Commission on the Environment

Mission
The purpose of this commission is to recommend policies and programs to the Mayor & Council relating to the environment; core to this mission is promoting a sustainable community through initiatives relating to natural resource management and development, energy efficiency, watershed stewardship and protection, pollution prevention, and public education.

The Commission on the Environment is a nine-member group of Rockville residents, consisting of individuals with an environment-related career or educational background, general citizens, educators, and one student member who serves one year during his or her junior or senior year of high school or undergraduate years of college.

The Commission holds official meetings the second Tuesday of each month at 7:30 p.m. in City Hall.  Please check the agenda schedule below to make sure there has not been a change to the regularly-scheduled meeting date.  These meetings are always open to the public.  If you have any questions or concerns for the Commission, please send them to environment@rockvillemd.gov.

Commission Working Groups
To better fulfill the role of the Commission, topic-specific Working Groups were created in Watershed Protection, High Performance Buildings, and Community Outreach.  These groups meet independently of the full Commission on the Environment, and work to achieve goals in each of the project areas.

• The Watershed Protection Working Group meets the 3rd Tuesday of each month at 7:30pm.
• The High Performance Buildings Working Group meets the 4th Tuesday of each month at 7:30pm.
• The Community Outreach Working Group meets the 4th Wednesday of each month at 7:30 pm.

The Commission invites all interested residents to participate in any or all of these groups.  For more information and meeting locations, please email environment@rockvillemd.gov, or call (240) 314-8870.

Policy Recommendations
The Commission on the Environment prepares Issue Papers for presentation to the Mayor & Council on policy issues either specifically requested by Mayor & Council, or on other issues that the Commission itself raises.  The links to the Issue Papers below are in Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) files.  Click here to download Adobe Reader if you do not already have it installed on your computer.

• Refuse & Recycling Commission Recommendations
  (from September 17th Mayor & Council meeting)
• Refuse & Recycling Program Recommendations
  (from February 20, 2007 Mayor & Council public hearing)
• Montrose Parkway
• Tree Management in Forest Preserves
• Sustainable Rockville
• Stormwater Management Funding
• Expansion of Community Gardens
• CSX Coal Dust

Commission Vacancies
The Commission on the Environment does not currently have any vacancies.  Applications of interest can be submitted at any time however, and are kept on file to be notified of any future openings.  Contact the City Clerk's Office for more information on how to join.  The Commission encourages all prospective applicants to consider participating on one of the Commission's Working Groups - these groups assist the Commission in gathering and analyzing information and writing policy statements, and form a preferential pool of candidates for Commission vacancies.  Contact environment@rockvillemd.gov if you would like more information on volunteering for one of these groups.