Category Archives: News

Current and breaking news for the College Gardens Civic Association

Garden Club Fall Bulb Sale – 2023

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To order bulbs please contact Janey Nadler

  • HYACINTHOIDES HISPANICA PINK
  • ALLIUM ‘GLADIATOR’
  • HYACINTH ‘FAT TUESDAY’ MIXTURE
  • NARCISSUS LARGE CUPPED MIXTURE
  • TULIP FOSTERIANA ‘VALENTINE’ MIXTURE
  • TULIP ‘CANDY CANE’ MIXTURE
  • NARCISSUS ‘RIJNVELD’S EARLY SENSATION’
  • GARLIC – CALIFORNIA SOFTNECK WHITE
  • ONION – SUPER SWEET YELLOW
HYACINTHOIDES HISPANICA PINK The common name of this plant is Spanish bluebells or Wood Hyacinth. This one has rose-pink bell-shaped flowers that bloom on 10”-12” stems from April to May with usually 6 to 8 fragrant flowers per stem. The green leaves are strap like. Plant where it will get full sun to partial shade for best performance. It is deer resistant and will multiply over the years.

1 bag of 15 bulbs is $6.50 

SOLD OUT
ALLIUM ‘GLADIATOR’ This is one of the ornamental Giant Allium group with a 7”– 8” flower head made up of many tiny flowers atop 32”– 36” stems. It blooms in early summer. It does best in full sun but will grow in a semi shady situation. The fragrant flowers attract butterflies and bees. Excellent cut and/or dried. It is deer, squirrel, and rabbit resistant. They are easy to grow and are winter hardy. Because of their height plant at the back of the border in groups of 3 per square foot.

1 bag of 2 bulbs is $7.50

SOLD OUT

HYACINTH ‘FAT TUESDAY’ MIXTURE

Hyacinths are very reliable, blooming year after year usually in April. This mix has dense tubular blue and yellow very fragrant flowers on sturdy 10”-12” stems. They are showy when planted in clusters and do best in full sun in rich soil. Remove the flowers after they bloom so that they do not put energy into making seeds. It is an extremely good bulb to use for forcing indoors in winter. It attracts bees and is rabbit and deer resistant.

1 bag of 6 bulbs is $6.50

SOLD OUT

NARCISSUS LARGE CUPPED MIXTURE

This is a mixture of different types and colors of large cup narcissus that bloom in mid-spring. They are easy to grow, need minimal care and will multiply over the years if the foliage is allowed to die back naturally (see cover page). Plant in full to partial sun. They are fragrant, attractive to bees, deer resistant, and are good grown in containers and cut for flower arrangements. They are 12”-16” in height.

1 bag of 8 bulbs is $6.50

7 BAGS AVAILABLE

TULIP FOSTERIANA ‘VALENTINE’ MIXTURE

 Tulips in the Fosteriana group have large single bowl-shaped flowers on each stem. These are 12”-16” high and bloom from early to mid spring. Some have a different color edge and a contrasting base. Plant in full sun in well-drained soil. Attractive to bees.

1 bag of 10 bulbs is $6.50

3 BAGS AVAILBLE
TULIP ‘CANDY CANE’ MIXTURE Triumph tulips are the largest group of the tulip varieties. They have a single classic shaped tulip flower per sturdy stem and bloom in mid spring. These are 18”-20” tall and fragrant. Attractive to bees. Plant where they will get full sun in well-drained soil. They are good for cutting and can be forced indoors in winter.

1 bag of 10 bulbs is $6.50

6 BAGS AVAILABLE
NARCISSUS ‘RIJNVELD’S EARLY SENSATION’I think this yellow trumpet narcissus is very special. I had it on the sale in 2019 because it is advertised to bloom so early that it might bloom in the snow. Of course, last year we didn’t have any snow. However, when it did bloom it was such an intense yellow color I couldn’t take my eyes off it. It tolerates cold and has a long blooming period. Plant where it gets full sun or partial shade with good drainage. Fragrant. 14” height. Deer and rodent resistant.

