Re: Introduction and Adoption of Ordinance to grant Map Amendment MAP2007-00102 to add an overlay historic district zone at 503 Baltimore Road, rezoning the property from R-60 to R-60 HD

Ordinance No. 1-08

Councilmember Marcuccio introduced the Ordinance.  Upon motion by Councilmember Robbins, duly seconded by Councilmember Marcuccio and unanimously passed, the layover period was waived.  Upon motion by Councilmember Marcuccio, duly seconded by Councilmember Robbins, and unanimously passed, Ordinance No 1-08, granting Map Amendment MAP2007-00102 to add an overlay historic district zone at 503 Baltimore Road, rezoning the property from R-60 to R-60 HD, was adopted.

Re: Six-month Update on the FY 2008 Strategic Work Plan and Goals of Rockville Economic Development, Inc. (REDI)

Sally Sternbach, Executive Director of Rockville Economic Development, Inc., (REDI), introduced the update of REDI’s FY 2008 Strategic Work Plan by describing some underlying economic principles about Rockville that govern the work plan.  These include:

• Principle No.1 – Rockville’s geographic and demographic assets such as the proximity to federal agencies, labs and universities; a highly educated, skilled workforce; and a large amount of available Class A office space
• Principle No. 2 – Rockville’s economic drivers, which include interests in the following sectors: government, law, education, healthcare, and technology
• Principle No. 3 – Rockville’s position as a leader in technology, especially bio-technology

Based on these principles as a background for her presentation, Ms. Sternbach reviewed the accomplishments of REDI related to each goal area since the Mayor and Council approved the group’s goals and objectives last summer.  The goal areas are:

• Build Rockville’s Economy for the Future
• Attract new businesses to Rockville
• Retain and Support Rockville’s Existing Business Base
• Support the revitalization of Rockville Town Center

Since the Mayor and Council had no questions or comments at this time, Ms. Sternbach said she would return to present REDI’s new goals to the Mayor and Council in six months. 

Re: Quarterly Update on Mayor and Council Vision Priorities

City Manager Ullery introduced Assistant to the City Manager to introduce this agenda item.  Ms. Kimball said that the next time the project list is revisited, it will reflect the goals and priorities discussed at the Mayor and Council’s Retreat.

Mayor Hoffmann suggested that the Mayor and Council go over the list of projects on an exceptions only basis.  Projects singled out for discussion included:

Post Office

Mayor Hoffman commented that the renovation of the Post Office would be one of the City’s priorities on Capitol Hill.

Senior Center Addition

It was mentioned that this would be another priority for funding from the federal government.

Photo Radar

Chief of Police Terry Treschuk said that the location for the next fixed site would be on West Montgomery Avenue in the area of Chestnut Lodge.

Councilmember Robbins noted that everyone in her area is aware of the fixed camera near Wootton High School.  Deputy City Manager Catherine Tuck Parrish noted that legislation is being introduced in the General Assembly that would allow the revenue to go directly to the municipality, rather than having to pass through the counties

College Gardens Pond Park

Mayor Hoffmann noted that Mark Pierchzala, the President of the College Gardens Civic Association, was indicating “two thumbs up” from the audience

Rockville Pike Plan

City Manager Ullery said that the next planning meeting on this would be held on February 26.

Re: Town Square Parking

Mr. Ullery reminded the Mayor and Council that this item had been on the agenda a couple of weeks ago, but that more information had been requested.  He introduced David Levy, Chief of Long-Term Planning, to present this item to the Mayor and Council.  Mr. Levy gave a brief overview of the location of the garages in Town Square and the number of parking spaces in each one.  He said he was here to discuss outstanding issues related to the hours of operation and associated parking fees.  Mr. Levy also highlighted the staff’s recommendations, which included keeping the rate at $1.00 per hour and $85 per month.  Staff is also recommending the hours of 7:00 am to 6:00 p.m. for charging and giving the City Manager the authority to give a discount to patrons who arrange for more than 10,000 hours in parking and, in light of the year of free parking already enjoyed by residents, eliminating the possibility of a number of free parking to Rockville residents.  Free parking will, of course, be available to library patrons through reimbursement from Montgomery County as determined previously.

