Zoning Hearings Set — Be Heard!

The City has announced two public hearings where the Mayor and Council will hear public comments on the draft revision of Our Fair City’s >zoning law. This is what used to be referred to as “RORZOR.” That committee drafted a new set of rules, which the Planning Commission has now reviewed and submitted to the Mayor and Council. It is now up to the Mayor and Council to consider the new zoning rules, make amendments, and, finally, adopt them.

These rules will govern development in Rockville for the next few decades. The hearings are slated for June 16 and June 30.

According to the City’s press release:

The draft ordinance was a culmination of the City’s evaluation and rewriting of its 30-year-old Zoning Ordinance, which began in 2005. Beginning in early 2006, the RORZOR (Representatives of Rockville Zoning Ordinance Review) committee, working with City staff, developed a draft Zoning Ordinance. The Mayor and Council authorized public review of the RORZOR draft on October 8, 2007 by referring it to the Planning Commission for recommendation. Since that time there has been extensive public comment and review, including two public hearings and multiple worksessions before the Planning Commission. The resulting draft, finalized on May 21, reflects the Planning Commission’s desire for high quality development and improved procedures.

Here’s the schedule:

• June 16: First Public Hearing
• June 30: Second Public Hearing
• July 7: Joint Meeting of the Mayor and Council and Planning Commission
• July 9, 14, 16: Worksessions to review public comment and provide direction on changes to be made
• July 11: Public Comment period closed
• August 4: Proposed adoption of revised Zoning Ordinance

The hearings on the 16th and the 30th will be at 7:00 pm in the Mayor and Council’s chambers in City Hall.

West End Citizens Association Meeting Features Sparks

Tonight in Christ Episcopal Church’s Murdock Hall, where a certain >musical coffee house was held recently, the West End Citizens Association held a “general membership meeting” with the Mayor Susan Hoffmann, and City Council Members John Britton, Piotr Gajewski, Phyllis Marcuccio, and Anne Robbins — along with most of the City’s key department heads and City Manager Scott Ullery. It felt like City Hall West!

The department heads briefed about 75 attendees (by my quick count) including a number of Rockville Central friends like Mark Pierzchala and Brigitta Mullican. Drew Powell rounded out the core of recent city candidates in attendance. I also spied Christina Ginsberg and a number of others I know.

While a number of items on the agenda had the potential of causing some controversy, the briefings were quite straightforward and the questions informational in nature. Some of the issues will be familiar to Rockville Central readers, such as progress on the drafting of a new zoning ordinance for the City, rollout of the new trash program, creation of a new utility to handle stormwater management, and the needed replacement of some 33 miles worth of City water pipes are giving up the ghost.

(You would have been able to see it all here on the site, but I was not allowed to videotape this meeting. Rather, I was informed I could videotape so long as I allowed the WECA board to review the footage. That didn’t seem very reasonable to me — nor did it seem like it would happen fast enough to allow me to post tonight — so I said “no” and consoled myself with photos. I don’t feel so bad, though: evidently the City had been set to video too, and were given the same ground rules which they couldn’t follow either.)

Here are just a few important concrete tidbits beyond those overall issues (it’s not all, just some highlights:

Police Chief Terry Treschuk announced that the new speed cameras on W. Montgomery Avenue were set to go “live” on March 21, with a two week warning-only period. (So get yer ya-yas out now, leadfeet.)

Recreation and Parks Chief Burt Hall announced that:

• Thursday evening outdoor Town Square concerts would begin on May 1 and last through September 11.
• The Memorial Day Parade would follow a slightly different route this year — it will turn left onto Beall Ave. from Washington, and then go right through Town Square on Maryland Avenue. The judges’ booth would be in the courtyard.
• The city is developing a buskers’ program for Town Center, with outdoor musicians (and other performers?).

Public Works chief Craig Simoneau announced that initial rollout of the new trash system was set to begin in October 2008. And, in response to a very reasonable question from Susan Prince, reported that the best way to get rid of your old trash bins (which will need to be replaced by City-provided bins in the new regime) is . . . well, to use them around the house, for leaf collection or perhaps to store long garden tools. Or give them to your family and friends who may not live in Rockville. If you can’t get rid of them that way, the City will take them as trash. (I am being flip here, but he gave a good answer. There probably isn’t a good way to get rid of the things; they don’t recycle well it turns out).

In response to another question from Susan, Scott Ullery reported the good news that the City appears closer to a deal with Verizon on FiOS than previously suspected. Seems the VZ is coming around to understand that the City requires things get done a certain way on its right of ways. There is nothing concrete, but I would not be surprised if we heard something this year. (Please, I beg of you. I will do anything.)

Then it got a bit interesting.

Though it was not on the official agenda, the efforts of many WECA members to move the court house came up. Council Member John Britton gave an excellent recap, which in most respects covered the points he had written (and which Rockville Central had published, yay us) just a few hours before. Mayor Susan Hoffmann then mentioned that a key budget subcommittee was slated to meet this week and had initially allowed, then refused, to hear live testimony from the City on the reasons the court house should not be built at the old library site.

In essence, the energy of the room was definitely “move the courthouse.”

Then Council Member Phyllis Marcuccio rose and made a statement that I do not agree with but that took a great deal of courage to make, there in that room. I give her a great deal of credit for that.

Phyllis said that her understanding of the previous vote the Council had taken in opposition to the court house was that it was intended to demand that the state work honestly with the City to mitigate the large impacts that it would be having on the neighborhood. She said that as early as the City’s “Town Center Master Plan,” adopted October 22, 2001, maps showed the new court house to be at the old library site. She said that her own review of the documents over the years implied to her that, “should you take the court house to court, . . . you don’t have much of a case.”

Phyllis finished by saying “I withdraw my support of testimony so far,” meaning the effort to move the court house rather than seek to mitigate its impacts.

Given the state of mind of the crowd, you can imagine the r
eaction. But it was getting to be 9:00 pm and WECA president Patricia Woodward runs a taught ship so the gavel fell.

As I said, I don’t agree with Phyllis’ argument, nor am I sure I would interpret the resolution the Council voted on recently to mean they were seeking to “mitigate” and not “opposing” — but that is all beside the point and reasonable people can differ. The statement, in that setting, took guts.

The Gazette’s Warren Parrish was there — so read the Gazette on Wednesday; I am sure he will do a better job of recapping this than me!