Historic District Commission - Regular Meeting

Good evening, and welcome to the City of Rockville's historic district commission meeting. It's meeting number 32026. It's Thursday, 03/19/2026. I'm chair Peter Fossilman, and I'm joined tonight by fellow commissioners Seth Denbow, Michael Goldfinger, Anita Neil Powell, and Mercy Sengi. We're also joined this evening by staff Sheila Bashiri, who's our preservation planner, and Cynthia Waters, who's our deputy city attorney, as well as Megan Flick, who's our principal planner.

The Historic District Commission meeting meets in person, mayor and council chambers, and tonight you can view us on the Webex, which is Rockville channel eleven. Excuse me. You can see the meeting at home on the Webex, but also you can view it on Rockville channel eleven, which is a cable channel, and it's live streamed at rockvillemd.gov/rockville1one. Each meeting is also available for viewing after the meeting and it's at rockville. Excuse me, rockvillemaryland.gov/video on demand. The first items on our agenda tonight are the committee organization reports. I'm not sure if Peerless is Rockville with us this evening.

I don't think there's anyone here from Peerless.

Oh, see someone. Yes.

Okay.

Is that you Nancy?

Nancy,

I just made you a panelist, so you should be able to unmute yourself and speak.

Hi. Actually, this is Catherine Rogers. I'm the collections manager for Peerless Rockville. Nancy was not able to make it tonight.

Good evening.

Thank you. Thank you for having us here. I'm here to talk about Peerless Rockville's is preparing to commemorate the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the United States with special programming, Rockville two fifty, Our American History. Together with the Rockville community, the city of Rockville, and our business partners, Peerless Rockville will explore how national themes in American history have unfolded in Rockville over the last two and a half centuries. Rockville two fifty will tell stories of the people and places in Rockville that trace our nation's history.

We will have a showcase at the historic Red Brick Courthouse with an illustrated exhibit, a pictorial history of two fifty years of Rockville's history. And there will be additional lectures, tours and special programs throughout the year, offering residents and visitors opportunities to engage with our local and national heritage. Our first event will be next Monday evening, March thirtieth at 7PM. We will begin with a virtual presentation on the Hungerford Resolves. And in December 1773, the citizens of Boston were furious over of British taxation imposed on them and revolted.

Other colonies responded to Parliament with a series of Resolves issued in June 1774. Here in what was then Lower Frederick County, citizens met at Hungerford Tavern in Rockville and penned their contribution to Maryland's resolves. And I will be making that presentation.

Great. Thank you very much for joining us. And just a side note, I wanted to thank Nancy for meeting with Commissioner Dembo and I to talk about our preservation celebration in May. So we appreciate her time.

Oh, we were very happy to do that. Thank you very much. I'll pass that along to her.

Thank you. Next is a report from our Lincoln Park Historical Foundation.

Good evening. I am the president of the Lincoln Park Historical Foundation. On 02/28/2026, we celebrated our forty ninth anniversary of the foundation with the theme of the gospel train ride to freedom, Harriet Tubman on the run, as well as the one hundredth anniversary of black history in America. We would like to thank those who came out to support the anniversaries. We will be hosting the first Maryland African American Preservation Conference focusing on preserving black history museums in Montgomery County during the month of May, which, of course, is preservation month.

Date and time to be determined. Finally, the Lincoln Park community will be celebrating its one hundred and thirty fifth anniversary on 06/13/2026 from 9AM to 4PM at the Mount Calvary Baptist Church in Lincoln Park. The annual celebration will start with a historical parade and will focus on cultural activities throughout the day. All events are open to the public, and we welcome your attendance and participation, especially when we focus on the history of the community. If you know of anyone who would like to share their stories about the community in real time, please have them to contact us.

Finally, we would like to remind you to stop by City Hall to visit the display depicting the history of black history throughout Montgomery County. For more information regarding the events or anniversaries, please send an email to lincolnparkhist@aol.com. And this concludes my report.

Thank you, commissioner Powell. You said that June 13 is the one hundred and thirty fifth anniversary?

Correct.

Thank you. I will put that on my calendar. Next on our agenda are public comments. Open forum. If anyone is here this evening to speak about something that's not on the agenda. If you're online, if you could just raise your hand or if you're here. Slim audience tonight. I don't see anyone online. Staff, you seeing anything I don't see? Okay. Thank you. Then we'll move on. Last thing under the committee organizational reports is the HTC and staff comments. Any of the commissioners have anything to share this evening? Good

evening. Continuing with my featuring of historic buildings throughout the city of Rockville. For this evening, I'm looking at the Mount Pleasant Parsonage next to the what is it? Jerusalem Mount Pleasant Methodist Church, I guess. Yeah.

