I look forward to seeing all of you there on May the 2nd.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Is there anyone else who would like to speak as part of this community forum who will have several budget public hearings and zoning ordinance rewrites and comprehensive map amendments shortly?

So all right, just checking.

All right, thank you to everyone who signed up in advance who participated.

Okay.

Colleagues, we have uh several items on consent agenda.

I will read them as a start.

Agenda 9A, adoption and resolution to establish the maximum rate of rent increase as required by the section 18194 of the Rockville City Code entitled Voluntary Rent Guidelines and Notice Requirements of Rent Increases.

Item 9b, authorization for the city manager to execute the federal aid project guidelines and working supplement agreements with the Maryland Department of Transportation State Highway Administration for the Research Boulevard Shared Use Path Feasibility and Design Project under the Carbon Reduction Program.

Item 9C, approval of minutes.

Colleagues, does anyone have any broad questions or can we move forward with the motion?

Okay.

Who wants to make the motion?

I will.

Thank you.

Do we have a second?

Councilman Van Grack, seconds.

All those in favor, please raise your hand and say aye.

Excellent.

Thank you.

We'll now kick off our section of hearings, and I believe we have some staff members who staff members who are going to present.

I just want to make sure they're getting in place.

All right.

We're moving to agenda item 10 A, public hearing number one on the zoning text amendment application, TXT 2026, 00271 for the zoning ordinance rewrite ZOR, Mayor and Council of Rockville applicants.

We welcome Holly Simmons as well as Evan Johnson, Jim Wasilek, and Nick Dumay.

And if you would also, because we do have the zoning ordinance rewrite text amendment application, as well as the next one after this on map amendment, so folks know when to testify, please.

Thank you.

Welcome.

Good evening, Madam Mayor, members of the council.

So this evening, as mentioned, we do have three agenda items pertaining to our ongoing zoning ordinance rewrite and comprehensive map amendment.

For the record, I'm Holly Simmons, Deputy Zoning Manager with Community Planning and Development Services.

So first up in our public hearings, we do have a public hearing on the zoning ordinance rewrite, followed by a public hearing on the comprehensive map amendment.

As many of you all will recall, these are two separate legislative items, so there are two separate hearings.

Before we get into both of those items, we did want to provide a bit of context.

I know it's been a while since we've seen you all.

So we did want to reflect back on where we've been and give a heads up about where we are going.

So you'll see before you the project adoption timeline specifically.

Adoption is the last phase of this project, which has been going on for over two years now.

So we kicked off adoption back on December 1st when you all authorized us to file the staff drafts of the zoning ordinance and the zoning map.

In January through February, we had review with the planning commission.

They held four work sessions where they dug into a number of topics and had public hearings as well.

So we per received quite a bit of testimony during that time that concluded on February 25th when the planning commission made their recommendations to this body.

And that will be the subject of our work session later in the evening.

Currently, we are kicking off the mayor and council review.

So that will run from April through June of 2026.

And we are anticipating adoption to occur on July 6th of 2026.

And with that, Madam Mayor, I will turn it back over to you to conduct the public hearing.

Thank you.

Can you just give some guidance to the public on there?

We have some early sign up, so maybe people from the floor who want to speak.

So please go ahead.

Absolutely.

So for this first one, we really are focusing on the zoning text amendment for the zoning ordinance rewrite.

If you have comments on the nearly 300 page staff draft zoning ordinance, now would be the time to provide them.

So anything related to standards within zones, different uses, um, parking, landscaping, things of that nature, um, kind of the policy that's written in narrative form.

This is the time to provide comments on that element of the project.

If you have comments and testimony regarding rezonings that are proposed, that you see our zoning map changing from one zone to another, um, perhaps related to a specific property or related generally to rezoning in the city.

The comprehensive map amendment portion or the comprehensive map amendment public hearing would be the time to provide that testimony.

Thank you very much.

And to give a heads up, I have uh four people signed up in advance on this one.

Uh Mark Cushela from the College Garden Civic Association, Bill Commoners, Julia Binder, and then Jean Genie O'Mara will speak, and then we have a number of people signed up for the next public hearing.

Okay.

We'll start off with former council member Mark Bishela, now president of the College Gardens Civic Association.

I just can't keep out of it.

Okay, um, so on March 24th, we had a special general meeting of the College Garden Civic Association because of the tight timeline of the zoning ordinance approval process.

And uh I had to do some education, so I'll hold up some signs that you and the audience behind me can see.

I had to educate the the 40 some people that were there that you want to do a zoning ordinance, there's a map, and then there's a text.

And the current uh zoning ordinance 253 pages, the new ones 290 pages, it does incorporate the design of document that is separate at the moment.

That's a lot of stuff to go through.

And whereas College Gardens retains us our 90 zone.

Um, what I had to tell the people that at our meeting that is that the definition is what counts.

So we're R90, 9,000 square feet minimum lot size, but what does that mean?

And you have to dig into the uh text part, the 290 pages.

And a text zone includes a purpose statement, uses and standards, and zone standards and some other things, and keep that in mind because that's what I'll be talking about.

There's a highlights document.

It's good as far as it goes, it's 53 pages, but it is incomplete.

It doesn't have a section on uses, and that has changed big time for our zones.

Okay.

And so when I prepared for our civic association meeting, I actually put together a table that should be in the highlights document that's not there.

And this is on differences in uses for the single family uh zones, and that'd be R440 through R400.

And this is what's missing from the highlights document, and it should be there because it's it's a it's there are huge changes.

So I'm gonna read you four uh resolutions from our civic association meeting.

We'll take this back up at our regular meeting in May.

Process resolution one.

The College Garden Civic Association resolves that mayor and council instruct city staff that the uses of small and large lot single residential zones be tabulated in a similar fashion as the CGCA draft table and officially be appended to staff highlights document and distributed to all neighborhood associations.

Process uh resolution number two.

The College Garden Civic Association resolves that mayor and council instruct the table clearly indicate which changes are due to state law and which are due to mayor and council uh direction.

Now there are changes in uses, and at least three of these come from state law.

But there's there's no indication in what you can read either in the highlights document or the the draft zoning about which or which.

In fact, they're hardly mentioned at all, if mentioned.

Resolution number three.

The college, it's three paragraphs.

The College Garden Civic Association, CGCA resolves and asks that Rockville Mayor and Council extend the approval timeline of Rockville's proposed zoning ordinance to at earliest September 2026.

Further, in order that stakeholders include including neighborhood associations are able to better understand the many changes, instruct city staff to provide an improved improved highlights document that should be timely released to the public to allow stakeholders to effectively advocate before the mayor and council in the revised approval timelines.

The CGCA finds the proposed zoning ordinance materials as currently presented to be so daunting in their breadth and so vastly different in their structures from the previous zoning ordinance that it is difficult for the College Garden Civic Association to effectively review and make substantive comments on the proposed zoning ordinance.

We did, however, make one substantive resolution, and this is I'm reading it here because it applies not only to college gardens and it's our 90 zone, but to any single family zone.

The College Garden Civic Association resolves to Mayor and Council that section 25.7.1.4a, purpose of the small lot, single unit residential zones be reworded as follows.

Now there's two parts to this.

There's two sentences that are already there.

I'll read them right now.

The small lot, single unit residential zones include the R90, R75, R60, and R40 zones.

These zones are intended primarily for single unit residential uses on smaller lots than those in the large lot single unit residential zones.

That's what's there now.

It's not a purpose statement, it's a description.

These are two sentences to be added.

The purposes of these zones include one, provide appropriate located areas for residential development that are consistent with the plan and public health and safety, and two, stabilize and protect the essential characteristics of the existing residential neighborhoods.

And where did I get those?

I got them right out of the current zoning ordinance.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Next, we welcome Bill Commoners.

Good evening, Madam Mayor, members of the council.

My name is Bill Commoners.

I'm here representing Tower Dawson LLC, the owner of the and the original developer of the Tower Oaks Plan Development and the property just to itself.

Tower Dawson is a business resident of the city, having moved its offices to 2000 Tower Oaks Boulevard, their lead platinum building.

I have two subjects to share with you this evening.

The first is the current zoning ordinance provisions related to planned developments.

I urge you to keep these provisions in the new ordinance with as little change as possible.

I will have a letter for you that references the corresponding provisions of the new zoning ordinance to make it easy to see the comparison between the old and the new.

But to allow orderly development of the plan developments, the zoning ordinance should retain the general and individual plan development zone zone provisions, the plan development governing documents, definition and development standards, and the APF provisions.

The amendment provisions for plan development should also be kept, but in the more simplified process proposed in the ZTA, because the current amendment process is a deterrent in time and cost to the evolution of the plan developments.

The second subject relates to the former elementary school site just north of Tower Oaks.

The owner has always been supportive of the recommendations in the comp plan and as carried forward by the staff to rezone the property.

But at the same time, the owner is certainly open to consideration of other less intense alternative zones that will still allow more homes than the current zoning and therefore might be economically feasible.

Development on the way.

Please continue.

Sorry about that.

Different kind of heckling.

The um development under the current R90 zone is just not economic from the start.

By abutting Tower Oaks, the property can have regular access from the south, meaning Wooton Parkway, that can thereby avoid use of the Don Mills Court for regular access, instead leaving that only for emergency egress and ingress purposes that are already provided for in an existing easement with the city.

As a creative compromise for the property, the planning commission proposes to restrict density based on the use of Don Mills Court.

Instead, Tower Dawson suggests a more restrictive approach, modifying the planning commission's text with language to simply limit connection to the adjacent residential street to being used only for emergency egress.

Excuse me, emergency access, ingress and egress.

I will give a copy of the proposed uh replacement provisions to the uh clerk for you.

Uh but in this way, combined with regular access from the south, there may in fact be an economic way to provide the added housing without the community impacts, and at the same time prevent any potential cut through traffic concerns.

Thank you for the opportunity to testify.

Um I look forward to your work session.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Welcome, Julia Bender.

I'm Julia Binder.

I should be asked to speak at the next year.

Okay, that sounds fine.

Yes.

Uh welcome, Jeannie O'Mira.

Hello.

Good evening, everyone.

Um, you've seen me talk about deer mesh fencing before, so I will keep it brief.

I think you know where I stand on it, but I'm here to support the city staff recommendation if often if I'm interpreting it correctly, um, of their recommendation of uh letting folks, especially who live on corner lots, be able to have the eight-foot mesh deer fencing um put up.

Additionally, I agree with that the corner lot should be able to start this fencing behind the front facades of their home.

I did notice in the recommendation.

Um, I think there was a reference to fence extenders that they strongly recommended the traditional fence and an eight-foot deer mesh fence be put in together uh to minimize um being intrusive or clumsy, um, so that this way they would be side by side fencing rather than having these big gaps in between.

But I um not only myself agree with this, I also bought, which I can drop off.

There's over 60 of our neighbors who support um the eight-foot deer fencing established as well.

So thank you for your time.

Thank you.

We also have Jason Pepin.

Welcome.

Good evening.

My name is Jason Pepin with Investment Properties.

Uh, we own property in the Rockville Town Center, including one church street and 11 North Washington Street.

We have been engaged throughout this process and previously submitted a comment in the public record requesting consideration for this use.

Well, it is not included in the Planning Commission's recommendation.

We did not receive specific feedback on the rationale and would welcome further consideration from the mayor and council.

To be clear, the two buildings I mentioned are viable office buildings today.

We are actively leasing space and uh signing new leases with new tenants, um, and we are not provo uh proposing any conversion or change in use at this time.

My comment is strictly about zoning flexibility for the future.

Um, as office markets evolve, adaptive reuse is becoming an important tool to keep buildings occupied and contributing to the tax base.

Um we are asking the city to consider allowing indoor self-service storage as a permitted use or a conditional use within the MX T District, limited to existing buildings and structured parking with no exterior changes.

Um I do have an example.

This is a multi-story self-service facility, uh self-storage uh facility in McLean, Virginia.

From the outside, it looks like a typical office building, and there are many similar examples uh like this one.

This is a photo of our building at one church street, right across the street from the Rockville Metro as it stands today.

Um this photo is the exact same photo and represents what it would look like if this type of use were ever implemented within the MX T District.

With the amount of new and planned residential development in and around the town center, this would provide a convenient option for nearby residents while remaining consistent with the character of the district.

This is not a building specific request, it's a zoning text consideration to provide flexibility if and when it's ever needed.

Thank you for your consideration.

Thank you.

That exhaustalist of those who signed up for this section.

Is there anyone else who would like to speak?

Okay.

I'll turn it back to staff if you can also just note uh upcoming dates for public hearings as well as how long this will be open through.

Absolutely.

Thank you.

So the next public hearing for both the zoning ordinance rewrite and the comprehensive map amendment will occur on May 4th.

And then our public record remains open until adoption of both the zoning text amendment for the zoning ordinance rewrite and the comprehensive map amendment for the zoning map, which again is anticipated to be July 6th.

However, I would note that the earlier folks provide comments and testimony, the more able we are to be responsive to them.

Thank you very much.

Okay.

Seeing no additional hands for this section.

Would I just want to clarify is the hearing is the comprehensive map amendment public hearing going to be now?

Well, I'm getting to that.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right.

So we'll now move on to agenda item 10B, which is public hearing number one on map amendment application map 2026-00126 for a comprehensive zoning map amendment for the entire city.

Mayor and Council City of Rockville as applicants.

Welcome back, Holly Simmons and Jim Wasselick.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

So this is the second public hearing for our project this evening.

And as noted earlier, we'll focus on the comprehensive map amendment.

So I'll turn it back to you.

Thank you.

I did want to note the mayor and council did have some discussion during our leadership planning team meeting, and we'll probably have a discussion later today about timing.

Uh the body is very interested in making sure the public has enough time to review this as we do as well, and we have a chance to listen to all the comments and feedback.

I also wanted to note that based on the feedback this evening, staff is going to come back with a revised draft with edits that incorporate the planning commission's recommendations plus what we uh weighed in on those recommendations, and that will be issued on April 20th.

You can follow along on Engage Rockville.

Okay.

I will now call on those who have signed up.

Bill Commons.

Did you want to speak again in this section?

Okay.

Julia Binder, welcome.

Good evening, Mayor and Council members.

My name is Julia Binder.

I live in Newmark Commons, and I was recently elected to the board of our HOA.

I'm here to represent the board and read a letter sent to you on April 6th by our board president, James Nations.

It reads the board of directors of Newmark Commons is writing to oppose the rezoning to RMD 25 of the 10-acre parcel abutting Don Mills Court and homes on streets off Scandia Way.

This level of density would not be compatible with the adjacent communities of Newmark Commons and Markwood.

We ask that you consider residential medium density infill as an alternative less dense zone.

We also ask that you take steps to protect our neighborhoods from being used as a transit for vehicles coming from the south, seeking access to Falls Road, Maryland Avenue, and I-270.

This traffic would come not only from the additional homes on the 10-acre plot, but also from the 20-acre plot connected to it from the south, where plans reportedly call for building an estimated 375 homes.

If vehicle access were granted through our communities, we would become an alternate route for traffic from Montrose Road, Tower Oaks Boulevard, and Wooton Parkway.

This would offer drivers an alternative north-south commuter cut through between Montrose Road and Rockville, but at the cost of passing through our neighborhoods.

This level of traffic would endanger our neighborhood school children and adult walkers and expose our residents to additional carbon emissions and noise pollution.

The city of Rockville has a history of rejecting other suggestions of creating parallel routes to the pike by, for example, connecting and extending East Jefferson Street.

These ideas were discarded for the same reason that vehicle access through Newmark Commons and Markwood should be rejected.

Concern for the safety of residential neighborhoods and schools and respect for the citizens of Rockville.

We appreciate the need for more housing in Rockville, but we ask that new housing be planned and constructed in ways that honor the needs of adjacent communities like ours.

