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Montrose residents urge Council to limit bike‑lane changes on Congressional Lane, cite parking and study errors
Summary
Resident groups from the Montrose neighborhood told the Rockville City Council that a proposed Complete Streets study on Congressional Lane understates parking demand and contains errors; they asked the city to limit bike lanes to sections with lower parking impact and to coordinate projects across planning areas.
Jeffrey Gantz, a Montrose neighborhood resident and representative of the Symantro Civic Association, addressed the City Council March 17 to urge caution on the Congressional Lane Complete Streets study and to ask the city to consider neighborhood parking, connectivity and seasonality when proposing bike lanes.
Gantz said the study’s parking data (which the study reported as 34 to 66 percent usage on the subject block) does not reflect seasonal peaks when sports and recreational leagues use Montrose Park. “If the parking on Congressional Lane were to go away, this would cause people to find parking elsewhere in the neighborhood,” Gantz said, warning that lost curbside spaces would displace cars to Rollins Avenue, Martha Terrace and Lorraine Drive.
Gantz also highlighted what he described as factual errors in the study—he told councilors that the study lists speed humps on the street where there are none—and urged the city to limit revamped bike lanes to the section between MD‑355 and East Jefferson Street, where he said they would have less impact. He asked that any extension toward Rollins Avenue include a plan to replace lost spaces.
Nut graf: Montrose residents asked the council to balance cyclist safety with neighborhood parking and traffic impacts, and to sequence or combine studies that affect the same planning area rather than treating each independently.
Additional points raised in testimony: - Gantz asked that the city coordinate Congressional Lane improvements with the East Jefferson Street bike‑lane study and with rezoning or development proposals in Planning Area 10 and adjacent Planning Area 9, because cumulative projects may have compounding traffic and parking impacts. - He noted the upcoming Wegmans opening as a source of additional traffic pressure near Montrose and urged more in‑person site visits by council members and staff when evaluating traffic and parking impacts.
Staff response and next steps: the council did not decide policy at the March 17 session; Gantz’s remarks were entered in the budget/public‑hearing record and the community continues to seek meetings and a neighborhood walk with council members and staff to show on‑the‑ground conditions.
