Staff outlines citywide zoning rewrite and comprehensive map amendment; council asks for more detail and outreach

City planning staff provided a detailed work‑session briefing on Jan. 27 about the ongoing zoning ordinance rewrite and the comprehensive map amendment intended to align Rockville’s zoning with the Rockville 2040 Comprehensive Plan.

Holly Simmons, Deputy Zoning Manager for the Community Planning and Development Services Department (CPDS), explained the project is twofold: a rewrite of the zoning ordinance text and a comprehensive rezoning (map amendment) to implement the 2040 plan. Simmons said the zoning ordinance had not been comprehensively updated since 2009 and that the rewrite aims to modernize organization, procedures and land‑use regulations, and to incorporate best practices for housing diversity, transit‑oriented development and resilience.

Jim Wasilak (CPDS) walked council members through the map‑level recommendations drawn from the comp plan. Staff said the comp plan recommends creating three new zones: a residential/office zone (RO), a high‑density residential zone for parts of Planning Area 10, and a missing‑middle RMD‑infill zone (already created in some places and proposed for expansion elsewhere). Staff proposed roughly 606 parcels for rezoning in the first set of implementation rezonings; the presentation covered rezonings in multiple planning areas including East Rockville, Twinbrook, Montrose (Planning Area 10), West End/Woodley Gardens and others.

Key policy and technical points staff flagged: - RMD Infill: staff described “missing middle” housing types (duplexes, triplexes, quadplexes, up to six‑plexes in the comp plan language) intended to increase housing choices while keeping a house‑scale fabric in some neighborhoods. - New RO zone: proposed where mixed‑use transition properties have been used as offices but where the community prefers residential and office uses rather than retail or broader mixed‑use commercial. - High‑density residential zone: staff said a new residential zone would be needed to implement higher density recommendations for certain large parcels such as the Rollins Park/Congressional Towers corridor.

Staff reported a focused outreach effort that included mailings to 1,107 properties, three property‑owner meetings, five neighborhood‑association briefings, workshops and renter/homeowner focus groups. Initial themes from engagement included support for increasing housing near transit and walkability, worry about traffic and infrastructure capacity, and concerns about equity and displacement.

Council members asked staff for more specifics before taking further action: visual cross‑section graphics and transition/layback options to show how new zones would step down to single‑family neighborhoods; clearer statements of permitted uses (for example, whether small retail or wellness studios would be categorized as office or commercial); explicit analysis of equity impacts and how rezonings are distributed across the city (several council members raised why many proposed rezonings lie east of I‑270); and additional outreach to homeowners, renters and homeowners’ associations in affected areas. Several council members also suggested staff check recent Maryland state housing legislation and federal/state programs that may affect rezoning options.

Simmons and Wasilak said staff will return with refined options and graphics, and that the Town Center Master Plan the council adopted the same night would be coordinated into the zoning rewrite where appropriate. The zoning ordinance rewrite is scheduled as a multi‑year effort, with staff aiming to deliver draft text and maps for public review by late 2025 or early 2026 and adoption in 2026.