1 bag of 6 bulbs is $6.50

2 BAGS AVAILABLE

GARLIC – CALIFORNIA SOFTNECK WHITE

Softneck garlic is the easiest to grow and has better storage quality. In the mid-Atlantic region they should be planted from mid October to mid November in a sunny spot with good fertile soil that has a pH of 6.5-7.

Use some mulch to protect them in the winter and pull it back when they start to emerge. They will grow to a height of 14”-16”. The skins are papery and the cloves are creamy white. Hint: plant the largest cloves and eat the rest! Do not plant store bought garlic as it may have been treated. Deer resistant. 

1 bag of 6 bulbs is $8.50

1 BAG AVAILABLE

ONION – SUPER SWEET YELLOW       

This onion is a short day type which means it starts forming when there is 10-12 hours of daylight. It can grow quite large depending on the amount of light it receives. It is thin skinned and juicy and becomes sweeter as it matures in the summer. Plant in rich well drained sandy loam with a pH of 6.0-6.8. It will become 12”-16” tall. The recommended planting date is October 15. Deer resistant.

1 bag of 10 bulbs is $4.75

2 BAGS AVAILABLE

Meeting on Oct 13, 2021

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COLLEGE GARDENS CIVIC ASSOCIATION
SPRING MEETING MINUTES
October 13, 2021

Download Meeting Minutes http://www.collegegardens.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/CGCA_13OCT2021_Minutes_final.pdf

* Simultaneous in-person/virtual – 12 people in-person; 21 accounts signed-on

7 p.m. – call to order

Proposed Meeting Agenda (John Mosely Hayes): CGCA President John Mosely Hayes (JMH) introduced the other CGCA officers (Vice-President Chaula Butterworth, Treasurer Jennifer Weiland, Ex-officio Officer Tom Miner) , the City Councilperson Mark Pierzchala and Rockville City Police LT Brian Paul and reviewed the proposed meeting agenda:

– Treasurer Report

– Police Report

– City Council Updates

– Elect CGCA Secretary

– CGCA Information Technology Overview and what dues pay for

– Proposed plan for collecting/sharing directory info

– Dues Amount Vote

– ByLaw Amendments Vote on changes discussed at May 12, 2021, CGCA meeting

Treasurer report (Jennifer Weiland): The current account balance is $4008.03.

Police Report (Brian Paul): LT Paul gave publicly appropriate updates about the bank robbery at Essex Bank. He talked about the stolen solar panels from the College Gardens pond, fireworks going off at midnight, surveillance cameras as a helpful deterrent/useful and the lights out at the corner of College Parkway and Nelson.
(Post meeting note: bank robbers were arrested) 

City Council Updates – accessory dwellings; deer management; comprehensive plan; other (Mark Pierzchala): 

– City is about to start its budget process. Get requests in now. 

– Rockville City 2040 Master Plan was approved in May. Mark is not entirely onboard with it. He thinks it’s executable, largely. CGCA got everything that was asked. Town Center is largely unchanged. West End residents don’t want a lot of people coming through there. Mayor and council usually give in to those demands. When zoning ordinances are issued in the future will show how much of plan is actually implemented. 

– City Hall is still largely deserted due to covid. Meeting participants asked about why city hall is still closed. Mark will take our questions and concerns to the city council, and report back. Mark explained that city hall is open for business. Community centers are getting opened; swim center has been open for quite some time. The outside parks are open. So it’s not that the City isn’t open for business. The theater is open at F. Scott Fitzgerald. 

– The potential I-270 expansion process continues, with 8000 pages of updates. The rebuttal has 45 days. City has hired a legal team. Important steps starting in 2022 that will decide the whole thing. 

– Mark says it’s not entirely clear how the pandemic affected the City budget, but overall the City came through in good shape. City will receive ARPA money to put towards water relief efforts. The City needs to make repairs to one of the outdoor pools at the swim center. Replace pipes and infrastructure. Water rates have been raised quite a lot over the last 10 years. 

– Sidewalks and driveways were replaced as routine maintenance. City spends $3 million/year maintaining roads and sidewalks.