Members of the NMC Board of Directors would welcome the opportunity as suggested by Mayor Ashton to meet with the developers in a mutual listening session to determine how we might work together to lessen the impact of development on our communities.

Thank you for the city's engagement with Newmark Commons regarding the Rockville 2040 comprehensive plan.

Chief of Zoning, Jim Wasilak has been supportive in keeping the community informed, starting with a briefing just six months ago to our board on September 4, 2025.

Since learning of the plans, 700 of our neighbors have signed a petition opposing the RMD 25 designation, including two-thirds of all Newmark Common residents.

The NMC Board of Directors thanks you for the thoughtful and ongoing leadership you're demonstrating by listening to our residents, considering potential rezoning options and acting to support a future that maintains the quality of life for all current and future homes in Rockville.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Welcome, Peter Krug.

Thank you, Mayor and Council.

My name is Peter Krug, and I've been living in Rockville, specifically in Newmark Commons for four years.

I'd like to address transparency, if you will.

And by creating options on the fly and then not listening to the impacted parties, the um they basically were able to transfer students.

Their plan now is to transfer students to another school.

And so this is about there's a transparency issue here because there was no input from the community in making these decisions.

And so as you know, mayor and council recommended changes and you were rejected.

An organization challenging this closure is lawyering up to stay the decision.

And so this is a um despite unanimous outcry, there's no communications that were able to change MCPS's mind.

On the flip side of the same coin, there's a parcel of land on uh area 12 that is adjacent to the Newmark Commons and Markwood neighborhoods that's currently zoned R90.

From what we can tell, the owner has been trying to rezone the property from high density to high density RMD 25 for quite a while.

Instead of presenting a building proposal to the community in support of a rezoning request, the change has been submitted as part of the zoning ordinance rewrite.

Did the developer use this tactic to enable a zoning change without input from the impacted parties?

This lack of transparency smacks of a predetermined decisions made intentionally to avoid studies of community impact.

Residents recommended the changes, but were told is not standard to change the rewrite once it has been accepted, as in the Rockville 2040 comprehensive plan.

Newmark Commons has recently hired a new board of directors elected in the new neighborhood is now officially opposing rezoning to RMD 25.

While the parallels between the Wooten closure and the rezoning of the parcel are striking, there's one major difference.

Mayor and council can instruct the rezoning commission to limit changes to compatible development.

Please use your power to either maintain R90 or limit density to RMD infill with no roads connecting to Newmark Commons.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Anna Astrid Molina.

Good evening, Mayor and Council.

I live in Markwood for 30 years, and as a Venezuelan American, I deeply value the opportunity to speak to you in this democracy.

I want to thank all for the extensive work on the 2040 plant.

This is a safe there is a sacred reason why this land is unsotable for high density development.

This plot was part of the 1789 Montgomery County Poor Farm and Almshouse.

For 160 years, it was the final resort and final resting place for the poor, the early, and those with mental illness.

Hundreds estimated between 500 and 1,000 people lie here in a marked graves, including John Dix Dorsey and Sidney Randolph, victims of the 19th century lynching.

The last burial was in 1983.

In 1984, city study in an 1884 city study concluded that public use for this property was not viable due to this unmarked grave and restricted access through what is now Wuton Parkway.

While small archaeological digs in 1987 and construction in 2000 relocated about 100 remains, the vast majority of these souls are still there.

If the city was deterred from using this site for public projects because of this grave, how can we justify a seven-story high rise in the same ground?

This is not just open space, it is a sensitive historical site to allow an RMD 25 designation, which requires deep excavation for foundations and underground utility is to risk disturbing the remains of our county's most vulnerable former residents.

Also, I want to mention noise pollution.

Even if traffic is restricted through Wotton Parkway, noise by residents will directly impact Newmark Commons and Markwood.

Currently, the high noise levels from 270 and the nursing home traffic is cumbersome.

On days where patients have outdoor activities, the noise levels make it impossible for me to work from home, forcing me to go to the library.

Adding 244 high density units will shatter the peace of Markwood and Newmark Commons.

These sites demand for a low impact approach that honors its history, the RMD 25 is the most intrusive designation possible.

I ask you to honor the dignity of those buried there and the safety of those living here today.

Please prioritize our shared history and our quality of life over high density development.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Welcome, Susan Knowles, followed by Alex Ballida.

Hi, I'm Susan Knowles and I live in Newmark Commons.

I want to thank the mayor and council for continuing to listen to our community's concerns about the proposed new zoning for partial ZORD ID 17 in planning area 12.

Staff has informed me that these recommendations were made by a long-range planning team.

Who were these people?

And did they come out and actually walk the property?

Our neighborhood was not involved because we're in area three, and this property that abuts ours isn't planning area 12.

The owners of the property have had 10 years to work with you, and we've had about one.

When I came before you on December 1st, I asked you to please keep working on this document before the draft was submitted to the planning commission.

It moved on with input to the staff to look at different zoning options for this parcel.

When it was presented to the Planning Commission, the only choices they were given at first was to keep it as the draft stated RMD 25 or revert back to the older designation R90.

During discussion, the planning commission was led to believe that historically the zoning usually agreed with the newer recommendation.

Luckily, the planning commission looked at compatibility with the neighboring properties and added some languages that seemed to take our concerns into account.

But what we have now puts our neighborhood in Markwood between a rock and a hard place.

They decided to keep the RMD 25, but added that if development was allowed to exit onto Don Mills Court, the zoning would have to be less dense.

But that would allow the 375 or so townhomes on the 20-acre south that will be developed to also use the exit, creating a north-south route between the Wooton Parkway and 270 at Falls Road.

This is a draft.

The mayor and council have the power to make changes to this document.

There have been no traffic studies or environmental studies to see how this will affect Newmark, Markwood, and all the neighborhoods around the Falls Road interchange.

Online, it says the city staff will update the staff draft ordinance and zoning map during this review process.

And this document will be revised, incorporating mayor and council direction.

Please take this time to listen to the suggestions we have been offering.

You have the power to have the staff make the changes before the official adoption on July 6th.

All we are asking for is something that the city has always stated that's important, compatibility with the adjoining neighborhoods, and no road into or through Newmark Commons and Markwood.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Welcome, Mr.

Belita, followed by Kristen Rameson.

Thank you very much, Madam Mayor, members of the council.

Some of what you'll hear tonight from us as I'm a resident of Newmark Commons.

Um will be repetitive, but I was in the radio business for over 40 years.

We used to have a saying, tell them what you're going to tell them, tell them again, and then tell them what you told them.

Because you can't go back in radio and reread what they said.

So forgive us if we sometimes cross remarks.

One of the mysteries of the city's rezoning process is that no one could tell us who exactly decided this small plot of land next to Newmark would be rezoned RMD 25.

We were told by planning staff that it came from consultants.

Who were these consultants?

And did they ever visit the plot?

And how did they justify putting high-rise structures in an area of development that is not near transit hubs or businesses?

How did they decide to integrate hundreds of new residents and all of their cars without regard as to how they would get out of this parcel to go to work, to go to school, to go to business?

Is there a map somewhere that shows what new roads will be needed to accommodate these people?

Surely someone must have thought about this before deciding RMD 25 was a great idea.

But the comprehensive plan says, quoting, proposed additional road connections were not supported during Rockville's 2040 public engagement process.

Then there's also this pesky 1991 agreement with the residents of Don Mills Court regarding access to the city-maintained stormwater facility.

The agreement stipulates that access to that plot, quote, will not be used as a public right of way to facilitate development, and such decision is in the best interests of the city.

Did anyone also consider how unpleasant it might be to live in buildings slapped right up against I-270?

I can attest to the noise levels that we hear in Newmark from trucks, whiny sport cars, and racing motorcycles.

Now, right now there's a healthy tree canopy on that plot that offers a measure of protection, not just from the noise, but from pollution.

Whoops.

Those trees won't survive dense development.

But I get it.

You want to increase housing opportunities in the city.

It makes sense.

It's good forward thinking policy in these changing times.

But does it make good sense and good policy to let unnamed consultants pick just any old plot of undeveloped land, leaving you and us to deal with the consequences?

And does it make good sense and good policy to run roughshod over an established neighborhood whose residents oppose this?

I urge you to defer a decision on rezoning this plot.

Leave it as it is currently zoned until you can make a truly informed decision and until the representatives of the developer actually reach out to us and start talking.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Welcome, Mr.

Remison, followed by Pat Rieber.

Good evening, Madam Mayor and Council members.

My name is Kristen Rasmussen, and I lived in Newmark Commons for the last three years.

Before moving to Rockville, I lived in Cambodia, Phnom Penh, a very crowded city where development occurred with no public input.

So I do appreciate this opportunity to be here today.

I wish to express my concerns, and I will repeat much of what's already been said as well as what I said back in December, but we thought that it was important to get as many of us in front of you as possible.

I have many concerns with the process that's been followed as part of the comprehensive map amendment application being considered tonight.

The areas affected by the proposal to rezone the land parcel.

Those of us living in those areas have had insufficient time to engage with city leadership on the matter.

Now that has improved over the last couple of months, and we do appreciate your efforts.

But I'm concerned, as others are, that this area and the implications of the development in it have not been carefully considered.

In recent years, Rockville has been increasingly affected by flooding.

This is one reason why the City Council developed its Climate Action Plan 2022.

As you know, the Rockville Climate Action Plan makes specific references to protecting the city's tree canopy, reducing greenhouse greenhouse gas emissions, and taking steps to mitigate flooding.

My neighbors and I are aware that the parcels currently zoned for townhome and single family home development, which we are not opposed to.

If developed and rezoned, it would mean that some trees would be cut.

Zoning for high density, we fear that there would be clear cutting, which, as we heard earlier, would affect noise levels as well as air quality.

High density development and consequential tree loss would also put communities at risk of increased flooding, which is already a major concern due to the impact of climate change.

I implore you, as council members, to uphold commitments laid out in the city's climate action plan.

Doing otherwise would simply defy logic.

High density development would also mean many more cars on what are now the safe streets of Newmark Commons.

And I, as a mother of a young child who's going to go to middle school in just over a year, I'm very concerned about that.

When I drive through the area, I see many kids crossing Newmark Commons neighborhood to other communities, not just those that are living in NMC.

And already we have a traffic issue with people going faster, a limited number of signs posted, speed uh signs posting the speed limits.

More cars on the road would make the area less safe for the children and other residents of Newmark Commons and adjacent neighborhoods.

My neighbors and I have outlined many reasons to remove rezoning of the parcel from consideration as part of the map amendment application.

In the case of this parcel, high density development would have overwhelmingly negative consequences for surrounding residents in even the wider city.

Thank you very much to listening for our input and for taking our considered concerns into consideration.

Thank you.

Welcome, Pat Rever.

Thank you, Mayor and Council, for having us uh uh testify tonight.

Um I am also with the Newmark Commons group, so I don't think I need to identify the plot in question.

We appreciate that six of you took time with us over the past weeks to meet with us, and I know that took time from busy days, and we appreciate that very much.

Uh the seventh has eluded us, but we're still trying.

Um, today I will address the January 13 testimony from Representative Tower Delson.

Mr.

Commoner was here this evening, and I've had a small chat with him, and um maybe we will start talking.

And uh I thought he had very enlightening testimony this evening.

Um in January, however, I wrote my testimony, so you're gonna have to listen to it.

In January, he acknowledged our concerns about safety, pollution, and noise from heavy traffic route to through our two communities.

He said, quote, there can be routes of access to serve the property from other than the abutting Don Mills Court, end quote.

First, the word can is an indefinite commitment.

We hope to get more solid assurance that all traffic from the plot next to us, along with that from the 20 acres to the south.

Am I coming through in the mic?

We hear you.

Um would exit onto Wooton Parkway.

Second, the assurance offered in his testimony in January, not this evening, only addresses traffic on Don Mills Court.

There are other possible routes onto our streets.

We already hear the loud drone of 270, but are somewhat protected with other wooded property.

You just heard that from my husband.

Um the prospect is dangerous and daunting of thousands more trucks, cars, service vehicles, ride shares, and deliveries transiting our neighborhoods from 30 acres of development.

Third, last September, city staff briefed the Newmark Commons board about the proposed rezoning.

One board member asked staff how the city would access the site if developed.

The answer from the Rockville staff member was quote, the clearest way would be through Don Mills Court.

Fourth, Tower Dawson's lawyer, Mr.

Commoner, suggested that Newmark residents should have been bracing over the past half century for more traffic because the site had originally been intended for a school.

That plan was abandoned decades ago and Rockville City itself said it should never be open to traffic.

Fifth, the Tower Dawson lawyer noted that there was no opposition to RMD 25 and traffic before the 2021 adoption of Rockville's comprehensive plan.

That's because, thanks to a city ordinance from 2011, the city was not obligated to inform adjacent properties like us about a proposed rezoning if it was part of a developing a comprehensive plan.

For these reasons, we are asking Mayor and Council for a solid commitment that vehicle traffic from any development on the 10-acre plot next to Newmark and the contiguous 20-acre plot south of it will only flow flow south onto Wooten Parkway.

Can mayor and council help us with these concerns during this uh process.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

That exhaust the list of those who have signed up in advance and just double checking.

Is there anyone else who did not speak who would like to speak?

Please join and note your name and whether you live in the city of Rockville.

I I I signed up online, but maybe I did it wrong.

My name is Tyler Abrams.

Uh I am a 16-year resident of the city of Rockville.

Uh I live at 915 Grandon Avenue uh near Lone Oak Park, uh East Rockville.

Uh my wife and I have been residency in Rockville, like I said, for 16 years.

We've raised our two young children here, um, and we love Rockville.

I'm right, I'm I'm here specifically in reference to Area 1, the Veers Mill Road Corridor of Planning Area 8, Twin Brook, and Twin Brook Forest, which proposes uh it's basically the logic is built around a proposed bus line that will run along Veers Mill, and I would argue that there are many existing bus lines along Bears Mill.

As a 16-year resident in the city of Rockville, and more specifically the south side of Grand Avenue, east of First Street.

I am adamantly opposed to the rezoning of my property and my entire street from residential detached to residential attached, and the threat this has on my street, the sense of neighborhood, and the community my family lives in.

While I understand the general land use principles, guidelines, and policies that were used to generate this particular aspect of the commission's proposal, I fear that in practice the proposed rezoning of Grandin Avenue will be a detriment.

I, like many of my neighbors, moved to this neighborhood as a result of recognizing its great charm.

It is a diverse working-class neighborhood where neighbors are friendly and respectful of one another, and we very much appreciate the quaint, quiet nature of where we live.

Each and every one of us who purchased a home here bought into the sense of neighborhood that it exudes.

The relative density, relative home size, and relative lot size is very consistent from block to block in my neighborhood, making this feel like a cohesive place that we all call home.

Homeowners take great pride in what is in most cases their largest investment, myself included.

A great example of this is the large amount of home improvement that is consistently ongoing throughout our neighborhood.

The introduction, however, of townhouses, duplexes, triplexes, and apartment buildings to our neighborhood and my actual street specifically, would change the makeup of our neighborhood.

It inherently would mean increased density, which I know is the intent here, but also an influx of renters who, by their very nature, do not have a stake in the neighborhood of the communities they live in.

This would also contribute to a transient feel in our street.

This also would inevitably impact our property values.

The value of the homes on Grandon Avenue would become the value of the land rather than the value of the existing structure.

As developers will want to move in to create denser building types, and the homes we have worked so hard to upkeep and improve over the years will have no value anymore.

It is also likely that parking would be a major issue as we already lack adequate street parking.

Thank you very much.

I appreciate the testimony.

Thank you.

Is there anyone else who would like to speak?

Mr.

Commoner.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

I think I was signed up for this one, but I apologize.

I was out in the hallway chatting when uh you began it.

Uh my name is Bill Commoners.

I'm an attorney representing Tower Dawson LLC, the owner of Tower Oaks and the property of the South.

