Rockville’s Mayor and Council Consider Revisions to Plan for the Pike

Rockville’s Mayor and Council opened the public record for written testimony on the draft Rockville’s Pike Plan at their Mayor and Council meeting July 14.

The city leaders will receive a briefing on the contents of the draft plan at their next meeting at 7 p.m. on July 21 in City Hall, 111 Maryland Ave. The meeting will be televised live on Rockville 11 (cable channel 11) and may be viewed afterward on demand on the city’s website here.

The Mayor and Council plan to hold one or more public hearings and possibly offer other opportunities for public input after their late-summer recess. The Mayor and Council will be on recess from August 12 through September 7.

Rockville’s Pike Plan establishes policies for land use, transportation, parks and other key areas along the Pike corridor between Richard Montgomery Drive and the city’s southern border (just north of Bou Avenue). This is the first update of a plan for this area since 1989.

In the context of changing economic, demographic, transportation and environmental factors, both within and immediately outside of Rockville, the proposed plan provides direction, policies and strategies for achieving a vision of the corridor as an attractive and vibrant place for shopping, living and working. It also provides Rockville’s preference for how Rockville Pike could accommodate a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) route, which will be a project of the county and/or the state.

The Planning Commission completed its work on the draft Pike plan last month after much public input, discussion and editing over the past three years. The new plan sets policy on a wide variety of issues. Some key differences between the 1989 plan and the new plan are:

• Changes to maximum permitted building heights and setback requirements.
• Accommodation for Bus Rapid Transit along the Pike.
• New streets and streetscapes in and around the Rockville Pike corridor.
• The addition of parks and open space.

To read the plan, visit www.rockvillemd.gov/rockvillespike. Printed copies of the plan are available at the Twinbrook and Rockville public libraries, the Lincoln Park, Thomas Farm and Twinbrook community centers, the Rockville Senior Center and the Community Planning and Development Services Department at Rockville City Hall.

To submit testimony to the Mayor and Council on the plan for the public record, email cityclerk@rockvillemd.gov; or mail to City Clerk’s Office, Rockville City Hall, 111 Maryland Ave., Rockville, MD 20850.

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