Planning Commission Memo
MEETING DATE: September 11, 2024
REPORT DATE: September 4, 2024
RESPONSIBLE STAFF: Christopher Davis, Senior Planner
SUBJECT:
title
Briefing on an Amendment to the Lincoln Park Conservation District Plan and Zoning Text Amendment to Revise the Lincoln Park Conservation District Overlay Zone and Implement the Lincoln Park Design Guidelines
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BACKGROUND:
At their September 9th meeting the Mayor and Council is anticipated to initiate an amendment to the Lincoln Park Conservation District plan and authorize the filing of a zoning text amendment to update the district’s standards and implement the Lincoln Park Design Guidelines which have been developed in collaboration with local residents.
The adopted Rockville 2040 Comprehensive Plan provides specific recommendations for Planning Area 6 (Lincoln Park), one of which is a recommendation to “Review the existing 2007 Lincoln Park Neighborhood Conservation District (LPNCD) standards to determine whether updates or amendments are warranted.” During the creation of the 2040 Plan, Lincoln Park residents voiced concerns about how some new homes and additions have impacted the neighborhood. They expressed interest in reviewing existing development regulations in the Lincoln Park Neighborhood Conservation District to identify changes or improvements needed. In 2021, the City began a project to develop residential design standards and guidelines for detached homes within the Lincoln Park neighborhood based on the input of residents and property owners. The Mayor and Council approved funding for a consultant to develop design guidelines for the Lincoln Park neighborhood in the FY 2022 budget, and since then, staff has been working with the Lincoln Park community to create neighborhood design guidelines.
The proposed Lincoln Park Conservation District Plan Amendment (the Plan amendment) will update and clarify existing building standards for construction and implement new design guidelines that have been developed specifically for single-family detached homes. Should the Mayor and Council adopt the proposed Plan amendment and approve the Lincoln Park Design Guidelines, the proposed zoning text amendment (ZTA) would update Article 10 and Article 14 of the Zoning Ordinance to implement the design guidelines and bring the conservation district overlay zone into conformance with the Plan amendment.
DISCUSSION:
Design Guidelines Project
The purpose of the Lincoln Park Design Guidelines project is to establish a clear set of expectations and a predictable review framework for residents, design professionals, contractors, City staff, and officials when designing and reviewing a new detached home or an addition to an existing home. If approved, compliance with the design guidelines would be required for a building permit to be issued for the construction of, a significant renovation to, or an addition to a single-unit detached dwelling. The goals of the project are as follows:
• To conserve and strengthen the unique identity and sense of place that exists among residents in the neighborhood;
• To promote complementary and context-sensitive development between new and existing structures, while also allowing creative design; and
• To maintain and enhance a walkable and pedestrian-friendly environment.
In 2022, the City hired consultants, Michael Watkins Architect, LLC and LSG Landscape Architecture, to assist with developing design guidelines for the Lincoln Park Neighborhood. A walking tour was held in September 2022 where City officials, staff, consultants, residents, and community leaders toured the neighborhood to survey the existing conditions and help inform on design issues that could be addressed in the guidelines. Following the walking tour, staff worked with the consultants to develop a framework for the guidelines based on initial feedback from the walking tour and the existing building standards established for the Lincoln Park Neighborhood Conservation District. Staff then employed numerous outreach efforts to engage with residents and members of the public in order to gather further feedback on the neighborhood and design concerns.
To assist with the City’s outreach efforts and inform on neighborhood-specific design issues, a nine-member advisory committee of residents was also formed. To date, the advisory committee has held 8 meetings between October 2022 and April 2024 in which the members provided valuable feedback on methods to further engage the community in the project. The committee also discussed the content of the guidelines and provided insightful commentary to help staff clarify certain key issues. Staff worked with the community through 5 public meetings, a survey, individual interviews, a project website, and several mailouts to all property owners and residents. A detailed account of the outreach efforts for the project is further provided in Appendix C of the Plan amendment (Attachment A).