And I just want to mention a couple of things uh that have come up in some of the discussion.

First of all, I want to make sure that everyone understands that Tower Dawson has not in the past, nor does it today have any plan for development of the 9.75-acre property uh adjacent to Tower Oaks.

But when a plan is prepared, whether it's by Tower Dawson or someone else, it's going to go through the city's very rigorous review process for any physical engineering issues and compatibility, access questions, any of that will be considered by the city staff as they do with every development application that comes in.

I have great confidence in them about that.

Second, there's been some comment about the density that's potentially allowed on the property to the south of this property that's within Tower Oaks.

There's an agreement between Tower Dawson and Newmark Commons that limits that area to 170 units as a maximum.

Finally, I mentioned in my testimony on the zoning ordinance the potential footnotes for the whatever zone you place on this property to try and address this access question.

And I just like to read into the record the two the two choices or the two uh items that have been that have come up.

First is from the planning commission, which we have proposed to revise.

They've recommended in this uh in their report to you quote if any vehicular access to a property is provided from a secondary residential street that ended in a cul de sac on the effective date, then the maximum development density is limited to twenty ten dwelling units per acre.

Now that still leaves the question of act of access of some kind for that.

Uh we want we sugg the our client suggests more limiting than that, um, as I mentioned earlier, with a footnote that would say only quote, only emergency ingress and egress to a property may be provided from a secondary residential street that ended in a cul-de-sac on the effective date, unquote.

So that I would hope would address any question about regular vehicular access from any development of that parcel on our clients' behalf.

Um and that would be a footnote that could be used and be applicable irrespective of whatever zone you place on the property, RMD 25 or whatever it might be to try to accommodate the concern about access to Don Mills Court, but preserving the opportunity for the emergency ingress and egress, which is already provided for today.

Thank you very much.

Thank you very much.

Dr.

Malko.

Is that possible?

I think Mr.

Dawson.

I just assume I just had a you said there was no plans for y'all to develop the 10 acre property adjacent to Tower Oaks, or did you mean to 10 agreement parcel next to Newmark?

The 10 acre part, the 9.75 acre parcel north of Tower Oaks is the parcel that's adjacent.

Got it.

That's all that's all.

Thank you.

I wanted to say thank you.

Is there anyone else who would like to speak in this section?

Okay.

I want to acknowledge that we have received written comments.

The mayor and council have that at our records, and we will continue to watch for those.

I want to turn it back to Ms.

Holly Simmons to see if you have any follow-up.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

That concludes um materials for staff, but we're looking forward to being back before you for the work session later this evening.

Thank you.

Um, there has been some comments about all the different um zoning districts.

I wanted to note, in addition to what I said earlier about when that your revised draft is going to be published, uh, there is a zoning district quick reference on engage rock fill.

Um I will note that uh I've heard from staff different height limitations.

If we can have those height limitations included in this quick reference so that the listening public can track all the different RMD, RM25, uh 10 infill, so that there's a sense you do the staff does a great job of saying what's allowed in terms of housing type, but not necessarily heights, and I think that might be another helpful piece of information to add.

Okay.

Certainly we can make that happen.

Thank you.

And I want to remind the listening public that we do have another public hearing coming up.

Do you want to send a reminder?

Share a reminder on that.

Sure.

So again, the next public hearing that we have is on May 4th.

There will be public hearing both on the zoning ordinance rewrite and on the comprehensive map amendment, similar to what has occurred this evening.

And as Madam Mayor mentioned earlier, we are planning after this evening to revise the staff drafts of the zoning ordinance and the zoning map based on Mayor and Council's direction this evening.

And that is intended to be published to engage Rockville on April 20th, one week from today.

Thank you very much to everyone who participated in our public hearings.

We're going to be moving on to our budget public hearing next, but want to note that there will be a work session on this very topic this evening under agenda item 12.

So if you're interested, feel free to stick around.

You can also watch us online.

I'm now going to move on to our next agenda item, which is FY27 budget public hearing number four.

And want to turn to Sarah.

I know this has been properly noticed as you mentioned.

Is there anything else you want to say, Miss Sarah Taylor Pharrell?

Madam Mayor.

It has been properly noticed on 313 and 323.

Thank you.

And I want to welcome staff members, Daniel Chambers, Stacy Webster, and Kim Francesco.

Thank you.

Good evening, Madam Mayor and members of the council.

This is our fourth and final public hearing scheduled for the FY27 operating budget and capital improvements program with the public record for the FY27 proposed budget also closing tonight.

Included in your package this evening is a summary of all public testimony on the FY27 budget thus far, as well as an interim report of the survey results.

At the time of drafting that report, we had 470 responses, and a final report will be shared with the mayor and council following the close of the public record.

This public hearing was advertised in the Washington Post, posted to the City of Rockville's website, social media accounts, Channel 11 Bulletin Board, and Rockville Reports.

And once again, the public record for the FY27 proposed budget will be closing tonight.

So this is the final chance to provide testimony on this budget.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Although I know officially we listen all the time, but this is the official closing of this public hearing.

I want to thank you.

I want to thank everyone who's filled out the budget survey.

People have filled out the CIP project ideas and really contributed throughout the process through all the hearings we've had.

So thank you.

Okay, so I have a list of folks who have signed up in advance, and then I will call for those who would like to speak.

Well, for I want to note that please address the mayor and council.

If you have any written testimony that you haven't already emailed, please feel free to give it to Miss Sarah Taylor Farrell, our city clerk's office.

We'll then uh log that information.

I'd like to first welcome Julia Estela Sarmiento.

As you speak, please note whether you live in the city of Rockville.

And please we state your name.

Good evening.

My name is Julia Sarmiento, and I am the Maryland Housing Program Manager at the Latino Economic Development Center.

LEDC serves residents across the DMV by providing the skills and financial tools they need to buy, rent and sustain their homes, maintain affordable rental housing, and start or expand the small businesses.

I'm here today to request your support for LEDC for $4,000 grant application to the City of Rockville, which will allow us to continue and expand tenant services for residents within the city of Rockville.

As the Maryland Housing Program Manager, I oversee a team dedicated to ensuring that Montgomery County tenants understand their rights and responsibilities within the city of Rockville.

LEDC works directly with tenants facing evictions or other housing hardships, like the shutoff of their utilities or poor living conditions.

Our team connects residents to Montgomery County rental assistance programs as well as local resources and services offered by the city or Rockville.

LEDC has provided housing services in Montgomery County since 2009 and tenant services since the beginning of COVID 19.

Our staff is highly knowledgeable about both city and county rental laws as well as the social service programs available to tenants and families.

Today I am advocating for your support of LEDC's grant proposal because this funding will allow us to focus more intentionally on Rockville residents who are facing financial challenges.

With this support, we can continue connecting tenants to the resources that help them avoid eviction, prevent utility disconnections, and stabilize their housing situations.

LEDC also provides referral to financial education, budgeting assistance, and credit building programs, both within the both within and beyond the organization, each of which is critical to long-term housing and stability.

Last year, LEDC helped Ms.

Flores, a CD of Rockville resident who had fallen behind on her rent and despite making payments, was unable to bring her account currently.

She had been hospitalized due to back injury, which affected her ability to work consistently.

Well, Ms.

Flores owned a small business that was generating income.

She was overspending and lacked a clear understanding of her business finances.

LEDC referred Ms.

Flores to a small business coach who helped her organize her finances, develop a profit and loss statement, and implemented healthy financial behavior.

Ultimately, Ms.

Flores avoided eviction and stabilized her finances.

Today she has improved control over her income and is seeing more money remain in her bank account at the end of each month.

This is the type of holistic culturally responsive support LEDC provides to City of Rockville residents.

With your support of this application, we can continue helping tenants like Ms.

Flores remain housed, financially stable on a path towards long-term success.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Thank you.

Welcome.

Thank you very much.

It seems like it's old home.

Oh, I thought former Councilmember Brescerla was here a minute ago.

It felt like old home week here.

My name is Beryl L.

Feinberg, and I reside at 104 10404 Strathmore Park Court, Rockville, Maryland.

Thank you, Monique Ashton and Council members, for your service.

Really appreciate and understand all the time and effort you put into making Rockville a great place to live, work, and play.

The city manager's FY27 operating budget proposes a $25,000 community services and enrichment grant for the hospitality training program.

Tonight I want to underscore the benefits and critical need for this grant for the Sunflower Bakery.

Neurodivergent individuals face significantly higher unemployment and underemployment rates, with estimates indicating that 30 to 40 percent of neurodivergent adults are unemployed, a rate three times higher than for individuals with other disabilities, and eight times higher than the general population.

Adults on the autism spectrum face even steeper barriers, with unemployment estimates ranging from 76 to over 80 percent, according to the National Institutes of Health Research.

Since 2009, Sunflower Bakery has improved the lives of over 675 teens and young adults with learning differences.

Young adults with differing abilities participate in a 26-week training program, acquiring skills to prepare them for future employment within the food service or hospitality industry, incorporating both classroom and hands-on training, students learn many of the same skills that typical young adults struggle with as they enter the workforce.

Promptness, learning to listening to supervisors, balanced with self-advocacy, responsive customer service, time management, money management, and job searching skills.

Program participates, participate in the sunflower bakery space.

You can read more about this on their website.

Unlike other workforce development programs, Sunflower Bakery incorporates job services and employment supports post-graduation from training.

All of this requires timely receipt of financial resources for program participation in their varying programs.

Following rigorous accreditation processes, Sunflower Bakery proudly notes its status on the as a community rehabilitation partner with the Maryland State Division of Rehabilitation Services, or doors, for employment services and pre-employment training for its STEP or Sunflower Teen Exposure Program and importantly the job coaching services.

In the last several months, doors funding has been delayed or underfunded, while Sunflower Bakery organizational cash flow requirements are in real time.

Many of its generous supporters previously in the federal workforce or as contractors lost jobs and scaled back donations.

Matching federal funds have been reduced.

All of this is to say without Rockville's ongoing support, potential students may never experience this extraordinary workforce development program.

Firsthand, I have witnessed how with workforce training, not only are the graduates' life changed, but so too the entire family's life expectations.

Thank you again for your support.

Should you wish to witness how this grant and the other programs change lives, you may request a tour of the Sunflower Bakery headquartered right here in the city of Rockville, near the Twin the Twinbrook neighborhood.

Or you may register to attend the annual celebration on April 26th at the Montgomery College Cultural Arts Evans at 7 p.m.

Check out their website for more details.

And thank you, Mayor Ashton and Councilmember Van Greg for serving on the celebration and graduation host committee.

Really appreciate it and hope to see you there on the 26th and any others of you.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Welcome.

Christina Recy.

Right.

Yes.

Thank you.

Good evening, Mayor Ashton and Council members.

My name is Christina Recci.

I'm vice president of programs at the PTA at Meadowhall Elementary School.

And I'm also an English teacher at Community Reach of Montgomery County, working with parents at Meadowhall Elementary School.

I'm here tonight to ask you for your continued support for English classes for Meadowhoe parents in the coming budget budget year.

I've had the privilege of teaching parents who are deeply committed to their children's education and to their own growth.

They are here with us tonight, and so are their beautiful children.

So is Miss Cecilia Rojas LOP program director at Community Reach of Montgomery County.

These parents come to class because they want to do more than simply get by in daily life.

They want to understand what is happening at their children's school.

They want to communicate with teachers with confidence.

They want to help with homework, prepare for exams, read school messages, and take an active role in their children's academic progress.

Parents gain the language skills they need to participate more fully in school life.

They become more comfortable asking questions, attending school meetings and events, speaking with staff, and supporting learning at home.

That matters because strong parent involvement is closely connected to student success.

I've seen parents who were once hesitant to begin to speak with greater assurance.

I have seen them return to class consistently because they know these lessons are helping them at school, at home, and in the community.

Their commitment shows that this program is needed and that it is working.

Funding English classes gives parents tools not only to help their children meet school responsibilities, but also to be included and thrive in the broader community.

English proficiency helps parents navigate daily life with greater independence.

It helps them speak up for themselves, access services, build relationships, pursue employment opportunities, and contribute more fully to the life of our city.

These classes are not simply language instruction, they are a bridge to confidence, connection, and participation.

When we invest in parents, we also invest in children.

When we help families build communication skills, we strengthen schools.

And when we create opportunities for parents to engage and succeed, we strengthen the entire community.

This is why continued funding to community reach of Montgomery County is so important.

It allows us to keep building a school environment where families are not left on the margins, but are equipped to participate, belong, and thrive.

Thank you for your time, your leadership, and your consideration.

Thank you.

Welcome and thanks to all the children for coming out as well.

Love to see civic engagement.

Welcome, Kate Berman.

Kate Berman.

Madam Mayor, um, there was a Madison was supposed to be called on the list before Beryl Feinberg.

Okay, she's not we could call her.

Okay, we can call Madison Colonna's fund.

Welcome.

I see this Honorable Mayor Ashton and City Council members.

Good evening.

My name is Madison Kelowna, and I'm proud to be a development associate at Sunflower Bakery.

I'm here tonight to provide testimony in support of Sunflower Bakery's funding request to the City of Rockville as part of your fiscal year 2027 budget.

I first want to take a moment to thank Mayor Ashton and the Rockville City Council for your continued support of Sunflowers mission and work.

We greatly appreciate that this council amidst your very busy schedules, makes the time to stop by our storefronts and community events often.

For those of you who are not familiar, Sunflower Bakery is a workforce development program for individuals with learning differences, headquartered right here in Rockville on Halpine Road.

We offer training in pastry arts, hospitality, and culinary arts that teach our students transferable yet industry aligned technical and interpersonal skills to support their transition into the workforce.

As a nonprofit social enterprise, every item we sell provides critical training to our students.

The employment gap for individuals with learning differences is a nationwide concern, but we're tackling it at a local level.

Individuals with learning differences are underrepresented in the workforce, not due to lack of ability, but rather a lack of workforce development opportunities tailored to their needs.

According to the U.S.

Census Borough, 5.3% of Rockville residents under the age of 65 have a disability.

In Montgomery County as a whole, 51% of individuals with disabilities ages 18 to 64 are employed, compared to 82% of their peers without disabilities.

Sigma structural and individual barriers are all hurdles for individuals with learning differences to pursue meaningful employment.

And Sunflower Bakery fosters the skills, knowledge, and self-assurance needed to overcome them.

Sunflower Bakery has made intentional decisions to further our impact as a local service provider and business, and they asked that the city of Rockville considers a similar intentional investment in our programs.

This past year, Sunflower Bakery earned its three year carf accreditation from the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities.

This was the product of an intensive evaluation process and signifies to our students, families, supporters, and community partners that Sunflower's programs meet rigorous standards and its staff are committed to continuous improvement.

We also have the honor of celebrating our first class of coloring arts graduates this past year.

We recently expanded to offer training in culinary arts in response to student interests and feedback from our employer partners indicating a need for employees with these skills.

Each decision our staff makes is grounded in the question, what is best for our students?

And this expansion is a testament to that mantra.

In that same vein, we have just launched our hospitality sunflower teen exposure program.

Our team program introduces teens with learning differences to career opportunities and introduces soft skills that will benefit them in the workplace.

This curriculum complements our existing pastry arts team program, but was created to support teens who are more interested in front of house and customer service roles.

On April 26th, we'll be celebrating our largest graduating class ever at our annual graduation event.

Nearly half of these graduates are from our hospitality workforce development program for which Sunflower Bakery is seeking support from the city of Rockville.

In the past two years, we have more than doubled our enrollment of our hospitality program, and we seek to keep this momentum going.

Our community of over 70 local employer partners consistently mentioned the dependability, skill, and drive of Sunflower graduates.

I invite you to our bake shop or cafe to see our hardworking hospitality students in action.

I appreciate the continued support of the City of Rockville and Sunflower Bakery's pursuit of a more inclusive community.