– Mark Pierzchala, councilman gave an update about the overpopulation of deer. A pilot archery hunting deer culling program was implemented last year at John Hayes Park. Archers sitting in blinds and trees. Approximately 25-30 does were killed. Mark will no longer support the pilot program. Bows have been tried, no appetite for rifles. Hunters would have to be professionally trained. Is there a jurisdictional issue? MoCo culls deer via rifles in Rock Creek Park. 

(Here is a copy of the detailed email where Mark outlined his reasoning to no longer support the archery based deer culling pilot approach:
“I outline my reasoning below.

  1. There was about a decade worth of meetings before we did the pilot last year. I believe there were at least 7 or 8 substantive meetings on the topic. So we did a lot of research and heard from all viewpoints.
  2. In trying to implement the pilot, there were eventually only 2 places in the City where such a pilot could be held: (1) Redgate, and (2) the John Hayes Forest Preserve. These are near each other in the northeast part of the City. Here is problem number one: whatever we did with the pilot was not extendable to the rest of the City due to various constraints on the use of weapons in the City and from the State government. Further, these two sites are far from residential areas, and are out of sight to the general population.
  3. We initially agreed to conduct the pilot at Redgate, but this was overturned relatively quickly because it became a destination for quite a few people. This is problem number 2: we have to shut down a park during the culling. Since we could not hold onto our original choice, the number of culling spots in the City went down to 1. While the John Hayes Forest Preserve is not as well known or used as Redgate, nevertheless, we shut down a park to conduct the pilot.
  4. The number of deer culled was an extremely small percent of the overall deer population in Rockville, not really making a dent in the problem.
  5. I agreed with PETA that culling by bow is cruel to deer. They apparently did not have a problem with culling by firearm, or at least they never mentioned that, but I took their point about the cruelty. Otherwise PETA was useless in helping to address the deer over-population issue.
  6. It took enormous effort to pull off the culling. While some of that is a learning curve, it still takes considerable staff time to run it and monitor it for negligible effect.
  7. The number of certified deer hunters willing to do this job is very small. It is unlikely that this City would ever attract enough deer hunters willing to go through the certification and other constraints to make a dent. They don’t hunt; they are in deer blinds in trees, spending an enormous amount of time to cull relatively few deer.

I am comfortable that we did the culling once, learned what we could, and now have stopped it. To impact deer population via culling would take many hunters, not confined to deer blinds, in all our woods, using firearms. This is not plausible. Does our neighborhood want hunters in our own Upper Watts Branch Park, also a forest preserve? There is not much room between College Gardens and Woodley Gardens.

Is deer over-population still a problem? Yes, in many ways. But I don’t want to spend any more time on a not viable solution. If we continued it, this would only be for show. I’d rather we stop our effort on culling and search for other methods of deer control. I am not under any illusion that there is a different near-term effective solution. It would be nice if contraception was a realistic solution, but it is not, at least not for now.”

Elect CGCA Secretary: JMH explained that the CGCA needs a Secretary because the previous Secretary had resigned. It would be helpful, but not required, that the next Secretary be tech-savvy to help with the information technology related CGCA processes. We are trying to move the CGCA away from print. There were no nominations for Secretary.

CGCA Information Technology Overview and what dues pay for: JMH explained that the CGCA dues historically have paid for the National Night Out gathering, web page, internet web meetings, and signs. The CGCA now maintains a Google Group (GG). The CGCA GG is a private resource intended to keep neighbors within College Gardens connected. It provides the ability to share announcements, concerns and other community news. Commercial, inflammatory or political posts are not allowed on this listserv. The CGCA has a designated email address to help facilitate CGCA business that can be passed along from one CGCA administration to the other — CollegeGardensCivicAssociation@gmail.com. The CGCA is targeting maintaining the CGCA membership directory in a Google Sheets file. The CGCA has a website that Jerry Callistein helps maintain for free and which cost approximately $240 per year to pay for hosting of the website using the WordPress software. For many years  Jerry Callistein has been paying the website hosting fee, but the CGCA will start paying this fee itself.  

