The City of Rockville has issued an even stronger resolution than has the City of Gaithersburg on the Gaithersburg West Master Plan. In its resolution, the City of Rockville says flatly, “The City of Rockville cannot support the Planning Board draft in its current form and recommends that the Montgomery County Council refer it back to the Montgomery County Planning Board to resolve the issues outlined in this resolution and in that of the City of Gaithersburg.”
Rockville states, “There must be a large reduction in the amount of development that would be permitted in the Gaithersburg West planning area as compared to what is proposed in the Planning Board draft. The Draft Plan envisions more development than what is consistent with preserving the quality of life in existing communities and provides no compelling justification for why this level of development is needed to support the vision of the Life Sciences Center. The infrastructure investments recommended as necessary for this plan will cost an extraordinary amount of money, which would be borne by Montgomery County and Maryland taxpayers. Even at that high cost, negative impacts are not sufficiently mitigated either inside of or beyond the boundaries of the planning area.”
Rockville’s resolution is ten pages long. When it appears on the city’s website, we will link to it.
Update: The city’s letter and resolution are here.