Thank you for your consideration.

And I have some treats to share with you all made by our students.

Thank you.

Thank you.

While she's moving, just wanted to invite it.

Oh, I think we're going for one.

Welcome, Miss.

Welcome, Mr.

Jody Tick.

Do you want to?

Okay, all right.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

All right.

Do we have Stephen Gormley?

Definitely.

Stephen Gormley.

Okay.

Kevin Kennedy.

Welcome.

Yay!

Thank you.

Madam Mayor, members of the council, city staff, good evening.

My name is Kevin Kennedy.

I know you're all familiar with the Rockville villages, and I greatly appreciate the support that you've continued to show for them.

When I moved to Rockville in 2022, I was pleased to find active villages here, including one in Rockville Town Center where I live.

It's challenging these days to connect with neighbors in a new community, particularly for me since I was working full-time and caring for my wife, who is in the late stages of Alzheimer's disease and lives in a nearby memory care home.

The city had the foresight to hire a full-time facilitator for to help the city neighborhoods start and grow active villages.

And more recently, to add a part-time assistant.

With the numerous villages in Rockville in various stages of development, I've been impressed watching Trish Evans and her assistant help the city's villages move forward.

It's been great to be part of Rockville Town Center Village.

We have about a dozen people in our informal leadership group, a number of whom are here in the audience this evening.

We've been very active with a monthly coffee club, regular lunch punch gatherings, a museum outings, a trivia team competing weekly at the World of Beer and many other gatherings.

We've run two COTE donation drives for Meadow Hall Elementary School families, and I was pleased to see some of those families here this evening.

And also more recently, a drive for toiletries for the county coalition for the homeless.

We've established a website and a monthly newsletter, which goes out to over 300 people.

While we're volunteer driven, we would not be where we are today without the support of the city village staff.

The city's team has also fostered cooperation across the different villages with events like this Saturday's villages go green and the village's year in review in January that some of you attended.

The city's village staff also helps keep us from reinventing the wheel.

When my village decided to do a survey of residents' interests and needs, Trish pointed us to one West Rockville Connects had done.

When Falls Grove Village wanted to do a survey, then she pointed them to me and to our survey.

I applaud the growth and success of the other Rockville villages and root for the ones that are just getting off the ground.

However, I believe current sataffing cannot provide all the current and nascent villages in the city the degree of support that has allowed town center village to thrive.

It's just not sustainable.

Additional staffing, I think is critical to build on Rockville's success and growing its village movement.

At previous hearings, you heard recommendations to increase village program staffing from Elaine Quebec, Chair of the Commission on Aging, and Diane Fuchs, an officer with West Rockville Connects Village.

I echo those recommendations.

Shifting the assistant position from part-time to full-time in the fiscal year 27 budget would enhance the support the city provides to its villages and help make Rockville even more livable.

An additional halftime assistant position on top of that would further strengthen individual villages and connections between them.

I hope you'll consider those changes to the budget.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Welcome.

Kevin Kennedy, followed by Nancy Picard.

Oh, sorry, Kevin Kennedy.

Nancy Picard.

Thank you.

I thought I was last, but I'll go first of our group tonight.

Thank you.

Good evening, Madam Mayor and members of council.

I'm Nancy Picard, Executive Director for Peerless Rockville.

For more than 50 years, Peerlist has served as the city's partner gathering, I'm sorry, and sharing Rockville's history.

Tonight, I really would like to thank you, the members of the council here tonight that have recognized this and that have taken the opportunity to speak out for us and to propose increasing the budget for us.

But I'm here tonight to actually ask you to go just a little bit further and to maintain the grant at the $95,000 level that we've had this year.

Even level funding represents a reduction for us.

Inflation combined with the city's shift to reimbursement-based funding means we now have to borrow money just to cover basic operating expenses like salaries for a large portion of the year.

This added cost directly reduces what we can deliver to the public.

Peerless Rockville fulfills a role that no city department currently covers.

A significant cut to our operational funding does not just affect our organization.

It directly diminishes the city's ability to collect and interpret its own heritage and to provide heritage tourism opportunities to all.

Rockville in the county is known to embrace its history, but its approach is exceptionally lean because it leverages Peerless Rockville's expertise rather than maintaining a full city department.

However, this model has a breaking point and requires a minimum level of investment.

To sustain our modern professionally staffed archive, we require funding sources that reflect today's economic realities.

Consider our neighbors.

Gaitersburg allocates more than triple our current funding, over $300,000 to support its history and culture programs.

For Rockville to further cut to 75,000 would not just be a budget adjustment.

It would be a retreat from a benchmark level of civic engagement that our neighboring jurisdictions already are meeting.

We understand that the city of Bowie operates its history programs with a budget of $830,000.

Of that, over 400,000 is dedicated specifically to personnel and professional services, many of the same specialized functions that Peerless currently provides.

Many other jurisdictions directly fund museums and cultural centers.

These cities have determined that heritage education is a fundamental civic priority.

In contrast, the proposed $75,000 grant represents less than 0.04% of the total city budget.

This is not a sustainable pass, and unfortunately will force us to retreat from our archives, pull put cuts to our staff or cuts to upcoming educational programs and initiatives.

I ask that you maintain our current funding level or increase it, recognizing as a high value investment that allows the Rockville Peerless Partnership to continue.

At 90,000, we will do everything we can to make it work.

But any amount below that level will likely result in measurable decreases in services.

We are deeply committed to this work and to the city of Rockville.

We need your continued support.

Thank you so much for your time and consideration.

Thank you.

Welcome, Deborah Liverpool, followed by Miriam Bunno.

Good evening, Mayor and Council.

My name is Deborah Liverpool.

I'm the chair of the Board of Directors for Peerless Rockville.

I'm here to speak in strong support of maintaining, if not increasing, funding for Peerless Rockville.

Peerless Rockville is not simply a historic organization.

It is a steward of our city's identity, our shared memory, our truth.

The red brick courthouse in which Peerless sits stands on the grounds where enslaved African Americans were once bought and sold.

That's not a distant history.

That's Rockville's history.

Today, Peerless Rockville ensures this story and many others are told with honesty, dignity, and context.

At a time when communities across the country are grappling with how to tell inclusive and accurate histories, Rockville already has a trusted partner doing that work.

Cutting funding could now undermine that process and send the wrong message about our city's commitment to equity and truth.

This is not just about history, it's about a smart investment.

Peerless Rockville delivers exceptional values to the city with a regularly with a relatively modest budget and involves educational programming for students, cultural events for residents, heritage tourism that brings visitors into Rockville, supporting local businesses, contributing to our local economy.

If we were to replicate these services across multiple departments, it would significantly cost more.

Peerless leverages city funding to attract other grants, donations, volunteer engagements, and other words, your investment multiplies, reducing the investment risk not only programming, but additional outside resources that benefit the community.

Finally, I would ask you to consider the long-term aspect.

Cities that invest in their history that are fully and honestly building stronger communities.

They foster civic pride, attract visitors, and create spaces that residents can learn and reflect.

Peerless Rockville does all of that.

This is not a place to cut, it's a place to stand firm.

Respectfully, I urge you to maintain or initially increase funding for Peerless Rockville as a vital partner in preserving history, strengthening our community, and supporting our local economy.

Thank you.

Welcome, Miriam Bunnow.

Greetings, Mayor and Council.

My name is Dr.

Miriam Bionau, and I'm the education and outreach manager for Peerless Rockville.

I'm a part-time employee who is responsible for the majority of our events.

Most of you know or have been to our events, but I want to tell you a couple of stories that are probably less visible.

A number of years ago, a boy from Julius West Middle School came to the Peerless offices to do research on the U.S.

Colored Troops from Rockville in the Civil War.

Peerless continued to support him when he was a student at Richard Montgomery and wrote an essay on the topic.

He came back to us as a student at Howard University to give a presentation where he shares the floor with a U.S.

park ranger, and he comes back to Peerless again in recent years to work on the U.S.

Civil War trail sign that he co-authored on North Washington Street.

Peerless was there to support him at every step of his education and provided essential archival materials as well as a platform to help him tell the story of contributions made by underrepresented people living in Rockville by speaking for us and participating in the creation of the U.S.

Civil War Trail sign he gave back to our community, ultimately adding to the city's interpretive landscape.

Peerless is proud to have helped him on his journey of learning and sharing.

Here's another story of Peerless working with an individual to preserve Rockville's history.

In this case, it's Peerless providing assistance and serving as a repository for unique archival materials.

I had a meeting last week with a woman who has been recreationally photographing and documenting changes on Rockville Pike for the past 20 years.

She wants to preserve these images, which are irreplaceable, and came to Peerless for help.

We're now working with her not only to store her photos, but help her prepare for a presentation on them, how Rockville Pike has changed over time and what it means, and finding other ways for her photos to be shared with the public through our platforms.

These are not the first, and they will not be the last people who have walked into Peerless to get knowledge or shared theirs and become active participants in documenting and sharing Rockville's history.

The community grant is our operational funding for our archival and educational content.

We deeply appreciate the support of a city that values historical accuracy and inclusive heritages and takes a stand funding content that demonstrates these values.

I want you to know that the current wider atmosphere towards accurate history has created a challenging funding reality in the history nonprofit world, and that the city of Rockville has the opportunity to protect and preserve Rockville's diverse heritage by keeping our community grant stable.

Please continue your support by funding Peerless at the current level adjusted for inflation and newly imposed financing expenses.

A reduction will seriously impact the quality and availability of our services, and it will be another blow against true and inclusive history at a most vulnerable time.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Welcome, Paul Newman.

Thank you.

And Ms.

Sarah Taylor Ferell just wanted to encourage those who are supposed to be speaking virtually.

If we could just send them an email and check to see what they're joining.

We are, and Mr.

Newman called to let us know he's filling under the weather, so he will not be speaking too.

Good evening, Madam Mayor and members of the council.

I'm Noreen Bryan.

I live in Rockville, and I'm here to deliver Paul Newman's testimony.

So it's not really me, it's him that's here.

Good evening to all of and this is the testimony.

Good evening, and thank you for the opportunity to speak.

My name is Paul Newman, Peerless Rockville board member and city resident for over 40 years.

I'm here to urge you to fully fund Peerless Rockville at the level they were historically received, because their work uniquely benefits the municipality in ways no other organization does.

My message tonight rests on two themes: partnership and leverage.

First, partnership.

In many ways, Peerless Rockville provides services as an extension of city government, providing research, archival work, educational programs, and historic documentation that the city does not have the staff, infrastructure, or time to produce on its own.

When residents, historians, or other organizations ask questions about the city's history, Peerless Rockville is often the one who responds to these calls.

They help to preserve the community artifacts and memories that shape our culture and document our diversity of experience.

This is a true partnership, one that fills a gap in government capacity with professionalism, expertise, and responsiveness.

Cutting their funding doesn't just affect a nonprofit.

It weakens a partner that the city relies upon.

Peerless Rockville returns value to the community many times the dollar amount of its grant.

The active research and they actively research and document city history.

They provide informal public relations simply by telling the story of this community accurately, thoughtfully, and compellingly.

Peerless further leverages the city's investment by generating additional income from its rental properties and grants.

If the city had to replicate these services internally, it would cost far more, many times more than the requested grant.

Staff time alone would exceed the amount, acquiring special expertise would exceed that amount.

The infrastructure needed to maintain archives and respond to research requests would cost still more.

This is the definition of leverage, a small investment that produces an outsized return.

In closing, Peerless Rockville is asking for the for the level of support they have received in recent years.

A reduction to as low as 50,000 would undermine a partnership that benefits the city every day and would diminish the leverage that returns a modest investment into a powerful community asset.

Fully funding Perless Rockville is fiscally responsible, strategically smart, and essential to preserving the history, identity, and civic pride of the community.

Thank you for your time.

As a fellow board member of Peerless, I appreciate and fully support Mr.

Newman's testimony.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay.

Welcome, Anita Neil Powell.

Good evening, Mayor Council.

My name is Anita Neal Powell, President of the Lincoln Park Historical Foundation and a lifelong resident of Montgomery County in Rockville.

On behalf of the foundation, thank you for the opportunity to provide comments during the Elkwild 2027 budget cycle.

As I listen to nonprofit funding requests, several issues stand out.

If the city provides funding to nonprofit organizations, there should be clear requirements for annual reporting and documents how funds were spent and whether they were used as approved.

For organizations whose missions serve the entire city, reports should demonstrate citywide impact across the full 13.1 square miles, not activities concentrated in limited areas or pockets within the city, particularly for those receiving recurrent funding through a community grant process.

I am also aware that funding was awarded to certain organizations in support of the 250th anniversary.

As of April, I am uncertain whether any information has been shared with the mayor and council or the public regarding timelines for programs, projects, or events.

Finally, regarding nonprofit expenditures, while our foundation did not apply for funding this year, it is important to understand how public funds are used for salaries, rent, or other operating expenses.

Our support payments, stipends to volunteers for research or project-based work.

However, I do not support the use of taxpayers' dollars to fund ongoing staff salaries, such as executive leadership position, executive director at all.

If public funds are allocated for salary, those expenses should be clearly identified as separate line items in the budget.

I share this perspective in the interest of transparency and fiscal responsibility.

Thank you again, Mayor and Council, for the opportunity to comment on the FWA 2027 budget.

I hope these observations will be useful as you deliberate on nonprofit funding decisions.

Thank you.

Welcome, Charles Reagan.

Good evening, Mayor Ashton and members of the Rockville City Council.

I'm Charlie Regan.

I am the executive director of the Treehouse Child Advocacy Center of Montgomery County.

I want to take this opportunity to thank uh to speak tonight and especially to thank you for your continued support of the Rockville Community Service and Enrichment Grant Program overall.

These grants have a direct and meaningful impact on the well-being of children and families in our community.

As April is Child Abuse Prevention Month, it seems appropriate that I'm here on behalf of the Treehouse Child Advocacy Center, where your funding helps provide critical services to children who are victims of abuse and neglect.

At the Treehouse, we often say we are the best resource.

We hope no one ever has to use.

But the reality is too many children in our community do need us.

And when they do, they deserve to have access to compassion, compassionate, high-quality care without delay.

Because of your investment, children in Rockville receive specialized medical exams in a safe, child-friendly environment as well as trauma-focused therapy that helps them start the heel.

These services are provided through a coordinated multidisciplinary team approach that reduces further trauma and ensures that children and their families don't have to navigate this difficult experience alone.

This work is immediate, local, and life-changing.

It helps turn moments of crisis into pathways toward healing.

Without this funding, many of these children would face delays in care or unfortunately may not receive services at all.

With your support, they are given the opportunity to feel safe again, to process their trauma, and to move forward with hope and resilience.

As you consider the budget for the upcoming year, I respectfully urge you to continue and if possible, strengthen your investment in the community service and enrichment grant program overall.

The return on that investment is profound.

Healthier children, stronger families, and a safer Rockville for all of us.

I'd also like to extend an invitation to each of you.

This Friday, uh, April 17th from one to four, we will be hosting an open house at the Treehouse Child Advocacy Center.

We would be honored to welcome you and anyone from the community to show you our space and introduce you to the dedicated team and community partners who make this work possible every day.

So thank you again for your leadership and rear for and for your commitment to the children and families of Rockville.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Ms.

Cassidy in the room.

Ms.

Cassidy.

Okay.

Gonna go on to virtual.

We have Craig Rice virtually.

Mr.

Good evening.

Welcome.

Can you hear me okay?

All right, fantastic.

Well, thank you very much.

On behalf of MANA Food Center, I want to thank you all for your leadership and for your continued commitment to supporting Rockville residents, especially during times of growing uncertainty.

Your partnership has helped to ensure that families in Rockville have access to the food and resources they need to thrive.

And for that, we're incredibly grateful.