The building known as the Jerusalem Mount Pleasant Parsonage is located at 19 Wood Lane, immediately west of North Washington Street in Rockville's town center. Prior to the Civil War and following racial tensions, the Methodist Church split. By 1868, the African American members of the church owned the property and renamed their church Jerusalem. Parsonage was built in 1912 using lumber milled from trees harvested by the congregation from a church owned site in Poolesville. It continued to be used as a parsonage until 1986 when the church purchased a new parsonage.

The original building then became a women's resource center known as Cordelia House. In 1999, Cordelia House was damaged by fire caused by arson. The building was extensively restored in 2005 and is in use today. These two buildings are among the few remaining historic church and parsonage units remaining in Montgomery County. The traditional vernacular style of the parsonage is one of the few remaining examples of this type of building in Rockville's town center. And that concludes my story, but it just points out that there are so many historic buildings surrounding us, we just need to open our eyes and look at them. Thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner Goldfinger. Any other commissioners this evening have anything to add? No. Yes. Commissioner Schenke?

Thanks for that presentation, Michael. So on February 28, I attended the Lincoln Park Historic Foundation celebration, and I was so proud of miss Interpol, you know. And we watched the gospel train ride to freedom. Then And during that presentation, during the the event, we learned a lot about what she's done in this community. Miss Powell, I'm really proud of you. So and thanks for inviting.

Thank you.

Any other commissioners have anything to add this evening? Okay. Next on agenda are consent items. The first one and only one, I believe, this evening is approval of the minutes from last month. That's 02/19/2026. Commissioners, do I have a motion?

I move to approve the minutes. May

I have a second? I'll second. Any comments, corrections? Okay. All in favor?

Aye. Aye.

Thank you very much. Next on the agenda is evaluation of significance. This is 2026250EOS. The applicant's Robert Shapiro of Goshen Valley Investments. The owner is Andrew Miller, and we're talking about 718 Bell Avenue. And again, it's evaluation of significant staff.

Good evening. I'm Sheila Bashiri, preservation planner. I think I have the wrong one up here. I have the right one here. Okay.

This is a evaluation of significance for 20026250EOS, 718 Bell Avenue. Okay. This is the property at 718 Bell Avenue. As you can see, it's quite a small house sitting in between several other houses that have been, enlarged. But, anyway, the applicant is seeking to demolish the house and build a new one.

This is the house. It's actually built in 1949, we think, because, records aren't always really clear, but we think it was built in 1949. It is a house that was built as a part of several houses that were built in that neighborhood at the same time. But, this is in the West End, and we do know that the West End was developed at different times. And so, whereas a house may have been built very much later than another house, and it may have been built in the same style.

But, anyway, in the West End, these houses were built erratically, at first after the crash in 1893, I believe it was. The house the lots didn't sell immediately. So, this is the result of the houses. And we weren't able to tell really if the houses were part of a worker housing program as far as, because they weren't built at the same time. But a lot of times when you build houses like these exactly alike, a lot of times it's because there's one builder that came along and built all the houses, usually for a company that wanted their workers' there or a developer was just developing the neighborhood.

So looking at the front facade, you can see there's two, it's got a gable roof. It's got, asphalt shingles on the shingles on the roof. It's got two dormers, two gable dormers on the roof, double hung windows. All the windows in there are replacement windows, and, it's got aluminum siding and, six over six windows on the 1st Floor on either side of the door. The door is wood, and it's got a full height storm door in front of it.

And as you can see with the property itself, it does have somewhat deep lot, and the house does sit in the middle of that house in between the, east and west neighbors. It's got nice landscaping, and it's got a large lot in the rear. This is the side elevation. This is the east side elevation, and it's difficult to get the west side elevation. So I put this on there because they're both basically the same with the, six over six double hung windows with the single window above and with a vent in the peak.

It does have well, window wells at the basement here level here. And you can see the, side porch. It's got a, a rear porch addition, but you can see the side screen area of the rear porch I mean, enclosed rear porch. And this is the rear of it. You're looking at the enclosed rear porch. There is a dormer, a large dormer on the rear at the top there. It's called a shed dormer, with two small windows. It does have wooden steps leading up to the doorway. Wooden, the actually, the whole addition there is wooden and then a screen door as well. And it's got a deep lock.

You can't really see it, but it does have a deep lock that goes into the back. In looking, in your report, you'll see the Sanborn map for 1949. And though the house was thought to have been built in 1949, the house does not show up in that Sanborn map. So there's a good possibility that it was built in 1950 or after or that the map was made in 1949 when the house was in the process, so it wasn't on the, actual Sanborn map. So finding that the building proposed for demolition at 718 Bell Avenue does not meet any of the historic district commission's adopted criteria for historic significance or architectural design and landscape significance, staff recommends against historic designation.

Do you have any questions for me?

Commissioners.

Hi. I'm not sure if the owner is here, but is there a reason why he would like he or she would like to have the house demolished?

They are seeking to tear it down to build a new one. It is very small footprint of 800 and something feet footprint in the house itself. So they're looking to build another house, not within the footprint, but on the lot. And you said We don't have plans or anything that was not within our purview, so we only got the plans for, for demolishing or for, actually, for evaluation significance.

