Good evening, Rockville.

Today is Wednesday, September 23rd, 2026.

This is meeting 11 26 of the City of Rockville Planning Commission.

I am Monsen, Chair of the Planning Commission.

I'm joined in chamber by Commissioner North Jeff Zines, Susan Pitman, Shayan Talahadin, Eric Futin, and Jamie Eptonosa.

Tonight's meeting is being conducted in person and virtually by WebEx.

Tonight's agenda includes two review on waiver application, and then followed by our regular scheduled commission items.

So before we proceed, does any Commission North have any questions or thoughts?

Okay, hearing that, let's proceed.

Our first agenda is review and action A waiver application 2026 322 WAV tool permit a 14.5% reduction in the required parking spaces, including a 26.4% reduction in the required commercial use spaces at the 2277 research boulevard located in in the MX Eason.

PAMDN Office Research LLC, then Bartalk is applicant.

So

Mr.

Wasleck, is there a presentation from staff?

Yes, there is, madam chair and members of the commission.

Just by way of introduction, uh the waiver applications that are on your agenda this evening relate to the same property on Research Boulevard.

And uh they are the project is being processed under the prior zoning ordinance.

And because of that and the way that code was written, the approving authority for the actual site plan amendment application uh is the chief of zoning, but the approving authority for these two waivers are the planning still the planning commission.

So you are seeing these as standalone waivers.

Uh you will not be seeing the site plan application.

So I just wanted to make that clear.

And uh Christopher Davis is here this evening to make the staff presentation.

Uh I'm gonna go ahead and swear him in.

If you could uh identify yourself for the record.

Christopher Davis with community planning and development services.

And will you provide truthful testimony this evening?

I will.

Thanks.

Please proceed.

All right.

Thank

you, Madam Chair and members of the commission.

As Mr.

Wasleck indicated, uh, the present item is a waiver for a parking reduction for the subject property located at 2277 Research Boulevard.

As

you can see, the subject property is outlined in blue on from this aerial image shown on the screen.

It is located in planning area 15, corresponding with the Falls Grove and Research Boulevard area.

The site is approximately 20.56 acres, um, located in the northeast corner of Research Boulevard and its intersection with West Scooty Drive.

Um, as you can see, the site immediately abuts I-270, and the property is currently improved with three multi-story office buildings centrally located on the site and surrounded by surface parking.

Um, the landing use designation for the property is OCRM, corresponding with office commercial residential mix, and the zoning for the property is MXE, corresponding to the mixed use employment zone.

So

as Mr.

Waselec indicated, uh the subject property uh was previously approved by staff.

Um, and just for some additional background, um the property is subject to an original use permit approval approved by the chief of planning at that time in January of 1987.

Uh that approval authorized the construction of two new office buildings.

Um, as you can see on the site plan on the screen, those two new office buildings were those located centrally on the site addressed as 2273 and 2275.

Um, and those were to accompany the already existing office building at 2277 research.

Um, as you can see, it was improved with uh quite a bit of surface parking and many of those site conditions remain um on the property today.

So,

as Mr.

Wasleck indicated, the property is subject to a major site plan amendment, which has been filed by the applicant.

With that project proposal, the applicant proposes to remove the existing building located at 2277 research in order to implement a multi-phase redevelopment of the site.

Most notably the construction of 131 residential units in the north northern third of the site.

You can see the proposed site plan and layout on the screen here.

And so the residential component of the redevelopment will largely encompass what is proposed to be at phase 1A.

The second phase, known as phase 1B, will notably be interior alterations to the two remaining office buildings located centrally on the site in order to convert the ground floor office space into restaurant uses to fully transform the site from an office to a mixed use site.

So to implement the proposed redevelopment, the specific request before you tonight is a parking reduction to permit a 26.4% reduction in the required commercial spaces for the proposed uses.

This is equivalent to a 14% 14.5% overall reduction for parking over the entire site.

So

in staff's review of the proposed request, it's noted that the zoning order and ordinance authorizes the commission to reduce the required parking if one or more criteria are met.