Bank of America opening Town Center II branch in Rockville today (Photos)

The first major opening in the Phase 2 construction of Rockville Town Center will be today at 275 N. Washington Street, in the JBG Companies' new retail/office project. Bank of America will open its new branch there this morning.

This branch will replace the one that closed recently in the now-demolished Suburban Trust Building down the street (a.k.a. The Pink Bank).

MoCo Transit Authority public hearing trying to limit number of speakers to 40

A public hearing on perhaps the most controversial issue in Montgomery County - the proposal for an unelected Independent Transit Authority with unlimited taxing power to fund an equally-controversial $5 billion Bus Rapid Transit system - won't give every citizen a chance to speak, it turns out. A document uploaded to the County Executive's Transit Task Force website now says the number of speakers will be capped at 40. To quote the document, "It is planned that 40 people will be able to present their views during the Public Forum."

Other troubling details:

A May 23 memo from County Attorney Marc Hansen leaves gigantic loopholes you could drive a (rapid) bus through.

It claims, for example, that the unlimited eminent domain authority the ITA would wield is limited by Bill MC 24-15.

Not true.

Hansen states that the legislation "places an indirect limitation on the Transit Authority’s power to condemn, because it requires that the Authority submit a 6-year Capital Improvement Program (CIP) to the County for approval."

Whoops. Check out the actual legislation posted on the TTF website. On Page 5, Item 6 of the proposed legislation, it only says that the County "may include a requirement" for submission of a 6-year CIP. "May" does not equal "requires".

It also does not require the ITA to submit any budget for review by anybody. On Page 6, section II, it clearly states this: "MAY NOT REQUIRE THE TRANSIT AUTHORITY TO SUBMIT ITS CAPITAL OR ITS OPERATING BUDGET TO THE COUNTY FOR APPROVAL" (italicized emphasis mine).

To that broader lack of accountability, later in the memo Hansen clearly admits "The legislation specifically prohibits, however, the County from requiring the Transit Authority to submit its capital and operating budgets to the County for approval."

One other controversial provision Hansen does acknowledge is the proposed power of the ITA to create unlimited debt. This provision will, in Hansen's words, "prevent debt incurred by the Transit Authority from being considered as County debt by bond rating agencies."

Do the math - unlimited debt with no fear from County Council members of losing their AAA bond rating. Unlimited power by the ITA to raise taxes on you to pay back their unlimited debts. What could possibly go wrong, right?

Well, conversely, how about if the ITA somehow went bankrupt? Who would be left holding the bag for an unlimited amount of debt? It seems that the taxpayer loses under any outcome.

The document notes that state legislation may be written to create the taxing authority as soon as early September. It states that a second public hearing will be held in September, as well.

Written statements are being encouraged by the document, which civic activists recognize are utterly useless, as the general public and media rarely examine written statements submitted at these hearings. If it isn't heard live, or reported in the media afterward, it essentially is the proverbial tree falling in the forest.

Important to note if you plan to (try to) speak at this forum - you must sign up online by noon on June 17, by calling 240-777-7165. The hearing will begin at 6:00 PM on Wednesday, June 17 in the 3rd Floor Council Hearing Room at the County Council office building, located at 100 Maryland Avenue in Rockville.

Rockville launches Southlawn Industrial Area Study (Photos)

Rockville last night launched a study of an industrial area surrounded by homes, parks and an elementary school in the northeastern part of the city. The Southlawn Industrial Area Feasibility Study will be a nearly year-long process that seeks to reduce existing - and future - negative impacts of the industrial zone on the adjoining community.

The 101-acre study area is roughly bordered by E. Gude Drive, Loftstrand Lane, Dover Road, North Horners Lane, Frederick Avenue, Johnson Drive, Lincoln Avenue/Lincoln Street and 1st Street.

New attention has been turned to the area after a contentious proposal to build a self-storage facility next to Maryvale ES. That battle was resolved after the Mayor and Council passed a zoning amendment which required a larger buffer between such projects and schools in the city.