Oh, okay. And you said the lot the lot is deep?

Yeah. The lot does go back quite a bit. So

there's enough room on the lot to build Mhmm. A new home, a new house. Okay. Thank you.

Mhmm. Commissioners, any other questions, comments? Steph, is the applicant here?

Oh, go ahead, Commissioner. Yeah. I'm just going to, like I've done every time, just comment on the fact that the house is indicative of a style that was built in certain time period when Rockville saw a huge surge in population following World War II. And I would look forward to maybe the city providing funds to document this neighborhood before it gets all destroyed. I think this replacement is a good thing, but it does destroy the historic context of neighborhood.

So I've said before, I'm going to say it each time I'm here. That's my comment. The other thing that I noticed was just a slight technical issue in the description. It noted the driveway was on the east side, and I believe it's on the West side.

Right. Thank you. I

have another question. So if this house is torn down or if it's approved tonight

Mhmm.

Do you know if they plan to keep any parts or what they plan to do with the

No. All we get from them is their plan for wanting the evaluation of significance for the purpose of demolition. But, you know, that being in our purview, we don't take anything else in as far as and that's one thing we've been actually making sure that we're not taking in additional information to actually look at what's going there afterwards because it's not in our purview.

Oh, okay. Thank you.

Mhmm. Commissioner Sanrio, comments? I'll just comment on a couple of things very quickly. One is this is my neighborhood. I'm very familiar with this house when I walk my dogs. I realize it's most likely not historic based on staff studies. But the house on the left, when you're facing this house, they did a beautiful job of maintaining the existing home and still adding on in the back. So I I do not like to see homes torn down just to build giant homes. It would be nice in the future if we could have a rough idea of what they were gonna build. I know it's not required, but it would be nice.

And then the last thing is, as I've said in the past, especially with this house, it looks like the windows are fairly new. The Habitat for Humanities renew store will take any of these kind of things. And, of course, that's a form of recycling. So it'd be great if the owner could use any of the parts and donate them to Habitat because they will build new homes. Yeah. So okay. Is anyone is mister Shapiro, mister Miller here Online at all?

I don't see the applicant online, and I don't think they're here either. We

can take comments. Certainly. Please come up to the microphone.

I had not planned on making comments, but I'll make one. So I also live in the neighborhood. I am three houses

down. If you could just please identify yourself. Pinkston. Thank you.

Sorry live on Anderson. So I'm three houses down in the next street over The two houses that have been built That are large have been built in the last five to six years. They took out small houses. I

live in

a small house, and we're losing those folks who don't need huge houses. I would also comment they've already chopped down the trees in the backyard, whether this flew or not. And we are having some serious issues because it is a major downhill that the erosion coming off of those two new houses and the house right next to them that built up and built out, is really affecting those people on Anderson because we're downhill from them. And I'm having to do remedial work on my yard to keep a yard in place. So there are there are a couple of points.

The house looked to be in great shape, because I went by as well and took a look at it. So I I advocate for keeping smaller houses around even though it's maybe not financially great for the city, but there are plenty of us that need smaller houses in that area.

Thank you for your comments. I know it's not within the HCC's purview with the two homes that have already been built, but when this house is constructed, I assume could, unfortunately, be watching for soil and erosion control and have the right fencing up?

I think that that's something we've we've had this in the past. It was something that our other department got involved with when they were contacted to let them know about erosion that was coming as a result of something else. And, usually, they would require something to be like a retaining a small retaining wall or curb to be built or something to that effect. I really have no thoughts, any any idea of how that's handled for sure, but I do believe it's our I'm trying to think of the department. Code enforcement? Not code enforcement.

Community planning? Not

community plan. That's us.

Permitting. Inspectors?

Well, our inspectors. I'll say our inspectors. They would usually because, before they can even build a house, they have to go out there and make sure that, you know, everything is okay, and they do have to look at the runoff. I don't know that, it's been complaints sent to the city about the runoff from the other and nothing. If I could get you, I'm sorry, to come back to the mic so we can have this on the record. I

did contact folks, Shannon Shannon Filpin

Okay. Engineers, yes.

Etcetera. They came out and looked and basically gave me tips on how to keep my soil. Because they said they don't have the authority to go in and ask people who have built the new houses to put in any kind of water retention pond or anything to keep the water from running down that hill. It is a steep hill.

Did they suggest to you that you put in a retaining wall or anything like that?

No. But I have four rain gardens. I have put a couple of trees worth of logs to make Okay. Beams, tears down and so forth and planted all kinds of native grasses and such to try and hold the

soil. So

it's it is a problem.

Okay.

Thank you. So I think my overall point is when the city has these new structures, whether the commercial or residential, that we watch for the end result of the topography and any changes in grading because it's not fair to the surrounding property owners if a new project is causing them an issue and especially if it causes them a financial issue that they have to repair or, you know, mitigate. That was my point. So but but I understand what everyone's saying. Any other comments from the commissioners?