Since our founding in 1983, MENA has grown from a small volunteer-driven effort into the primary food assistance provider serving Montgomery County, including many of our neighbors right here in Rockville.

What began in a vacant school serving a few hundred residents has grown into a network that now reaches more than 176,000 people each year.

We distribute over 3 million pounds of food annually and partner with local farms, schools, faith communities, grocery providers, and other nonprofit organizations, many of which serve Rockville families as well.

And we're proud to be a part of a broader ecosystem that reflects the compassion and commitment of this community.

We are incredibly grateful for Rockville's support through its community grant program and partnership in connecting residents to food assistance.

And we encourage the city to build on this foundation with increased sustained investment to meet the rising need.

Because the reality is the need is rising quickly, and we're seeing that impact right here in your city.

Right now, MENA is serving more than 11,000 families each month across the county.

And that includes a growing number in Rockville.

In this past year, we've experienced a 20% increase in families seeking assistance.

And we know that number reflects not just need, but capacity.

Many more families are struggling quietly, really making difficult choices every day between food, rent, transportation, and health care.

Food insecurity is not happening in isolation.

It is deeply connected to rising housing costs, healthcare access, and economic instability.

Families are now having to navigate multiple overlapping challenges and turning to organizations like MANA as a critical first line of support.

But at the same time, the nonprofit network that serves these families is under significant strain.

Organizations across this region are being asked to do more than ever before with fewer resources.

Demand is not only increasing, but it's becoming more complex and more time-intensive.

And families need more support, more follow-up, and more coordination across services.

Meanwhile, operating costs continue to rise, food, fuel, rent, utilities, insurance, all increasing at a pace that current funding simply does not match.

And more importantly, our people are under strain.

Our nonprofit staff, including those serving on the front lines, are experiencing declining wages, rising burnout, and increased financial insecurity.

Many are working multiple jobs just to make ends meet, and some are relying on the very services they provide to help them.

This model's not sustainable.

And without action, we risk losing experienced staff, reducing service capacity, and weakening the very network that so many residents rely on.

That's why we respectfully ask for you to consider two key priorities this year.

First, continue and where possible, increase investments in community-based food assistance and human services.

These are investments that are efficient, targeted, and deeply impactful.

They allow organizations like MANA and our partners to meet residents where they are and deliver food with dignity, flexibility, and cultural relevance.

And second, we urge you to support funding levels that account for the true cost of delivering these services, including cost of living adjustments for our nonprofit partners.

This is not about expansion.

It's about stability and ensuring that organizations can retain staff, maintain operations, and continue serving residents without disruption.

Rockville has long been a city that leads with compassion, innovation, and a deep sense of community responsibility.

And this is a time in which we want we're asking you to build on that legacy.

With thoughtful and strategic investment now, you can help ensure that families in Rockville remain food secure, that nonprofits remain strong and resilient, and that the progress we have made together is not only protected, but strengthened into the future.

Thank you for your time, your leadership, and your partnership.

Thank you.

Oh, I don't think we have Noel V Escobar.

But if you see a login, please let me know.

Next, we will welcome Ulysses Santa Maria.

Good evening, Mayor Council.

Uh good to see you again.

So I currently serve as president of Rockville Science Center.

So for tonight, I'm addressing our line item in the uh proposed budget.

Uh for the most part, I just urge to uh you know consider maintaining the uh amount that was uh budgeted for us in the prior fiscal year as compared to this one.

Uh no need to give out the exact numbers, but asking for maintenance for us, we we serve as an interesting and overall relatively unique aspect of the city.

Uh there are not that many places that can claim that they have a science center or a affiliated science and technology museum, of which sometimes we're classified with uh, but we're also an activity center.

Uh so people come and they do primarily activities with us.

Uh and as such, uh it provides a different aspect to the city.

Uh, it shows that we care about education.

It shows that we care about uh making sure that our uh community has uh enrichment as well as a nourishing aspect to the things that we uh value here.

Uh, oftentimes we're shown as a beacon for highly educated professionals, uh primarily in biotechnology research, uh, and uh other sectors that are related to that as well.

So in terms of our annual community impact, we see anywhere between at minimum 5,000 just through our annual event alone, Rockville Science Day, uh, which we've now been hosting and will host for 35 years, making it a staple of the community.

Uh, but in addition to that, we can get up to 9,000, 10,000 uh people in our community and beyond.

Uh, our own internal data shows that we're a destination location.

We attract people from all throughout the region to come to Rockville.

Uh our internal data shows alone that uh about 60% of our population actually come from uh Gaitersburg and Germantown.

So people are driving to us, and we've had patrons come to us as far as Baltimore, Northern Virginia, Washington, DC proper, York, Pennsylvania, because they saw a program that we were offering, a training that we were offering that they couldn't find anywhere in their region.

In terms of other goals such as economic development and outputs, uh, we have a high college rate.

So many of our students go on to college.

We currently use a slogan 99 to 90.

So 99% of the high schoolers that enroll in our programs uh end up going to college, and about 90% of them, when we review the data, finish a STEM majors.

So they go on and become working professionals in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, medicine, these sorts of things.

Um, as far as other new developments for us, we uh also can have the possibility of lowering a person's cost of living here through our uh recent expansions in the uh makerspace department for us.

Uh a makerspace is a tool shop.

You can think of it as a uh a third space for people who like to build things or create things or fix things can come, but we also uh serve as but we also serve as not just that.

Uh give me one sec.

But we also serve as a place where people learn to repurpose, reuse, and repair.

So we've offered workshops such as understanding how light fixtures work, how to fix your walls, and we get access to tools that can help you accomplish these things for little to no cost, saving people potentially hundreds, if not thousands of dollars over the course of the year if they choose to take advantage of it, and as long as we do our effort to make sure that they know about it.

So that's all the various ways that we have come to serve our local community, and you know, the funds that we receive go to that and any possible expansions we try as time progresses.

So we're always looking to try new things.

You know, that's what we do.

We're scientists, we're technologists.

We iterate, we try new things, and whatever works, works.

And if it doesn't work, sometimes we try again, but then we'll move on.

That's just the scientific method.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

That exhaust of those who have signed up for the budget hearing.

Is there anyone else who would like to speak?

Welcome.

Good evening, Madam Mayor and members of the Rockville City Council.

My name is Robin Yasino.

I'm a Rockville resident, and I'm here on behalf of NAMI Montgomery County.

That's the local affiliate of the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

I'm a volunteer and one of the many residents who is per who have personally benefited from their work.

And I want to express gratitude on behalf of all of us from NAMI Montgomery County for the community services and enrichment grant allocated to NAMI in the proposed 2027 budget.

The city's support ensures that NAMI's peer-led support groups, classes, and resources remain free of charge for residents who are affected by mental health issues.

That includes those who are living with a mental health issue, as well as the family members who walk beside them.

I happen to fall into both of those categories.

Years ago, despite being in treatment myself for quite a long time, I felt lost when a loved one was diagnosed with a serious mental illness.

It felt as though we had been dropped onto some kind of foreign highway.

NAMI's family-to-family class helped me find my bearings.

I learned about treatment options and how to provide effective support and so much more.

But the best part was being with others who weren't who are on a similar journey.

Together, we learned how to navigate that new territory together with our class leaders who had been there, who already knew that territory.

That's the secret sauce about NAMI.

More than a decade later, NAMI was again invaluable when I faced a mental health crisis of my own.

Through NAMI's peer-to-peer class and support groups, I connected with people who really understood with what I was going through.

And being part of a community, that has been a cornerstone of my ongoing recovery and a very powerful antidote that surrounds the stigma with mental illness.

Today, the need for these services, which are free of charge to people who attend them, it is greater than ever.

In response to rising demand, NAMI Montgomery County has increased its support groups 25% this year alone.

Between January and March, NAMI felt NAMI held 74 support group meetings, and more than half of them were filled beyond capacity.

Those were people who went onto waiting lists.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Is there anyone else who would like to speak?

Okay.

We'll turn it back to staff.

Thank you very much.

That concludes the final public hearing for the FI27 budget.

And the public record will close tonight for that budget.

Thank you very much.

And I think some final discussion on community grants.

Is that right?

Okay.

And then we currently have adoption by May 4th.

Thank you.

Thank you to the finance team to keep us on our toes, and thank you to everyone who came out to testify to share your feedback and the work that you're doing in the community.

We appreciate it.

Okay.

We now have agenda item 11A, which is the adoption of an ordinance declaring a 5,867 square foot property located at 301 Frederick Avenue to be no longer necessary for public use and authorizing the conveyance of said property to the 1715 Douglas Avenue property owner for nominal consideration.

I'd like to welcome Mr.

Andrew Luke Meyer.

Good evening, Madam Mayor, members of the City Council.

I'm here tonight for the adoption of an ordinance that would convey a portion of a city owned parcel at 301 Frederick Avenue to the property owner of the adjacent property at 715 Douglas Avenue.

This action follows the introduction of the ordinance by the mayor and council on March 2nd, 2026.

The agenda for this presentation includes a brief review explaining the background and purpose with information on the subject city parcel with an aerial map and plat for a visual depiction of the property.

And lastly, a suggested motion.

In 1964, the city acquired a 7,340 square foot parcel with address 301 Frederick Avenue from the property owner of 715 Douglas Avenue for a nominal amount.

This parcel is located at the corner of Douglas and Frederick Avenues in the Lincoln Park neighborhood.

This parcel of land is partially improved with a sidewalk and a ride-on bus stop.

Aside from these existing public amenities and the reservation of an area for a future expansion of the bus stop to include space for a shelter, city staff has determined that there are no other public needs for the unused portion of the parcel.

The current owner of 715 Douglas Avenue, who is family to the property owners who conveyed the land to the city back in 1964, has requested the city's consideration to convey the unused portion back to her family's property.

It is staff's opinion that the unimproved portion of the parcel can be deemed no longer needed for public use and can be conveyed to the property owner of 715 Douglas Avenue for a nominal amount, mirroring how the property was acquired by the city back in 1964.

The city hired a professional land surveyor to conduct a field survey and prepare meets and bounds and plots for the division of the parcel.

The property to be conveyed to the property owner is the southern portion of the property measuring 5,867 square feet and containing no public improvements.

The property to be retained by the city is the northern portion adjacent to Frederick Avenue, measuring 1,473 square feet and containing the existing sidewalk and the ride-on bus stop with enough space for a future concrete pad for a bus shelter.

The city charter gives the mayor and council the power to convey any real or lease-held property when no longer needed for public use after having given at least 20 days of public notice of the proposed conveyance.

Since the introduction of the ordinance on March 2nd, 2026, City staff has taken the following steps to provide the required 20 days' public notice of the proposed conveyance.

An announcement of the mayor and council's consideration of the property conveyance was posted to the city's website on March 5th, 2026.

A letter was sent to 305 Frederick Avenue, the only other directly adjacent private property to 301 Frederick Avenue on March 6th, 2026.

After the adoption, the city manager will convey the conveyance area to the owner of Seven One Five Douglas Avenue for nominal consideration by executing a deed of conveyance in a form approved by the office of the city attorney.

Thank you.

The nominal amount that the applicant is paying, can you just uh clarify what that is?

The nominal amount is one dollar.

Perfect.

Okay, thank you.

Councilmember Larry.

Madam Mayor, um, I'd like to make the motion.

I move to adopt an ordinance declaring five thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven square feet of property located at three oh one Frederick Avenue to be no longer necessary for public use and authorizing the conveyance of said property to the seven one five Douglas Avenue property owner for nominal consideration.

Thank you.

Do we have a second?

Shaw seconds on the next one.

I want to just presently say thank you.

Uh, to the property owner.

Uh family helped the city.

Thank you.

I wanted to say thank you to the property owner.

Uh, as I mentioned earlier, uh, when we met about this and introduced it, uh, the property owner helped the city to have space to develop the road and sidewalk, and which is important for public safety.

So just uh thank you, and I'm glad that we were able to bring resolution.

Okay.

Thank you.

I'm gonna propose that we take a quick break.

What do we need?

Five, ten minutes?

Yes, ten.

I'm hearing ten.

Okay.

We'll be back in ten minutes.

Thank you, everyone, for being here today.

Good evening, Rockville.

Today is April 13, 2026.

We are reconvening meeting 9-26.

We're moving on to agenda item twelve A, which is work session one, discussion and direction on Planning Commission recommendations on zoning text amendment TXT 2026 zero zero two seven one, the zoning ordinance rewrite and map amendment.

And are you also joined by Nick Demai and Evan Johnson?

Thank you.

Good evening again, Madam Mayor, members of the city council.

So we do have quite a bit of information for you all this evening and direction being sought.

Just to start out with an overview of what we are doing here during this work session, as mentioned earlier in the evening, our planning commission did provide recommendations on quite a number of items back on February 25th when they finished their review of the staff draft of the zoning ordinance and zoning map.

And so we're here before you this evening to seek your direction on the most substantive of those recommendations.

So we'll start out with the staff draft of the zoning ordinance and proceed on to the staff draft of the zoning map.

So as mentioned earlier this evening, we will be taking these uh the direction that you provide to us this evening and incorporating that into the revised staff draft that we plan to publish one week from today.

So first up are the planning commission recommendations on the staff draft zoning ordinance.

As we go through these, we're going to take each one of the substantive recommendations in kind.

We'll seek Mayor and Council guidance.

Typically, that is going to look like seeing what the planning commission's recommendation is and then asking for your concurrence or other opinions.

The planning commission recommendations can be found starting at brief book pages eight forty-one for the zoning ordinance rewrite portion and eight sixty for the comprehensive map amendment if for those folks who would like to follow along.

Within the staff draft, there are certain eligibility criteria.

Specifically, um they need to have completed a site plan app, they need to have submitted a complete site plan application within one year prior to the adoption date.

The applicant needs to provide written requests to the chief of zoning within two months of adoption, asking to proceed under the current zoning ordinance, and they need to receive approval within one year following the adoption date of the ordinance.

We understood that there was some desire from this body for flexibility in terms of those transitional provisions.

So we reconsidered this and made a recommendation to the planning commission, which they ultimately adopted as their own to widen the eligibility criteria to include not only site plans but also project plans to extend the submission window to 18 months prior to adoption from that one year 12 month timeline, and also to extend the approval deadline to two years following adoption.

So the question here becomes does the mayor and council can concur with the planning commission recommendation.

Thank you.

So we're gonna pause between each section so you can get our feedback and also just to give some groundwork.

This is not the final decision.

We're giving tentative straw polls.

I was gonna say council member city manager may hail it.

Go ahead.

That's correct, Mary.

If folks are a little reluctant tonight, the the thumbs up or thumbs on are soft, right?

Final voice and until you guys actually adopt the ordinance.

Okay, and I'm gonna use the method of going down the line if there are questions, okay?

And then if not, if they're no questions, then we'll do the thumbs up.

Okay.

So Dr.

Mouse, you get the first writer refusal on questions if you have any.

I don't have any.

Okay.

I'm just gonna look down the line and see if anyone's I don't have to go to each person.

Do you have a question?

Go ahead.

Um, so I like what you uh the commission's recommendation here, but the question I have is within either of the I uh the recommendations it says that there's the written requests, and which I presume would apply in either scenario.

To what degree is this discretional or subjective with regard to allowance?

Because we're essentially saying you can do this, but is this something that we're saying you can do it, but we might hold back approval for one way or another.

I would say it's entirely the applicant's option, whether they choose to proceed under the old ordinance or think no, the new ordinance is more favorable, and I'd like to proceed under that.

So I uh uh the I was going the actually the opposite direction, not necessarily from the applicant's perspective, from the city's perspective.

So let's because it says that there's a written request within too much of adoption.

Does that mean that written request is automatically granted, or is there a discretionary or subjective standard on behalf of the city in deciding to allow them to go with this direction?

I don't foresee that it would be.

If an applicant said we would like to proceed under the current zoning ordinance, I don't foresee an instance in which we would say no.