Content of the Design Guidelines
Throughout the project, three drafts of the design guidelines have been developed. The current third draft was published online, and hard copies were provided at the Lincoln Park Community Center on June 7, 2024. The guidelines are composed of 10 specific design issues ranging from building orientation and materials to parking and trees. The framework of the guidelines was developed through collaboration with the City’s consultant and feedback received from residents. While the structure of the guidelines mirrors that of other adopted design guidelines in the city, such as East Rockville, the Lincoln Park Design Guidelines have been calibrated to the specific needs and feedback expressed by Lincoln Park residents.
The design guidelines look to build off the existing building requirements for Lincoln Park. As with properties throughout the City, zoning regulates building setbacks, height, and lot coverage for new and existing structures. However, the design guidelines will further refine those requirements to promote new homes and additions that will be complementary to existing structures. For example, the zoning ordinance generally establishes where a home can be placed on a property due to required setbacks. The guidelines will further include requirements that speak to the look and feel of homes to promote greater compatibility between existing and new homes. The guidelines will include requirements for limited driveway widths, garage locations to the side or to the rear of homes, and the provision of porches or stoops for new homes. These requirements help to better integrate new homes within the existing fabric of buildings in the neighborhood and better relate to a more pedestrian scale that is characteristic of Lincoln Park. The guidelines will also include requirements for façade elements such as windows, doors, and porches to ensure that large blank walls facing streets are avoided. The guidelines will also require building fronts to be oriented toward the street so that new homes continue to maintain a relationship with the street.
Lincoln Park Neighborhood Conservation District Issues
The City’s only neighborhood conservation district is in Lincoln Park. Neighborhood conservation district zones are overlay zones intended to provide a vehicle to implement programs for the revitalization or conservation of older areas or districts within the city possessing distinctive features, identity, or character worthy of retention and enhancement. Each neighborhood conservation district is established through the adoption of 1) a neighborhood conservation plan (adopted in 2007) <https://www.rockvillemd.gov/DocumentCenter/View/907/Lincoln-Park-Conservation-District-Plan?bidId=> and 2) a neighborhood conservation district zone. To move the design guidelines forward, the Lincoln Park Neighborhood Conservation District must be updated.
The district has provided certain development standards for properties in the neighborhood that are in addition to the primary zoning requirements for the area. While working on the design guidelines, residents voiced concerns regarding these development standards and requested that they be revised in conjunction with the design guidelines project. The district’s standards have proven to be outdated and have resulted in unintended issues for residents wishing to receive a building permit for their property, leading to certain neighbors’ desires for updated design guidelines. They have also not fully achieved their intent of preserving the existing character and streetscape of the community.
Specifically, the Conservation District allows a maximum lot coverage of 1,500 square feet regardless of the lot size. This lot coverage requirement includes all roofed structures including the house footprint and any detached accessory structures such as a garage or garden shed. In their feedback, residents expressed that such requirements have presented challenges when seeking building permits for the construction of new homes and additions to existing homes. In response to such feedback, the lot coverage requirement is proposed to be replaced with a new building footprint requirement in the design guidelines. Specifically, the footprint for new homes and existing multiple-story homes proposing additions would be limited to 1,800 square feet, allowing for a larger building footprint than currently allowed under the Conservation District standards while still ensuring that new structures will be in scale with existing structures.
The design guidelines would also allow for a building footprint of up to 2,100 square feet for additions where an existing one-story home is retained. This provision would be carried forward from the existing District standards to the new design guidelines and will provide flexibility in design options for property owners while also meeting the purpose of the design guidelines to allow homes that are compatible with surrounding structures, many of which are one-story homes.