No. Still have Okay. You wanna go, then I'll go.

So I have a question for miss Bashley. So does the city do any environmental analysis before building houses? Does the city

do any environmental impact analysis? Like Impact analysis. Not within our purview, so I have no idea. Once what all we're looking at is is this significant or not, but then from there, they have to actually get a permit for demolition. Then they have to get another permit for new construction. So that's, you know, where that would fall into play. So you're you're I know you're asking me questions that I really don't have a clue to because of my area of and then I usually just turn it over to the person that does have the expertise.

Mister Patel?

So I have another question. Following up on the last speaker's, comment, were we aware that trees were cut down?

Not in our purview because it's not designated as historic. So I could not say if there is a chance that, I don't think that they have to actually give permission if it's not a historic property as I think about it.

I may wanna check that. I mean, because I know that if you wanna cut down a tree that

Usually, if it were in a historic district, you know, historic, district and this was designated, then, yes, they would definitely have to get permission before they could, take the trees down. But because it's not designated, they aren't required from us to, a leash from us, our department, to get permission.

Or and they shouldn't be taking street trees down either. Pardon? They should not be taking street trees down either.

They're not in the rear? Are there trees in the rear, or they're

in The trees were about 70 to 80 foot open pop of trees in the rear.

In the rear. So that mean they were on proper private property and not on street trees.

Yeah. Interesting. Thank you.

Mhmm. Commissioner Goldfinger.

Yeah. Just general information. But generally, in the planning process for new construction, residential, commercial, there should be a drainage plan. So I would be that would be both effective during construction for runoff. And also, the final plan should address runoff from the property under construction to the neighboring property.

So I would expect that in the review process for permitting that this would come up and the reviewers looking to issue the permit would take that into account. That's generally how it happens.

And that wouldn't happen until after this board makes their decision because they can't do anything as far as demo, getting a permit, or anything until the decision is made here as to whether or not to seek designation. Right.

I believe what the commission is trying to do is connect the dots between our purview and the next purview, whether it's a body or it's the staff, and make sure that the dots connect so that we don't miss something in between such as and I don't know this, but it sounds like a dot was not connected when the two homes on there that are newer in the past five years as as our the person that spoke earlier was saying there's something there's a disconnect if the if her yard's being flooded but wasn't flooded before the homes were built. Clearly, there's a topography issue when the grading was finished. So okay. Any other comments or commit or from the commissioners? Staff?

No more? Okay. May I have a motion, please?

Finding the building proposed for demolition at 718 Bell Avenue does not meet any of the historic district commission's adopted criteria for historic significance or architectural design and landscape significance, I move that the HTC recommend against historic designation.

May I have a second? I'll second. Any further discussion? All in favor? Aye. Aye. Great. Thank you very much. Thank you, staff.

Excuse me.

What? I'm sorry. What did

miss? Oh,

I'm sorry. I missed that part. Those opposed? We have one. Commissioner Powell, thank you. Apologize for that. That doesn't happen often with this this group. Okay. Staff has no further comments. We're finished, and we will move on to our next item on the agenda, which is a certificate of approval. This is 2026256COA. The applicant is Kelly Kalepe. She's the owner, and this is 401 West Montgomery Avenue. Staff, do you have a report? Oh, and I'm sorry.

Let me note while y'all are finding that. I am gonna abstain from and recuse myself from the discussion. I'll lead the lead the meeting, but I'm not gonna make any comments because of the relationship that I have with the applicant and the applicant next door happens to be my attorney. I mean, the the person next door happens to be my attorney. So I don't want any conflicts.

Okay.

This is 2026256 C 0 A at 401 West Montgomery Avenue for a certificate of approval.

I'm gonna let actually, in this case, I'm gonna let commissioner Goldfinger run the meeting. I think that might be a better idea, and I'm just gonna actually step out. Okay. Just listen to what the staff tells you to do.

Okay. This is the property on West 401401 West Montgomery. We have reviewed it several times because there was a basketball court built on the side there, if you can see it. And the actual, court was not approved, and so we've actually looked at the property several times. So the applicant is bringing it back today to look at possibly putting a patio on the property.

Right now, the, this was what is is existing. It's got a basketball court with full flooring on there. And without the flooring on there, this is what it would have is a concrete slab, and it's pretty much the full side size of the house, as far as the length of it goes from the front to the rear. The applicant originally submitted Actually, there was a courtesy review in January in which the, HDC looked at a proposal, and the courtesy review had the, showed the actual court as staying there, the concrete slab, and then building on top of it an actual seating area, putting planters on top of it. And let me go back.

