Planning Commission Memo
MEETING DATE: June 26, 2024
REPORT DATE: June 14, 2024
RESPONSIBLE STAFF: Katie Gerbes, Comprehensive Planning Manager
SUBJECT:
title
Introduction of the Draft Town Center Master Plan
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BACKGROUND:
The 2024 Town Center Master Plan (“Plan”) is an update of a document by the same name that was adopted by the Mayor and Council in 2001. The Plan builds on the visions, goals and policies noted in the Planning Area 1 Chapter of the Rockville 2040 Comprehensive Plan (“Comprehensive Plan”), recent studies and reports compiled on Town Center, and an extensive community outreach effort to create an updated vision for Town Center that meets the needs of Rockville’s residents, business community and the market. This Plan is an amendment to the Rockville 2040 Comprehensive Plan and supersedes the recommendations outlined within Planning Area 1 of the original Comprehensive Plan document, as published in August 2021.
To create this Plan, the Department of Community Planning and Development Services conducted an extensive 5-month outreach and engagement process. Through that effort, Rockville staff met with hundreds of stakeholders and conducted nearly 50 meetings to solicit feedback on Town Center’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Upon conclusion of the outreach period, a Community Engagement Report was published, highlighting the feedback received by the community and drawing conclusions based on 10 different engagement methodologies. Major takeaways from the outreach and engagement period were desires for:
• More density, particularly in the form of housing with acknowledgement of the increasing need for affordable housing.
• More diversity in retail options and fewer retail vacancies. Additionally, there was some interest in forming an entity of some sort to aid and assist Town Center retailers.
• Improved bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure.
• Increased wayfinding throughout Town Center.
• Improved parking garage signage and accessibility.
• Additional parks and green spaces.
• More events in Town Center.
As staff set forth to draft the Plan, the resounding themes found throughout this document are to create a flexible regulatory environment that allows Town Center to thrive by enabling by-right development and allowing the market to dictate the “highest and best” land uses over the next two decades. Additionally, the Plan prioritizes the development of additional residential housing units with a particular emphasis on affordable and attainable housing units. The final theme throughout the document is to turn Town Center into a vibrant local and regional destination by creating an environment where people can live, work, and play for years to come.
As required by state law, any amendments to the Comprehensive Plan must be reviewed by the Planning Commission before any final adoption is made by the Mayor and Council. State law also requires a public hearing to be held on the Plan before both the Planning Commission and Mayor and Council.
The first draft of the Plan was released to the public on April 26, 2024. Provided as an attachment to this staff report (Attachment A - Draft Town Center Master Plan) is a second draft of the Plan that incorporates some minor edits and tweaks from the first draft. The second draft was posted online on June 17, 2024.
DISCUSSION:
PLAN ORGANIZATION
This document is organized into topic-based chapters. Most chapters begin with an introduction orienting the reader to that topic’s existing conditions within Town Center. Following that, there are goals, policies, and actions related to each topic:
• Goals are overarching targets that the city seeks to achieve.
• Policies are more specific in the direction that the city should go to achieve the goal, but do not outline exactly what steps need to be taken.
• Actions are the discrete steps the city will take to enact the associated policy and achieve the overarching goal.
In total, the Plan has 12 goals, 20 policies and 59 recommended actions.
In addition to the topic-based chapters, the entire Plan is written through a lens of equity. Principles of equity must be incorporated into everyday actions and policies of the City of Rockville and cannot be viewed in a vacuum.
Equity is especially relevant and important in urban planning, as master plans like this one govern how the built environment is shaped for decades to come. Historically the planning profession has endorsed policies that are directly in conflict with equity, such as redlining practices that prohibited people of color, most notably Black Americans, from being able to obtain mortgages in certain areas, or urban renewal projects, like the one in Town Center in the late 1960s, that razed and displaced residents from established neighborhoods in the name of “progress.”
The Plan does not have a specific equity chapter, as actions that work to further equity are intertwined in all actions throughout the document. For example, the housing chapter talks about the need to increase affordable housing in Town Center. These recommendations are inextricably linked to equity, as increasing the diversity and price point of housing enables a broader community of people to reside in Town Center and have access to the area’s amenities. Similarly, the transportation chapter contains several recommendations to grow infrastructure for non-automotive transportation. Ensuring the community has access to free and low-cost transportation options, regardless of an individual’s income or ability, helps to make Town Center more equitable.