(Post meeting note: CGCA Google Group sign-up instructions will be distributed when the CGCA membership directory information is collected and membership fees collected. There is a Google Group registration option that allows Group members to register with a non-gmail address – e.g. yahoo)

Proposed plan for collecting/sharing directory info: Jennifer Weiland, will spearhead the updating of neighborhood information. She will work with the Executive Committee and block captains to get information from the residents to input into a Google sheet that it is targeted for CGCA members to have access and from which a MS Excel file and pdf file can be created and distributed to members in good standing (i.e. gave membership fee).  In addition, once the electronic directory is completed, persons interested in publishing a paper directory will be contacted to determine next steps.

Dues Amount Vote: A vote was taken, and by near unanimous vote dues will be increased to $10 every other year.

ByLaw Amendments Vote on changes discussed at May 12, 2021, CGCA meeting: (see previous minutes) A couple of issues concerning the by-law changes were brought to the meeting. A few grammatical errors were identified and corrected. All proposed changes were accepted.

Meeting ended: 9:04.

Meeting on May 12, 2021

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COLLEGE GARDENS CIVIC ASSOCIATION
SPRING MEETING MINUTES
MAY 12, 2021

Download Meeting Minutes

Call to order: 7:04 p.m.  

Treasurer’s report (Jennifer Weiland): Bob Mills, former CGCA Treasurer, resigned because he had served two consecutive terms as the CGCA Treasurer.  Jennifer Weiland (JW) was nominated to serve as Treasurer and elected by unanimous vote.  The current account balance is $4305.81.  

President’s report (John Mosely Hayes): John Mosely Hayes (JMH) gave the proposed agenda:
– Treasurer’s report
– Police report
– Proposed bylaw changes
– College Gardens neighborhood Bulletin Board request
– CGCA’s Rockville 2040 Comprehensive Master Plan improvement recommendations
– City Updates – accessory dwellings; deer management; comprehensive plan; other
– I-270 Expansion Plan Updates
– Other issues — National Night Out on August 3rd announced and volunteers wanted 

Police Report (Brian Paul): Not able to attend.

Proposed Upper Watts Branch Park-CGCA Bulletin Board (JMH): To support improved non-internet-based CGCA communication, JMH reached out to the City of Rockville to inquire if the city would research, install and maintain a proposed Upper Watts Branch Park-CGCA Bulletin Board.  A favorable response from the College Gardens’ Rockville City Liaison Jharman Cordero was received.  The City was supportive and the Recreation and Parks Dept. recommended installing the envisioned park trail type bulletin board on the City land where the Watts Branch Preserve monument is located on the left, when on Princeton Place headed towards Fordham St. just before Columbia Ct.  The City requested that the CGCA confirm/email with the residents in homes connected or across the street from the land where the bulletin board would be installed (three homes) to make sure they were OK with the proposal.  [Post-meeting note:  After the May 12 meeting, the CGCA sent e-mails to residents of the three homes adjacent to the land explaining the bulletin board proposal, and obtained verbal approvals from residents of two of the homes. However, after further CGCA officer communications, it was decided that due to concerns about potential unintended consequences to not pursue at this time (i.e. potential generation of trash if board was not maintained; potential non-posting of information by a future potentially non-attentive CGCA)].   

Proposed Changes to By-Laws (JMH):  JMH led the discussion about the proposed CGCA bylaws changes shown in the bullets 1-4 below that have been distributed to the CGCA members in several emails prior to the meeting. JMH explained that as stated in the current bylaws, 10 CGCA member petitions to make the proposed changes had been received. 

1. Executive Committee can define how to give “written” announcements and information prior to Spring, Fall or Ad Hoc meetings. 

2. Executive Committee is no longer expected to create and sell a paper directory but instead focus on maintaining a communications infrastructure (e.g. mixture of CGCA membership email distribution lists, Google Groups, and ‘hard copy’ communications when needed like block captain distributed flyers, etc…). 

3. Low Biannual Association dues amount is to be set by the Executive Committee (e.g. $10 in 2021).

4. Association expenditure approval requirement raised from $500 to $1000. [Historically the biggest CGCA expense has been the annual National Night Out pot-luck gathering, where the CGCA has rented equipment (i.e. grill; delivery cleaning), provided food, water and desert, for an expense of more than $800.]  

