Rockville to join Great American Smokeout November 19

Rockville City Council member
David Myles

The City of Rockville will officially join the American Cancer Society's annual Great American Smokeout nationwide event on November 19, 2020, to discourage smoking and usage of vaping products. Mayor Bridget Donnell Newton and the City Council will issue a proclamation to this effect, and residents are being directed to ACS smoking cessation advice and resources.

Rockville has already banned smoking in bars and restaurants, and in recent years on outdoor dining patios and on all City-owned property, including city parks. “While there is so much that is out of our control in this unprecedented moment, we can make individual decisions to improve our lives and the lives of those around us,” Rockville City Councilmember David Myles - who is also a physician - said in a statement Tuesday morning. “In addition to wearing a facial covering, stopping smoking has been shown to improve one's health and the health of those around you. Be a good neighbor and be good to yourself.”

Photo courtesy City of Rockville

Rockville voters head to polls as early voting begins in Maryland

Montgomery County voters who want to vote in person, but cast their ballots before Election Day, are heading to early voting centers like this one in Rockville starting today. Early voting here in Maryland runs through Monday, November 2, 2020, from 7:00 AM to 8:00 PM daily.

Executive Office Building early voting
site in Rockville

You can see the early voting locations and the current wait time at each on the Board of Elections website. Around noon today, the current wait time at the Executive Office Building voting site in Rockville was the longest at a whopping 90 minutes. Jane Lawton Community Center in Chevy Chase and Sandy Spring Volunteer Fire Department were shown with 45 minute waits. The wait time at the Silver Spring Civic Center and Wheaton Recreation Center, conversely, was zero minutes at noon.

Early voting sites with the longest
wait times on the first day of
early voting

One other tricky hurdle for voters besides the lines is matter of the ballot questions. Voters wishing to support the citizen questions on the ballot that would prevent the Montgomery County Council from voting to exceed the annual cap on property taxes, and change the structure of that County Council to nine smaller districts (and eliminate the four At-Large seats) will want to vote "Yes" on Questions B and D. 

Questions A and C are questions with similar wording the Council itself placed on the ballot. But if A and C are approved, they will cancel out Questions B and D, and neither change sought by the citizens who signed petitions would take place in that event. 

Rockville man killed in crash on Norbeck Road

A Rockville man has died after a collision on Norbeck Road Friday night. Detectives with the Collision Reconstruction Unit of the Montgomery County police say Christian Richardson, 24, of Dumbarton Drive in Rockville, was riding a 2014 Yamaha FZ-09 motorcycle heading west on Norbeck Road approaching Llewellyn Manor Way around 8:20 PM. A 2007 Toyota Prius on Llewellyn Manor Way attempted to cross Norbeck Road to enter Northwest Branch Recreational Park, and the two vehicles collided.

Richardson was transported to an unidentified local hospital, where he later died from his injuries. The driver of the Prius, identified as Tatiana Ogundeko, 22, of Waldorf, and an adult female passenger were not injured in the collision. They remained on the scene and are cooperating with police. Anyone with information regarding this collision is asked to contact the Collision Reconstruction Unit at 240-773-6620.

Strong-arm robbery in Rockville

Montgomery County police responded to a report of a strong-arm robbery in Rockville on Thursday morning. The robbery was reported along the street in the 11400 block of Rockville Pike around 7:15 AM, according to crime data.

Rockville planning staff recommends removing "substantial retail" requirement for Rockshire Village Center in master plan

Rockville Planning Commission
Chair Charles Littlefield

Residents in the Rockshire community of Rockville have long asked the Rockville Planning Commission to preserve the retail-only use of the Rockshire Village Center property in the update of the city's Comprehensive Plan. Developers seeking to redevelop the property are asking for retail use to be minimized or deleted altogether, asserting that there is no market demand for retail at that location. The Planning Commission will consider the competing arguments at its 7:00 PM, October 28, 2020 virtual meeting. City planning staff has now weighed in with recommendations.

Planning staff "does not believe that retaining the restriction on the site that it may only be retail

is in the best interests of the community or the property owner," a staff report included in the meeting agenda states, in response to testimony by resident Randy Alton. Responding to testimony opposing retail use by Bob Youngentob of development firm EYA, staff goes further, recommending commissioners delete the word "substantial" from "substantial retail" as a condition for any residential redevelopment. 

Staff also notes that commissioners could remove the word "retail" altogether. "In that case," the report suggests, "the language could be shortened to simply say:  'Any housing development must provide a significant amenity that would be an asset to the broader community.' An amenity could include retail or community space, but neither would be identified explicitly."

Lidl proposes Rockville store in King Farm, Derwood area

German grocery chain Lidl is proposing a Rockville store in the King Farm-Derwood area. The store would be on the former CarMax property at 15931 Frederick Road, near the Shady Grove Metro station. As part of the proposal, an affordable housing development with 200-250 units would later be constructed on another part of the property. The grocer is also promising to upgrade the streetscape along the Frederick Road side of the property, to improve safety for pedestrians and cyclists.

Rockville "undercover billionaire" finds Camaro Z-28 he drove while student at Richard Montgomery High School

Billionaire Glenn Stearns is best known as TV's Undercover Billionaire, and as the founder of Stearns Lending. Lesser known are his Montgomery County days, when he attended Richard Montgomery High School in Rockville. Stearns never forgot his 1969 Chevrolet Camaro Z-28, but never expected to find it again after being forced to sell it later.

But, as he tells Hot Rod magazine, Stearns incredibly found the car while attending a Barrett-Jackson auto auction with football legend John Elway. The Glacier Blue Z "was a known fast car on the streets of Rockville, Maryland, and among fellow students at Richard Montgomery High School," Hot Rod reports.

Now Stearns is once again behind the wheel of the car that once cruised the streets of Rockville. Bidding by phone when he had to leave the auction early for business, the billionaire reclaimed his long lost car. As sports car aficionados know, it's hard to stay "undercover" for long driving a Camaro Z-28.