Subject
title
Worksession #3 on Zoning Text Amendment Application TXT2026-00271, for the Zoning Ordinance Rewrite and Map Amendment Application MAP2026-00126, for the Comprehensive Map Amendment; Mayor and Council of Rockville, Applicants - Articles 6-8: Uses and Use Standards, Zones and Zone Standards, and General Development Requirements
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Department
CPDS - Zoning Review & Other
Discussion
Project History
In 2023, the city began a comprehensive rewrite of the city’s Zoning Ordinance. This project, known as the Zoning Ordinance Rewrite, kicked off shortly after the adoption of the Rockville 2040 Comprehensive Plan. The Zoning Ordinance Rewrite project will produce a new Zoning Ordinance for the City of Rockville. In conjunction with the Zoning Ordinance Rewrite (ZOR), the city’s zoning map will be updated through an amendment to the zoning map.
Adoption Process
On December 1, the Rockville Mayor and Council authorized applications for staff’s recommended drafts of the Zoning Text Amendment (ZTA) and Comprehensive Map Amendment (CMA) with the City Clerk (colloquially called the “Staff Draft Zoning Ordinance” and “Staff Draft zoning map”). Authorization to file initiated the formal adoption process.
The Planning Commission concluded its review of the Staff Drafts on February 25, transmitting recommendations to the Mayor and Council. The Mayor and Council began their review on April 13. During the review process, community members are also able to review, comment, and testify on the Staff Drafts. The full adoption process is planned to last from December 2025 to July 2026.
Work Session
Background
This worksession is the third in a series of work sessions that the Mayor and Council will hold during the adoption process. During this work session, Mayor and Council will discuss Articles 6 through 8 of the Staff Draft Zoning Ordinance, focusing on the “Key Changes” between the current ordinance and the proposed ordinance as identified in Highlights: Staff Draft Zoning Ordinance. The work session will also address Planning Commission recommendations related to the following items:
• Use-Based Gross Floor Areas (GFA) restrictions (in Article 6)
• Established setbacks (in Article 7)
• Front yard coverage (in Article 7)
• Deer mesh (in Article 8)
Additional information on these items is included in Attachment 1 - Planning Commission Recommendations (Articles 6 - 8).
The following materials can be accessed via the project webpage, engagerockville.com/zoningrewrite </..//../Users/jwasilak/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Olk/Attachments/ooa-1d340a77-5d6d-4c19-8c0b-7e34da7eaf70/f33d5f8e4fa6cb81aa9add30edbda9d58b51057601420887bcdc1176dc6317ec/engagerockville.com/zoningrewrite>:
• Staff Draft Zoning Ordinance Table of Contents
• Original Staff Drafts, Authorized for Filing on December 1, 2025
o Highlights: Staff Draft Zoning Ordinance
o Staff Draft Zoning Ordinance (full text)
o Staff Draft Zoning Map
• Revised Staff Draft published to Engage Rockville on April 20, 2026
o Revised Staff Draft zoning map
o Revised Staff Draft Zoning Ordinance ("Clean" Version)
o Revised Staff Draft Zoning Ordinance ("Redline" Version)
o Changes in the Revised Staff Draft Zoning Ordinance
Key Changes by Article
The information below is adapted from Highlights: Staff Draft Zoning Ordinance. Key Changes from the current Zoning Ordinance to the Revised Staff Draft Zoning Ordinance are listed. Changes corresponding with specific direction from Mayor and Council, received either during the pre-release work session held in 2025 or during the April 13 work session, are denoted in red italics.
Article 6. Uses and Use Standards
Rationale
This new article addresses the permissions, definitions, and standards for all uses included in the Zoning Ordinance. To increase transparency and accessibility, the new article pulls together use-based standards from many different sections of the existing ordinance (including the various zones articles, the parking and loading article, and the nonconformities article, among others) to provide a clear and comprehensive view of use-based regulations.
Staff also reviewed all existing uses, use permissions, and use standards (as described below), resulting in comprehensive changes.
Key Changes
1. Grandfathered existing uses that were conforming prior to the effective date of the ordinance.
2. Ensures use terms and definitions are clear and current.
3. Updates the list of uses contained in the Zoning Ordinance. This includes eliminating and consolidating uses. It also includes adding new uses, and associated use permissions and, where applicable, use standards.
4. Organizes use permissions into one comprehensive use table, allowing for comparison across zones. Locates all use definitions and standards within the same division, significantly increasing transparency and reducing the need to search the ordinance.
5. For accuracy, redefines what a ‘Permitted’ versus a ‘Conditional’ use is. In the Staff Draft, permitted uses may or may not have use standards, and any use standards associated with a permitted use apply regardless of the zone the use is located in; Conditional uses have use standards that differ from one zone to another.
6. Comprehensively updates the list of uses, use permissions, and use standards to:
a. Accomplish the goals of the Rockville 2040 Comprehensive Plan.
b. Implement best planning practices.
c. Make regulations more modern and user-friendly.
d. Increase equity.
e. Address identified issues.
f. Reflect state and federal law.