Forward one. Putting planters on top of it, and, there's already the plants in the front. So they were looking to actually put pavers on it and seating on it and pretty much leaving it as it is, but actually putting, a line of trees along the fence here at the side next to the neighbor's house, outdoor kitchen, that they already have that's already on-site and putting in several items just to use the whole area that's right now, concrete slab using the whole area as a patio. But in the actual original proposal that I received, I didn't feel like I could approve it as is. I couldn't recommend approval as is because, basically, it was putting doing the same thing that was at the courtesy review.

And at the courtesy review, commissioners felt like that was still too much patio. And so, they actually submitted a new plan, but it still had the same amount of the concrete slab on there. But they were looking to put trees along the side of the fence and looking to put a raised seating area. But everything would be sitting sitting up on the concrete, so it was about 18 inches high. So, the applicant, after discussion, I did let them know that I thought it was too big.

And they did send in a revised proposal. So what you see here on the right is the revised proposal. So instead of having the full size slab and the, pavers on top of it, they're looking to reduce it to just a small patio. And you can see there's already an existing patio, so just about the patio that's already there. So it would just be so much smaller.

And in looking at that, I am willing to say that it does fit the area there. It does have, the trees in the front. There is no proposal to put trees on the side as it was in the original proposal here. So in looking at what was submitted, recommendation. The revised proposal to reduce the existing side yard concrete slab into a patio meets the Secretary of Interior Standards for Rehabilitation Number one, two, nine, and ten, and staff recommends approval provided the following conditions are met.

The applicant must remove the existing concrete. The applicant must plant privacy evergreen along the length of the west side fence, the, neighboring fence, and the work must be done by 04/20/2026. And, basically, we're looking at giving one hundred thirty days, basically, to get the work done. So this concludes my presentation. Do you have any questions for me?

Sorry, Sheila. I did have one question. What could you bring those two plans back up for a second? So the square patio, the small square patio at the back is the one that's existing, right?

Correct.

Do we know what the and this may be something the applicant can answer. Is this what's the square footage of the existing patio? What is the square footage of like the proposed smaller patio that's that that that is to the front of it if you see what I'm saying?

I I do see what you're asking. It's up. It's I don't have the numbers on me. I came from the soccer field and

stuff. But

it's I just followed the guidelines of how Sheila had marked on the, one that she sent me.

Okay. That's fine. Thank you. Mhmm.

Are there any what's that? Can you please identify yourself for for the record? Thank you.

I'm Kelly Colette. I'm the owner.

Okay.

Thank have another chance to say something. Right? Yes.

Any other comments? No?

If the commissioners don't have any other questions, I think we should ask if anyone else is here or online to testify.

Right. Yes, as she said. Anybody else who's in the room or remotely care to testify?

Erin, I'm going go ahead and make

you a panelist. So you can unmute yourself and speak.

Oh, great. Can you hear me? Yes.

Yep.

Yes. Okay.

I'm Erin Mahoney. I live next door at 405 West Montgomery Avenue. Regarding the revised proposal for the smaller patio, I think it looks really great, and I would encourage the commission to approve it. And that's it.

Thank you. Thank you.

Oh, I that's not true. That's not true. I would ask that they put some plantings along the tall plantings along the fence. That's originally, there were tall trees between our houses. So just to add some that vertical green space, you know, whether it's tall hedges or a tree or whatever. Whatever. But in general, I think the plan looks great, and I really appreciate their efforts in making it smaller.

Thank you, miss Mahoney. And I believe the plantings are part of staff's recommendations. So we will go with that. Are there any other comments from anyone here in the room? Miss yes.

Okay. All right. I'm just getting used to this. If there are no more comments, is the the owner is present and would like to make some comments, please? Oh, I'm sorry. I have

a very quick question. So do we have any elevations for this revised proposal?

No. We don't. This was received on Monday, and so that my request, I had let the owner know that I would be willing to take the new plan in on Monday in order to get it into this meeting. But no. And she did have to have her landscaper do this really quick in order to get it done.

Okay. So did you mention that it's going to be 18 they had 18 feet above the ground?

Actually, that was the original plan. They were looking at putting putting items on top of the, patio. When the owner comes to speak, we can discuss that further as as to whether or not the patio actually will be cut down to size or removed and then a new patio put there.

Oh, thank you.

No more comments from the commissioners? So now the owner. Now if the owner would like to come forward and comment, please.

I first wanted to say thank you guys for all of your patience with me and my situation. I appreciate all the time that you've taken. My goal today really is just to get approval. So whether that is, for this smaller version of the porch, I I didn't even expect the big one to be included anymore, to be honest. And mister Shuri was so kind to let me submit something at the last second, and I was working with my landscaper.

So, I also submitted a plan where, you know, like, if it's I've I'm also prepared to just turn it to grass if that's what we're getting to today. Getting approval tonight saves me from going back to court and potentially the additional thousand dollar fines that I could really go without paying right now. So, if, if you're willing to look at the smaller patio, the idea was to, because of the size that, we're proposing now, if we're moving our outdoor kitchen, it would end up sort of, right in front of our bay window where our actual kitchen looks out. And so we were hoping to raise the elevation of the existing just for that small space to what the existing patio is so that it's one straight piece. So that that gives us a little bit that we can move the kitchen so that it's sort of in between, and it's not landing directly in front of our window, if that makes sense.

