Subject
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Introduction and Possible Adoption of an Ordinance to adopt the Town Center Master Plan as an amendment to the adopted 2021 Comprehensive Plan for the City of Rockville, pursuant to Section 3-101 of the Land Use Article of the Annotated Code of Maryland; or Possible Adoption of a Resolution Extending the Deadline for Acting on Said Plan
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Department
CPDS - Comprehensive Planning
Recommendation
Staff recommends that the Mayor and Council review, introduce, and adopt the attached draft ordinance to adopt the 2025 Town Center Master Plan as an amendment to the adopted 2021 Comprehensive Plan for the City of Rockville. If the Mayor and Council wish to proceed with the adoption of the ordinance at its January 13 meeting, the ordinance should first be introduced, and then a motion should be made to waive the layover period. If the motion to waive the layover period is approved by six affirmative votes, a motion to adopt the ordinance may then proceed.
If the Mayor and Council chooses not to adopt the attached ordinance at its January 13 meeting, staff recommends that the Mayor and Council instead adopt the attached resolution extending the deadline to review and act upon the draft 2025 Town Center Master Plan until March 17, 2025.
Change in Law or Policy
The adoption of the updated Town Center Master Plan (See Attachment 1 - Draft Plan for Adoption Consideration) will serve as an amendment to the Rockville 2040 Comprehensive Plan, replacing the existing Planning Area 1 chapter in its entirety.
Discussion
Note: The original staff report for the January 13th meeting was published on January 3, prior to the January 6 work session. This staff report has been updated and was republished on January 8 to reflect the results of the January 6 meeting.
Background
The Mayor and Council have held three work sessions on the draft Town Center Master Plan - the first work session took place on December 9th; the second took place on December 16th; and the third and final work session took place on January 6th. Key discussions have revolved around base height allowances and the bonus height program, incentives for affordable housing, and reduction or elimination of minimum parking requirements. Motivation for including these items in the plan comes from the vision of Town Center as an area with increased residential density to attract more residents and support local businesses.
The first work session included nine topic areas that staff sought direction from the Mayor and Council. The two subsequent work sessions involved more detailed discussion on five areas for which the Mayor and Council had asked additional questions and for more information to make a more informed decision. The December 16th work session focused on the housing unit goal, the creation of an additional character area along MD-355, building base heights, and the bonus height program. The January 6th work session focused on finalizing the boundaries of the “MD-355 Corridor” character area and recommended changes to parking requirements.
January 6 Work Session
The Mayor and Council had their third work session on the draft Plan on January 6. At this work session there were two main topics of discussion: determining the geography of the MD-355 Corridor character area and determining how parking should be handled in the Plan. Ultimately the Mayor and Council came to consensus on both items.
The Mayor and Council selected “scenario 2” as the map depicting how they’d like to see the character areas arranged. In this scenario, the MD-355 Corridor character area generally applies to properties within a ½ mile radius from the Rockville Metro Station and have frontage along MD-355/Rockville Pike. The map below shows the geography of each character area within the Plan, as determined by the Mayor and Council on January 6. The character areas map on page 42 of the Plan has been updated to show this map.
Town Center Character Area Map
The Mayor and Council also determined how parking will be addressed in the Plan. The original draft of the Plan, released in April 2024, called for the elimination of minimum parking requirements within ½ mile from the Metro station and within ¼ mile from bus rapid transit (BRT) stations. This recommendation is consistent with a recently passed zoning text amendments in effect for Montgomery County. During the Planning Commission’s review, they evaluated and modified this recommendation. Ultimately the Planning Commission approved draft Plan called to eliminate minimum parking requirements throughout the entirety of the Planning Area.
On January 6 the Mayor and Council decided to revert to the recommendation within the April draft of the Plan, which calls for the elimination of minimum parking requirements within ½ mile from the Metro station and within ¼ mile from BRT stations. It should be noted that this recommendation only applies to off-street parking requirements and does not impact existing city or state requirements for providing accessible parking within close proximity to a site and requirements for loading or pick up/drop off areas.
Additionally, the Mayor and Council directed staff to incorporate the requirement of a “parking plan” to be submitted with any new development proposal within Town Center. The parking plan would require property owners to explain the amount of parking that they are providing with their project by providing information such as: proximity to the Rockville Metro station; proximity to future bus rapid transit stations; the number and names of bus routes in the immediate vicinity of the property; if there are major public parking facilities nearby; a statement of justification with data demonstrating why they believe that amount of parking is sufficient to meet the needs of their property; and if there are any unique conditions of the property that impact the amount of proposed parking.
As a result of this direction, Action 2.1.1 (page 44) has been updated to read:
“Eliminate minimum off-street parking requirements within ½ mile of the Rockville Metro Station and within ¼ mile of bus rapid transit stations. As parking minimums are eliminated, add in protections to prevent potential impacts to surrounding residential communities, such as requiring property owners to submit a parking plan when submitting development applications to provide justification for the number of parking spaces in their project. Accessible parking spaces that comply with Americans with Disabilities Act requirements must continue to be provided in accordance with state code. The elimination of parking minimums does not affect any requirements for the provision of loading areas.”
Changes During Mayor and Council Review
The Mayor and Council’s review and discussion of the Plan has resulted in several key changes from the Planning Commission draft, mostly regarding zoning and land use. The major changes made during Mayor and Council review are summarized in the list below:
1. The net new housing unit goal has been increased from 2,000 units to 3,000 units.
2. A new character area has been added to the Planning Area, called the 355-Corridor, with a base height limit of 235 feet. This character area generally includes properties within a ½ mile radius of the Rockville Metro station and with frontage on MD-355.