The main topic of discussion was the second proposed bylaws change, “Executive Committee is no longer expected to create and sell a paper directory but instead focus on maintaining a communications infrastructure (e.g. mixture of CGCA membership email distribution lists, Google Groups, and ‘hard copy’ communications when needed like block captain distributed flyers, etc…).”
– Several meeting participants wanted the CGCA to continue to create/maintain some type of CGCA Membership Directory (whether paper, electronic or otherwise), including former multi-term and many years of service CGCA President Bill Hickman. Bill stated (and had sent an email to the CGCA) that he thought it best to keep in the proposed updated bylaws that the CGCA would maintain a CGCA membership directory, but that it was OK if it was no longer explicit in the bylaws that it be a paper directory.
– JMH shared that he had already started experimenting with creating a digital directory within the CGCA Google Drive on a Google Sheet. JMH further explained that he personally was not supportive or comfortable given technological advances and the labor involved for the CGCA’s continuing to be held responsible for continuing to create/sell a hardcopy CGCA membership directory for $5 every two years. JMH also pointed out that the current CGCA officers, the previous Treasurer Bob Mills, and most recent previous CGCA President Tom Miner (who served multiple terms and provided many years of service and steadfast CGCA leadership and is continuing to serve as the current CGCA Ex-official Officer), had reviewed and approved the proposed bylaw changes.  However, JMH said that he and the other CGCA officers were supportive and willing to work with the CGCA block-captains and other neighborhood volunteers to collect information for updating the CGCA membership directory, including asking each CGCA household to give $10 every two years to support CGCA functions like the maintaining a membership directory, the annual NNO Community Party, the CGCA webpage, meeting/NNO announcement signs, and other unexpected expenses like Zoom meeting subscription costs brought on by the pandemic.
– Tom Miner reiterated that to create a hardcopy CGCA membership directory was a very labor-intensive undertaking and required the generously given help of CGCA members Karen Carp and previous CGCA President Jerry Callistein and current CGCA webmaster (who both have given many, many hours of hard work and applied their publishing expertise to create the previous hardcopy CGCA membership directories upon receiving the information that the previous CGCA officers and CGCA block-captains collected from each household in the neighborhood), and that he was no longer supportive of requiring the CGCA and its helpers to produce and sell a hardcopy directory.
– One meeting participant (name unknown) stated that he didn’t like that the CGCA was collecting any money from the CGCA members.  In response, Bill Hickman responded by pointing out that since the 1970s the CGCA membership had been supporting the CGCA functions and wellness of the community by collecting $5 from the College Garden’s households through the sale of the directory, and that if one just thought about the low amount that has been collected and the inflation that has occurred since the 1970s it was quite reasonable  to increase the amount (from $5 to $10) that households are asked to give to support the CGCA operations. 
– In response to the discussion and remaining desire of some CGCA members to have a hardcopy directory, CGCA members Karen Carp, Scott Butterworth, Kathy Oehl, Wendy Bauman, and others graciously volunteered to make another paper directory… possibly the last paper directory.

In addition, the discussion about the proposed bylaws changes included a discussion that possibly the current CGCA bylaw Article III – Boundaries and Article IV – should be changed to better reflect the boundaries of the area including the households served by the CGCA.
– JMH pointed out that historically the CGCA has tended to serve the residents of the detached homes because their residents have expressed the greatest interest in joining the association. 
– Bill Hickman and JMH agreed to try and obtain a copy of the State of Maryland CGCA Articles of Incorporation. Mark Pierzchela (another former CGCA President and who has given years of CGCA and now City Council service) said that likely a copy of the CGCA Articles of Incorporation was stored in the box of CGCA materials that Tom Miner had passed on to JMH.  (Post-meeting Note: Bill contacted the state and obtained and passed on to the CGCA an electronic copy of the CGCA Articles of Incorporation. He further explained that he was not proposing that the area boundaries be changed, but that it was important that the CGCA not overlook what the Articles of Incorporation specified.  The current CGCA officers agree and will not pursue trying to amend the CGCA Articles of Incorporation nor the CGCA area boundaries.)

