Former Rockville City Councilman Jim Marrinan, who served on the Council from 1991-1999, condemned a last-minute attack mailing that contained false accusations against Mayor Bridget Donnell Newton during Community Forum at last night's Mayor and Council meeting. Saying it was the worst political behavior he had witnessed in 40 years in the City, Marrinan suggested the tactic backfired, as evidenced by Newton's overwhelming victory on Election Day.
Marrinan termed the mailer, sent out by the mayoral campaign of Sima Osdoby and emblazoned with logos of the Team Rockville slate, "awful."
Later at the meeting, the newly-sworn-in Mayor and Council held a public hearing to start the process of annexing the former CarMax property near the Shady Grove Metro station into the City. The site is at 15931 Frederick Road (MD 355).
Councilmember Mark Pierzchala questioned why the street between the CarMax site and the new Bainbridge Shady Grove apartments wasn't being included in the annexation. The street is currently owned by WMATA.
Planning commissioners had criticized the planned apartment building at the site for including no retail to activate the streetscape around it, or reduce driving by residents. They did ultimately recommend the proposed annexation plan.
Attorney Pat Harris, representing the developers 355 Partners, LLC and Frederick Road, LLC on the project at 15931 Frederick Road, said that the high ceilings and windows of the building's ground floor will allow future retail build-out if the retail market improves.
The Mayor and Council also discussed legislative priorities for the upcoming 2016 session of the Maryland General Assembly, such as school construction funding, and scheduling meetings on the topic of parking at Rockville Town Square. Parking problems have been blamed for recent business closures there.
Newton said she would like to include landowner Federal Realty in an upcoming worksession, and take action on the matter before the holiday shopping season gets fully underway. However, last night's scheduling discussion made it unclear that such timely action on the issue would be possible.
Photo courtesy City of Rockville
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