At its Wednesday, September 28, 2022 meeting, the Rockville Planning Commission is set to approve EYA Development’s subdivision of a 20-acre site to develop up to 252 townhouses and 118 condominiums, of which 58 will be moderately priced, on the site of a car dealership adjacent to King Farm. It is difficult to understand what exactly is being proposed because the site has been broken into ten plats of 1-3 acres and there is no summary.

An unusual aspect of this project is that the streets will be named for African Americans who had a prominent role in education in the region, such as Nina Clarke, Odessa Shannon, Henson Norris, and Margaret Jones. How far the City has come from the 1960s when they demolished the African American business district for a shopping mall and a decade ago, nearly changed Middle Lane—the only element that survived—to Choice Hotels Lane (a business that has already announced its departure from Rockville).

The Planning Commission continues to be working without a full deck—only five of the seven seats are filled.  Indeed, there are 33 vacancies among nine city commissions. Is no one interested in serving or is the City Council failing to act?

More details in the 58-page agenda packet available at https://rockvillemd.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_09282022-6703.