At the conclusion of this Plan, there is an implementation matrix that will be used by city staff to implement each of the recommendations outlined within the Plan. The implementation matrix assigns responsibility, timelines and one or more implementation vehicles to each of the recommended actions to help properly plan and budget for realization of the Plan. The Plan is intended to be a living document rather than a static, unchanging document. As a result, it is possible that the implementation matrix will shift over time. It is the responsibility of the Comprehensive Planning Division of the Department of Community Planning and Development Services to monitor the status of all actions and work with lead implementors to bring the Plan to life.
LOCATION & GEOGRAPHY
The Town Center planning area is also known as Planning Area 1. Planning Area 1 is bounded by Richard Montgomery High School to the south; by the Metro/CSX tracks to the east; falls just shy of Mannakee Street and Montgomery College to the north; and loosely follows N./S. Washington Street to the west. The Rockville Metro station is located within the Town Center boundary, as is the entirety of the Town Square development and many of the Montgomery County government offices. Planning Area 1 totals 0.4 square miles in size.
VISION
The Plan establishes a vision for Town Center. This vision is:
Rockville Town Center will continue to grow as a vibrant, multicultural, diverse, and inclusive community that celebrates a high quality of life and place. To achieve this vision, the Town Center Master Plan will create a flexible regulatory environment, encourage the development of additional housing units, and promote higher density development, all of which will strengthen the local economy and create a hub within the region for sustainable, walkable, transit-oriented living.
ZONING & LAND USE
The Plan identifies seven subareas of Town Center and sets forth a vision for each of these areas. The area visions descriptions describe the type of development and land uses desired in each part of Town Center. Beyond the area visions, this chapter further identifies six high impact parcels within Town Center and provides an even more detailed description of the desired development on those sites.
The Plan calls for some revisions to the Future Land Use Map, as included in the adoption of the Comprehensive Plan in 2021. All of these changes revise the Land Use Policy to OCRM - Office, Commercial and Residential Mix. The parcels recommended for land use policy revisions were previously single use designations such as office or civic and public institutional or were a mixed-use land designation that is less flexible than OCRM. These changes are suggested to allow for a taller and denser development pattern, as well as allow greater flexibility in the land use types to minimize regulatory hurdles for development.
This chapter also provides some information about the City and the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority’s (WMATA) joint concept study for development surrounding the Rockville Metro Station. In May 2024, the Mayor and Council endorsed a preferred concept for redevelopment that would replace the existing surface parking lots with structured parking and development. Though these ideas are still very much conceptual in nature and will ebb and flow to meet market demand, the concept represents a change in land use and encourages true transit-oriented development at the Metro station.
This chapter contains three goals, four policies and nine actions.
• Goal 1: Target areas for higher density residential developments to reach 2,000 new residential units by 2040. Provide a variety of development types to adapt to marketplace demands and to address missing-middle housing.
o Policy 1.1: Through the Zoning Ordinance Rewrite project currently underway, adopt zoning standards for Town Center that meet the overarching land use goals for the planning area while streamlining and simplifying the development approval process.
§ Action 1.1.1: Modify zoning regulations within Town Center to allow and encourage innovative and creative development and remove unnecessary regulatory barriers to development. The method to achieve this should be determined through the Zoning Ordinance Rewrite and could include changes to the base zone or a zoning overlay.
• Revised zoning should increase by-right building heights by dividing the planning area into two character areas: the Town Center Core and Town Center Edge. The core character area shall allow by-right heights of up to 200 feet. The edge character area shall allow by-right heights of up to 75 feet.
• Revised zoning should reflect Town Center’s proximity to the Rockville Metro Station by modifying parking requirements, improving accessibility and walkability within the built environment, promoting transit usage and creating people friendly spaces.
• Revised zoning should determine the open and public use space requirements that are consistent with urban building typologies and best practices.
• Revised zoning should eliminate any unnecessary regulatory barriers that add time, cost and unpredictability to the development process by streamlining regulatory processes and requirements to allow flexibility in development while still maintaining high standards for urban design and public amenities. Straight-forward standards should be adopted within the code that foster high-quality urban design. There shall be no requirement for ground floor retail, although street-facing, active ground floor uses, including residential or quasi-retail uses should be encouraged.
