Planning Commission Memo
MEETING DATE: September 25, 2024
REPORT DATE: September 18, 2024
RESPONSIBLE STAFF: Katie Gerbes, Comprehensive Planning Manager
SUBJECT:
title
Recommendation to the Mayor and Council, Including Adoption of a Resolution to Approve 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 will serve as an amendment to the Rockville 2040 Comprehensive Plan, superseding the recommendations outlined within Planning Area 1 of the original Comprehensive Plan document, as published in August 2021.
The resounding themes found throughout the Plan 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. The Plan also 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 for Town Center to become a vibrant local and regional destination where people can live, work, and play for years to come.
DISCUSSION:
On September 11, the Planning Commission discussed the draft Plan and staff recommendations resulting from the Commission’s discussion at the August 14 work session. Following public testimony and Commission discussion and rather than approving the Plan at that meeting, the Commission directed staff to make a series of changes, specifically to the by-right height limits, bonus height program and parking minimums. A summary of these changes, which have been incorporated into the latest draft Plan (Attachment A), is provided below. A redline copy of the plan is also provided as Attachment B to show where language was modified.
Parking Minimums
At the September 11 meeting, the Planning Commission decided to keep their recommendation to remove minimum parking requirements throughout the entirety of the planning area. Furthermore, the Planning Commission directed staff to incorporate the Commission’s rationale for setting the minimum parking at zero within the plan. Policy 2.1 and Action 2.1.1 have been modified as follows:
Policy 2.1: Examine the existing conditions and needs within Town Center’s parking system. Identify opportunities to improve or “Right-size” minimum parking requirements to meet market demand and combat the high cost of developing new parking, a cost that gets passed on to the consumer in the form of higher rental rates.
Action 2.1.1: Eliminate minimum parking requirements throughout the entirety of the planning area. Eliminating parking minimums does not mean no parking will be built; instead, it allows the market to respond in real time to live parking demand within the area. As parking minimums are eliminated, add in protections to prevent potential impacts to surrounding residential communities.
Height Limits
This draft retains the creation of three character areas for Town Center: the core, the edge and the transition. Height limits for the edge and transition characters areas are set to 75 feet. This is a modification from the most recent draft of the Plan that contemplated a 100-foot height limit in the transition character area. The height limit for the core character area has remained at 200 feet.
Bonus Height Program
Discussion continued at the September 11 meeting about the bonus height program. Commissioners directed staff to keep both MPDUs and community gathering/green space as eligible public amenities for the height bonus. The draft Plan provided for the September 11 meeting outlined a program whereby the creation of 5% more MPDUs or the addition of 5% more public use/open space would qualify a project for a height bonus. Instead of keeping this system, the Planning Commission directed staff to create a “tiered” bonus height program so that different weights are given to the creation of additional housing units versus addition green space on site. Commissioner Pittman also noted that the language around public use space in the draft Plan provided as a part of the September 11 brief book did not accurately portray the spirit of the discussion from the Planning Commission work session and requested that it be modified to better align with the spirit and intent of that conversation.
Action 1.1.2 has been modified in accordance with the aforementioned discussions.
Action 1.1.2: Create a bonus height program that provides additional height for any development meeting the following defined criteria. Properties within the core and transition character areas may receive 35 additional feet of height in exchange for providing 5% additional moderately priced dwelling units/other deed-restricted affordable housing. Furthermore, properties in the core and transition character areas may receive 15 additional feet of height in exchange for providing 5% more open or public use space than required by the Zoning Ordinance improved with climate resiliency features to “green” the area and address climate change impacts. Total additional height provided via the bonus height program shall not exceed 50 feet within the transition and core character areas. In the edge character area, 15 additional feet of height will be permitted in exchange for providing 5% additional moderately priced dwelling units/other deed-restricted affordable housing. 10 additional feet of height may be received in exchange for providing 5% more open or public use space than required by the Zoning Ordinance improved with climate resiliency features to “green” the area and address climate change impacts. Total additional height provided via the bonus height program shall not exceed 25 feet within the edge character area.
PUBLIC OUTREACH:
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 comments on the draft Plan. The city continues to collect feedback on the Plan through a feedback form posted on the project page at www.engagerockville.com/towncenter <http://www.engagerockville.com/towncenter>. As of the date of this staff report, 23 individuals have completed the feedback form. The Engage Rockville page also has a feedback form specific to the Rockville Metro Station Concept. As of the date of this staff report, that form has five responses. All survey responses submitted on Engage Rockville are provided as Attachment D.
Additionally, staff hosted two public meetings focused on Town Center. These meetings took place on June 18 and June 24. At these meetings, approximately 40 people learned more about the draft Plan and provided their commentary to staff.
Per the Maryland Land Use Article, which governs the process by which comprehensive plans and their amendments may be drafted and adopted, notice of the public hearing before the Planning Commission to be provided in a newspaper of record. Advertisement of the July 10 public hearing was provided in The Washington Post on June 27, 2024. Four individuals testified at the public hearing and one individual provided written testimony in advance of the public hearing.
The Engage Rockville page for the project was updated on September 18 to update the community on the latest schedule for Planning Commission approval and Mayor and Council adoption of the draft Plan. The latest draft, included in this packet as Attachment A, has also been uploaded to Engage Rockville for the community to review.
BOARDS AND COMMISSIONS:
The draft Plan was introduced to the Planning Commission on June 26, 2024, a public hearing was held before the Commission on July 10, 2024, and a work session was held on August 14, 2024. On September 11 the Planning Commission had additional discussion on the Plan and instead of approving the draft Plan at that meeting, directed staff to incorporate the changes outlined in this memo.
RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommend that the Planning Commission approve the draft Town Center Master Plan and adopt a resolution (Attachment C) to transmit the draft Plan to the Mayor and Council.
NEXT STEPS:
If approved and transmitted to the Mayor and Council at the Planning Commission’s September 25 meeting, the Plan is anticipated to adhere to the following schedule before the Mayor and Council:
• October 28, 2024 - Public Hearing
• December 9, 2024 - Work session
• January 2025 - Adoption