– Mark moved that CGCA form a work group/committee to address the directory issue and another work group/committee to address updating the bylaws.  This was seconded. 
– Then current CGCA Treasurer Jennifer Weiland (JW) agreed to lead creating the electronic CGCA directory, and once completed to give the electronic directory to Karen Carp who would lead creating the hard copy directory with help from Scott Butterworth, Kathy Oehl, Wendy Bauman, and others, as desired by some of the May 12 CGCA meeting participants. JMH agreed to assist JW with creating the electronic directory, including working with her to mobilize the block-captains to help with this work and to collect the proposed $10 dues that will now be collected to support the CGCA operations, and no longer tied to receiving a hardcopy directory (assuming the to be revised bylaws are approved at the Fall CGCA meeting; note that the dues would now be given by CGCA members to have access to the to be created electronic directory that could then be printed out if desired as well as to support other CGCA functions like NNO, signage for meeting/NNO announcements, and other CGCA expenses).
– JMH also agreed to modify the proposed bylaws changes to state that the CGCA would maintain a membership directory, but otherwise to keep the proposed bylaw changes basically the same as had been circulated prior to the May 12th meeting.  JMH pointed out that the CGCA Executive Committee had already provided a suggested revised version of the bylaws with the intent that the membership would vote to accept the bylaw changes at the Fall 2021 meeting.  It was left that additional tweaking of the bylaws would be done, circulated and then voted on at the Fall 2021 meeting.

Changes to the Rockville 2040 Comprehensive Master Plan (Ken Hoffman): Background — The City of Rockville solicited improvement suggestions from the CGCA about its DRAFT 2040 Comprehensive Master Plan (CMP).  In response, the CGCA asked CGCA member Ken Hoffman, who has given countless hours and in depth input to the City’s CMP planning process over the past few years, to assist the CGCA with developing CGCA membership CMP improvement suggestions pertinent to the College Gardens community. Ken helped by developing draft input that the CGCA Executive Committee then refined and distributed to the CGCA membership for review, discussion and approval voting at the May 12th CGCA meeting.  The full CGCA input letter for Mayor and Council was shared with the CGCA membership prior to the May 12th meeting, the summary of which is provided in the minutes below.  All of the input was acceptable to the CGCA meeting participants except for the originally suggested wording for item 6 below about a path going through the Upper Watts Branch Park nature area to link the College Gardens neighborhood with the Woodley Gardens neighborhood.  A lively discussion ensued and edits were made to this item, resulting in the wording shown below. Ken gave a report on what he thought should be changed in the 2040 Rockville comprehensive master plan as he compared the 2002 plan to today. The plan before 2002 was issued around 1960.  He showed a variety of maps of Rockville and expressed the idea of an open area being an office-residential mixture to be positive.  He mentioned that the developer of Woodley Gardens had the good idea of a clubhouse, and the Senior Center was originally an elementary school before the city converted it to a senior center. The traffic on #355, near Montgomery College, is too heavy.  Planning Area 5 consists of Woodley Gardens and College Gardens.  Planning Area 7 consists of Scarborough Square and Yale Village. While showing the slides of all areas, he  expressed his idea for it to be returned to Area 5.  Then a vote was taken and it was unanimously approved (once the editing of item 6 was completed during the meeting) for the CGCA to submit to the Rockville Mayor and Council the CMP improvement recommendations as the CGCA membership’s recommendations and to allow the CGCA President at upcoming CMP meetings with the City of Rockville to reiterate these recommendations. Here are the improvement suggestions summaries that were approved to be submitted:

1) Change CMP’s proposed Area Planning Area 5 and 7 boundaries details in a manner that  supports the creation of Planning Area 7 with a western boundary along Rutgers Ave (not Yale Place) and the property line between Scarborough Square, retaining Yale Village and Scarborough Square within Planning Area 5.