Councilmember Marcuccio commented that the gap between the debt service for the garages and the projected revenue under any of the scenarios still left a tremendous gap.  Councilmember Britton asked about the possibility of a card that could be loaded with a certain amount of credit.  Mr. Levy said that there was already a system n place like that for the street meters, but that it was not compatible with anything that could be used for the garages so staff was not recommending that.  Also, the possibility of being able to use debit and credit cards seemed to give garage patrons a number of payment options.

Councilmember Britton asked if the vendors in Town Square had been informed about the proposed charges and Mr. Levy said this had been discussed at the last tenants’ meeting.  Councilmember Britton also asked about the rate of $85 per month for long-term patrons and Mr. Levy responds that it had been determined using comparables in Wheaton, Silver Spring, and Bethesda.  On another note, Councilmember Britton said he thought it was important to do whatever possible to make Rockville an attractive destination, such as entertainment from street musicians.  Councilmember Robbins remarked that she had seen this type of civic entertainment in San Francisco’s Ghirardelli Square.  She also wondered what the reaction of the merchants had been to the staff’s recommendation and how business was going for them.  Mr. Levy said that he thought that, if the retailers had their druthers, they would prefer free parking.  He said that some of the merchants were doing quite well, operating as if they had been there for many years while others were having some difficulty getting established.  Mr. Ullery said that he had and the Mayor had met with Robin Mc Bride of Federal Realty Investment Trust (FRIT) about some additional marketing tools that could be used to promote Town Square.

Mayor Hoffmann said she thought that it had been the recommendation from the Walker Parking analysis that the City charge seven days per week, which had been something the city quickly retreated from, favoring at least some free parking in the evenings and on weekends.

Councilmember Gajewski said that he was in full support of activating the parking program on March 10 and was also in support of the fee of $1.00 per hour.  He said that he recognized the need to recover more money, but that the cost levied per hour need to be increased slowly.  Councilmember Gajewski said he also favored the fee of $85 per month for long-term patrons and had no problem with authorizing the City Manager to sign agreements for $10,000 or more as well as not implementing the free parking for citizens that had been considered.

Councilmember Gajewski said that he did have a problem with the days and hours proposed and would prefer to see the City charge on Mondays through Saturdays from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.  Councilmember Gajewski said that, since Saturday was a very busy day, and, since Montgomery County seemed willing to reimburse the City for patrons of the library and employees, he felt that not to charge on Saturday would be leaving money on the table, which he estimated to be about $60,000 per month, some of it, as stated, to be paid by Montgomery County.

Councilmember Marcuccio said that she agreed with Councilmember Gajewski except for the issue of the length of hours on Saturday, which she could see being 7:00 am to 6:00 p.m. in order to produce new revenue.  She said she wanted to continue to encourage people to see Town Square as a place to congregate and hoped to find a way to produce more revenue that would not hinder people from feeling positive about coming to Rockville.

Councilmember Britton said that he was very concerned about the shortfall, but that he was also worried about charging on evenings and weekends, especially now when it is important to get people in the habit of coming to Town Square.  Councilmember Britton said he was fine with charging beginning on March 10, the fee of $1.00 per hour and was fine with the hours of 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., but would not be opposed to 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.

Councilmember Britton also said that he would like to see a higher fee of $95 per month for long-term parking and that here should be some kind of carpool rate to encourage the use of Metro and better environmental management.  He said he, too, was fine with authorizing the City Manager to enter into agreements for more than 10,000 hours.  Councilmember Britton said he thought it was wise to monitor things very closely this year and that he would like to review all of this at the end of 2008 with the possibility that things might change.  He added that he felt the City needed to be full partners with FRIT in marketing Town Square.  Councilmember Britton also mentioned that he was concerned that, if Montgomery County thought that charging on weekends was an attempt to get more money from them, there might be some political fallout in how they might want to approach free parking for library patrons in the future.

Councilmember Robbins spoke next, saying that there was such a shortfall that the Mayor and Council had no choice but to begin charging for parking.  Councilmember Robbins added that it was imperative for Town Square to succeed and that it was of ultimate benefit to the taxpayers that that occur.  She said she was concerned about charging past six or seven o’clock and that she agreed with Councilmember Britton that this could be adjusted later.  Councilmember Robbins remarked that the key to the success of the town square was its “crown jewel,” the Rockville Library, and reiterated the need to reassess the rates and hours periodically.

Councilmember Gajewski said there was only so much that the City could give away for free and that that charging at the meters had not deterred parkers who could be parking in the garages for nothing.  He said he did not endorse a special carpool rate as suggested by Councilmember Britton and also recognized that charging until 10:00 p.m. did not have any traction among the other members of the Mayor and Council.