So the patio that's existing, I believe, is about four inches, but I would have to double check that I'm not positive. But that's that's it. But I'm also prepared to take the whole thing out and just turn it to grass.

So,

and as far as the month deadline, I completely understand that because it's drawn on way too long, and I know we're all sick of it. Realistically, I don't know if my current landscapers will be able to work on that schedule, but if not, I'm willing to also look for a new landscaper and and try and get it done that quickly.

Okay.

But I'm I'm Thank you. Very agreeable, and I, again appreciate your time, and I appreciate miss Pashiri giving me more opportunities to communicate. So thank you.

Thank you very much. Oh, yeah. Right. So now any questions from the commissioners directed to the owner?

I have a question. Would would sixty days be better? I mean, I I'm willing to to entertain a bit more time just because, you know, this has gone on for so long. A few a few more weeks doesn't seem to me a huge big deal. If it if it means we get everybody's happy and can get this done.

You know, you have a landscaper that you wanna work with. I appreciate that. Other than that, I don't really have anything to say. I I I agree with the the staff's recommendations to remove the and get the planning, get this work done as quickly as possible and plant the privacy the the plannings that would help to restore some of what was what was originally there and removed for the basketball court. But sorry. That's just me, the sixty days. If the other commissioners don't agree with that, I'm I'm, you know, I'm willing to to listen and be contradicted.

Any other comments? That's interesting. How to staff, how do we alter this? Do we just read it in if we agree on sixty versus thirty days?

The conditions that are there, you can just change the conditions too.

Okay. Do we need to take a motion here? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So would anybody like to make any commissioner care to make a motion?

The motion? So that'll be me either. I move the commission approved certificate approval application twenty twenty six two five six c o a at 410 West Baltimore Avenue as revised. The work meets the secretary of the interior status for rehabilitation number 12910, provided the following conditions are met. One, the applicant must remove the existing concrete pad. Two, the applicant must plan privacy if agreed along the length of the west side fence. And three, the work must be completed by 05/20/2026.

Alright. Result. Do we have a second? So all in favor, raise your hand. Any other comments? Have a comment? No. All in favor,

your hand.

Yes. All in favor?

Aye. Anybody opposed? The motion's carried. Four to nothing. With abstention.

That was perfect, Commissioner Goldfinger. It was perfect.

Yeah. I wouldn't say that.

It was. No. It was. Okay. Next on our agenda are discussion items. We have old business, and it's our twenty twenty six preservation month event, which is in May. You probably want us to talk, don't you? Okay. So first of all, commissioner Thumba probably gets, like, 99.9% of the credit for all of this activity. But he and I have met a couple times.

The last time we met was with Nancy Picard, which I mentioned earlier in the meeting from Peerless Rockville. And she expressed her she gave us advice and then also expressed that they're willing to partner with us should we wanna do something like that. And commissioner Dembo was kind enough to do a briefing, which the staff shared with the rest of the commissioners. And so I'm gonna let commissioner Dembo make any comments he wants to and then maybe we'll hear from the HDC and hopefully we can move forward because time is of the essence. And I just want to note that a couple things are up against us.

One is the timing, which at the last meeting, I said we really should start planning this probably in, like, September right after our August break. And then the second comment is just that, you know, we're missing our key staff member, one of the key staff members, and so it makes it a little harder on this to happen. But I think I like the ideas that have been proposed. And I think we can make a go of whatever we end up doing. And I appreciate all the efforts that's been put into this. Seth, do you have anything to say?

Not much. I just I mean I put down everything that we discussed and we kind of had a wide ranging conversation about stuff that could happen in the future, other kinds of collaborations. She had some great ideas for things that HCC could do on their own. The one that seemed to make the most sense to me in terms of trying to get something done in May that would be beneficial and recognize our role in this in in helping the city to preserve its historic fabric would be doing something at Glenview in conjunction with an already planned event that Peerless Rockville has and that's what Nancy and Nancy is definitely open to that. We would just have to figure out fairly quickly what that looks like, whether we want to sort of start a bit earlier.

I can't remember what the exact time of her event was. I looked on her webs on the Peerless Rockville website. It didn't have anything. I mean, if if the rest of the commissioners are open to this, can we can start working on on making that happen.

Thank you. Commissioner Powell.

Quick question. So Perry Swampfel is having a an event at Glenview Mansion that the commissioners have been invited to be a part of or partner with. And my question is, will that take the place of HTC hosting their own preservation conference?

That would be our participation. Our conference would be that event. But the the the idea that we had talked about is the HCC taking ownership of a portion of the Peerless Rockville's event so that we could, for lack of better words, shine with this event so that it's not just all about Peerless Rockville, if that makes sense.

