Contributor Opinion by Frank Anastasi: Let's Face Reality

>The following contributor opinion is by Rockville Central team member Frank Anastasi:

Certain people say that “Rockville made a deal with Montgomery County and the State” to build the courthouse at the former Library site, and we should stick to it. No one currently in City Hall, however, can produce any proof of that “deal.”And it certainly isn’t in the public record, and it was not considered by the Mayor and Council in any public meeting back then. So let’s all face reality. The only “deal” was between Montgomery County, at that time led by Rose Krasnow’s mentor Doug Duncan, and the State. It was Ms. Krasnow’s role to try to look out for Rockville’s interests and work to minimize adverse impacts of that deal on Rockville, and it appears that she was trying to do that. For example, in a June 20, 2001 Gazette article, Ms. Krasnow stated, “Given the limited size of Town Center, it’s unfair of the county and state to provide less than their fair share of parking.” True then; even more so today.

As Mayor, certainly Ms. Krasnow wasn’t giving the State a pass on complying with zoning code requirements, or letting them slide on adequate safeguards for pedestrian safety and traffic impacts, when they would later design and build a courthouse on the former Library site. Just as Mayor Susan Hoffmann and the City Council today do not want to let the State build a courthouse that far exceeds the zoning code restrictions for that site. For example, a height limit of 75 feet, compared to the maximum height of about 130 feet of the courthouse building as planned now.

And certainly Councilwoman Phyllis Marcuccio doesn’t want to see the state build such a “grotesque” courthouse there – a word used by her predecessor Glennon Harrison in that June 20, 2001 news article – even though she told citizens at the March 13 Town Hall meeting that the city’s Master Plan does indeed show the site’s future use as courthouse. That master plan does not say, however, that the State is free to flaunt zoning code requirements. It doesn’t give them a green light to ignore important siting and design criteria, and the City’s and residents’ requests to address legitimate concerns about safety, parking, and traffic impacts. Any developer has to do those things. Just because the State didn’t have to, didn’t we deserve that it negotiate in good faith with the community, instead of against it at every turn, as they have in this case since 2001?

As of this morning, more than 215 citizens have signed a petition supporting the Mayor and Council’s resolution opposing construction of the courthouse as proposed, and asking the State to hold up on this ill-conceived $71 million dollar expenditure. These are not “a few influential neighbors” as some would have you believe, and they are not NIMBYs as some have labeled us. They are people from all over Rockville – from Twinbrook, Hungerford, Woodley Gardens, New Mark Commons, and yes, the West End – who have learned the facts behind the rhetoric, just as the Mayor and Council did before they passed their resolution.

We have sent the petition to the Senate and House subcommittees in Annapolis who are considering the courthouse’s place in the budget, along with important information that they may not be aware of. Like the initial building plans that show a 40-foot tall building adjacent to the neighborhood, and the current plans with heights up to 130 feet. We have invited them to come to Rockville to see for themselves what “the fuss” is all about. We sent them bunch of photographs, too, just in case they can’t make it out here. Many people who think they support the courthouse at the Library site change their mind when they learn more about the project, especially how the State mistreated Rockville, and what the State is actually proposing to build. We hope that some of those Senators and Delegates will too.

You hear from the other side of this issue that “now is not the time to oppose this project, why did you wait until it’s too late?” To them I offer the headline of that June 20, 2001 Gazette article: “Debate goes on.” Yes, it does!

And to those who say our actions could keep Rockville from getting this courthouse, again I say let’s face reality. It’s the legislators who hold the courthouse’s destiny in their hands, not the citizens of Rockville, or its Mayor and Council. Isn’t that what they have been telling us all along. Isn’t that what they told Governor Martin O’Malley when he asked them to work out a compromise?

Frank Anastasi
Move the Courthouse Steering Committee

Rockville Central runs occasional, edited opinion pieces by contributors. Their views are not necessarily those of Rockville Central. To submit your opinion for consideration, contact us.

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