7. Transitions many Special Exception uses to Permitted or Conditional uses. In certain cases, it introduces new use standards to retain the intention of the Special Exception while reducing the process (by eliminating the Special Exception).
8. Eliminates gross floor area (GFA) restrictions for many uses.
Article 7. Zone Standards
Rationale
The new article modernizes and streamlines development standards to improve clarity, usability, and consistency across districts. They align local regulations with state housing laws, support new and revised zoning districts that promote housing diversity and efficient land use, and provide objective, flexible design standards that encourage high-quality development. Together, these changes create a more predictable, transparent, and adaptable regulatory framework that better supports the city’s housing, economic development, and urban design goals.
Key Changes
1. Consolidates development standards into tables grouped by similar zones to improve usability and transparency.
2. Introduces development standards for new zones (MXTD-235, MXTD-200, MXTD-85, and RHD) to implement the recommendations of the Town Center Master Plan and support desired land use patterns.
3. Significantly revises standards for the RMD-Infill (‘missing middle’) zone, increasing flexibility for the development of diverse housing types.
4. Modifies development standards, including:
a. Modernizing the development standards of the RMD-25 zone.
b. Increasing height maximums in the MXNC and I-L zones.
c. Revising certain development standards to reduce nonconformities.
5. Incorporates bonus heights associated with the State’s Housing Expansion and Affordability Act.
6. Replaces current requirements intended to provide transitions between lower and higher intensity zones with modern height transitions provisions.
7. Significantly revises the design standards for the MX zones to increase clarity and objectivity. Provides alternative compliance provisions for projects that propose designs that meet or exceed the intent of the design standards.
8. Eliminates the creation of new Neighborhood Conservation District plans (this change will not impact existing Neighborhood Conservation District plans).
9. Revise Planned Development (PD) zone use permissions to allow uses based on the equivalent zone.
Article 8. General Development Requirements
Division 1. Accessory Structures
Rationale
This Division clarifies regulations for accessory buildings and structures and locates relevant regulations in one place for ease of access.
Key Changes
1. Consolidates accessory buildings and structures regulations in one location.
2. For residential accessory buildings and structures:
a. Adds new applicability provisions to increase clarity.
b. Eliminates rear yard lot coverage requirements, as they are viewed to be inequitable and overly restrictive.
c. Adds provisions for the RMD-Infill.
Division 2. Parking and Loading
Rationale
This Division modernizes parking and loading standards to align with transit accessibility, sustainability goals, and evolving mobility patterns. The updates generally introduce flexibility to encourage more efficient land use and multimodal access while introducing new provisions for electric vehicles, pedestrian safety, and sustainable infrastructure, such as solar canopies. New/increased standards for pick-up/drop-off and commercial loading have also been added to address staff-identified issues.
Key Changes
1. Eliminates the Parking and Loading Division purpose statement, as it performs no regulatory function.
2. Eliminates minimum parking requirements within ½ mile of Metro or ¼ mile of Bus Rapid transit. No additional ADA parking is proposed to be required.
3. Right-sizes minimum parking requirements for individual uses. Additionally, update the minimum parking requirements by:
a. Revising how/when minimum parking requirements apply, to increase flexibility.
b. Providing by-right ‘adjustments’ to required parking ratios to support city goals and policies, similar to Montgomery County.
c. Outlining a new process for requesting reductions to the required parking ratios.
d. Allowing greater flexibility in shared parking ratios, consistent with Montgomery County.
e. Removing provisions allowing for the deferral of providing required parking.
4. Loosens maximum parking requirements, while expanding the zones in which they apply.
5. Re-introduces compact parking spaces as an allowable parking space type (previously eliminated with the 2009 update to the Zoning Ordinance).
6. Introduces new minimum requirements for pick-up/drop-off spaces and loading spaces, and clarifies existing requirements for stacking spaces. Includes a process for reducing minimum requirements.
7. Introduces new standards for electric vehicle parking spaces and electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE) to complement the requirements in the Building Code (Chapter 5).
8. Introduces new requirements for pedestrian visibility where sidewalks intersect driveways.
9. Allows solar canopies over parking spaces.
Division 3. Pedestrian and Bicycle Facilities
Rationale
This Division consolidates and clarifies requirements for pedestrian and bicycle facilities to improve consistency and usability, while ensuring that new development supports active transportation. They establish clear, right-sized bicycle parking standards and design requirements consistent with best practices, with flexibility provided through a waiver process.
Key Changes
1. Consolidates pedestrian and bicycle facilities regulations in one location.
2. Requires bicycle parking for both principal and accessory uses. Updates and right-sizes minimum bicycle parking requirements for individual uses.