2) Change CMP’s proposed Area Planning Area 7, and 16 more boundaries,, in a manner that creates a zoned designation of OCRM (Office Commercial Residential Mix) on both sides of the intersection of West Gude Drive and Route #355. This would facilitate a potential environmentally and community-friendly state-of-the-art business/residential/transit corridor that would alleviate the traffic congestion across the four intersections from Mannakee Street through Gude Drive, and enhance the quality of life for City residents and both College employees and students.  

3) CGCA strongly supports fully reopening the existing public pedestrian-bike walkway between Princeton Place and Montgomery College. 

4) CGCA appreciates there has been no mention of any plan to connect Gude Drive to  Yale Place, and would strongly oppose any future plan for this connection. This would greatly increase the traffic hazards and noise in the College Gardens neighborhood and in front of the elementary school.

5) To NOT connect Gude Drive to #270, as this would greatly increase the traffic and noise on Gude and not be welcomed by any of the neighborhoods (King Farm, College Gardens, Woodley Gardens) that back to Gude Drive.

6) Any proposed changes to the current path structure of the Watts Branch Nature Preserve will be designed in consultation between College Gardens and Woodley Gardens neighborhoods.

7) To install a sound-wall that will decrease 270 traffic noise in the West End of the  Woodley Gardens neighborhood.

(Post meeting note: The approved CMP improvement suggestions were submitted to the City as requested by the City. JMH and Ken were requested by the City to attend and did attend additional Mayor and Council meetings about potential changes to the draft CMP, including the CGCA’s submission).

City Updates – accessory dwellings; deer management; comprehensive plan; other (Mark Pierzchala): Mark graciously chose to let Janet Gallant give her report about the potential I-270 expansion as discussion about the proposed CGCA Bylaws changes and CMP improvement suggestion editing of suggestion item 6 had used up most of the meeting’s time.  

I-270 Expansion Plan Updates (Janet Gallant): Janet briefly shared that the MD Dept of Transportation’s current plan is to have four toll lanes, 2 lanes each way, across the American Legion Bridge, up to Old Georgetown Road to the east, and north on I-270 as far as I-370.  She emphasized that we all have to keep fighting, and complimented Mark Pierzchala for all the coordination and work he has done as a Rockville Council Representative to stop the negative impacts the I-270 expansion will have on our community. She urged everyone to stay informed by signing up for the newsletter at DontWiden270.org.  

Other issues — National Night Out (NNO) on August 3rd announced and volunteers wanted (Chaula Butterworth): CGCA Vice President Chaula Butterworth announced that the CGCA had learned that the City had decided that the NNO on August 3rd would be held, so the CGCA would hold a NNO Community Pot-luck gathering as it has done in the past.  Chaula asked that CGCA members please contact her to volunteer to help with implementing the CGCA NNO.  [Post meeting note:  The CGCA NNO potluck event was held August 3, 2021, Tuesday, 6:30pm to dark, and had approximately 35-50 attendees who came and went.  The CGCA organized and implemented the successful gathering, including providing Carmen’s Italian Ice, water from the Water Store (thanks for discount!), and eating utensils and tableware. The CGCA spent $267 on the NNO this year. Special thanks and recognition for: Music by the Rockville German Band; Rockville Wizard.Exe club’s fascinating robotics display; Attendees that brought and shared a variety of delicious dishes; Appearances by the Rockville Police and Fire Departments, Rockville City Council and other city officials; Rockville City Liaison Jharman Cordero’s pre-event coordination with other city departments to reserve the pavilion; Jen Halper and girl scouts Lila, Brenna and Madeline’s serving Italian Ice; and the Butterworth’s girls for collecting and delivering the Manna food drive donations.] 

The meeting was adjourned at 9 p.m.

Footnote: This CGCA meeting was held as a web meeting.  During the 3 three weeks prior to the CGCA web meeting, the CGCA membership was informed about the meeting and agenda via a CGCA Block Captain distributed door to door flyer, and multiple emails from the CGCA President to the CGCA Private Email list (currently 483 email addresses with many households listing more than one email) and the CGCA Google Group (currently 141 email addresses). The CGCA membership was provided digital copies of the proposed CGCA bylaw revisions and proposed CGCA membership Rockville 2040 Comprehensive Master Plan (CMP) improvement suggestions as email attachments on CGCA President Private Email list and Google Group emails. The CGCA President pre-meeting emails also included the web meeting link and phone number.  There were 40 web meeting connections, and some connections had more than one person on a connection.

