The city recently updated and relaunched its Development Watch newsletter, a monthly email with details on projects and new residential, office, and commercial development in the City of Rockville.
The email will include: a link to a GIS map showing the newly submitted projects; plans and other information; and upcoming meeting dates when available.
The updated newsletter is among several initiatives underway to improve Rockville’s development review and permitting services under a project known as FAST, which stands for “faster, accountable, smarter and transparent.”
Sign up for the monthly update on the Development Watch webpage, at www.rockvillemd.gov/developmentwatch.
Category: Development and Planning (Page 1 of 19)
New ways of doing business during the pandemic marked Fiscal Year 2020 for Rockville Economic Development, Inc., the nonprofit charged with helping businesses launch, locate and expand in Rockville.
The City of Rockville is now accepting applications for an anticipated $263,000 in federal Community Development Block Grant funding for the fall of Fiscal Year 2022.
The CDBG program is a federal grant for housing and community development projects that benefit low- and moderate-income individuals, and provides grants to housing providers for housing and community development projects that benefit low- and moderate-income households or neighborhoods.
The Mayor and Council will hold a public hearing on community needs for CDBG projects at 7 p.m. Monday, Sept. 14. Applicants are encouraged to attend.
Fiscal Year 2022 grants will fund projects from July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2022.
Application instructions and an application form can be downloaded at www.rockvillemd.gov/942/Community-Development-Block-Grant.
Contact rehabilitation specialist Martin Dasler at 240-314-8208 or mdasler@rockvillemd.gov for more information.
Customers will now know exactly what to expect when they deal with Rockville’s departments of Planning and Development Services and Public Works under a new customer bill of rights.
The bill of rights is based on a document from the City of San Diego’s Department of Development Services. The bill of rights is a public statement of the departments’ commitment to providing the best possible service.
The bill of rights outlines the kind of service customers can expect from the departments, including prompt and courteous interactions and transparency, as well as the opportunity to provide feedback on service and request a second opinion of decisions.
See the full customer service bill of rights at www.rockvillemd.gov/2324/Customer-Bill-of-Rights.
Rockville’s Planning Commission will hold a virtual public hearing on Sept. 9 and 23 for the community to provide comments on the Planning Commission’s draft of the neighborhood-specific planning areas section of the comprehensive plan update. Details on how to pre-register for and participate in the public hearing are available online at www.rockville
md.gov/Rockville2040.
The Mayor and Council at their July 13 meeting, adopted the Park Road and North/South Stonestreet Avenue Area Comprehensive Master Plan Amendment, one of the key opportunity areas identified in the 2018 Stonestreet Corridor Study.
The plan amendment promotes a walkable, transit-oriented mix of residential and commercial development immediately across Park Road from the Rockville Metro Station and sets policies to permit additional housing types in the residential areas closest to the station across South Stonestreet Avenue.
The adopted plan amendment, the Stonestreet Corridor Study and project updates can be viewed on the city’s website at www.rockvillemd.gov/2004/Stonestreet-Corridor.
Rockville’s Planning Commission will hold public hearings on Sept. 9 and 23 for the community to provide comments in-person on the initial staff draft of the neighborhood-specific sections of the comprehensive plan update.
Written comments continue to be accepted leading up and just after the September hearings. Testimony can be submitted online.
Planning staff is available by request via email or virtual meeting to answer questions and talk with community associations, residents, businesses, workers and other organizations, so that community members can learn more about the draft’s contents and how to provide feedback.
With the closure of in-person visits to City Hall, Rockville’s Planning and Development Services Department has adopted a new service approach that allows customers to do business from the convenience of their couch.
Staff members have adopted non-paper-intensive processing of planning documents, permit applications, licenses and plan review via email, phone, online and virtually. Customers can submit materials electronically, saving them a trip to City Hall.
The City of Rockville has merged several divisions to form a new Department of Housing and Community Development, which will more efficiently and effectively address the affordable housing and social services needs of city residents.
The Mayor and Council have extended to Saturday, Aug. 22 the deadline to decide on the draft of the Park Road and North/South Stonestreet Avenue Area Comprehensive Master Plan Amendment.
The extension results from additional time needed to accommodate public hearing testimony into virtual meetings. A public hearing was held on the draft via videoconference during the Mayor and Council’s June 8 meeting.
At their meeting on July 13, the Mayor and Council will discuss testimony, potential revisions to the draft plan, and possible adoption.
The amendment promotes a walkable, transit-oriented mix of residential and commercial development immediately across Park Road from the Rockville Metro Station, and would set policies to permit additional housing types in the residential areas closest to the station across South Stonestreet Avenue.
For more information, contact Andrea Gilles at agilles@rockvillemd.gov or 240-314-8273. Visit www.rockvillemd.gov/stonestreetstudy to view the amendment and www.rockvillemd.gov/agendacenter to view the Mayor and Council agenda.