§ Action 1.1.2: Create a bonus height program that provides additional height for any development project with a residential component that includes 20% or more moderately priced dwelling units or other deed-restricted affordable housing. Properties within the core character area may receive a bonus of up to 50 additional feet of permitted height. Properties within the edge character area may receive a bonus of up to 20 additional feet of permitted height.
§ Action 1.1.3: Modify the Zoning Ordinance to eliminate the Town Center Performance District, which has grown defunct since its creation following the 2001 Rockville Town Center Master Plan. Through this district, certain development applications within Town Center are required to be approved under the Level 2 Site Plan process, regardless of the scale of development. Elimination of the performance district will streamline development and reduce regulatory processes.
o Policy 1.2: Encourage the development of WMATA’s Rockville Station property.
§ Action 1.2.1: Encourage WMATA to release a joint development solicitation to redevelop their surface parking lots on the southern side of Park Road into mixed-use transit-oriented development that includes housing.
• Goal 2: Amend parking requirement to be reflective of a transit-oriented neighborhood and to provide a more seamless, accessible and user-friendly experience when parking.
o Policy 2.1: Examine the existing conditions and needs within Town Center’s parking system. Identify opportunities to improve or “right-size” parking to meet market demand and combat the high cost of developing new parking.
§ Action 2.1.1: Eliminate minimum parking requirements for properties within ½ mile from the Rockville Metro station or within ¼ mile from a bus rapid transit station funded for construction, which is consistent with recently approved Montgomery County regulations.
§ Action 2.1.2: Review existing zoning code requirements for off-street parking for properties outside of a ½ mile radius from the Rockville Metro station or ¼ mile radius from a bus rapid transit system funded for construction. Develop updated parking requirements that best reflect parking demand and needs within Town Center by significantly reducing parking requirements for commercial uses and residential developments.
§ Action 2.1.3: Encourage and expand electric vehicle (EV) charging in Town Center in alignment with the Electric Vehicle Readiness Plan. Charging needs are greatest at or near multifamily developments, especially low-moderate income units that are further from transit nodes, and also at larger commercial/institutional centers that cannot be easily reached by transit or means other than vehicles.
• Goal 3: Create pedestrian-oriented building and site design standards for Town Center.
o Policy 3.1: Through the ongoing Zoning Ordinance Rewrite project, develop standards to unify and create consistent pedestrian-oriented building and site design that provide flexibility for innovative design, yet hold developments to certain architectural standards.
§ Action 3.1.1: Create building design standards for Town Center and incorporate these standards into the zoning ordinance by adoption of standards into the updated zoning proposed in Action 1.1.1. Standards should address streetwall character and design features including, but not limited to, building materials, building envelopes, first floor activity generators, upper story façade setbacks, cornice integration, fenestration, and placement of entries; all of which emphasize pedestrian orientation and human-scaled design.
§ Action 3.1.2: Develop standards for street furniture, including bus shelters, seating, surface treatments, sustainable and native landscaping, sidewalk widths, and lighting for pedestrian areas that fit within and layer on top of existing roadway classification sections. These standards will incorporate design elements that reduce fall and mobility hazards, provide consistent sidewalk widths and materials, minimize maintenance issues, and adhere to meeting sustainable and resilient environmental standards, as well as create a cohesive sense of place.
Of note when it comes to implementing the actions recommended within the zoning and land use chapter is the timing of adoption of this Plan relative to the timeline for the Zoning Ordinance Rewrite (“ZOR”). The current project schedule for this Plan anticipates adoption by the Mayor and Council in December 2024. The ZOR is anticipated to be complete in summer 2025. The ZOR will be the tool used to implement many of these land use recommendations, so it is likely there will be a small lag between when the Plan is adopted and when the zoning framework is in place to implement these changes.
TRANSPORTATION & MOBILITY
The transportation and mobility chapter covers all of Town Center’s transportation modes: roadways, buses, trains, biking, micromobility and walking or rolling. The chapter also discusses ancillary activities tied to each of those modes, such as parking.
The recommendations within the transportation and mobility chapter are intended to supplement, not replace or restate, the actions identified and prioritized through the Bikeways Master Plan and Pedestrian Master Plan. Instead, actions recommended in this Plan are meant to layer on to of existing recommendations in other planning documents and would be additions to the project lists called out in the aforementioned plans.
The transportation and mobility chapter identifies four goals, five policies and 14 recommended actions. These recommendations largely revolve around the desire to shift behavior away from single occupancy vehicles to active or public transportation modes. The Plan calls for improvements to enhance safety for those walking, rolling or biking; supports the planned bus rapid transit (BRT) line along MD-355; prioritizes a comprehensive, multimodal wayfinding system throughout the planning area; and highlights opportunities for connections between Town Center and its adjoining neighborhoods.