There are advantages to specifying building footprint limitations as opposed to lot coverage limitations, as with the current district standards. The building footprint requirement allows additional flexibility for property owners in the design of their home improvements because certain elements such as unenclosed porches, and accessory buildings such as garages and sheds would not be included in such limitations. Such elements would instead be regulated by the lot coverage requirements of the neighborhood’s current base R-60 zoning which limits overall lot coverage to 35% of the total lot area. The focus on limiting building footprint to only the detached homes would also allow property owners to construct accessory buildings to similar standards of other neighborhoods without the additional current lot coverage restrictions and such allowance is not anticipated to conflict with the goals of the design guidelines.
The original Conservation District plan also contains language that appears to indicate that the standards were intended for buildings of non-residential use in the district. Since the design guidelines have been developed specifically for detached homes, the building standards are being updated in the Plan amendment and in the Zoning Ordinance via the ZTA to clarify that the existing standards will remain in place and will only be for non-residential and non-detached residential construction. Standards for detached residences will be covered by components in the design guidelines. The changes to the standards are detailed in the proposed text amendment (Attachment C).
Process to Implement the Design Guidelines
To adopt and apply these guidelines, the process is not a simple one because three different items need to be changed.
1. The existing Lincoln Park Neighborhood Conservation District Plan must be modified to recommend changes to the Conservation District zone and to reference new design guidelines.
2. To be consistent with the Conservation District Plan, the Neighborhood Conservation District zoning text and associated standards must be amended to address neighborhood issues and implement the guidelines.
3. The zoning ordinance must be amended to reference the design guidelines so they may be implemented through the building permit review process.
The Plan amendment, amendments to the district, and design guidelines seek to provide a robust set of guidelines that will allow property owners to build new detached homes and construct additions to existing homes that are generally compatible with the look and feel of the longstanding Lincoln Park neighborhood.
Currently, the zoning ordinance has no method for amending a neighborhood conservation district plan. However, the Mayor and Council will consider the adoption of a zoning text amendment (TXT2024-00266) on September 9th that will create a process for amending a neighborhood conservation district plan so that the Lincoln Park Design Guidelines can move forward.
In conjunction with the Plan amendment, the ZTA seeks to formally implement the updated building standards into the Conservation District as well as the new design guidelines. Specifically, Sec. 25.10.14 of the Zoning Ordinance would be revised to include reference to the Lincoln Park Design Guidelines in a similar manner to the East Rockville Design Guidelines. This would make the design guidelines applicable to building permits being sought in single-unit residential zones. The ZTA also contemplates updates to Sec. 25.14.03 which contains the building standards that will be updated as described in the Plan amendment. Updates to this section will clarify that the building standards are intended for non-residential and non-detached buildings and the design guidelines will contain requirements for detached homes.
PUBLIC OUTREACH:
There has been significant outreach as part of the design guidelines project. As a part of the process to create design guidelines for Lincoln Park, staff has engaged in outreach to the neighborhood, beginning in September 2022. This has included:
• A walking tour of the Lincoln Park neighborhood with the Lincoln Park Civic Association;
• Stakeholder interviews with community members and leaders;
• Five public meetings, four of which had postcard notifications sent to every resident and property owner in the neighborhood;
• Regular updates to the Lincoln Park Civic Association
• Eight advisory committee meetings;
• A survey posted online and at the Lincoln Park Community Center;
• A comment portal on the first and second drafts of the design guidelines, posted online and at the Lincoln Park Community Center; and
• A letter was sent to all residents and property owners regarding the project and the ability to comment on the first draft of the design guidelines, which included a reference to the Lincoln Park Conservation District.
Additional details on engagement efforts are provided in Appendix C of the Plan amendment (Attachment A). There will also be opportunities for public input at future meetings as detailed below.
NEXT STEPS:
The Plan amendment follows the requirements of State law for amending a Master Plan. At its meeting on September 25th, the Planning Commission is scheduled to hold a public hearing on the Plan amendment and ZTA to hear public feedback and ask any additional questions of staff. At its October 23rd meeting, the Commission is scheduled to provide its recommendation on the Plan amendment and ZTA.