I don't know if it's all about Peerless shining and we're not, but I do believe that we and I know timing is important, is that I I really think that we need to take the lead on something, not just be a partner with be a partner with I mean, it could be I mean, I know that there perhaps, commissioner Goldfinger will participate in that effort in terms of HTC. I get that. But I I think by just for lack of a different word, I I think that just bowing out and just partnering with to me is not an HTC project. I mean, it's not their it's not a preservation conference or workshop or whatever we choose to call it.

It's not. And we wouldn't have you're absolutely correct. We would not have sole ownership. The other idea we had talked about was, I mean, we could still partner with Peerless with their event and have a portion that belongs to us, but then we could still do some kind of maybe a smaller version of the open house that we talked about, and maybe we just pick one or two places such as the old bank building or a couple of the historic homes. And then we do we have the owners there to talk about the pluses and minuses of maintaining a historic property, what's involved in making changes, and so forth.

So that was another idea that we had talked about. But I comp I you're right on you're right on. Yeah. Anyone else have any comments?

Okay. So, the event the PLS Rockville event, what is their theme? What is the event about? Did they say what the event is about, like, the theme or the things they will be discussing? Did they mention the

So they're gonna Seth, jump in. It's part of the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of

The hundredth anniversary. The hundredth anniversary of Glenview Mansion, which is this year.

So It's so that's the two fifty of well, of course, the country, but it's two fifty of Rockville, the county, and then the hundredth of the Glenview Mansion.

I think we can, like, in my opinion, we can attend the events and also do something along that as commissioners. So it's not bad if we support that particular event in attendance. And HDC also does something, you know, along the

way. Special.

Yeah, something special.

Any other comments? Commissioner Goldfinger. Thank you.

Putting my thoughts together. Yeah, I agree with Anita, with Commissioner Powell. But maybe some compromise. Peerless Rockville, let's say, is going to be advertising the event, which I assume they will, maybe it's a joint announcement with Peerless and HDC, the historic district commission. And on the announcement, events are credited and we take a part of it.

I'm just looking at, first of all, the timing because we've only got basically April. So piggybacking with Peerless would make a lot of sense in terms of visibility of the historic district commission. And on the announcement, if Peerless would agree to give the HDC credit for a particular event that we could partake in, would that meet your concerns?

Partially.

I think I guess the other idea is to if you had someone who would be willing to open their home to talk about I mean, I like that idea as well to talk about the ups and downs or whatever. I mean, going through the HTC process. You know? Yeah. I I don't know if you have somebody in I know some home in mind or something like that, but I think that will also be a way to allow HTC to showcase what they're doing.

I mean, that's out of a word, but, basically, it could be an opportunity for others who are thinking about working with HDC, give them an opportunity to see what we do and how that process work. You know, since it is preservation month, and so, you know, you invite folks there. But if if you're going to do something like that, then I mean, a decision of where that house would be, it had to be kinda quick so that we could advertise it. And I like the joint announcement with Pureless Rockville, and I also think that having been our own project. That's what's important.

Yeah. You know? It's that this is our work. This is what we do. You know? And then joining within I know somewhere they had said that maybe with Glenview Mansion. I mean, because that it really has a lot of history to the building in reference to, I guess, maybe two months ago or maybe longer than two months ago, they talked about the fact that Glenview Mansion was a plantation. And so there's a marker in front of the building. You know? And so that has to be a part of the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary and the one hundredth anniversary of Glenview Mansion as well.

So, I mean, those are my that's my comment, I mean, with with both. I think it's doable, but it's up to the other commissioners to decide on to weigh in on what their thoughts are.

Well, I think thank you. I think the easy part would be finding one or two homes that we could have the owners open up. It would be nice to find a property that has a lot of the things that are the the right things to do, but also the things you shouldn't do as examples.

Happy to help.

Happy to help.

I think it'll be easy for us to get a home or two and and make that work. But also, I think as on a separate day or maybe it's late. I don't know what time the Peerless thing is, but, anyway, I think it's partnering with Peerless.

Six or seven.

Okay. Thursday night. Night. Okay. So I don't Regular.

Sorry. Not a regular. Mike, Palos Rockville does a regular speaker series at at Glenview. But this is not a speaker. This is more like a sort of tour of the house and grounds and things that they are organizing in order to commemorate the one hundredth anniversary, which is why I thought it was I mean, one, because we have particular issue this year with not having as much staff support as we would normally have to help put, like, something like this together.

Two, because I think it's good it'd be good for us to sort of be involved in these celebrations in some way. Would help the visibility. You know, we could do something like a meet and greet there where people can come and talk to us. Whether we wanna do that in addition to something else is up to the commission, I guess.

What what I would like to get at from the commission this evening is and and I know we're not finished discussing, but I would like to get sort of a broad stamp of approval so that Seth and anyone else and and my myself, we can kinda move forward and lock this down so we don't have to wait and come back at the April meeting, and then maybe we have a problem at the April meeting, and then we wake up it's May and it's too late. So, it'd be nice to get sort of a blanket approval. Yes, miss Bashiri.