But many other issues persist, including wandering truck traffic, bicycle and pedestrian safety, and potential redevelopment or reuse of the existing industrial properties.

Map showing the various
zoning categories within
the study area

Representatives of the consulting firm on the study, VHB, were on hand last night to answer questions and take comments. The study will examine "whether industrial land uses are the most appropriate" in various locations, VHB Senior Project Engineer Daniel Lovas said.

Lovas noted that the area has a number of bicycle facilities already in place, such as the popular Millennium Trail. but that there is "not a lot of connectivity" between those facilities. That is another area the study will delve into.

Map of existing bicycle
facilities

Ways to get truck traffic back on to the routes they are currently allowed to use will also be considered.

Green routes are those
currently open to trucks 

Residents who attended gave suggestions, which were written on large sheets of paper at 4 displays around the room. Several city officials and staff members were in attendance to get feedback from residents, including Mayor Bridget Donnell Newton and Planning Director Susan Swift.

If you missed the open house, this is just the start of the process. A more formal opportunity for you to give feedback will be on June 25 from 4:00-8:00 PM at the David Scull Community Center. You can also contact the project manager and examine documents online.

Finnegan's Wake Irish Pub posts Coming Soon signage at Rockville Town Square (Photos)

Coming Soon signs have been posted at the future Finnegan's Wake Irish Pub. This will be the only Irish pub in Rockville when it opens at 100-F Gibbs Street.

Hair Design Zone opens at Rockville Town Square

Hair Design Zone opened yesterday at Rockville Town Square. The hair salon replaces Hair Cuttery, but no one will confuse the two.

As I previously reported, owner Juan Ma is bringing her experience from top salons in Japan to Rockville. Serving both male and female clients, HDZ offers popular salon products, but also a full line of Japan's premiere Milbon brand.

Something else you won't find at your typical neighborhood salon - kimono dressing.

Visit their website for a full list of services, products and prices.

Hair Design Zone

141-C Gibbs Street

301-417-4961

Developers win APFS school standards battle in Rockville

Weary residents who have battled a relentless push by developers to weaken Rockville's Adequate Public Facilities Standards (APFS) on schools often said the issue would keep coming back until the developers prevailed. That happened last night, when the Rockville City Council voted 3-2 to align its school capacity standards with those of Montgomery County. Those standards include allowing capacity to reach 120% (but in reality, MCPS allows individual schools to far exceed even that weaker cap), and to measure overcapacity by cluster, rather than the stricter school-by-school count the city had until last night. The vote sets up not only a slew of new residential development in the city, but also the battleground for this fall's city elections.

Three-fourths of the winning 2013 Team Rockville slate - Councilmembers Tom Moore, Virginia Onley and Julie Palakovich Carr - voted to pass the resolution that had previously been withdrawn by Moore at the Mayor and Council's February 9 meeting.

"We need to work with developers"

- Councilmember Virginia Onley

Both Onley and Moore used hyperbolic language in their arguments, threatening that Rockville would become a "ghost town" if the resolution did not pass. Onley said the change would be a "win-win for the city," allowing a potential 77 affordable housing units to be built in separate projects proposed by developers EYA and Avalon Bay. Palakovich Carr said she was voting with her 3-month-old son's future in mind, saying "funding has been slow to materialize" for new schools under the 2005 APFS standards.

Mayor Bridget Donnell Newton and Councilmember Beryl Feinberg both dissented in the vote, arguing that the issues of school construction and the APFS are more complicated. Newton said public facilities go far beyond schools, and include traffic capacity, services and other infrastructure that would not be covered by Moore's resolution. Feinberg countered the arguments by Moore and Onley which centered on the potential boon of impact taxes to be collected from new development. There was no guarantee that money would be spent in Rockville, Feinberg noted. "It doesn't mean you get the school any faster," she argued. "If it's not working at the county level," she asked, why adopt that policy in Rockville? Feinberg also suggested that the recession was more likely to blame for lower school construction funds than the APFS.