3. The base height limit for the edge character area has increased from 75 feet to 85 feet.
4. Qualifications for the bonus height program have been revised to include only affordable housing, specifically 20% or more moderately priced dwelling units or other deed restricted affordable housing. The Planning Commission approved draft allowed additional moderately priced dwelling units and/or additional green space improved with climate resiliency features to qualify for bonus height.
5. Bonus height has been revised to 100 additional feet of permitted height for properties within the MD-355 corridor and core character area, and 50 additional feet for properties with the edge character area.
6. Minimum off street parking requirements have been eliminated within ½ mile of the Rockville Metro Station and within ¼ mile of any future BRT stations. The Planning Commission approved draft called for the elimination of minimum off-street parking requirements throughout the entire planning area.
7. Property owners will be required to submit a “parking plan” along with their other development review documents when developing in Town Center. In this document, property owners must outline the number of parking spaces they will provide as a part of a development, as well provide a statement of justification explaining how the proposed amount of parking and/or nearby available parking will meet demand from the development’s users.
8. Action 5.1.1, referring to the location of the Rockville Metro Station BRT stop, has been modified to reflect the latest engineering and design drawings on station location.
9. A new action, Action 9.2.6, has been added calling for a public park along the future extension of Maryland Avenue.
10. Several small clerical edits have been made throughout the plan to correct typos, clarify language and update unit/ridership counts.
Plan Adoption
If the Mayor and Council chooses, it will be introducing and adopting an ordinance that in turn adopts the Town Center Master Plan, which will replace the existing Planning Area 1 chapter of the Comprehensive Plan in its entirety (See Attachment 2 - Ordinance to Adopt the Town Center Master Plan). If the Plan is adopted on January 13th, it is compliant with the window of time prescribed by the Maryland Land Use Article, which states that the elected body must act on the Plan within 90 days from transmittal of the Plan from the Planning Commission. January 13th is the last Mayor and Council meeting date before the 90-day window expires. At the January 6th work session, Mayor and Council indicated they would consider adopting the Plan on January 13 provided that an updated staff report and “clean” copy of the Plan to review were publicly available before the close of business on January 8. Both items have been completed before close of business on January 8.
If the Mayor and Council do not adopt the ordinance, a resolution must be adopted to grant an extension of 60 days, per the Land Use Article, to avoid noncompliance with state regulations (See Attachment 3 - Resolution to Request Extension of Review Timeframe).
Implementation
The Plan sets policies and recommendations that will be implemented by multiple mechanisms. The Zoning Ordinance Rewrite project, currently underway, will implement many of the zoning recommendations set forth in the Plan. The implementation chapter of the Plan contains a matrix which details the roles, responsibilities, and timelines for the recommended actions within the Plan.
Mayor and Council History
The Mayor and Council approved a project charter for an update to the Town Center Master Plan in January 2023. Since the project was initiated, staff has provided periodic updates on the project via email. The Mayor and Council hosted the first public hearing on the Plan on October 28, 2024, and second public hearing on December 9. The work sessions took place on December 9th, December 16, and January 6.
Public Notification and Engagement
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, staff estimates that approximately 1,000 individuals provided feedback. 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, available on the Engage Rockville website.
Since the draft Plan was released in April, staff has utilized Rockville Reports, City social media channels, email 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 the project page at www.engagerockville.com/towncenter <http://www.engagerockville.com/towncenter>.
Staff hosted two public meetings focused exclusively on Town Center that took place on June 18th and June 24th. All of these meetings were added to the City calendar, publicized using the city’s typical communication avenues, and open to the public.
Throughout the Planning Commission process, 31 individuals or organizations provided written comment to the Commission with their thoughts on the draft Plan. The Mayor and Council hosted two public hearings on the Plan, one on October 28 and the other on December 9. Staff have prepared a full digest of public commentary on the Plan as of 2 p.m. on January 13, 2025. This includes formally submitted testimony to the Planning Commission and Mayor and Council, as well as email correspondence to CPDS staff. This digest can be found as Attachment 4 - Digest of Public Commentary. The majority of these comments have already been reviewed by the public and Mayor and Council, as attachments to the staff reports for the October 28 and December 9 public hearings contained a digest of feedback received up until the date each respective staff report was published.
The Engage Rockville project page was updated on January 8 to provide the community with a summary of the latest changes to the Town Center Master Plan, reflecting the actions from the Mayor and Council’s work sessions. In addition to a header at the top of the project page, a news flash post has been published outlining the changes, the draft Plan for adoption consideration uploaded into the document portal and an email newsletter sent to all project subscribers.
Boards and Commissions Review
The draft Plan has been reviewed by many different boards and commissions since it was released at the end of April 2024. Between May and September, the Plan was presented to the Rockville Pedestrian Advocacy Committee, Transportation & Mobility Commission, Rockville Bicycle Advisory Committee, Environmental Commission, and Planning Commission. The Transportation and Mobility Commission and Environmental Committee provided feedback on the draft Plan in the form of written letters.
The draft Plan has been through a thorough review process before the Planning Commission. The Planning Commission reviewed and discussed the Plan on five dates between June and September 2024. On September 25th, the Planning Commission passed a resolution to approve the draft Plan and transmit it to the Mayor and Council, initiating the Mayor and Council’s formal review process.
Next Steps
If the Mayor and Council adopts the attached ordinance to adopt the 2025 Town Center Master Plan, the City website will be updated to reflect the adopted Plan. If the Mayor and Council instead adopts the attached resolution to extend the deadline to act on the plan, staff will bring the draft plan back to the body for further deliberations.