Rockville Planning Commission to discuss building heights, housing targets for Town Center tonight

The Rockville Planning Commission will hold a work session on the draft 2024 Rockville Town Master Plan tonight, August 14, 2024, at 7:00 PM, at Rockville City Hall. Key points of discussion will be the maximum building heights to be allowed in the "core" and "edge" areas of the Town Center, the target number of housing units to be developed over the life of the plan, and the parking policies and standards for the Town Center area.

Area covered by the Town Center
Master Plan is outlined in black

The current draft of the plan allows buildings up to 200' tall in the core zone of the Town Center, and up to 75' in the edge zone, where the latter transitions from the urban Town Center to the single-family homes of the West End. It projects a housing goal of 2000 new units within the Town Center by 2040. During the public feedback process for the plan, several people suggested setting a housing unit target higher than 2000 units. There are currently only 608 housing units in the development pipeline for Town Center, which has led City planning staff to believe that it would not be realistic to propose a target higher than 2300 to 2500 units.

The number of units has been a hot topic of debate, as many have suggested that there are not enough people living in the Town Center to support the businesses there. Likewise, parking has been highly controversial, as many residents and business owners alike have cited parking issues as a deterrent to business in the Town Center.

Following tonight's discussion, commissioners will instruct staff to implement or report back on potential revisions to the draft plan. The commission will then review the updated draft at its September 11, 2024 meeting. If commissioners are satisfied with the draft at that time, they will have the option to vote to approve the plan, and transmit it to the Mayor and Council for their review, revision, and approval.

Pickpocket strikes at Rockville grocery store

Watch your wallet! Rockville City police were called after a victim's pocket was picked at the Safeway at 403 Redland Boulevard in the King Farm Village Center Sunday night, August 11, 2024. The theft was reported at the supermarket at 7:00 PM Sunday. Next, the thief apparently attempted to make purchases with the victim's credit card at a convenience store.

Virginia destroys Montgomery County, Maryland on 2024 Fortune 500, Global 500 lists

Montgomery County and Maryland continue to find mis-fortune in the world of business, as Virginia - and Northern Virginia in particular - have completely wiped the floor with both in Fortune magazine's 2024 Fortune 500 and Fortune Global 500 lists. The magazine published the latter list this past Friday. For 2024, seven Virginia-based companies rank in the Global 500; Maryland has only one: Lockheed Martin. 

This past May's Fortune 500 list, which is limited to American companies, was equally bad for MoCo and the Old Line State. Virginia has 24 Fortune 500 firms, more than half headquartered in Northern Virginia. Maryland has just four. Montgomery County remains down to only two, after Discovery fled to Knoxville and New York City in 2019. 

Perhaps the most humiliating aspect of Discovery's exit was that the Montgomery County Council was not engaged with the company's leaders at all, and was laser-focused on outlawing the use of animals in circuses during the very days that New York and Tennessee were sealing their deal with Discovery.

Montgomery County not only has failed to retain, much less grow, its stable of Fortune 500 companies in recent years, but hasn't attracted a single major corporate headquarters in over a quarter-century. "We don't need the Lockheed headquarters," former County Councilmember Nancy Floreen infamously declared in 2010. The Council's wish could come true: Lockheed recently announced it is shrinking - not growing - its footprint in Montgomery County, selling off its Rockville campus. 

Lockheed seems intimately aware that MoCo's elected officials are putting all their effort into helping their developer sugar daddies continue to transform the County into a bedroom community, rather than attracting and keeping high-wage jobs and corporate headquarters like theirs. The aerospace firm is marketing its Rockville campus as a site for townhomes, not corporate offices or research facilities. If that pitch isn't "peak 2024 Montgomery County," I don't know what is. Of course, even former County Executive Ike Leggett sounded the alarm that we were becoming a bedroom community before he left office, an incredible moment of political bravery and candor that surely did not sit well with the Montgomery County cartel.

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin hasn't released a statement yet regarding the Fortune Global 500. But he did issue a press release to announce $126 million in State grants to fund preparation of business-ready sites across the Commonwealth. It's important to remember that the paradigm of Virginia crushing Montgomery County and Maryland in economic development predates Youngkin and Maryland Gov. Wes Moore. The issue isn't necessarily partisan, either. While Montgomery County's Republican residents have been denied any representation on the County Council through clever gerrymandering of Council districts since 2002, Virginia's booming business growth and 21st-century corporate HQ haul have come under one GOP and two Democratic governors. And several of America's top states for business have Democratic governors.

In contrast, Montgomery County and Maryland continue to self-sabotage their own "fortunes" in economic development. We have to be honest that this sabotage has been fully intentional. A new Potomac River crossing could have long ago given us direct access to Dulles International Airport, the only airport in the region with the flight frequency and global destinations demanded by CEOs and top executives. We've never completed our master plan highway system, when so many large companies are rightly focused on logistics, and seek states that invest in infrastructure like Virginia has. "Business-ready sites? What's that?" Most of our County elected officials have been tasked by their developer sugar daddies to convert as many existing or planned office and retail properties to luxury housing as possible. And they are delivering, as a quick drive around the Montgomery Mall, Wheaton, Germantown, Tower Oaks, or King Farm areas in recent years will reveal.

As a result, our County economy has been moribund since shortly after the MoCo cartel seized a majority of seats on the Council in 2002. The destruction of our business sector that began in December of that year has only accelerated over time. They're laughing at us in Arlington, Fairfax, Herndon, Manassas, and Richmond. But as more and more of the region's highest regressive tax burden shifts onto the shoulders of Montgomery County residents, the only smiles here are on the faces of the MoCo cartel, and the elected officials they totally control.

Purse snatched at Rockville hotel

Rockville City police were called to a hotel after a purse was reported having been snatched there Friday afternoon, August 9, 2024. Officers responded to the Best Western at 1251 W. Montgomery Avenue at 4:40 PM Friday. No force was used in taking the purse from the victim, reportedly.

Armed robbery at Walgreens in Rockville

Rockville City police responded to a report of an armed robbery at Walgreens at 1075 Seven Locks Road on Wednesday night, August 7, 2024. The robbery was reported at 9:17 PM Wednesday. @MoCoPGNews on Twitter posted that the suspect was wielding a knife, and grabbed money out of a cash register. If you have any information about this incident, call police at 240-314-8900.

Assault at Montgomery Mall in Bethesda

Oh, no, not again! Montgomery County police responded to a report of a 2nd-degree assault at Westfield Montgomery Mall in Bethesda on Thursday afternoon, August 8, 2024. The assault was reported at 3:16 PM. Like some of the assaults at the mall in 2024, Thursday's was related to a shoplifting attempt. This was the ninth assault police have responded to at the mall this year.

There were 12 assaults reported at the popular retail center in 2022. That number dropped to 5 last year, after the Montgomery County Police Department opened a "resource room" at the mall, in response to the 2022 numbers. But the violence has rebounded this year, with the mall now on pace to more than triple last year's assault total. 

Umi Hotpot Sushi & Seafood Buffet sets opening date in Rockville

Umi Hotpot Sushi & Seafood Buffet at 1471 Rockville Pike will welcome its first customers this weekend. The restaurant will open tomorrow, Saturday, August 10, 2024. Promising "the largest and most elegant Chinese, Japanese and American cuisine restaurant," Umi is opening several new locations in the U.S. this year. This building was formerly home to Miller's Ale House.