I just wanted to say if miss Kaleppi is volunteering, I think that the house would be a very popular choice as far as I think the public would be very interested in seeing the house, the property, hearing about, you know, the challenges of working with the historic district commission. So that's something to consider because it would be Okay. Something that's quick. You already have somebody who's already volunteering.

It is a beautiful house. It's yes. They did a beautiful home and they did a beautiful

And I've seen some photos of the inside. It's equally beautiful on the inside.

So, sorry. And, back to the commissioners. Any other comments?

Oh, I just wanted to say I believe, the Glenview Mansion event is Thursday, May 18.

You know, I put it on I think you're right. I put it on my calendar. I'm sorry. I should have had that up ahead.

It was in the email. The j e I

c. In the email.

Did you say May 18?

I think it's May.

It's it's a Monday? It's May.

Oh, wait. I have my house from the I

have the conversation. I have the fourteenth.

Fourteenth is a Thursday. That would be more in line with what they usually do.

It's also a West End Civic Association.

Yeah. It's the May, which is the fourteenth. That's when they do it. The second Thursday is there. It's the when they hold those events. Sorry. Took me a minute to find my note.

So because that's in the evening and it's a Thursday, do we wanna try to do no. We don't wanna do that because the sixteenth is a Lincoln Park event.

It is.

Isn't that isn't that the day? I have on my calendar Lincoln Park, the museum preservation event.

On the sixteenth?

That's what I have down on it. Well, I only would have gotten it from you.

That's absurd.

Yeah. So we don't wanna do it then unless it's later in the afternoon.

Let

me just make a comment. So if the young lady has agreed or would consider having open her house open up her house, then maybe we need we could check with her to see what works best.

Because you might be able to do a Saturday afternoon or Sunday afternoon even. Yeah.

Okay. Yeah. That's a valid point for us to determine the date. Yeah. Okay. That's good thinking.

So I guess Go ahead.

No. No. Go ahead.

I was going say maybe for this discussion, we can maybe agree on maybe two things. One, she has agreed that she is willing to open her house to get a date so we can you we have to

take to help. Let's not let's not jump the gun here too much. I mean, she said she's happy to help, but we

But as you as you were talking, she was raising her hand. She was trying to get your attention to raise, you know, when we talked about it too or so.

Okay.

I think she's willing.

But we we definitely need to get her.

I'll talk to I'll talk to Kelly.

My only concern well, if we do it on the same day as Peel's Rockville's event, then there's a logistical question of how you would get participants from one locale to the other. So that's something we might want to consider for. And maybe that would point to separate days possibly. And also, what's the parking situation in in and you can't park on West Montgomery. And there's probably limited parking.

She's got larger parking than most properties do. She's got a side lot

Is it?

That has literally has vertical parking spaces on

it. Right.

So and then there's also the thought of people just walking to the house. I think there's gonna be the options there. I don't think everyone's gonna have to park immediately at the house. There's the option of parking down the street or parking, you know, further on the alley or Well I don't know who has a parking lot that they might be able to use. There's that possibility as well.

Well, and

and the old side of Chestnut Lodge is at Bullard

Circle, I think.

Chestnut Lodge has, like, four parking spaces.

Well, can you park along that that street? I think it's Bullard Circle.

I don't think there would be a problem. I can't say that there would be complaints. Far walk. Yeah. It's almost across the street.

Right. Right.

So that's an that's a good option. Yeah. Okay. Because it's city owned, number one. Right. You know? So

Well, our entire street, Anderson, which is right behind there, is completely open public parking

Right.

As well. Okay. Yeah. So is the commission in agreement that we wanna do two events? One would be partnering with Peerless Rockville for their Thursday, May 14 event at Glenview Mansion, and we'll work out the details with Nancy and her staff. And then the second event would be an open house at one historic spot, preferably at the Kelly's house, which is 401401

West Montgomery?

401 West Montgomery Avenue. And just let us go ahead and work on the logistics. And then you guys hold your breath and hope we do a good job.

Okay. And once you have the logistics, we can get our public information office to actually publicize it, put it out Perfect. You know, wrap bill reports and that type of thing next door.

Okay. And I know each of us has our own list of people that we could send it to. What's that? I don't know. Have, like, three friends, so I'll send it out to them. But yeah. No. We have our own listservs and and connections we can help like we did last year, get a decent turnout. We don't we don't need emotion on that, do we? No. Everyone's any other comments? Think we're in good shape? Okay. Alright. Then we'll move on.

The last thing on our agenda this evening would be well, second to last thing is any new business, commissioners, staff? See no hands. Okay. If I may have a motion to adjourn.

I move that we adjourn the meeting.

May I have a second? I'll second. All in favor?

Aye.

Thank you very much. Thank you, channel eleven. Thank you, staff. Appreciate it.