Montgomery County Council Meets on July 30 to Vote on the Great Seneca Plan and Legislation to Reduce Office Vacancies, Assist Veterans and Strengthen Compliance with Fair Criminal Record Screenings
MARYLAND, July 29 - For Immediate Release: Monday, July 29, 2024
Also on July 30: Council vote expected on zoning measure to expanded campground use in certain areas of the Agricultural Reserve and introduction of new legislation to help reduce excessive vehicle noise
The Montgomery County Council will meet on Tuesday, July 30 at 9:30 a.m. The meeting will begin with an interview with Jonathan Powell, the County Executive’s nominee to the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission and presentations about the Council’s Summer Fellows research projects.
More detail on each agenda item is provided below.
County Executive’s nominee to the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission: Jonathan Powell
Interview and vote expected: The Council will conduct an interview and is expected to vote on a resolution to confirm the appointment of Jonathan Powell, who is the County Executive’s nominee to the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission. The Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission is composed of three commissioners from Montgomery County, appointed by the County Executive subject to the confirmation of the Council.
Summer Fellows Research Projects
Presentation: The Council will receive a presentation from the Montgomery County Council Summer Fellows. This is the Council’s eighth consecutive year hosting the 10-week program, which enables students in policy-related graduate programs to gain real world local government experience. The program provides participants with experience across multiple fields and the opportunity to work directly with decision-makers on ongoing projects, policy analyses and self-selected research projects.
20th Council’s Commitment Statement to Racial Equity and Social Justice
Introduction: The Council is expected to introduce and discuss a resolution to approve the Council’s 2024 commitment statement to racial equity and social justice. The current statement was approved through Council resolution on Nov. 29, 2022, with the intent to review and revise the statement during the second year of each Council. The statement articulates the commitment of the County Council to racial equity and social justice and affirms the need for racial equity and social justice in Montgomery County.
The Government Operations and Fiscal Policy (GO) Committee recommends approval of the resolution.
Consent Calendar
Each item on the Council’s Consent Calendar can be found on the Council agenda for Tuesday, July 30, which is available on the Council website.
Resolution to Affirm Montgomery County's Commitment to Protect Reproductive Rights
Introduction: Council Vice President Kate Stewart will introduce a resolution to affirm Montgomery County’s commitment to protect reproductive rights. The resolution recommends that County agencies pursue opportunities and coordinate with each other to protect people or entities providing, assisting, seeking, or obtaining reproductive health services. Additionally, the resolution supports a Maryland constitutional amendment to protect the right to reproductive freedom. The resolution is cosponsored by Councilmembers Luedtke, Balcombe, Katz, Glass, Sayles, Fani-González, Jawando, Mink and Albornoz and Council President Friedson.
Public Hearings
Unless otherwise noted, the Council will hold the following hybrid public hearings at 1:30 p.m. Residents can visit the Council website to learn about the multiple ways to provide testimony.
Legislative Session
Bill 14-24, Vehicle Noise Abatement Monitoring - Pilot Program
Introduction: Lead sponsors Council Vice President Kate Stewart and Councilmember Natali Fani-González will introduce Bill 14-24, Vehicle Noise Abatement Monitoring - Pilot Program. The legislation would establish a pilot program aimed at reducing excessive vehicular noise. Under Bill 14-24, the Vehicle Noise Abatement Monitoring Pilot Program would require the Montgomery County Police Department to implement three automated noise abatement monitoring systems, or noise camera devices, across the County to help enforce existing state noise laws.
Councilmembers Evan Glass, Marilyn Balcombe, Sidney Katz, Dawn Luedtke, Laurie-Anne Sayles, Kristin Mink and Council President Andrew Friedson are cosponsors of Bill 14-24.
Bill 6-24, Property Tax Credit - Disabled Veterans
Vote expected: The Council is expected to vote on Bill 6-24, Property Tax Credit - Disabled Veterans, which would provide a new property tax credit to veterans who are severely disabled. Under Bill 6-24, a property tax credit would be available to an honorably discharged veteran who is at least 50 percent disabled, as certified by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, and whose federal adjusted gross income does not exceed $100,000.
The property tax credit granted under the bill would equal 50 percent of the County property tax imposed on the dwelling house if the disabled veteran’s service-connected disability rating is at least 75 percent, but not more than 99 percent; or 25 percent of the County property tax imposed on the dwelling house if the disabled veteran’s service-connected disability rating is at least 50 percent, but not more than 74 percent. Veterans who are 100 percent disabled for service-connected causes are already eligible for an exemption from property taxes.
The lead sponsor of Bill 6-24 is Councilmember Fani-González. Council President Friedson and Councilmembers Balcombe, Luedtke, Gabe Albornoz, Katz and Sayles are cosponsors. The GO Committee recommends approval with amendments.
Vote expected: The Council is expected to vote on Bill 8-24, Human Rights and Civil Liberties - Fair Criminal History and Credit Screenings – Amendments. The bill would require posting a notice regarding the use of criminal arrest and conviction information in rental housing decisions, clarify if a certain addendum or statement is required for rental applications and require annual reporting of certain disaggregated data related to rental applications. Additionally, Bill 8-24 would require a landlord to retain a rental application addendum for a certain period and require that a landlord provide to the County, as part of the annual rental housing survey, a completed criminal and credit screening addendum.
The purpose of the bill is to strengthen compliance with the Fair Criminal Record Screening Standards Law, also known as “ban the box,” and improve renters’ knowledge about the use of criminal background checks or credit screenings during the rental housing application process.
The lead sponsor of Bill 8-24 is Councilmember Sayles. Councilmembers Glass and Katz are cosponsors. The Planning, Housing and Parks (PHP) Committee recommends approval with amendments.
