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Frederick trustees ratify downtown plan after resident and developer raise concerns
Summary
The Board of Trustees voted 4-0 to ratify a new Downtown Frederick plan that lays out a three-area vision for the historic core, Downtown West and Miners Park. Planning Manager Ali Lommel and developer John Lee debated whether the plan should be a guideline or a binding standard; a resident urged staff to recheck floodway mapping before adoption.
The Frederick Board of Trustees voted 4-0 to ratify the Planning Commission's approval of a Downtown Frederick plan intended to guide land use, design and connectivity in the town center. Planning Manager Ali Lommel presented the plan as a supplemental document to the town's 2024 comprehensive plan and recommended the board ratify the Planning Commission's unanimous 5-0 adoption.
The plan organizes downtown into three subareas'the historic core, Downtown West and Miners Park'and emphasizes walkability, streetscape upgrades, historic preservation and targeted redevelopment. Lommel told trustees the document includes block-by-block conceptual views, a streetscape framework with wider sidewalks and bike lanes, a Central Loop Trail to connect east and west Frederick, and an implementation chapter that ranks actions by priority and timeframe.
"This plan focuses on strengthening Downtown Frederick as the small-town heart of our community while allowing it to grow thoughtfully over time," Planning Manager Ali Lommel said, summarizing outreach that led to the plan.
At the public-comment table, resident Dana Collier urged the board not to approve the plan as drafted, saying a portion of the downtown hub shown on the future land use map overlapped a "regulated floodway." Collier cited a state reference while urging additional review by planning staff before ratification.
"I think it would be reckless for the town to approve it as is," Collier said, referencing the state citation she read aloud during public comment.
Developer John Lee, representing Silverstone Development Company, told the board he supports many plan concepts but urged clarity over whether the plan is a nonbinding guideline or a prescriptive code. Lee said extending commercial uses into Downtown West as currently drawn would place retail internal to the Silverstone site and make it hard to sustain without incentives. He suggested the town consider an urban renewal area (URA) to subsidize that development and proposed relocating Town Hall to the west side to better support Old Town.
"Is the plan a guideline or is this a gospel?" John Lee asked, urging flexibility and incentives to make new commercial areas viable.
Lee also raised feasibility concerns for multifamily development, citing the current water dedication formulas, new impact fees and proposed park-fee formulas that he warned could make rental or attainable multifamily uneconomic in the near term.
Trustees discussed maintaining high design standards while allowing flexibility during implementation. Several board members emphasized that the downtown plan is a visionary, non-codified framework and that additional, detailed steps (including code and land-use changes) would follow before specific developments are required to conform to new rules.
After questions and remarks from trustees and staff, a motion to ratify the Planning Commission's approval was made, seconded and approved on a 4-0 roll call.
What happens next: staff will proceed with the implementation work identified in the plan, including proposed code updates and further public outreach; specific regulatory changes and incentive programs would come back to the board for review and separate approval.