• Goal 4: Make transportation related improvements that enhance safety and user experience for all who drive, bike, walk or roll.
o Policy 4.1: Assess and improve the design of the local street system to address concerns of safety, speed, turning movements, and interaction for all users who walk, roll, bike, and drive within the Town Center.
§ Action 4.1.1: Coordinate with the Maryland State Highway Administration (SHA) to improve safety along E. and W. Jefferson Street / MD-28 from MD-355 to S. Washington Street.
§ Action 4.1.2: Work with SHA to improve safety and user experience for people walking, rolling, and biking along MD-355. Advocate for expanded continuous and similarly sized sidewalks and hardscape treatments. Carry out improvements throughout the planning area as recommended in the 2023 Pedestrian Master Plan and 2017 Bikeway Master Plan, as may be amended.
§ Action 4.1.3: Advance the audits that are currently underway by SHA along MD-355 to improve safety, mobility, and turning movements in Town Center. Audit locations are the intersection of MD-355 with the following roads: Church Street/Monroe Place; E. Middle Lane/Park Road; N. Washington Street; Beall Avenue; and MD-28.
• Goal 5: Work with WMATA and the Montgomery County Department of Transportation (MCDOT) to enhance the bus system to increase accessibility, improve ridership and expand systems.
o Policy 5.1: Monitor and support the implementation of bus rapid transit along MD-355.
§ Action 5.1.1: Advocate for the southbound Rockville Metro Station stop on the BRT to be located on the south side of E. Middle Lane, and as close as possible to the elevated pedestrian bridge over MD-355.
§ Action 5.1.2: Advocate for the east side of MD-355 to have a 10’ shared-use path along the full extent of the BRT along MD-355.
§ Action 5.1.3: Add bicycle lanes along N. Washington from Martins Lane to the planned BRT bike facility along southbound MD-355.
§ Action 5.1.4: Ensure Town Center bicycle facilities designed and implemented by the city are seamlessly connected to the bicycle facilities related to the BRT.
o Policy 5.2: Make improvement to existing bus service and bus stops.
§ Action 5.2.1: Advocate to Ride-On and Metrobus for the installation of digital kiosks or displays advertising times and frequency of bus routes, real time notifications of service and associated delays, and methods to provide such information to individuals with visual and hearing impairments, all of which will provide an improved dissemination of information to all riders.
§ Action 5.2.2: Review inventory of existing bus stops within Town Center to determine which stops have bus shelters and/or seating. Once an inventory is created, establish a system for determining which bus stops warrant seating and/or bus shelters, and fund a program to improve bus stops that meet warrant criteria.
• Goal 6: Implement wayfinding signage to provide clear direction and awareness of Town Center and its attractions.
o Policy 6.1: Improve pedestrian, cyclist, and vehicular wayfinding directing people into and throughout Town Center.
§ Action 6.1.1: Adopt and implement a comprehensive wayfinding plan that includes Town Center. The wayfinding plan should address vehicular, pedestrian, and cyclist level signage needs. Wayfinding should have a dual focus on directing people off main corridors, such as MD355 or MD-28, into Town Center, as well as providing directional signage to major activity generators within Town Center. The plan should specifically address public parking garages and incorporate technology such as digital kiosks or other wayfinding tools.
§ Action 6.1.2: Add signage along N. Washington Street at North Street Park to provide direction to pedestrians and cyclists that North Street can be used to access the Rockville Swim & Fitness Center and Welsh Park.
• Goal 7: Strengthen visual and physical connections between Town Center and adjacent neighborhoods.
o Policy 7.1: Enhance interconnectivity between Town Center, Montgomery College, and other adjacent neighborhoods.
§ Action 7.1.1: Complete a feasibility study for improvements on Beall Avenue to improve connections between Town Center and the West End and other neighborhoods to the west. The study should look at incorporating complete street principles to enhance the pedestrian realm and increase safety for pedestrians and cyclists getting to and from Town Center.
§ Action 7.1.2: Make improvements to the Park Road underpass of the CSX tracks to enhance the connection between Town Center and neighborhoods to its east such as Lincoln Park and East Rockville. Improvements could include enhanced lighting, public art, and/or gateway entry signage.