Newton preferred to pursue other avenues rather than simply weakening the Rockville standards. She suggested the city attempt to have new schools funded by payments directly from developers who want to build projects, for example. Taxpayers are also "upset" over ever-rising county and state taxes, she warned, saying "You can't get blood from a turnip."

The 90-minute debate found proponents of weakening the APFS making some surprisingly odd arguments that could come back to haunt them in November. For example, Moore sounded unconcerned - and Palakovich Carr praised - the bane of MCPS parents countywide - portable classroom trailers. Palakovich Carr said portables have not impacted the quality of education in the county, an assertion that would likely invite dissenting remarks at any county PTA meeting. Portables keep class sizes small, she said.

Moore said the city retains control of traffic issues - but is that true, given that many of the congested roads are actually under the control of the state? The city cannot control the timetable or extent of state highway projects, as Montgomery County officials can tell you.

Other arguments made were equally unsupported by the evidence.

For example, yes, MCPS has a 120% cap on overcrowding. But averaging by cluster allows individual schools to far exceed that cap. The 5-year test allows MCPS to permit development for which school capacity actually never gets constructed, using what Rockville Planning Commissioner Jack Leiderman correctly termed "paper schools". Adopting the MCPS standards, Leiderman argued last year, will allow overcrowding to reach or exceed 180%, far above 110% or the county's supposed 120% "cap".

Moore called the 2005 APFS measure a "failed experiment." But is it?

No overcrowded school in Rockville currently is as over-capacity as the most-crowded MCPS schools elsewhere in the county are. And the APFS has not prevented Rockville from getting new schools built. Here is a list of some completed or future projects for Rockville since the measure passed in 2005:

• New Richard Montgomery HS (2008)
• Julius West MS addition (plan underway)
• Rockville ES No. 5 (Edmonston Drive) (2019)

The wealthiest neighborhoods in Montgomery County, by contrast, are still waiting for construction of a new elementary school. One is not even in the planning process - much less coming online - in 2019 in the Westbard area, currently targeted for massive infill development by the county.

Finally, the APFS has indeed prevented excess development from further overcrowding schools; other parts of the county haven't had that safeguard.

As Montgomery County's record of building booms and budget shortfalls prove, development absolutely does not equal what Palakovich Carr termed "a huge windfall." She said new residents will fund services for existing residents. But who will pay for the services for those new residents? It's great to favor adding housing units, but every one of those units carries a cost in transportation, water and sewer, police and fire, city services and - yes - public education. Hence, MoCo's structural budget deficit, which has County Executive Ike Leggett warning of a property tax increase next year. Wait a minute, I thought massive development generated revenue, you might be asking? Wrong.

Moore - dismissing the overwhelming opposition to his resolution by citizens at public hearings - said, "our job is not to count heads," or to "listen to the angriest...voices at the end of a public hearing."

But who are the "angriest voices" in Rockville on the APFS? Those angry voices arguably belong to developers frustrated by the common sense 2005 APFS standards, and the elected members of the Montgomery County Council who collect campaign checks from them. Those have been the angry voices, who eventually threatened the city to change - "or else."

This is but the latest twist in a disturbingly tone-deaf approach to development being taken by those County Council members, and the Montgomery County Planning Department. Tired of arguing with residents whose neighborhoods are threatened by the real consequences of infill development, they've adopted a "development at all costs", ram-it-through approach.

Urbanizing the suburbs? "Shut up! It's smart growth." Traffic? "Don't count it." Portable classrooms? "Bring 'em on - we love 'em, teachers love 'em, and so do the kids." Overcrowded schools, and schools without playgrounds or other facilities? "Stop whining, you big baby."

Talk about angry voices.

Kaypi Peruvian Chicken opens in Rockville (Photos)

Kaypi Peruvian Chicken has opened at 2005 Veirs Mill Road in Rockville. The restaurant is located in the Twinbrook Marketplace shopping center.

Inside the restaurant yesterday