However, I perhaps should also defer to our chief of zoning.

I would concur with Ms.

Simmons that essentially if they make the request, we essentially this provision is being drafted as in you choose your lane, and as long as you're you're within the parameters, you can go in that direction.

Great.

That answered my question.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I have a follow-up question.

Thank you, colleague, for that.

Um, I sent this note to Mr.

Mahalik, and I know a response was sent to the full council on March 23rd.

Um in general, I support the the planning commission's recommendation here, uh, and I appreciate you all coming and presenting them with options.

Um, where I have a question is um when a property owner is losing um rights.

And I know that we're not saying someone who has something you have to tear it down, right?

That's not what we're saying.

You can you they'll be grandfathered, but if they were to make substantial changes or sell the property, they are in effect losing rights in some areas.

Most of the places in this we're giving more rights or expanding opportunity, but like for example, if there is an industrial area that's changing, that's one example.

Um, and uh we know that there has been some, you know, since the comprehensive plan, there has been an increased demand for industrial space.

So that's one example.

Um, the second example is um the drive-thru opportunities on 355, right?

We're trying to fill every space, and in some cases, staff is recommending that we don't allow drive-throughs on 355.

Um to what level is a city reaching out to property owners in in the instance where you're proposing a loss of property rights.

So I would say two things to that.

And you've really touched on a lot of this, but it is correct that we are proposing to grandfather existing uses.

So they would be treated as conforming uses under the new ordinance if they are currently in existence and if they continue to be in the same form, even if they were to expand, they would be treated as a conforming use and for all intents and purposes would be conforming.

The zoning ordinance specifically says in or the draft zoning ordinance specifically says at section 25.6.1D that those existing uses would continue as conforming uses.

We did that back in fall of 2024 was the first time we sent notice to all of the property owners, as well as those within 100 feet of them.

And then we reached out again in the spring of 2025 to those same properties and everyone within 500 feet of them.

And I will say that every opportunity that we have had to push our engage Rockville page and say please sign up for updates, stay informed on this project.

We have absolutely done that.

Have we specifically reached out to property owners and said here are all of the potential and anticipated impacts and changes to your property?

We have not done that.

I don't foresee that that would be feasible, but the information is readily available for those who do want to dig in.

And we are certainly always happy to speak with any property owner who has any questions.

Thank you.

So we the city has not, the communication says we're working on this, but it didn't say your specific property will be changing in this way and may lose rights.

It's not maybe scratch the last part.

It's not saying specifically even you're changing in this way, or is it doing that?

Has it done that?

I know I do even know that you did that for some areas because we heard from a church, for example, that they did not want to lose property rights and they wanted to have the zoning kept.

But so it has that happened for other property owners that might be losing rights, for example, people who own industrial properties that they're not gonna, if if they sell it to someone else, it wouldn't be able to stay industrial.

So specifically thinking of the light industrial properties down by the Twin Brook Metro station, which are proposed to be rezoned to MXB, they would have received the same communications that we provided to other property owners that are proposed to be rezoned.

Okay, so told that this this would be rezoned and you would not be able to do industrial in the same way if you were to redevelop the property.

We developed a form letter that essentially said you and this is hearkening back um over a year and a half now.

So this is asterisks, asterisks and caveats that I don't remember the specific language, but we did um say you are currently zoned X, you are proposed to be rezoned to Y.

Here's the comprehensive plan recommendation, the specific language.

Please show up to one of our property owner um meetings that we are going to have.

And then we offered the first time in-person and virtual options for attendance, and then the second time we had two different virtual meetings at different times of the day and on different days of the week.

Okay.

I preliminary support this idea of the grace period.

I do I would like to get more information to confirm if there's a list of highlighting the areas where people are losing property rights.

I think that might be helpful.

Uh, and just to understand the better understand the communication that was sent.

I appreciate that.

Councilmember Valeri.

To piggyback on that, I can confirm that Ms.

Simmons' memory is accurate because I live in a home that received the letter.

Um, and it was very clear.

I was actually very happy, you know, wearing my city council member hat.

But it was super clear as far as like this is what you know, your property is currently zoned.

This is what you know is proposed.

I I noted that that distinction.

I just want to make sure that like um everybody got that same communication because I found it really helpful.

Um, and I know that my neighbors nearby also found it really helpful too.

So thank you.

All right, any more questions on this one?

All right, those who support preliminarily this approach of well, I'll ask who supports the planning commission recommendation, and then I'll just if if we don't see enough.

Mere, you can just do the planning zoning commission recommendation all the time.

Okay, so staff is fine with that.

Okay, perfect.

Who supports the planning commission recommendation?

Okay, excellent.

Council Member Vice.

With with that caveat that it's you know not necessarily up to discretionary standards.

We understood.

Yep.

All right.

So next up, we have some information about approval findings for site plans, project plans, preliminary plans of subdivision.

All of these different application types have findings that need to be made in order for them to be approved.

Currently, they um there are a variety of different findings.

They are not consistent with one another.

Um so we really have reworked in the staff draft and simplified those approval findings to be first objective and accessible, consistent across these application types, strongly tied to the comprehensive plan and strongly tied to city regulations.

The planning commission agreed with the findings that we had included, but then they also wanted to add a compatibility finding specifically for project plans and level two site plans, which reads the application is compatible with the surrounding area.

Candidly, this is not something that staff recommended.

However, the planning commission ultimately did recommend the addition of this finding for those two project types.

Thank you, Councilman Valeria.

You get the first right of refusal and questions.

Thank you.

And I apologize, I'm sure it is in the memo, but I'm sure that your summary would be even better.

What was the the kind of the rationale given by the planning commission for adding this language?

There I will say there were a variety of opinions.

It was a four-two split vote if I recall correctly.

Um I think that there was let me actually go back to their memo.

Bear with me for just a moment.

I'm sorry.

Shouldn't have turned it into pop quiz at this time of night.

All right.

So on page 844 of the brief book, it does describe that there was a 42 vote, and this was ultimately supported by the planning commission and says a majority of the commission supported a separate compatibility finding to be provided that would provide for a distinct analysis.

It would provide the same emphasis as that given to the adequate public facilities finding.

Okay.

And and I guess I do kind of, I mean, on the one hand, I get that.

On the other hand, I know that when we were looking at ADUs, a lot of the compatibility issues were so subjective on that level that it actually just made it such a narrow window that again, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

So I I absolutely appreciate the fact again, the redundancy, I think, too, is another point that um I that's why I really wanted to kind of know their rationale.

Um yeah, I don't know that I would support the commission's recommendation just because it's very adequately covered by the rest, the comprehensive plan and city regulations.

So but appreciate thank you so much for the info.

Thank you.

I I do support the recommendation.

I appreciate the plan of the commission.

I was I've been going to other cities and looking at different housing types and seeing how well it's done.

Um I'm like thinking about Boston, where they have interestingly uh single family homes, six plexus, and it just it it the way they've looked at and mapped out the neighborhoods just blends really nicely, and it's they're doing more missing middle housing, but it's compatible.

So that made me have additional thought um on this one.

Um, and so I'm I don't have any additional questions except can you do this?

Can you can you fulfill what the planning commission does it has recommended with a level of clarity?

I I will admit it is it is as council member Valeri pointed out, quite subjective.

So it is certainly a finding that could be included in the text, um, but it does add a level of subjectivity, um, which is why staff did not that's that's a part of the reason that staff did not ultimately recommend something of that nature.

Okay, thank you.

Any other questions?

Councilman Van Greck.

Um, I I would just gotta add, I agree that we need to work to make compatible um uh developments.

I mean, it makes sense.

We've heard it from countless community, we're heard it from Rock Sharp, we're hearing from Newmark Comments.

My only concern is if we're making this actually part of a standard, then there's, as we've heard, subjective criteria.

And we've seen in the history of our nation and in our state, subjective criteria with regard to housing development has been at times used improperly.

And that's a concern of mine when things are being done behind closed doors with regard to restrictions.

Now, I do believe that in public forms with regard to the planning commission and the mayor and council, when we're discussing compatibility in a public facing form, that makes sense.

And we've done that.

We've talked about here from the dais.

This does not conform with this property, we don't want to see it.

But it's when it's behind closed doors and part of a specific rubric, and it's objective that I it concerns me.

So uh putting this particularly on a standard that we have within the code that is not part of, I think, a public form for us to address out in the open, does give me a little bit of a pause.

Thank you.

Councilman Valeri.

And then we'll straw poll if anyone's counseling but you can blame council member Van Grack because it popped in my head.

How would this be applied in areas of the city that are not HOA, not historically designated, and have a wider variety of housing?

Um, would the conformity actually be against the the lack of formal character of the neighborhood?

It's compatible, not conform with it.

So we just heard go ahead.

I really think that uh as Ms.

Simmons described earlier that what staff would do when looking at an application that's being evaluated for um for conformity for compatibility, thank you.

That uh we would look at the comprehensive plan and what it's a specifically about the area that is uh the application is proposed.

Uh we would look at the uh the standards that are applied, and if there's uh anything that we can uh include there that would fold back into the compatibility finding.

That's a big reason why we thought it was all kind of covered uh without having a specific finding because that's what we would use uh to make that finding as a recommendation.

Yeah, and that makes sense.

Thank you very much.

Again, I swear I'm not picking on Ms.

Simmons.

I'm just I'm just sitting here trying to think of all different uh angles, and I know that you know there are large parts of the city that are not HOAs are not historically designated, and I just want to make sure that everybody is treat treated equitably.

So thank you.

Thank you.

I'm seeing no other questions, so I'll each of these I'll ask who supports the planning commission who would like to do something different.

Okay, so who supports the planning commission recommendation?

Okay.

Who does not support the planning commission recommendation?

Okay.

Thank you.

Next up, still in Article 4, we are talking about administrative decision appeals timelines.

Uh this one might be quite easy.

Um back on December 1st when we came to you to request authorization to file the zoning text amendment.

Um Madam Mayor, you pointed out what are these differences between these appeal timelines.

We do, in fact, have two appeal time frames in our staff draft.

So 30 days to appeal a decision, which is retained from our existing zoning ordinance.

That is a standard time frame.

But then we also inadvertently, frankly, introduced what effectively is another appeals timeline, and it's framed as 15 days to request a public hearing specifically for administrative decisions.

So this is different terminology, the same procedural outcome, and it certainly does create internal consistency.

So once this was identified, we brought it to the planning commission.

We recommended eliminating the 15-day time frame and retaining and applying uniformly that 30-day appeal period.

Thank you for listening to us.

Okay.

All right.

Who supports the planning commission recommendation here?

Thank you.

Excellent.

So moving on to Article 6, uses and use standards.

We do have a few different specific use standards applied to uses that we wanted to bring before you.

The first one is front-loaded townhouses.

So these are townhouses that have garages facing the street.

Our proposed standards in the staff draft zoning ordinance really were intended to respond to concerns raised primarily by our Department of Public Works.

These type of development can be very difficult to accommodate all of the site elements on site.

Quite a large portion of their frontage is typically typically taken up by a driveway, but then you also have to address needs for wet and dry utilities, street trees, stormwater, etc.

So we worked with our consultants to propose three different standards.

The first is that they must be designed to accommodate site elements.

The second is that garage doors may only take up 50% of the ground floor facade.

And the third is that driveways may be no greater than 10 feet wide within the first eight feet of the curb.

And this is something that our development community flagged, and they said we received testimony from a number of different developers and land use attorneys, and also the Maryland Building Industry Association saying what this is going to do is one of two things.

You're either going to get no more front-loaded townhouses in the city of Rockville, or you are going to get front-loaded townhouses that are 32 feet wide and with incredibly long driveways.

Is this the policy outcome that you are intending?

So when we brought this information to the planning commission, they had robust conversation about this, particularly in relation to the Mayor and Council's housing goals and personal experiences with having lived in front loaded townhouses and seeing value in that type of development.

So ultimately, they recommended retaining the first standard, which is broader and just states that they essentially must be designed to accommodate site elements and removing the other two standards, two and three.

Thank you.

I know I've raised questions on this in the past and previous design guidelines as well as in this process, and I appreciate your response to me back in March.

And you said exactly the same thing.

You said to me very consistently that this would, in effect, have an intended consequence of not having any front-loaded townhomes being built in the city, or they would be a minimum of 32 wide to accommodate standard two-car garage.

So in any case, I support the planning commission's recommendation.

Thank you for providing a thorough response on that.

Any questions?

Okay.

Who supports the planning commission's recommendations here?

Thank you.

All right.

Next up, another use with proposed use standards.

We are turning our eyes to shooting galleries, or as we are going to return that return them for increased clarity, indoor shooting ranges.

So currently in our ordinance, this use is a special exception in the light industrial zone only.

So very limited in the areas of the city that it can be located and also limited further by process constraints, a special exception, as you all are aware, is a Board of Appeals approval, and it has certain additional discretionary findings associated with it.

But there are currently no use specific setback requirements.

So the staff draft proposes retaining the special exception in light industrial zones only.

Also proposes additional safety-related use standards in terms of how the building must be built.

And then adds a use-specific setback of 200 feet from a residential zone.

The planning commission ultimately recommended eliminating the proposed 200 foot setback between shooting galleries and residential zones.

They were concerned potentially about legal risk, introducing another use standard.

And frankly, I think at the end of the day, staff agrees with this recommendation of the planning commission, understanding that we have introduced quite a number of safety-related use standards for this particular use.

And also they're already very limited in the locations that they can be placed and further limited by that special exception process.

No questions.

All right.

Anyone else have questions?

Dr.

Mouse.

Oh, I'm sorry.

Yeah.

So Councilman Van Got, go ahead.

I was just gonna say, so staff is uh fully supporting the planning commission's recommendation on this.

Staff concurs with the planning commission's recommendation, yes.

My question is similar.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

It's I thought it would be a good thing.

Just uh this is not my area of expertise, obviously, that there be a 200, like there'd be distance as I'm reading it between a proposed shooting gallery and a residential zone.

Intuitively that makes sense to me, but I I don't you you mentioned that there were some legal things that the planning commission discussed with which you all concur, but how is it intuitively make sense to do away with the 200-foot setback?

Or maybe I'm just thinking about it wrong.

No, that's that's a completely understandable um question.

I think staff is less concerned about legal risk, perhaps, though I would defer to our city attorney on that.

Um it is more so that we currently do not have this additional setback.

The process is already quite onerous, um, and they are very limited in the locations of the city that they can be uh developed.

And then we are further introducing and proposing additional use standards, including that the facilities does design must comply with occupational safety standards, including air air filtration for lead and noise exposure limits.

The applicant must supply a security plan, which at a minimum contains a continuously operated video surveillance system located on all exterior entrances.

The applicant must provide a plan for the safe removal and disposal of lead and lead dust.

A coded keypad lock must be installed at each entrance into the shooting gallery, indoor shooting range.

The use must be constructed in such a manner that a bullet of the maximum caliber fired within the range cannot escape from the structure.

The range portion of the facility must utilize bullet traps that prevent the bullet from escaping from the structure, and in addition, minimize the escape of lead particles and a first aid kit containing items recommended by a certified expert in emergency medical treatment must be readily available in the range facility for emergency treatment or care of for minor injuries.

All of that to say if the body wanted additionally to apply that 200-foot setback, that would be perfectly appropriate as well.

Please go ahead, Dr.

Mouse.

Thanks for that.

I mean, that does make sense, and I can understand why staff would concur.

I think if our res, I mean, we generally speaking don't have a ton of residential around light industrial, but we do.

David Skull comes to mind as an example.

Um I personally just, you know, I've had kids, I wouldn't want to live next to a shooting gallery.

You know, for whatever I just give people with guns coming in and out like next door.

I'd like to keep that as far away as possible.

Um I guess the legal part of it is that it wouldn't be applied necessarily retroactively, right?