3. Clarifies bicycle parking location requirements.
4. Includes new requirements for pedestrian walkways within parking facilities.
5. Includes new design standards for short-term and long-term bicycle parking, consistent with best practices.
6. Ensures flexibility by allowing applicants to seek a waiver from requirements.
Division 4. Amenity Space
Rationale
The current Zoning Ordinance requires development to provide a certain amount of public use space “to promote an appropriate balance between the built environment, public parks and other open spaces intended for respite from urban development, and to protect natural features and preserve the character of the City.” Public use space is currently defined very broadly, and the current Zoning Ordinance does not always ensure that the public use space provided by developments in the City is of high quality. The new Zoning Ordinance eliminates the requirements for public use space in favor of “amenity space,” which is defined more narrowly to require that all development projects subject to the amenity space requirement provide contiguous, high-quality, amenitized space for residents, employees, patrons, and the public.
Key Changes
1. Transitions from broadly defined ‘public use space’ to ‘amenity space,’ which is defined to include only high-quality space with amenities, including those for both passive and active uses.
2. Requires amenity space for residential and mixed-use projects in the mixed-use zones, residential medium density zones, and Residential High Density (RHD) Zone, except when the project:
a. Consists of five or fewer dwelling units.
b. Is a non-residential use with a gross floor area of 20,000 square feet or smaller.
c. Is on a site of one acre or less in the MXTD or 20,000 square feet in any other zone.
d. Is a 100 percent affordable residential development located within ¼ mile of a public park or publicly accessible amenity space.
3. Establishes certain design and configuration requirements for amenity space, including continuing to require that the space be publicly accessible except in certain circumstances.
4. Allows flexibility in the MXTD (where the Plan prioritizes density and where land is at a premium) for 50 percent of the required amenity space to be accessible only to residents of the development, such as on a rooftop.
5. Allows amenity space requirements to be met through dedication of land to the City, fee-in-lieu, or alternative compliance.
Division 5. Land Abutting Parks
Rationale
This Division introduces a new requirement for land that abuts City-owned parks. This requirement is intended to ultimately replace the Park Buffer requirements contained in the City’s Environmental Guidelines, which lack desired force.
Key Changes
1. Introduces a new requirement that, on property abutting a City-owned park, excavation and grading are not permitted within 25 feet of any forest located on the City-owned park.
Division 6. Environmental Guidelines
Rationale
This Division incorporates by reference the City’s Environmental Guidelines, which will be updated through a separate process.
Key Changes
1. No substantive changes.
Division 7. Landscaping and Screening
Rationale
This Division outlines landscaping requirements, which are currently addressed in the City’s Landscaping, Screening, and Lighting Manual. The draft Zoning Ordinance moves these requirements from the existing Manual into the body of the Zoning Ordinance to better integrate them with other development standards.
Key Changes
1. Includes new specifications for plant materials, including height and caliper, consistent with Chapter 10.5 and best practices.
2. Updates required parking lot perimeter planting strips. Information is also generally restructured from narrative to tables for ease of use.
3. Clarifies which Industrial (or similar) uses require transitional buffer yards to screen residential uses (currently, these requirements apply to/from all “Industrial” uses to/from all “Residential” uses).
Division 8. Lighting
Rationale
This Division incorporates by reference the lighting portion of the City’s Landscaping, Screening, and Lighting Manual, which is being updated through a separate process.
Key Changes
1. No substantive changes.
Division 9. Noise
Rationale
This Division requires compliance with the County Code Chapter 31B, Noise Control. The new Division consolidates in one location all information related to noise that is currently contained in the Zoning Ordinance to increase transparency and accessibility.
Key Changes
1. Consolidates all relevant information into one Division.
2. No substantive changes.
Division 10. Utility Lines and Equipment
Rationale
This Division describes requirements specific to utility lines and equipment, particularly related to undergrounding and screening. The new Zoning Ordinance does not propose any substantive changes to this Division.
Key Changes
1. Update to clarify that requirements apply to gas utilities.
Division 11. Adequate Public Facilities
Rationale
This Division provides the framework for ensuring that new development in the City is served by adequate public facilities (“APF”). Much of the detail in testing for APF is currently captured in the City’s Adequate Public Facilities Standards, and the new Zoning Ordinance preserves this approach. However, the new Zoning Ordinance clarifies the language in the current code and simplifies the process for determining how long a development’s adequate public facilities approval lasts.
Key Changes
1. Eliminates the complex process for extending an APF approval in favor of more clearly tying APF approval to the validity period of an underlying development approval, such as a Project Plan or Site Plan.
Mayor and Council History
Information related to the Mayor and Council history for the project is contained in the staff report for the public hearing on the associated Zoning Text Amendment.
Public Notification and Engagement
Information related to public notification and engagement for the project is contained in the staff report for the public hearing on the associated Zoning Text Amendment.
Boards and Commissions Review
Information related to board and commission review is contained in the staff report for the public hearing on the associated Zoning Text Amendment.
Next Steps
Next steps are contained in the staff report for the public hearing on the associated Zoning Text Amendment.