Vote expected: The Council is expected to vote on Bill 10-24, Contracts and Procurement - Local Small Business Reserve Program (LSBRP) - Veteran-Owned Business Preference Points, which would implement veteran-owned business preference points under the Local Small Business Reserve Program and outlines the eligibility criteria.
Bill 10-24 would enable veteran-owned local small businesses to gain access to more County procurement opportunities by awarding preference points of five percent to certified, veteran-owned local small businesses that submit a proposal in response to a County request for proposal. A small business must have a valid veteran-owned small business (VOSB) or service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses (SDVOSB) certificate from the U.S. Small Business Administration or the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to be eligible for the preference points.
The lead sponsor is Council President Friedson, at the request of the County Executive Elrich. Councilmembers Fani-González, Katz and Sayles are cosponsors. The GO Committee recommends approval.
Vote expected: The Council is expected to vote on Bill 11-24, Finance - Economic Development Fund - Make Office Vacancy Extinct (MOVE) Grant Program – Established, which would create a business incentive grant program under the Economic Development Fund to support eligible businesses with the rental costs of locating, relocating or expanding office space in the County. Additionally, the bill would codify incentives for new businesses relocating to the County currently provided under the MOVE Program, provide incentives to new and existing businesses expanding operations in the County and set eligibility criteria for how businesses qualify for the program incentives.
The bill would also codify and update substantive provisions of the existing MOVE Program, which was introduced as a pilot program by the County Executive in March 2014 to provide relocation grants to businesses to assist with rental costs of moving back to the County. The purpose of the bill is to eliminate office vacancies and make the program law.
The lead sponsors of Bill 11-24 are Councilmembers Glass, Fani-González, Balcombe and Sayles. Council Vice President Stewart and Councilmembers Luedtke, Mink, Albornoz, Katz and Council President Friedson are cosponsors. The Economic Development (ECON) Committee recommends enactment with amendments.
District Council Session
Zoning Text Amendment 24-04, Dormitories, and the Community Serving Retail Zone
Introduction: The Council is expected to introduce Zoning Text Amendment (ZTA) 24-04, Dormitories, and the Community Serving Retail Zone, which would implement the recommendations of the Takoma Park Minor Master Plan. The ZTA would allow a dormitory as a limited use in certain commercial and residential zones and remove the Community-serving Retail (CSR) Overlay Zone.
The lead sponsor is the Council president at the request of the Planning Board. A public hearing is scheduled for Sept. 17.
Resolution to approve the Great Seneca Plan: Connecting Life and Science
Vote expected: The Council is expected to vote on a resolution to approve the Great Seneca Plan: Connecting Life and Science, which covers 4,330 acres located in the heart of the I-270 Corridor between the cities of Gaithersburg and Rockville and the Town of Washington Grove. The plan area includes several distinct areas, including the Life Sciences Center, Quince Orchard, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Londonderry and Hoyle’s Addition, Rosemont, Oakmont, Walnut Hill, Washingtonian Light Industrial Park, Washingtonian Residential and Hi Wood. The plan makes recommendations to strengthen the economic competitiveness of the Life Sciences Center, guide future developments, and transform public spaces and amenities in the area to provide valuable links and social spaces.
The Council’s PHP Committee held four work sessions in June and July to receive an introduction to the plan and review the plan’s districts, fiscal impact statement and the Life Sciences Center. The Council held two meetings to review the recommendations of the PHP Committee on July 16 and 23. In addition, the Council took straw votes in support of all changes to the plan on July 23.
Resolution to approve the Growth Tiers Map
Vote expected: The Council is expected to vote on a resolution to approve a proposed update to the Montgomery County Growth Tiers Map. The Planning Board recommends an update to the map to reflect sewer category changes since 2012 and to correct inaccuracies in the current map.
In 2012, the Council adopted Subdivision Regulation (SRA) 12-01 to comply with the Maryland Sustainable Growth and Agricultural Preservation Act of 2012. That act required local jurisdictions to establish and adopt growth tiers to control the number of new subdivisions on septic fields. The purpose was to protect agriculture, control growth in rural areas, promote growth in areas that have infrastructure in place for it and reduce nitrogen from septic systems, a primary pollutant of the Chesapeake Bay.
The PHP Committee recommends approval.
Zoning Text Amendment (ZTA) 24-02, Agricultural and Rural Zones – Campground
Vote expected: The Council is expected to vote on ZTA 24-02, Agricultural and Rural Zones – Campground, which would expand the campground use to the Agricultural Reserve (AR) Zone and Rural Cluster (RC) Zone on properties that satisfy the requirements for farming in the zoning ordinance. Under the current zoning ordinance, campgrounds are only allowed in the Rural (R) Zone and Residential Estate 2C (RE-2C) Zone. Additional requirements include a minimum acreage, a maximum number of structures, a maximum number of nights per guest and limitations on kitchen and sanitation facilities.
The lead sponsors of ZTA 24-02 are Councilmembers Balcombe, Luedtke, Katz and Fani-González. Council President Friedson and Councilmembers Albornoz, Glass and Sayles are cosponsors of ZTA 24-02.
The PHP Committee recommends approval with amendments. The Council staff report contains photos of potential structures that would be allowed if the zoning measure is approved.
The Council meeting schedule may change from time to time. View the current Council and Committee agendas, Council staff reports and additional information on items scheduled for Council review on the Council website.
Council and committee meetings are streamed live on the Council’s web page via YouTube and on Facebook Live and can be watched on County Cable Montgomery on Xfinity/RCN 6 HD 996/1056, Fios 30, and on the CCM live stream.
Release ID: 24-281
Media Contact: Sonya Healy 240-777-7926, Benjamin Sky Brandt 240-777-7884
