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Council adopts Town Center Master Plan as amendment to Rockville comprehensive plan
Summary
The Rockville City Council unanimously adopted an ordinance on Jan. 27 to adopt the Town Center Master Plan as an amendment to the 2021 comprehensive plan, giving policy direction for a new town‑center vision and beginning a multi‑step implementation process.
The Rockville City Council on Jan. 27 voted to adopt the Town Center Master Plan as an amendment to the city's 2021 comprehensive plan.
Katie Gerbis of the Community Planning and Development Services Department summarized recent edits and errata to the draft: corrected bonus height language for the MD‑355 corridor, clarified off‑street parking policy language and updated school capacity statistics in the adequate public facilities chapter. Gerbis also reminded the council that on Jan. 13 the council had exercised a 60‑day extension under Maryland law, moving the decision deadline to March 17; the extension had already been recorded in staff materials.
Council members followed standard procedure: a council member introduced the ordinance to adopt the Town Center Master Plan, a motion to waive the layover period was made and seconded, and the council then voted to adopt the plan. Council Member Van Grack introduced the ordinance; Council Member Valeri moved to waive the layover period and a subsequent motion to adopt the ordinance was made by Council Member Jackson and seconded by Council Member Van Grama. The council recorded the adoption as unanimous.
City staff said adoption of the plan sets high‑level policy guidance but does not itself change zoning. Staff described next steps: notify state and local stakeholders, post final documents on the Engage Rockville site and Results Rockville, and begin implementation tasks. Many of the plan's zoning‑related actions will be addressed through the ongoing zoning ordinance rewrite and comprehensive map amendment; staff told the council it expects much of the zoning work to be completed in roughly a year as part of the zoning ordinance rewrite, but noted there will inevitably be a gap between plan adoption and the text and map changes needed to implement the plan’s recommendations.
Council members asked staff to add a prominent chart showing “bonus” vs. by‑right heights into the final document, to move wayfinding and signage items in the implementation matrix from mid‑term to near‑term, and to ensure the public record reflects the Jan. 13 work session and the 60‑day extension. Staff agreed to those technical edits and to post the final plan and implementation materials online.