Mayor Hoffmann said she agreed with the stating date of March 10 and the City Manager signing the agreements for bulk parking.  The Mayor also said she was fine with charging $85 for monthly patrons, and could favor an option for carpoolers, adding that the rate of $1.00 per hour was fine.  The Mayor said that she supported charging for parking until 7:00 p.m. rather than 6:00 p.m. in light of people working later and probably not even having dinner until after 7 o’clock.  In concluding her remarks, the Mayor said that, too, would agree to a review of the rates at a later time, and certainly by the end of the year.

There was discussion about some other issues related to parking such as seasonal and day of the week variations in usage.  Councilmember Britton spoke about wanting to do something specific for Rockville citizens, such as a credit, but Mayor Hoffmann said that the problem with that was that it took money out of the General Fund.  She added that she also wanted to say that she did not favor charging for parking on Saturday at this point to give Town Square an opportunity to thrive as a destination, but reiterated that this was something that should be reviewed at a later date, perhaps even as early as this summer.  She added that she hoped that FRIT and the merchants would be a part of that discussion.

At this point, Councilmember Gajewski said he would make a motion, which would include four of the five staff recommendations, leaving out the credit to Rockville residents in deference to Councilmember Britton and making some revisions to the days and hours of operation as follows:

• Activate the system on Monday, March 10, 2008.
• Adopt a rate of $85/month for monthly parking in the Town Square garages; and authorization for the City Manager to adjust the rate by $10/month in either direction, depending on circumstances.
• Authorize for the City Manager to sign agreements with purchasers of 10,000 hours or more that would permit discounts of up to 10% on hourly parking charges. 
• Charge one dollar per hour for parking in the Town Square parking garages and at Town Center on-street meters Monday through Saturday, 7:00 am through 7:00 pm, thereby changing previous Mayor and Council direction to charge through 10 pm.

He added that he would be amenable to reviewing the whole issue at a later date.  The motion was seconded by Councilmember Marcuccio.  The motion failed on a vote of Councilmembers Gajewski and Councilmember Marcuccio voting, “aye,” and Mayor Hoffmann and Councilmembers Britton and Robbins voting, “nay.”

Councilmember Gajewski said he would make a second motion to adopt all five staff recommendations with one change of charging for parking from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday.  The motion was seconded by Councilmember Marcuccio.  In discussion of the motion, Councilmember Britton said he did not object to the hours, but could not support the motion because he would like to see the rate for long-term parking bumped up and an option for carpooling.  Mr. Levy referred Councilmember Britton to the information provided about rates for long-term users of other garages and said that he would be happy to look into the carpool option.  The question was called and the vote taken, with Mayor Hoffmann, Councilmembers Gajewski, Marcuccio, and Robbins voting, “aye,” and Councilmember Britton voting, “nay,” the following was approved:

• Activation of the system on Monday, March 10, 2008
• Adoption of a rate of $85/month for monthly parking in the Town Square garages; and authorization for the City Manager to adjust the rate by $10/month in either direction, depending on circumstances.
• Authorization for the City Manager to sign agreements with purchasers of 10,000 hours or more that would permit discounts of up to 10% on hourly parking charges. 
• A charge of $1.00 per hour for parking in the Town Square parking garages and at Town Center on-street meters Monday through Friday, 7:00 am through 7:00 pm, thereby changing previous Mayor and Council direction to charge through 10 pm.
• Elimination of a previously adopted "free parking" benefit for Rockville residents.

Re: Future Agendas

Mr. Ullery said that the discussion on the Mayor and Council’s Goals and Priorities listed for February 4 would not place on that date, but would be brought to the Mayor and Council within the next few weeks.

Re: Old/New Business

Councilmember Britton spoke of his grave concerns with the pedestrian access between the neighborhoods of Glenora Hills and Fallsgrove, noting that there are no sidewalks on the south side of Darnestown Road as just one example of the problems there.  He said that he recognized that this was a county road, not a city street, but he asked that staff look at the area for possible ways to improve pedestrian connectivity.  He also cited the area at Great Falls Road and Monument Street, where students from Julius West were apt to cross as another place where a thorough review should be conducted. 

Mr. Ullery responded that staff would check into both sites and come back to the Mayor and Council with some recommendations.

Re: Adjournment 

There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 10:20 p.m.