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Citizens Implementation Committee

On April 11, 2011, the Mayor and Council approved the formation of a Citizens Implementation Committee. The Communications Task Force (CTF) recommended the committee in their report dated June 22, 2010. The Mayor and Council discussed and endorsed the CTF recommendation on November 15, 2010 and April 4, 2011. On September 19, 2011 the Mayor and Council formally appointed eight members to the committee. The committee will report back to the Mayor and Council in February 2012 with recommendations pursuant to the scope that is outlined in this document.

Composition and Membership

• Eileen Bernstein, Resident, Chair
• Jeffery Alan Lynch, Resident
• Barry Klein, Resident
• Sushil Birla, Resident
• Elyse Gussow, Representative from the Communications Task Force (no longer active)
• Dion Santana Trahan, Representative from the Planning Commission
• Peter Mork, Representative from the Board of Appeals
• Linda Mac Dermid, Resident

Scope

Based on research completed by the CTF and legal research provided by the City Attorney’s office, the committee will:

(1) Identify ways to engage citizens as active stakeholders in key planning initiatives, such as the Rockville Pike Plan and Comprehensive Master Plan. The intent would be to find successful strategies that would encourage residents and other stakeholders to actively engage, participate and express what they want for our community so that the Comprehensive Master Plan and other official plans define the vision for the city, and provide direction for future development and infrastructure decisions and,

(2) Further evaluate the need for Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) in the development review process.

Appointments and Meetings

The City collected applications of interested individuals until Friday, August 19. The City Manager recommended the committee’s membership to the Mayor and Council on Monday, September 19. The Citizens Implementation Committee agreed to have their first meeting Monday, October 17 at 7:00 p.m., in City Hall. The committee will schedule future meetings, as they deem necessary.

Final Report

The committee presented the final report to the Mayor and Council on March 5, 2012.

Rockville to Continue Efforts to Engage Public in Planning Initiatives
(reprinted from Rockville Reports, April 2012)

At their meeting March 5, the Mayor and Council agreed with recommendations from the Citizens Implementation Committee (CIC) and instructed City staff to continue efforts to engage residents in key planning initiatives.

The Community Planning and Development Services Department and Neighborhood Resources Division have already begun implementing some of the recommendations and will continue to explore how best to implement others.

Highlights of the committee’s recommendations include:

• Increasing the printed materials available about planning initiatives in the community, including multilingual citizen engagement brochures and brochures specific to renters and businesses;
• Improving the organization and accessibility of planning projects (such as neighborhood plans) so residents can have greater input, including using consultants for larger planning projects due to the complexities involved;
• Displaying proposed development projects by address and neighborhood so residents can more easily identify their location (or view them on a map); and
• Implementing an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) process during the post-application meeting by providing a neutral facilitator to support productive dialogue about community concerns during the development review process.

For further Rockville planning information, visit City/Neighborhood Plans for planning projects or Development Projects current development applications.