§ Action 7.1.3: Make improvements to and coordinate with WMATA to make improvements to the entrance of the western side of the Unity Bridge to enhance connections between Town Center and neighborhoods to its east (see Action 9.2.1).
HOUSING
As established in the zoning and land use chapter, a major goal of this Plan is to increase housing units within Town Center. The housing chapter provides statistics about the housing stock within Town Center. Most of Town Center’s housing units, 78%, are in the form of multifamily buildings consisting of 20 or more units, and nearly 50% of units were constructed in 2000 or later.
This chapter focuses largely on the creation of additional affordable homes within Town Center. By its nature, the development of market rate housing units will also create additional affordable housing units through the City’s Moderately Priced Dwelling Unit (MPDU) program. As the geographic area covered by this master plan is limited to the Planning Area 1 boundaries, the Plan does not make any citywide suggestions on increasing housing production. Instead, the Plan seeks to streamline regulations and find incentivize the development of more affordable housing units within Town Center. This chapter contains one goal, one policy and five recommended actions.
• Goal 8: Increase the number of affordable homes within Town Center.
o Policy 8.1: Modify regulations and processes to incentivize the development of affordable housing in Town Center.
§ Action 8.1.1: Streamline the development process by allowing staff and by-right approvals for residential projects with more than 25% below market-rate income-restricted housing units located in Town Center.
§ Action 8.1.2: Establish a property tax abatement, subject to funding, for rental property in Town Center if at least half of units are leased to households with incomes no greater than 60% of the area median income.
§ Action 8.1.3: Make a recommendation to Montgomery County to consider further reducing or eliminating impact taxes for MPDUs and other below market-rate income restricted units located in Town Center, given that 18% or more of the units in the development are set aside as MPDUs.
§ Action 8.1.4: Encourage newly constructed or redeveloped City-owned properties to include housing with a minimum of 30% below market-rate income-restricted units.
§ Action 8.1.5: Actively work with public, private, and philanthropic institutions to assist in the development of affordable housing in Town Center.
PARKS, RECREATION & COMMUNITY FACILITIES
Parks and community facilities are essential components of any livable community. The Recreation and Parks Strategic Plan sets for the vision and goals for the Department of Recreation and Parks citywide, and this Plan builds on those recommendations for improvements to parks and community facilities in Town Center.
The Planning Area 1 chapter of the Comprehensive Plan, as adopted in August 2021, makes several recommendations for the creation of new parks and new park programming within Town Center. This Plan builds on those recommendations, carrying many of those concepts forward, while also providing additional specificity and detail on some of Planning Area 1’s broader ideas. Major projects within this chapter include the redesign of Promenade Park to serve as a gateway to the Metro station and its pedestrian bridge; continuing special events and programming in Town Center to activate the streets; creating new parks and plazas in several different parts of the planning area; and expanding recreation program to potentially include a dog park, turf fields or a community center.
This chapter consists of one goal, three policies and 11 recommended actions.
• Goal 9: Cultivate Town Center to be an exciting, fun, and innovative place where people of all ages, abilities and backgrounds want to be.
o Policy 9.1: Enhance existing parks, community facilities, and programming within Town Center to serve the needs of the community.
§ Action 9.1.1: Redesign Promenade Park as a pleasant and inspiring public space and connection between the Town Center core and the pedestrian bridge to the Rockville Metro Station. Partner with WMATA, SHA, the Maryland Transit Administration (MTA), MCDOT, and surrounding property owners, and consult with all stakeholders to redesign the park. If redevelopment occurs at either 51 Monroe Street or 255 Rockville Pike, developers shall provide any required open space for the project adjacent to Promenade Park in order to expand the area and make it a higher quality amenity. If redevelopment does not occur at either 51 Monroe Street or 255 Rockville Pike, work with building ownership to improve access and provide increased connections from their buildings to Promenade Park.
§ Action 9.1.2: Continue to support the Rockville Memorial Library to strengthen the library as an anchor of activity within Town Center. Continue to partner with the library for events and programming, encourage the development of new and/or additional programming to meet the evolving needs of the community, and provide letters of support when the library is seeking additional funding from outside sources.
§ Action 9.1.3: Continue special events and programming in Town Center. Host events, activities, and performances in Town Center to activate this area outside of traditional working hours. This can be achieved through some combination of City of Rockville events, property owner events, licensed events, or partnerships with businesses and organizations (see Action 11.1.2). Continue to evaluate and set parameters for non-City sponsored events allowed in Town Center.
o Policy 9.2: Create new parks and facilities within Town Center.
