City Extends Time for Public Comment on Proposed Police Mural

The City of Rockville is giving residents more time to weigh in on a public art project slated for Rockville City Police Department’s new annex.

The public comment period has been extended to 5 p.m. Jan. 17.

Residents can offer feedback at the city’s website, RockvilleMD.gov.

The city is considering four public art proposals for the north wall of the building on Montgomery Avenue, a project that will cost $75,000.

The Rockville Mayor and Council had been scheduled to make a determination Monday night. A city spokeswoman said in an email that the timeframe was extended because not all of the members of the council body were able to attend Monday’s meeting.

The council will likely take up the topic at a meeting in February, though an exact date has yet to be determined, city officials said in a news release Friday.

Funding for the mural project is authorized by a city ordinance that requires 1 percent of the public construction project costs be set aside for works of art. 

The city spent $9 million renovating the historic former U.S. Post Office at Washington Street and Montgomery Avenue and built a 14,538-square-foot annex behind it. The police station has been operating from the site since September 2012.

In April 2013, the city’s Department of Recreation and Parks and the Cultural Arts Commission began a search for an artist to create a work of art on the annex building’s façade.

A nomination committee selected these finalists:

• Roberto Delgado and Yamilette Duarte of Los Angeles
• David Hess of Phoenix, MD
• Charlotte Lees of Solon, Ohio
• Joy Wulke of Stony Creek, CT

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For more information on the art selection process, please contact Betty Wisda at 240-314-8681 or bwisda@rockvillemd.gov.