It would just be for new projects moving forward.

Is that it when in so doing, would that obviate the potential legal concern?

Or is there other other legal concerns that you all are considering that I'm not aware of at the present moment?

I think that's all I have.

Uh sure, Councilmember Miles, um, I can try to answer that question.

I I think the legal concern that was raised, it was not raised on the part of staff or the city attorney's office.

Um, I think some of the planning commissioners may have been concerned that it was yet another restriction on the use, and if there wasn't adequate justification for the distance requirement, then it could present some legal concern.

Um I will say candidly, I do not have any legal concern with the 200-foot separation.

Um, I think you yourself just made reasonable arguments for why it's in the interest of the public health safety and welfare to have that uh restriction.

That said, it's also not legally required that you include it.

Um again, from my perspective, I don't think there's a pressing legal concern here that would prevent you from having that separation.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilman Valerie.

Thank you.

Um something popped in my head.

Usually when I was last time we talked about this, what I thought always think in my mind is what are the requirements uh to establish a uh cannabis dispensary, and are we doing more or less?

Um and I think we have some very reasonable restrictions there that established by the uh Maryland uh cannabis commission.

So I I don't see that 200 feet from a residential zone, as council member Miles noted, um, are in various parts of the city that um have been um marginalized in many ways.

I think this is a bare minimum that we could do here.

So I would I would support the staff draft and not the planning commission.

Thank you.

I will just um share that we have these kinds of zones of communities that are predominantly low SES, communities that are black and brown, but also there are places where we're adding more housing opportunity when we're trying to increase housing uh and it I think we just potentially might create more conflict on this.

So I I think this is a reasonable recommendation.

My question is um in addition to this, are there are there any special requirements that would keep stray bullets from penetrating a wall?

I mean, I don't know.

I I'm just curious about that.

Yes, so I am finding my way back to the page, but that essentially is captured in the use standards that we are proposing outside of there, there were maybe one or two that did deal with that.

Okay, I didn't see that in yet, but I know you guys are gonna share something with us, so we'll see that come through.

Okay, and this does only applies to real bullets, real indoor shooting galleries, not like I don't know, paintballing and other facilities like that.

Is that correct?

That is correct, and I did just find in response to your last question.

My way back to the page, it's page 110 of the staff draft.

Uh, the shooting gallery or indoor shooting range must be constructed in such a manner that a bullet of the maximum caliber fired within the range cannot escape from the structure.

Okay, excellent.

That would include the front door.

Yes.

Oh, interesting.

Okay.

Councilman Van Grack.

Just echoing some of my colleagues', you know, uh thoughts.

I understand we've got parameters here, and I understand that there's onerous parameters.

Mistakes happen.

And so this is the type of zoning restriction that we buffer to ensure that if there is a mistake, like there's one part of the shooting range they didn't get the specific protection from, that this is exactly the type of zoning restriction that I think creates that buffer.

So echoing my colleagues' concern, that was kind of you know what where I was probing to see staff, you know, might have some review, and I appreciate the uh city attorney's office really clarifying the legal aspect too.

Thank you.

Okay, so let's call for it.

Who supports the planning commission recommendation?

Who supports staff recommendation?

Thank you.

All right.

Next up, electric vehicle charging.

This is a new use proposed within the staff draft, and it is proposed to be allowed in all zones.

However, it is not a lot proposed to be allowed as a sole purpose use in all zones.

We've really reserved that um to be oriented around auto-oriented and industrial areas.

You can see in the table before you, the zones in which it's proposed to be allowed as a sole purpose or principal use are industrial zones, the mixed-use corridor district, the mixed-use corridor transition district, and the mixed-use business business district.

And then as an accessory use in all of our residential zones, the mixed-use neighborhood commercial zone, mixed-use commercial, mixed use uh transition, mixed use employment, and all of our mixed use transit district zones as well as the park zone.

So when we discussed this with the planning commission, we also understood that there might be desire, particularly of this body to see a bit more flexibility there.

So we proposed in the planning commission ultimately recommended also allowing this as a principal use in the MXE, MXNC, and MXTD zones when the use is converting specifically from an existing gas station.

Councilman Shaw, you get the right of force refusal here on questions.

Madam Mayor, I don't have any questions on this.

Thank you very much.

Councilman Van Greg.

So I I'm just trying to understand the commission's recommendation here because I'm I saw this.

Because I'm I saw this.

So we're already allowing in those.

So they we're just broadening the ability for the principal use when there's that conversion that occurs.

Correct.

So as proposed in the staff draft, in those zones, the MXE, MXNC, and MXTDs family of zones that we have proposed, it would be allowed, but as an accessory use.

So this would allow it as a principal use when it's an existing gas station that is converting to an electric vehicle charging principal use.

So it's exactly the way I understood it.

So then the next question is is there any concern from staff?

Because to me, this is one of those that seems like a no-brainer good idea because with that conversion, which we want to encourage, we could foster foster you know positive use of land and area that's already used in that type of context.

The staff has any concern about that?

Or was there a reason that staff might have trepidation about us going forward with that recommendation?

I don't know that we would have trepidation.

I think it's really balancing priorities.

These zones, our thinking originally was that particularly with the MXNC and the MXTD, this is an auto-oriented use.

If you have a gas station that the use is sunsetting and it's turning into an electric V, like sole purpose electric vehicle charging use, that use will perpetuate probably longer into the future.

So do we want these areas to continue in an auto-oriented, like a little bit more of an auto-oriented disposition, or do we want to transition them away from that?

Um thinking about these as perhaps a little bit more walkable zones.

We ultimately, or we initially were prioritizing that walkability and density over the electric vehicle charging.

However, I don't think if Mayor and Council supported the planning commission's recommendation, I think we think that that is perfectly reasonable as well.

Um it might just be, you know, prioritizing the allowance and the flexibility for those electric vehicle sole purpose uses a little bit, like weighing the balance in that direction a bit.

So I I completely understand staff's view about that, and that makes sense because we're transitioning.

On the other hand, I know that when you when we're dealing with these gas stations, we have a problem with their development because they become a super fund site, and then who wants to come in.

But you know, from my view, this is actually a positive encouragement to be able to make that transition be able to foster, you know, uh the climate goals, but at the same time be able to use the property.

But I really appreciate that perspective from staff.

Thank you, Councilman Van Greg.

I totally agree.

Uh, and I've raised this concern because some of us have been fighting on this there as a burned out gas station that we would love to see something happen with, and it's just been sitting there.

I think if a property owner had to choose between turning something to housing or electric charging, they probably would sell it for housing, but they may have limitations uh as noted with the superfund side, or it just sits there vacant, abandoned for years and years.

I I would support turning it into something useful for the community.

Um I appreciate um staff listening to us and moving a little further and then the planning commission doing their part as well.

So I'm gonna look for additional questions, and if not, I'll pose the question.

Uh, just so you know your battery is running low.

If you please help her with a charger.

So our presentation can continue.

And with that, uh, team, who supports the planning commission recommendation.

Okay.

Got your answer.

All right, still in the same article, uses and use standards.

We are moving on to maybe a bit um a bit more of a sweeping change.

We currently, throughout our ordinance, have what we call use-based gross floor area restrictions.

So these are something that exists in our current ordinance.

Um, we did have our consultants review and update all of these use restrictions or these use-based gross floor area restrictions.

But at the time that we were drafting the staff draft, we did not feel that we could make a sweeping change to eliminate these without having input from this body specifically.

So you see these in a lot of zones, our lower intensity mixed use zones as well as our residential zones, and in some cases, industrial zones.

There's a table before you.

I will emphasize these are examples.

So you see five different uses on the left-hand side, all of which have a gross floor area restriction in our current ordinance.

For example, auctioneers and commercial galleries, you can have them in the MXNC, MXC, and MXT, but they are limited to 2500 square feet in size.

And in that instance, the staff draft zoning ordinance proposed eliminating that restriction entirely, but you'll see below that three other uses where they do currently have a use base gross floor area restriction, and it's proposed to be retained and in most instances shifted in the staff draft of the zoning ordinance.

But again, these are just examples.

So we did um we did want to bring to you, and this was a gate again raised by this body back on December 1st.

What is going on with these?

Why do we have them?

I will emphasize some zoning ordinances don't make use of these at all.

Um they in our current ordinance can cause some uh some issues with flexibility for allowing uses to uh establish in a zone.

Um Mr.

Wazleck, I'm sure at another time could tell you all about uh a veterinary clinic that is having issues with our use-based gross floor area restrictions for veterinary clinics right now.

But ultimately, after doing quite a bit of review talking about this at two different planning commission meetings, the commission recomm we um recommended in the planning commission adopted it as their recommendation to retain restrictions for certain uses.

I'll go over those in a minute.

Those are the ones that you see before you right now.

And on the next slide, you'll see all of the various use uh the gross floor area restrictions that they proposed and recommended eliminating.

So where we are proposing retaining them are primarily in the residential zones, specifically for accessory dwelling units.

However, we are updating those in the revised staff draft to conform with state uh state law cottage courts.

This is actually a restriction to keep them small enough to ensure that they are actually cottages.

The area that we've proposed is consistent with what the city of Gathersburg has in place.

Home-based businesses set at 30% of the area of the dwelling to ensure that a home-based business is still based in a dwelling and is not just a commercial use.

And then in our light and oh, and then accessory structures as well to ensure that they are in fact accessory to the principal use.

In our light industrial zone, we are proposing to retain restrictions for offices, retail establishments, and eating and drinking establishments.

These are all set at percentages of the gross floor area of the principal use, and they're intended primarily to allow some flexibility for those use, but really ensure that our light industrial zones are used for and intended for light industrial uses.

In the MXNC, we are also proposing to retain a restriction on the size of hospitals.

It's 50,000 square feet, which is quite large for the MXNC, quite small for a hospital, but we do think that that is appropriate for the zone.

And then finally, the last one to retain is a restriction in our mixed-use zones on single tenant commercial uses.

This is a policy that was developed over time and vetted through a number of different processes.

So we did think it was appropriate to retain that restriction as well.

However, on this slide, the planning commission is recommending eliminating these restrictions for a whole host of uses, the vast majority of which are applied in our mixed use zones.

So this includes instructional facilities, wholesale establishments, alcoholic beverage retail establishments, health and fitness establishments, and the list goes on.

And I'll turn it back to you.

Councilman Van Cracki have the Vida Fresh of Fusion questions.

So my view, I really liked what staff was proposing here.

I thought it's the right perspective, and more importantly, I think it's looking at how this council is dealing with the zones and the residential build, and you're literally taking kind of our views and our policy views and putting into policy.

So I just want to let staff know this is exactly the way that I think it should go.

And I actually have to say, I think the planning commission's kind of pullback a little bit might be a little bit too far.

Um I understand and I agree with some of the residential retention because there's fostering specific goals, right?

Home businesses.

We don't want a 90% home business that is really a business, right?

With the accessory dwelling units, we understand they've got to be accessory.

So from a resident, but when we go past that, when we're talking about the hospitals, when we're talking about the food, food and beverages, I think they go under the same type of elimination that I think staff was looking at to begin with, and fosters what the planning commission did for a bulk of um where they eliminated.

So my my in kind of looking through things, my view was kind of a little bit of both.

I think that from the residential restrictions, keeping them for the targeted areas that fosters a goal, but for all the other commercial uses, I think for the exact same great reasons the staff put forward, I would um eliminate them the way staff was intending.

Thank you.

I um first I want to say thank you for listening to us.

I know I raised this, it was at the back of the zoning ordinance text, and I was seeing very, very odd, like we philanthropic institutions were very, very limited, for example.

Um I still have questions about this.

I feel like I need to see more examples and where it is in the city to really weigh in.

But in general, on your first page on Article 6, can you go back there?

Oh, I lost my guys move to it says uh health and fitness establishment, 5,000 square feet, MXNC, MXC, and MXT.

That just seems like we can't have a St.

James or a you know, a number of facilities that we just wouldn't be able to attract.

Um, and in this climate where we know that biotech, physical fitness training, those are growth areas.

I I don't understand why we would do that.

Um so I in general I don't like this in per se.

Um so I I don't think it it for me doesn't go far enough.

Um same with laboratory, medical, dental, those are growth areas in the city.

Um in the in the situation where filling filling office space is a challenge.

I just say that we're putting additional barriers.

We heard that um the vacancy rate's about 26%.

I just I worry that we might have an unintended consequence here.

So I I think this this particular sec, this particular slide here gives me pause.

I think that's an excellent point, and the planning commission agrees with you.

So what you see on the slide before you is current in the middle and the staff draft uh all the way to the right, but it's not showing you on this same slide exactly what the planning commission recommended.

If you go to, and it's gonna take me a moment because there's a little bit of a lag here, but on this last side, you're seeing all of the restrictions that the commission recommended, eliminating those restrictions for in their entirety.

So it includes both of the uses that you are um indicating here, those health and fitness establishments and the medical and dental laboratories, along with a number of other uses.

They said, let's let's get rid of these restrictions for all of these uses in the zones where they are currently applied, both in our current ordinance and in the staff draft.

Yeah, I agree with the planning commission here.

Uh so I just wanted to be very clear on that.

Um I do agree with my colleague that for residential zones uh and with the commission where the commission put the restrictions on eight, you know, those pieces, I understand a sensitivity there.

Um what I did have a question is on the IL zone and the hospital seems quite small, as you noted.

Why would what why is staff in the planning commission recommending that?

I mean, what if what if we annex in Shady Grove Hospital, for example, and they start expanding, which they have.

Yeah, why would we have a restriction like this?

I would say in that instance, um, we would not be applying the mixed-use neighborhood commercial zone.

This is the zone, if you'll recall, that's proposed to be near the bus rapid transit stations along the Veers Mill corridor.

Um there are currently limited instances of the MXNC in town center, but they are proposed to become the MXTD 85.

The intention with this zone is that it should be more neighborhood oriented and just smaller scale.

So that is the thinking here is that if a hospital were to develop, it would probably be very um small-scale specialized hospital.

Um I would say though, if the if it's the will of the mayor and council to remove that restriction, that is something that is doable.

Okay, I'm thinking about, for example, uh, in some communities I've been in, people will actually put a community health center.

Um what about a community health center or a veterinary hospital?

How would you consider those?

We have a separate use for a veterinary hospital.

Um, and we also have a use for medical office.

I mean, is that what you would apply, Jim, to a community health center?

I will say one of the corrections that we are making in our um in the staff draft, which you will see in the revision to it, is that currently that medical office definition caps the number of practitioners at four, which um was kind of carried forward from an earlier iteration where we were considering having medical office and medical clinic and hospital, it was too complicated.

One of our residents indicated that that was um potentially a problem, and we agree.

So that that use of a community health center would fall into that medical office definition.

Okay.

I in general would want to get like you're explaining a little bit more info information about the retaining restrictions for everything under residential.

So I'm I I will support generally this, but I don't necessarily support these particular items.

Councilman Valeri.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Um no, and I think that that is um, it's a really good point that as defined by the state, hospital is extremely specific and does not encapsulate certificate of need and all sorts of other wonderful things that you have to get when you are building a hospital, but that would not be what is covered, uh, urgent care, ambulatory surgical center, like there would be a multitude of things.

There's also um regulations uh around that are already limiting to non-um hospitals.

Uh they have their own standard, especially under OSHA and other state laws that uh we don't have to worry about.

I do have a question.

Um I I am challenged a little bit um, I think by the restrictions, retaining the restrictions on home-based businesses.

Um, because I think that there are um there are actually many uh in in older parts of the city um that are very compatible with surrounding buildings and do not create um either visually or um by nature of of how the business is interacted with.

There's not um there's it's not jarring and it provides a community good, for instance, um dentists in particular.

Um, I think that I would I I would be challenged by that in particular, although that is separate.

Um I would want to get a little bit more in for information on that.