§ Action 9.2.1: Create a pedestrian and bike friendly plaza at the western entrance to the Unity Bridge.
§ Action 9.2.2: Create a public park within the block bounded by Monroe Street, E. Jefferson Street, Park Avenue and Fleet Street. The Planning Area 1 chapter of the Rockville 2040 Comprehensive Plan calls out the desire for a “large public park and event space” in this vicinity. This Plan refines that recommendation, isolating the proposed park to one specific block. The park should be established by means of land dedication as part of a development project, purchase, land swap, or some other method that would serve as a significant public gathering and event space for the Rockville community and beyond. Once a park is established, continue the existing shared-use path that runs from Elwood Smith Park to Fleet Street, connecting the trail north to E. Jefferson Street.
§ Action 9.2.3: Work with Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) to acquire property along the existing Mt. Vernon trail to Fleet Street. The city currently maintains the trail and owns the majority of it, though there are small portions of MCPS land under the trail. Clarifying these property rights will ensure property maintenance and access into the future park noted in Action 9.2.2.
§ Action 9.2.4: Collaborate with WMATA to create a park at 301 Hungerford Drive, the current location of a surface parking lot for Metro users. The lot’s narrow dimensions likely preclude it from being a high-density redevelopment option. In that case, the land should be transformed into a high-quality park to serve as an amenity for Metro users. The site could also be considered as a new home for the Rockville Farmers Market.
§ Action 9.2.5: If the opportunity presents itself, the city should consider acquiring the Shell gas station located at 260 N. Washington Street to redevelop it into a public park. The gas station is located on an island separated by two legs of N. Washington Street. Remediation and reuse of this parcel into green space could create a park amenity for the northern portion of the planning area.
o Policy 9.3: Expand recreation and park programming within Town Center.
§ Action 9.3.1: Explore potential for and create a publicly accessible dog park within the Town Center planning area.
§ Action 9.3.2: Consider a community center as part of a larger development of building(s) in Town Center.
§ Action 9.3.3: Explore potential to add publicly accessible turf fields on top of city-owned parking garages/buildings to create public recreational space within existing development footprints.
HISTORIC PRESERVATION
The Historic Preservation chapter of the Plan identifies the three National Register of Historic Places and six Rockville locally-designated historic sites and structures within Town Center. The Plan’s historic preservation chapter outlines one goal, two policies and five recommended actions. Most of these actions are tied to the need to survey and inventory historic properties within the planning area.
• Goal 10: Document and retain Town Center’s history and capitalize on the historic aspects of Town Center to promote heritage tourism.
o Policy 10.1: Complete updated survey of historic and cultural resources located within Town Center.
§ Action 10.1.1: Conduct an updated reconnaissance survey of historic resources located within Town Center boundaries. Such a survey will identify any changes or losses to the area. Further, resources that were not previously surveyed or that have gained significance since the original inventory was performed in the mid-to-late 1970s should now be included in the survey.
§ Action 10.1.2: Update any existing Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties (MIHP) forms for new findings, including demolished resources, and for areas and/or periods of significance not previously addressed. Deliver revised forms to the Maryland Historical Trust for review and approval.
§ Action 10.1.3: Formulate an amendment to the Montgomery County Courthouse National Register Nomination to address expanded areas and/or periods of significance, missing historical information and contexts, demolished or relocated resources, etc. to modernize the nomination and to fully present an equitable and inclusive history of the area.
§ Action 10.1.4: Based upon inventory results, identify any additional resources that are eligible for local designation and work with property owners to consider nominating these resources for local historic designation.
o Policy 10.2: Develop updated and expanded historic contexts for Town Center.
§ Action 10.2.1: Update historic contexts for Town Center addressing the period of urban renewal and the results of these policies on the cultural, historic, and natural resources within the planning area.
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT & BUSINESS
Throughout the community outreach and engagement process, staff heard comparisons made between Town Center and other live/work/play destinations throughout Montgomery County. The most common comparisons drawn were to Pike & Rose in North Bethesda, Downtown Crown in Gaithersburg, and Rio in Gaithersburg. This chapter provides statistics on the retail, office and housing market in Town Center, then compares those statistics to those of the competitor centers. This Plan does not suggest that any one of these centers is “better” than Town Center or one another, nor does the Plan suggest that Town Center should emulate or "copy” any of the competitors. The statistics provided in this section are included to provide perspective and comparison between Town Center and other areas that Town Center competes with for business.
