Council directs Planning Commission to decide technical amendment to 2018 apartment approval after 3-2 vote

Gaithersburg mayor and city council on Feb. 18 voted 3-2 to send an application to the Planning Commission that would remove a phasing condition attached to a schematic development plan approved in 2018 for a 365‑unit apartment building.

City planning staff told the council the matter before them — application ASDP‑9825‑2024 — is a technical amendment to STP‑7362‑2016 and does not change the substance of the earlier approval. "Staff recommends that the council find this application to have a minor effect, and direct the Planning Commission to hold the public hearing, and make a final decision on the amendment," Jasmine Forbes, community planning manager, said during the staff presentation.

The request would remove a condition requiring the project be built in two phases, a condition that linked the second phase to approval of street network connections on an adjacent property. Staff said the applicant is proposing to build within its property boundaries in a single phase and that the revised proposal includes fewer units and reduced building height compared with the 2018 approval.

Mayor [name not specified] acknowledged public emails expressing concern but called the application "a very technical amendment" and said the change before the council did not alter the substantive approvals made in 2018. Council member Jim, who spoke in favor of sending the matter to the Planning Commission, said, "We're not being asked to weigh in on the merits of the application. That is a job for the Planning Commission." Several council members who served in 2018 noted their original opposition or support for the project but agreed the amendment's review belonged with the Planning Commission.

Council members were split on whether the amendment could be classified as "minor." After discussion, a motion to deem the amendment a minor effect and to direct the Planning Commission to make the final decision passed on a 3‑2 vote. The record in the meeting shows the motion passed; the minutes record the outcome as "carries 3 2."

A public hearing on the amendment will be scheduled by the Planning Commission. If the council had found the amendment to have a major effect, the Planning Commission would have issued a recommendation that could later come back to the council for final action; because the council deemed it minor, the commission will make the final decision under the process described in the zoning ordinance.

The council's action was procedural: staff explicitly told the council that other modifications to the plan would be reviewed in the final site plan process and that a public hearing had not yet been scheduled at the time of the Feb. 18 meeting.

Planning staff and the applicant will present the amendment at the Planning Commission public hearing for further review and public comment.