I know we've already had the ADU conversation as far as restrictions, but can you explain to me?

Because I was trying to look it up really quick, but couldn't find it.

What the what single tenant commercial use?

Why that one in particular is teased out?

I am going to defer to our chief of zoning on that.

During some past uh efforts uh in rewriting the zoning ordinance, there was a limit of I believe it's footprint now of 65,000 square feet for any particular retail use.

Um so that would allow for a fairly large retail use, could be multi-story.

Um but the initial um imposition of that limitation was to not allow for large big box type users.

So that dates you know from 25 years ago.

It's been modified and tweaked uh a couple of times uh over the course of that time period, but that's the origination of it and and kind of the intent of it.

Now that I I would I kind of thought that's where it was it was going, um, which in some ways makes sense.

What I'm thinking of in particular is um I'm thinking of a one-tenant building that along Rothville Pike that we would like to see that area become mixed use, right?

But we wouldn't want to necessarily push, you know what I mean?

Like I think that there's a balancing act there.

So I I think I generally generally understanding the ones we remove the restrictions, the retaining, I kind of um I I want to get a little bit more information, kind of dovetails with what the mayor said.

I just kind of want to understand the rationale and to make sure that we're not kind of um you know uh cutting yourselves off from possibility that would work for the city.

Looking to see other questions we have, I think Councilman Van Grack, you were also wanting more information on this IL MM, right?

Is that correct?

The answer is yes, but uh, but much like you, Madam Mayor, I am uh at the outset um leaning towards opposing the um keeping restrictions for the residential areas for all the reasons that my colleagues have said and more that the residentials have focused use that I support, whereas the commercial use have significant concerns because there could be just as some of the examples my colleagues gave some usage in commercial that we could be restricting that could really benefit the city.

Okay, so I'm gonna split us here then so we can so who supports the planning commission's recommendations with concerns or getting more information on the retaining restrictions for office, all the commercial uses below.

And I will say who supports if you in case people want to know, I'll ask who supports the planning commissions, all of them.

So let's start with who supports it as some of our colleagues have noted, staff coming back to and and raising concern about retaining those restrictions.

So Dr.

Miles.

The other option was thoughtfully this one is what keep all of just wholesale take the planning commission's recommendations.

Okay.

Sorry.

All right.

So first is uh planning commissions recommendations minus the commercial areas on page 11.

Okay.

All right.

I think that was you know, I did like that one, but I don't want to.

Okay, more information.

Okay.

So Maryl would just recommend we got the clear direction.

I would just have encourage you guys when we get the actual text in seven days to just take a careful look at it, and we're we can cover this again during one of our next work sessions.

And if you could call it out and specifically, this is where staff really thinks we might be having concerns and retain, you know, retained versus not.

Understood.

That'll be helpful.

Yep, thank you.

Yeah.

And I'll just note we are at 1024 and halfway through.

All right, moving on to Article 7, which is our zone standards.

We have actually two recommendations that we might present to you together.

They are um applied across all of the zones, and the planning commission, as a spoiler alert, recommended eliminating both of these standards.

So this is quite a complicated table.

What you really should focus on are the two green columns.

Um, in all of our residential zones, we have lot coverage requirements, which limit the area of a lot that can be taken up by buildings and structures.

We have that applied um over the entire lot, and then we also have a separate standard for the rear yard.

The staff draft already proposes eliminating that rear yard lot coverage requirement, um, particularly considering ADUs on smaller lots, it just seems inequitable.

So we've already taken that out of the staff draft.

Um the maximum lot coverage is proposed to be retained, but then we also have a front yard impervious surface coverage requirement.

So this is separate from the lot coverage, it applies only to the front yard.

It's over and above any stormwater requirements that are applied on the site.

And it really was intended when it was introduced with the 2009 update to the ordinance to preclude the development of parking lots in residential front yards.

That had that concern has really not borne out.

Um it also is incredibly difficult to enforce this standard because it's not associated with any specific permit.

So the vast majority of the time that we are catching non-compliance with this, it's when it's already in space, and then we're having to take enforcement actions.

So, with all of that, um, with all of that said, we asked the planning commission if they would recommend eliminating that front yard coverage requirement, and they did ultimately recommend that.

Oh, I'm trying to hit next page on my laptop.

Um, so the next one is established setbacks.

In our residential zones, we have kind of standard hard and fast setbacks.

Uh, perhaps you need to be 25 feet from the front of your property um property, and then we also apply an established setback.

So it says, okay, in your zone, you either need to be 25 feet from that front property line or you need to apply the quote unquote established setback, whichever is greater.

And so any time you're trying to apply a front setback in a residential zone from the R400, our largest lot residential zones all the way up to the RMD.

I think it applies even to the RMD 25, certainly the RMD 15.

You have to do a calculation of how far back in space are all of your neighbors on your block face actually set back, and then you average that.

And if that's greater than your 25 foot or your 20 foot, whatever that front setback may be, that's the actual setback that applies.

So needless to say, this is very complicated, particularly for homeowners to calculate.

And often results only in just a foot or two of difference, but you still have to go through this exercise.

And we asked again the planning commission if they were interested in eliminating established setbacks and just defaulting to the setback that is outlined in the zone, and they did recommend eliminating this standard as well.

Dr.

Miles.

I have no questions.

It seems reasonable.

Question?

Councilman Van Grad.

So the only question I had is uh everything seems logical, but is wasn't the reason for this that there are places in the city where we have significant variations, and therefore there sometimes is a benefit for establishing that because numerous neighbors have not gone to that setback.

That may be the case.

I would probably defer to Mr.

Wazlack regarding the development patterns throughout the city.

I think this is another area where it is perhaps um benefiting or it's weighing what the goal is ultimately.

If we want clarity um and ease of application of the zoning ordinance, um, and also not focusing so much on perpetuating historic development patterns, then eliminating the established setback could make sense.

Um and I think the planning commission recommends and staff agrees that it does make sense.

However, if we do want to prioritize um more of that perpetuation of kind of the existing development pattern in some of those neighborhoods where it may exist, then retaining the established setbacks would make sense.

So and I would just add to that that we've seen this in the neighborhoods that were actually created before zoning.

West East East Rockville, Lincoln Park, where the house there were there were no standards for the houses could be placed, and some of the houses are non-conforming because they're too close to the to the street.

But what it's resulted in is you have a block face that may have 12 houses in that block.

So the homeowner or builder has to pay an engineer to measure the front, the existing front setback of each and every house along that block face, and then do the calculation.

So it's not an insignificant cost to do that as part of a project.

So I agree with everything you've said, and I completely understand.

What if we and I I'm just jotting down my notes when looking at this, what if we had exactly established setback requirements, but allowed an exception for someone to request to go back to the establishment in case of a variance?

Like most most cases, I think you're right.

We're talking about a foot or two.

But if you're giving a situation where really the benefit could be 20 feet because you've got these old bill um situations that there could be an exception where someone variants from the established setback requirements, would that be too complicated of something to propose?

So essentially you're proposing an option where an applicant could use the established setback if they wanted to.

No, I'm saying the established setback is what the standard would be.

However, if someone wanted to go back to the situations where you could measure to get a better less of a setback, essentially, to conforming to what the neighborhood would be as opposed to what the established setback is.

Does that make sense?

I just want to make sure we're using the same.

So the established setback is the one that you see on the screen where you're averaging it.

Well, it's that well, my understanding is what we're doing, what you're proposing, and I've got it wrong, is to make it standard so they don't have to measure everything, right?

Correct.

Yes.

And I apologize if I'm using the wrong terms.

That that's what I understand you're saying, which makes all the sense in the world.

The question is, could there be a situation where that's our standard, but someone would be allowed to go back to the previous standard as a variance request if it suited what they wanted to do.

I think we might be saying the same thing, and I just I want to make sure that I'm completely understanding.

You agree that there should just be the number.

If it's 25 feet, that's what the setback is.

However, if you would like to do this exercise of averaging all of the um existing dwellings on a block face, you could request to do that as some additional flexibility.

Am I understanding?

That's exactly what I'm proposing to a T.

Okay.

I don't see I I did ask I got the look.

Just trying to think how this would play out in reality.

So we have we have, you know, every property has a setback, and that's the line where you have to be behind.

You don't have to be on the line necessarily.

Um what this does is essentially establish a build two line where you have to be at that line.

So I guess we could continue to retain that.

Um, but there's nothing that says say if all the houses on a block face were 50 feet back and they were only required to be 20 feet, five feet back.

Um a homeowner could still be 50 feet back if they would choose.

Um, but this would allow them to be at 25 if they wanted if they wanted to.

Well, what about a situation?

And I guess let's say that the setbacks, I guess I'm looking at the reverse situation.

Where let's say the setbacks 20, but the entire house block all goes to 10.

And an owner would say, I want to be at 10, because that's what the average of my block is, but we're saying now you have to be at 20.

And we've never permitted smaller than the normal required setback.

Oh, okay.

Well, then that answers my question.

What you so you're saying, we've never gone below what this the situation is and allowed that, correct?

Okay, that answers my question fully.

Um, no more questions.

Thank you.

So are you saying in even in some of the older neighborhoods that they we won't have situations where property lines are differ from what your established standard would be?

Like it'll be closer to the street.

What we have does anything that's nonconforming to the existing setback, we don't count those since they're not compliant with the code.

We only can't.

Well, what if someone redevelops that property?

They would have to meet the normal zoning setback.

Yeah, that's that's where I have a concern.

Because we have we'll we are seeing redevelopment all across the city.

And or if someone, God forbid, someone has a fire and has to rebuild, we've seen that too.

So I I have some concerns about that, and I would similar to the comments of my colleague, we want to have an appeals process.

I I would say this is a good conversation to have.

Our non-conforming, our development standards, non-conformities are included in, I think Article 9.

So we certainly can talk about that at that point in time.

Um, I think this is a little bit separate and aside from anything that is non-conforming.

Yeah, well, I just this is one that gives me pause that I'd want more information on with examples, because I do have concerns.

We do have some much older neighborhoods and there's variability, and I wouldn't want someone to be penalized.

Also, um, we've seen situations where like their major tree coverage in the back.

Someone's trying to build and save that tree.

So I just I want I would like to have some level of flexibility where people can make an appeals for rational, good look, you know, logical reasons.

If I if I might add about this, the established setback as currently applied to our single unit residential zones, only ever burdens the property owner more.

As Mr.

Wazilak said, you have your standard setback, maybe it's 25 feet, and the established setback only applies when it's greater than 25 feet.

So the way that it's written is it's 25 feet or the established setback, whichever is greater, up to a certain set amount, maybe it's 60 feet.

So eliminating the established set, the established setback, I think actually would benefit property owners in the way that you are wanting it to, because this only ever pushes the houses further from the street.

There is currently no instance in which it brings them closer to the street than the setback of the underlying zone.

Well, that's the example I gave.

There are some older neighborhoods where properties may be closer to the street.

Uh and when we do this, even though there's multiple properties like that, and I'm thinking some some neighborhoods, they don't have a large backyard, they don't have large front yard.

They're just it's it's really an older community, and sometimes we're seeing either rebuilt through fire or rebuild through sale or whatever it is.

I just that's the one I want to just make sure that we think through all the if-thens, um, so that we're not um harming, and also if there is a major tree or something that people are trying to have respect with nature while also providing housing, those are two scenarios that I want to contemplate.

And there may be others that you all can think of because you get this every day that I want us to just think through how do we handle those situations?

And in terms of the rear lot coverage, I totally support and you know voted to support ADUs.

My question is we have a flood mitigation plan.

If we eliminate rear lot coverage, then what will we do for water absorption?

Um there be different standards, will they be something that people have to do with that water?

Um specifically in some of the older neighborhoods, flooding is a big issue.

And I know I remember raising the call of we need a flood plan back last term because we actually were seeing people who had flooded basements all the time.

We had wild storms, so yes, but what are we going to do about flooding?

So with our lot coverage requirements, they are separate from and I would say in large part unrelated to any stormwater requirements.

So they are kind of just um they're a zoning standard.

It doesn't, you could conform to the law coverage and um correct me if I'm wrong, Mr.

Wazlack, but pave your entire backyard.

It's really focused on the structures themselves, and it says here's how much of the property you can cover in structures.

It doesn't say anything about paving your entire backyard.

So I would, I think it's a fair concern, but it is just completely different and distinct from the zoning lot coverage.

And we do have stormwater regulations.

They are they are included in a separate part of city code outside of the zoning ordinance.

But I think that one could create more problems for the other.

So in terms of not people paving their over their full backyards or not having a place of water to go.

So I just I do think we need to think, yes, let's support the ADUs and let's support you know, dealing with this, but we do need to understand that water must go someplace.

So how do we deal with that?

That is not something that the zoning ordinance deals with.

It is addressed in a separate part of city code.

So are we gonna then turn around and immediately address that?

I would defer to our department of public works.

Okay.

They they maintain and administer that portion of city code.

Okay, if Mr.

Dumay has anything to add or Mr.

Wazilak.

Yeah, from for for us as a decision maker, there's an if-then cause effect.

I just would need to have more information because they are related issues.

Uh and so I wouldn't want to inadvertently create a problem.

Councilmember Leary.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Um, this is and you you can tell me to forget it.

Um I would actually I would be interested to see if staff had a version of of this graphic, but showing um uh non-conforming lot sizes.

It's very hard for me to kind of visualize this when we do have some parcels in the city that are um in older neighborhoods, a little funky-shaped.

And so as a visual learner, I don't know if you have um it, I just wanted to put a pen in that that uh this makes sense for extremely um uh uh parcels that make sense, but not there are a lot of places throughout the city where the parcels are not gonna be so nicely cut, and I would be curious to see this.

But I know you don't have it right this second, totally understandable, but I just wanted to to flag that for myself.

Any other questions?

Okay, all right.

So I'm gonna ask who supports this recommendation.

I will just say I'm holding out because I want more information on the things I just mentioned.

So I I look forward to deeper discussion on that.

Are we doing supporting the commission?

Yes, we're doing supporting the commission's recommendations, and then we'll do who supports staff recommendations or who's not ready to take a stance just yet because we need more information.

Okay, who supports the commission recommendation?

Okay.

Who supports staff's original recommendation?

Who wants and who wants more information?

Oh, staff's original recommendation.

I think it matters.

Okay, great.

Thank you.

All right, and with that, I will turn it over to Mr.

Wazlock to uh dive in on deer fences.

Thank you, Miss Simmons.

Uh the mayor council will recall that uh you received testimony uh in December about the need for deer fencing requirements in the city because um residents were kind of being overrun with uh deer incursions in certain instances.

Um city does not have specific deer fencing requirements at that time, although I will say our fence limitations were somewhat different than Montgomery County.

Uh we actually do did allow for fences uh up to eight feet in our rear yards uh of residential properties, whereas the county limits uh to six and a half.

Um we found that deer fencing comes in kind of eight foot tall um sizes, uh so that's a fairly conventional piece of deer fencing that you can purchase um easily, and many of our residents have done that.

Um what has turned out to be problematic is properties that are corner lots or through lots where they have uh more than one front yard, and so that limits where an eight-foot fence can be installed, and in front yards, the city does limit fence heights to four feet.

So we did uh come up with a staff recommendation to the commission and uh provided some options to them.

Um they did agree with our recommendation to define what a deer fence actually is.

Um we did look at the county's definition where it talks about plastic mesh of a certain size and what the supports can be, and we think that's a good uh example to follow and would recommend adding that to the code.

Um our recommendation and and also the commissions would be to continue to permit uh deer fences in the side and rear yards uh of all lots in the city and um retain the prohibition on deer fences in the front yard uh with a certain exception, uh and that would be for corner and through lots, allowing those uh in what we consider by zoning to be a front yard, but might not necessarily be in the front of the home.

Um the owner might not think of those as a front yard practically.

So we developed some options uh for the planning commission to consider.