A Very Long HDC Meeting
Last Thursday the Historic District Commission held its regular monthly meeting and if anyone was watching to the end, you may have noticed that the clock was nearing midnight. We usually try to finish at 10 pm but we had an ambitious agenda, including:
1. A joint meeting with the Environment Commission, which included three Planning Commissioners. The City has about two dozen commissions and boards but they rarely, if ever, talk with each other, even if they share some common goals or are tackling the same issue. This past year the HDC has requested meetings with other commissions but it’s been slow because finding mutual agreeable times is difficult and sometimes, I regret to say, the Chair of the other commission refused to respond to emails or phone calls to meet (what’s that about??). So far, we’ve met with the Planning Commission and this month with the Environment Commission. These meetings are just an hour so no decisions are made, but they provide introductions and we learn a bit more about each other to discover areas of mutual interest. It’s obvious that the Environmental Commission and the HDC both want to encourage Continue reading →
The Proposed Green Building Regulations: Can We Do More?
On May 21, the City of Rockville provided an update on the revisions to the Building Code, including the new Green Building Regulations, to the Historic District Commission and Recreation and Parks Committee.
I am delighted that this action is finally taking place, indeed, I sense it will be adopted with few objections because so many of these ideas have been already accepted by the community with our growing awareness that the nation’s resources are limited and our current ways of living are no longer sustainable. I especially appreciate that the City is following the standards of LEED from the US Green Building Council, while providing a less costly alternative through “Rockville Certified” and “Rockville Silver” ratings.
However, I urge the Mayor and Council to be more visionary and adopt higher standards than proposed, as follows:
1. Ensure that the City Code is aligned with the latest LEED rating system. I believe the proposed code is based on LEED 2 (released in 2000), however, the US Green Building Council adopted LEED 3 (aka LEED 2009) in April 2009 and all new projects must be certified under LEED 3 after June 27, 2009. Builders and property owners should not be required to meet two different standards and it will only result in opposition to green building practices in Rockville.
2. Require that all new construction, no matter the size, meet the Green Building Code. Continue reading →
Chestnut Lodge fire adds to Rockville losses
This morning at about 3 am, Chestnut Lodge caught fire and nearly burned to the ground. All that currently survives are the brick walls and they are in extremely fragile condition. Arson is suspected and after the investigation is completed in the next few days, I believe the entire building will be demolished to protect public safety. The City of Rockville just lost one of its most significant historic landmarks.
Chestnut Lodge began its life as the Woodlawn Hotel, a resort that attracted residents from Washington DC, and ended as Chestnut Lodge, the internationally renowned sanitarium that included such pre-eminient psychologists as Dr. Frieda Fromm Reichman. The four-story French Second Empire building in its park-like setting provided a visual anchor for the West End neighborhood. Its abandonment in 2001 caused wide concern in the city but eventually Chestnut Lodge Properties purchased it with plans to rehabilitate it into eight luxury condominiums. At this time, its future is unclear– Continue reading →
New Urbanism video includes Rockville Town Square
Built to Last recently won first prize in the Congress for the New Urbanism video contest. It’s a three-minute video explaining how the principles of New Urbanism – density, design and walkability – can effectively respond to the current environmental challenges that we face. It may be a bit controversial in suburban Rockville but if you watch closely, you’ll see our Town Square flit by as an example (perhaps New Urbanism is already here?).
Today’s Issues
Tonight the Historic District Commission held its regular meeting and encountered a few issues that touch the larger community:
1. The new “Green” section of the Building Code has been long overdue but as a result, should be easily adopted. Indeed, it probably doesn’t go far enough. The code has different levels of expectations (e.g, Rockville Certified, Rockville Silver) based on the number of points scored on a menu of tasks (e.g., if you install solar panels, you get X points). To achieve the “certified” level, you must have a minimum number of total points, and for “silver” it’s a bit higher. What level you need to achieve is based on the size of the building. What’s odd is that non-residential (aka, commercial) and multi-family (aka, apartments) need to achieve “certified” if they’re larger than 7,000 sf. Low rise residential (aka, single family homes) must “certified” no matter the size. Actually, certified shouldn’t be that hard to reach, especially if you have any interest in saving energy. For me, all new construction–residential or commerical–should reach the lowest “certified” level no matter the size. Why are small office, retail, and apartment buildings exempt? Aren’t we all supposed to be good citizens and save energy? If you have comments, send them to the City by the end of May so they can be incorporated into the next draft in June.
2. We recommended that a home at 224 Elizabeth Avenue in Lincoln Park be designated historic. It wasn’t a unanimous decision and I predict that the Mayor and Council will have a difficult time deciding this one. However, what did come up was that the Zoning Code allows churches in every zone of the city, including residential. Coming from California, this is a strange notion. My former hometown only allowed churches in residential zones as conditional uses because of the traffic and parking lots–it really disrupted a neighborhood, especially on weekends. In Rockville, I’ve become accustomed to churches tucked in neighborhoods and it seems to be a good thing. But once they reach a certain size (say, over a capacity of 100-200), they really need to move to a more suitable location on a highway or in a non-residential zone that can handle the traffic and parking, or receive a conditional use permit to demonstrate they won’t have an adverse impact on nearby homes. Right now, churches can buy adjacent houses and turn them into parking lots, or simply grow in size on their existing lot and leave the parking on the streets. That doesn’t seem right. (And just to confirm, I’m not opposed to churches, just excessive traffic, noise, and congestion in residential neighborhoods.)
3. The historic Pump House in East Rockville is finally being rehabilitated into a proper community center. There will be very few changes to the exterior but many improvements inside to allow it to be used for meetings, workshops, and classes for the neighborhood. Historic buildings can often be reused for new purposes rather than demolished, and this distinctive industrial building provides a great example. Isn’t this much better than constructing a concrete block box with steel windows for a community center?
And I’ll make my apologies now. The story of the community coming together to provide a home for a single mother, her eight children, a nephew, and a grandmother in the 1950s (this is the house at 224 Elizabeth) was remarkable, and I went so far to say that you don’t see that today. I was wrong. Actually, it does happen all the time, but usually not as dramatically as the moving of a house. In Twinbrook, neighbors get together to clean up the parks and streams, work on community plans and policies, lobby for neighborhood improvements, and much more. And it happens throughout Rockville as well.
Max for Rockville 