City Passes New Zoning Law

>In all the hubbub of yesterday’s news, we failed to mention the other important thing that took place at Monday’s meeting of the Mayor and Council. Our Fair City’s governing body capped a multi-year, multi-task-force effort to redraft Rockville’s zoning ordinance, the first time since 1976 it has been revisited comprehensively.

The City has issued a helpful press release, which we lazily reproduce below:

The Mayor and Council adopted on Dec. 15 a revised zoning ordinance and a comprehensive rezoning to implement the new zones. The new ordinance and map are effective Monday, March 16. The adoption concludes more than three years of work by citizens, City staff, the Planning Commission and the Mayor and Council to comprehensively review and revise Rockville’s zoning policies.

The three months before the ordinance effective date allows the City to revise its application form and procedures, as well as portions of the City Code that reference the zoning ordinance. It also allows time to publish the revised zoning maps and meet other administrative requirements.

The development moratorium that has been in effect since September 2007 will remain in place until the new ordinance and map go into effect. This moratorium limits the types of development applications that may be accepted for processing under the current zoning requirements. Those applications that are allowed to move forward will be processed under the current zoning ordinance provisions.

The new zoning ordinance includes a number of significant changes from the current code. Among these are the following:

• Mixed-use zones will replace most of the current nonresidential (commercial and industrial) zones.
• A new Park Zone will be applied to most City-owned parks.
• In the single-family residential zones, home height is limited to a maximum of 40 feet to the roof peak.
• Properties that become nonconforming under the new ordinance are generally allowed to remain, even if damaged through an event outside the control of the owner.
• Planned Developments that have been approved are placed in Planned Development zones so they will continue to be administered as originally approved.
• Off-street parking standards in commercial areas set maximum limits on the number of spaces.
• New procedures for reviewing development proposals have been established.

Additional information, including a full copy the zoning ordinance and map and a description of the revision process, is available here.

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