The retail vacancy rate in Town Center is higher than any of the comparison communities, in addition to being higher than Montgomery County as a whole. On paper the vacancy rate is 7.9%, which represents the percentage of retail space that does not have an active lease. When walking through Town Center, the number of vacant storefronts seems higher, likely due to a space having an active lease, but the business has closed for one reason or another. Our data source for vacancies is only looking at vacancies from a leasehold perspective, not what it actually looks like on the ground. This Plan does not make recommendations for specific retail spaces or specific retail users, as the City has no regulatory role in private property owners leasing their space. Instead, the Plan makes broader statements about the types of uses that are desired to bring activity into the area.
The office vacancy in Town Center is staggering at 29.3%, calling for the need to repurpose some of this space for alternative uses, such as housing. While Town Center’s office vacancy is especially high, nationwide the office market is struggling as a result of the shift from in-person to remote work following the coronavirus pandemic.
The residential market in Town Center remains strong, with fairly low vacancy rates. Several property owners within Town Center have approached the City about additional residential developments within the planning area, further indicating the strength of Town Center’s residential housing market.
This chapter contains one goal, two policies and eight recommended actions.
• Goal 11: Activate existing retail spaces, attract anchor or destination uses, and support retail growth.
o Policy 11.1: Establish Town Center as a well-known location brimming with diversity and activity.
§ Action 11.1.1: Develop a unique brand for Rockville Town Center centered around the planning area’s diversity and multicultural identity. Continually coordinate with property owners within Town Center to gather consensus on the need for consistent shared and coordinated marketing strategies that promote the area as a whole. To the extent practical, incorporate arts and culture into Town Center’s branding. Work with Rockville Economic Development, Inc., (REDI) to promote the new brand and to keep property owners engaged in the coordinated marketing effort if/when properties change ownership.
§ Action 11.1.1.2: When developing the wayfinding signage package outlined as Action 6.1.1, incorporate elements from the brand into wayfinding signage.
§ Action 11.1.2: Conduct a study to evaluate and determine funding mechanisms for different types of organizations to manage public realm activities and improvements throughout the Town Center Planning Area. Such an organization could provide some combination of the following services: streetscape cleaning and maintenance; wayfinding signage; shared branding; promotion of businesses; public events; etc.
§ Action 11.1.2.1: If the study and/or discussion with Town Center businesses and property owners determines a management entity is not the best path forward, establish a full-time position in the city dedicated to performing similar duties on behalf of Town Center’s businesses.
§ Action 11.1.3: Attract ‘anchor uses’ that serve Town Center’s user groups of its residents and families, government employees, visitors to local government and courthouse facilities, and the city at-large. Anchors may be large-scale employers, cultural organizations that attract visitors, educational institutions, or any other uses that attract people to Town Center.
o Policy 11.2: Develop programs to promote and support local and small businesses and their customers within Town Center.
§ Action 11.2.1: Continue working with REDI to activate vacant storefronts with temporary pop-up shops. The program should identify small businesses who will temporarily run their business out of an otherwise vacant retail space. Such a program boths promotes and supports small and local businesses and provides a source of revenue to property owners facing vacancies.
§ Action 11.2.2: Continue to fund and promote REDI’s Small Business Impact Fund as a way to scale up small and medium sized businesses in Town Center in addition to the MOVE/Expansion incentive programs that attract new businesses and encourage expansion of existing business footprints.
§ Action 11.2.3: Create or support the creation of a program to educate business owners and their employees about best practices for serving customers with physical or cognitive disabilities.
SUSTAINABILITY
As is the case with the Pedestrian Master Plan and Bikeways Master Plan, this Plan is designed to supplement the Climate Action Plan, not to replace or amend it. The citywide Climate Action Plan remains the primary guiding document for reducing Rockville’s carbon emissions and achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. This Plan layers on top of the Climate Action Plan and provides some specific actions relative to resiliency and sustainability to implement in Town Center.
This chapter contains one goal, two policies and five recommended actions.
• Goal 12: Encourage sustainable and resilient building practices to prevent, withstand, respond to and recover from climate change impacts.
o Policy 12.1: Encourage the adaptative reuse of buildings and coordinate with property owners to increase efficiency within existing buildings.
