Comments on: Town Center Summit Recap

By: Cindy Cotte Griffiths

Cindy Cotte Griffiths — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 12:07:00 +0000

Well, thank you Phyllis! I’m so glad that I was able to fill you in on the Summit. How exciting to think about the Cafe going on in the Town Center while we were discussing how successful Town Center has been. Cindy

By: Phyllis

Phyllis — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 22:08:00 +0000

Thank you so much for the recap. As always, you and Cindy do a great job of showcasing the community and local activities. I missed the presentation as the fourth of our Science Cafes was taking place in the Greystone Grill. An overflowing crowd learned about exploring your DNA for clues to your health and heredity.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 21:26:00 +0000

The mix of shops in town square is too high-end, and too pricey for many folks in town (and especially those who come from the east side of Rockville). We need more basic retailing that would draw people donwtown on a regular basis, like an urban-style hardware store.

By: Dave Roberson

Dave Roberson — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Well, I think the current town center setup is great in that it maximizes the amount of mixed use retail that could fit in the space. Parking is abundant…which is also a plus. I think we need the ever elusive “anchor” retail to support the other great stores we already have. Talk about something that seems to plague downtown Rockville.>

What about the underused corner of middle land and 355? Could a retail anchor store fit there? Is Rockville really adverse to having something like a big box store that all people driving on 355 will be drawn to? Anchors stores are key…in other words the grocery store needs to open too.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 22:29:00 +0000

thanks for this great recap!

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 21:21:00 +0000

I completely agree with Mr. Oberg’s thoughts about the “wall” separating Town Center from 355. It would be interesting to conduct a survey of people who drive along that route routinely to see if they even know what is back there–if they could even name one of the restaurants or stores. The fact that our “Town Center” does not visually connect to the main road that runs through the center of our city is just poor planning. And now we are all stuck with the bill for those empty parking garages!

By: Dave Roberson

Dave Roberson — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 19:09:00 +0000

With the exception of the ksi/pink bank corner I think it is important for Rockville to help find a developer that will buy all the remaining property including the old giant site. Otherwise I don’t see how all the puzzle pieces could fall into place considering there isn’t even a road structure in place. The roads can’t be built until redevelopment starts. To me it seems like a very tough problem.

By: Jon H. Oberg

Jon H. Oberg — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 19:03:00 +0000

I must comment on the thought above: "She said it’s difficult to make people realize there is something special behind the large garage walls on Rt. 355.">

The Rockville Traffic and Transportation Commission, on which I serve, made this prediction many times over during Town Center planning. We said it would be necessary to have some kind of visual and accessible connection between Town Square and Rt 355, both immediately, for retail purposes, and eventually when 355 is boulevardized.

I brought photos from other cities to demonstrate successful connectivity between thoroughfares and retail districts. Our veteran members recalled that the plans threatened to repeat the same mistakes that doomed Rockville's previous attempt at city center renewal.

To no avail. Rockville planners and developers said they would not give up two parking places just for a sense of connection to retail. Now retail is suffering, but this should have been foreseen. Parking formulas must never trump good planning.