Monday, October 23, 2017

Public meetings scheduled for proposed self-storage, retail center in Rockville

Public meetings have been scheduled for two development projects proposed in Rockville. One is a 95000 SF self-storage facility that would be located at 204 North Stonestreet Avenue. The public can learn more at a meeting to be held Wednesday, November 1, 2017 at 7:00 PM at the Rockville Memorial Library 1st floor meeting room, at 21 Maryland Avenue.

On the next night, a public meeting on a proposed 6000 SF retail center at 900 Rockville Pike will be held on Thursday, November 2, 2017 at 7:00 PM, in the Blue Crab Conference Room at Rockville City Hall. You may recall this project is on the undeveloped land southeast of the intersection of the Pike and Edmonston Drive.

4 comments:

  1. Robert, I sure wish that you'd explore the "bigger picture" with these "developments." First, it would be nice if you would look up who owns the LLC.

    In this case, the LLC, "204 NORTH STONESTREET LLC," that owns the property is its current occupant, H.T. Harrison and Sons Roofing. In many cases, the LLC is owned by a larger developer.

    The fact that H.T. Harrison & Sons Roofing is proposing a self storage facility indicates that H.T. Harrison & Sons Roofing is either moving or going out of business (at least as a roofing company). This trend, of less and less industrial property in Rockville is not necessarily a good thing and will result in less local service-based companies and perhaps higher prices (for roofing, car repair, etc.).

    It also needs to be noted as to why someone would want to put a self-storage facility on N. Stonestreet... The reason is simple; a storage facility is a revenue generating method of holding land that will soon (3 to 10 years) be developed into high-rise mixed use.

    On N. Stonestreet this will be part of what will be "Town Center Phase III." It would just be nice if, for all the faux city planning information that the City of Rockville puts out (e.g. Rockville 2040), citizens were provided real and useful information that would make for a more informed citizenry and better long term outcomes in city planning.

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    1. Just a point of clarification, self-storage is also an industrial use. This area, and its current land-owners have the right to obtain the best use possible for their property at any given time. Future rezoning will be market driven, and the need for the business type currently occupying this area may well disappear. Mirroring the area around the Silver Spring Metro at East-West Hwy and Ga Ave, which was similar to the Stonestreet corridor ten years ago, you will see the remnents of industrial use businesses now dwarft by residential and retail. Most locally based service companies know how to survive elswhere.

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    2. Agreed. I never said that H.T. Harrison and Sons did not have the right to do whatever they want to do with their land, assuming that it’s a legal use and that the land is zoned for that use. As far as your statement, “Future rezoning will be market driven…” that’s not really true at this point. According to inside sources at Rockville City Hall, North Stonestreet will absolutely be rezoned “TC” Town Center (Mixed Used Residential High-rise) in preparation for “Town Center Phase III.” It’s a done deal. As far as your statement, “Most locally based service companies know how to survive elswhere (sic),” that’s true. I’m just wondering what Rockville residents will do, when they have to commute to Gaithersburg and beyond for simple ‘industrial’ services, not to mention having to deal with an increasingly overburdened infrastructure in the form of more traffic gridlock and overcrowded schools, caused by even more residential units.

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  2. 5:33, it sounds like you can provide the real and useful information to the citizenry. Why don't you submit something to this or any other publication instead of insisting that others do it for you?

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