§ Goal 12.1.1: Encourage and allow flexibility for the adaptive reuse or rehabilitation of commercial properties as market demand changes over time. Work with property owners to find creative solutions to meet the City’s regulatory requirements when adaptive reuse projects are proposed.
o Policy 12.2: Build resiliency in Town Center through the implementation of practices that enable Rockville to thrive in the face of change and disturbances.
§ Goal 12.2.1: Ensure that the Flood Resiliency Master Plan, currently in development by the Department of Public Works, addresses the unique challenges of Town Center regarding flood prevention and mitigation given its dense and urban development pattern.
§ Goal 12.2.2: Partner with Pepco, Montgomery County, and other property owners to assess the cost and feasibility of developing a microgrid in Town Center to serve as a backup power for critical functions. As the seat of government for Rockville and Montgomery County, many operations within Town Center must continue even in weather or climate emergencies. A microgrid is one way to ensure power to critical functions in times of emergency.
§ Goal 12.2.3: Develop and promote strategies to mitigate urban heat island impacts on Town Center. Work with property owners and businesses to educate them on changes to the built environment that can help tackle the effects of urban heat island, such as providing shade structures, incorporating trees and native plants into landscaping, or building green roofs.
§ Goal 12.2.4: Establish a connected network of green spaces throughout the Town Center Planning Area. As opportunities for development and public space improvements become available, add in green infrastructure such as street trees, bioswales and/or micro-bioretention facilities, or pocket parks along the routes indicated in Map 33 to create a network of green spaces within an otherwise urban environment. Improvements to the right of way of City-owned roads should be consistent with the city’s Green Streets Facilitation Guide.
WATER RESOURCES & PUBLIC UTILITIES
The Water Resources chapter of the Comprehensive Plan outlines several goals related to water capacity, including exceeding drinking water quality standards, maintaining adequate wastewater conveyance and treatment capacity, applying best practices for stormwater management requirements, and managing a fiscally sound water revenue structure and funds for drinking water, stormwater and sewerage.
According to analysis performed by Rockville’s Department of Public Works, the land use recommendations within this Plan will not exceed the daily allowance for either water or sewage, ensuring that there is sufficient capacity within the city’s infrastructure to meet those needs. Therefore, this Plan does not propose any specific actions related to water resource management. Localized water supply, transmission, and sewer capacity issues will be evaluated and addressed on a case-by-case basis as individual projects are developed.
PUBLIC OUTREACH:
Extensive public outreach efforts have been underway for the Plan since April 2023. The project’s “outreach and engagement” phase took place between April and September 2023. During this period of time, staff estimate that approximately 1,000 individuals provided feedback of some kind. A full analysis of feedback received during the outreach and engagement period, as well as descriptions of each engagement methodology, can be found in the Community Engagement Report (Appendix B).
Since the draft Plan was released in April, staff have been utilizing Rockville Reports, City social media channels, emails blasts and newsletters to inform the community about the opportunity to review and provide comment on the draft Plan. The City continues to collect feedback on the Plan through the project page at www.engagerockville.com/towncenter <http://www.engagerockville.com/towncenter>. In addition to communications to promote the draft Plan, staff have also had several meetings to share the draft Plan’s recommendations with Rockville. To date, staff have presented to the Rockville Bicycle Advisory Committee (RBAC), the Rockville Pedestrian Advocacy Committee (RPAC), the Transportation & Mobility Commission, and the Environmental Commission to solicit feedback from those bodies. Staff are also hosting two upcoming public meetings focused on Town Center which will take place on June 18 and June 24.
BOARDS AND COMMISSIONS:
This is the first time the draft Plan is being brought to the Planning Commission. The Planning Commission has been briefed on the project two prior times: the project proposal was presented on February 8, 2023, and the Community Engagement Report was presented on October 11, 2023.
RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommend the Planning Commission review and provide any initial feedback on the draft Town Center Master Plan that would be necessary for staff to be aware of ahead of the Public Hearing scheduled for July 10, or the Discussion and Instructions meeting scheduled for July 26.
NEXT STEPS:
A public hearing on the draft Plan is scheduled for July 10, 2024. A collaborative work session to go through any refinements to the Plan is scheduled for July 26, 2024. Depending on the number of revisions to the Plan and the Planning Commission’s position on the document, approval of the Plan and transmission to the Mayor and Council could take place in September.