Rockville City Council Prepares to Get Back to Work

Discussions with the city’s Board of Supervisors of Elections and about the city’s budget, a review of the city’s ethics ordinance and a vote on various city contracts are on the tentative agenda for the Rockville City Council’s first meeting of 2013 on Monday.

The Council’s second meeting of the year, on Jan. 14, will include public hearings on the proposed reconstruction of the Stonestreet pedestrian bridge, Town Center zoning and the creation of a Financial Advisory Board.

The pedestrian bridge connecting South Stonestreet Avenue and Veirs Mill Road was demolished in 2011 after an inspection revealed structural deficiencies.

The estimated cost for the bridge replacement is $1.2 million—much higher than anticipated. The hearing will focus on whether to go ahead with the replacement or use funding for the project for other purposes.

Click here for more information on the bridge and on the Rockville 11 video above to see an update on the bridge replacement.

A hearing on Town Center zoning will focus on whether “Level 1” site development plans should be brought before the city’s Planning Commission for approval instead of being reviewed solely by city staff. Level 1 plans “are smaller in size, generate little traffic and [have] less impact on single family residences,” according to an article in Rockville Reports. An amendment changing the approval process also would require greater public notice for Level 2 site plans, which are larger in scope.

A Council decision on the zoning text amendment is expected in February.

Click here to read more in Rockville Reports.

The third public hearing will discuss potential duties and responsibilities of a Financial Advisory Board, which the Council voted Dec. 3 to create.

Click here for more information.

To reserve a space on the speakers’ list to testify on any of the topics, call the City Clerk’s Office at 240-314-8283 by 4 p.m. Jan. 14.

The public comment period for written testimony on the bridge replacement will remain open until Jan. 28.

Written testimony for all hearings may be submitted to: Douglass Barber, City Clerk, City of Rockville, 111 Maryland Ave., Rockville, MD 20850 or via email to clerk@rockvillemd.gov.

Monday’s meeting includes a consent agenda vote on contracts for wireless communications, for chemicals for the city’s water treatment plant, for bridge rehabilitation and on changes to the pension plan for city employees and changes to the Maryland Avenue sidewalk project.

A “mock agenda” is posted on the city’s website.

The Council also is scheduled to discuss costs and revenue associated with new development. It will be the last of six discussions in preparation of the Council’s fiscal 2014 budget deliberations. The Council is expected to adopt in late May the budget for fiscal 2014, which begins July 1. Other discussions have explored biennial budgeting and what it means to cut costs.

The Council last met Dec. 17.