Meeting on October 14, 2020

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College Gardens Civic Association
Fall Meeting October 14, 2020

Download Meeting Minutes

Call to order: 19:01 EDT

Treasurer’s report (Bob Mills):
The current account balance is $4334.93.

President’s report (Tom Miner):
Tom is stepping down permanently from the board. The participants nominated voted in a new slate of candidates for the board and voted 26 yes votes. 

New board for CGCA
– John Mosely Hayes, President
– Chaula Butterworth, Vice president
– Fran Miller, Secretary
– Bob Mills, Treasurer

Rockville Police Report (Lt. Brian Paul):
The neighborhood crime report shows it’s quiet in the neighborhood despite the coyote and home invasion anomaly. The home invasion suspect was known to one of the residents. It was a random act, and not a continuing activity.

Coyotes do not normally act as our recent coyote.  The coyote victims are recovering.

Gude traffic is an annoyance. Police will focus on major roads around neighborhood, 355, Gude, Route 28. MCPD will focus on 270. RPD will meet with ICC police to come up with a joint plan to stop the speeding on Gude Dr. Traffic stops are being conducted to limit the speeding.

Lt. Paul can be reached at bpaul@rockvillemd.gov

I-270 Construction update (Janet Gallant):
Gov. Hogan forging ahead with widening 270. First segment will add toll lanes from the ICC South to 495. Spring 2021 expects to select the winning bid that will last for 50 years. Expected winner is TransNorthern (from Virginia). Peter Franchot will likely cast the deciding vote. Construction could start in October 2022. MDOT released DEIS. Despite the gov’s promise that the project wouldn’t cost the tax payers a dime, the project could cost $1 billion in addition to WSSC’s expenses. Traffic will be worse after the lane increase because of the lack of widening at 270 North. Bridges will be widened, noise will be around for up to five years. DEIS does not account for dirty run-off, toll costs, and mass transit. Bridget Newton and Mark Pierzchala have been staunch advocates to reject the project. Julie Palakovich Carr signed the letter to deny the contract. The contract for the Purple Line failed to protect local interests. Toll lanes would be the biggest construction projects in the country. Robert Mitchell item in TWP from 10/12. Mark is championing a major signing initiative. Send comments to MDOT now to say ‘no’ to widening 270.

See attachment for full update and details, and information to

Rockville City Councilperson’s Update: (Mark Pierzchala):
Thanked the people spearheading the pushback to widening I-270. He says environmentally and financially the toll lanes make no sense. Raw data is not being shared to governing parties. Include MC council with comments if anyone writes against the widening of 270.

The Swim Center (check city website for more details or call city) are open. The exercise room at the swim center is open. City Hall remains closed, and all city council meetings are online. City of Rockville budget is currently in good shape. We have AAA bond rating, with good reserves. No layoffs through this year. The city is performing very well during the pandemic. Rockville has grown by approximately 25,000 in 20 years. City employees have not grown commensurately.

Red Gate golf course will remain recreation and parks. The process to sort out what to do with 144 acres will take a while.

Mayor and council have established a charter commission, which equals our constitution. They will look at the number of council members + mayor. Members are elected at large. May get switched to election by area. Next election is 2023.

Town Center is really struggling, even before the pandemic. New leasing agreements coming to RTS. We have a lot of discussion with little agreement on how to improve the situation.

Mayor and council are likely to appoint a police advisory commission. Rick Brito is a good leader, encouraging diversity training for officers.

Transition to 5G requires lots of small cell towers instead of few large towers. City council has to provide access to right-of-ways to cell carriers. Some restrictions can be applied, like certain distance from a house. The City has joined a lawsuit challenging the FCC power. The hope is for the cell towers to be attached to streetlights.

Accessory apartments or accessory dwelling units issue will be addressed on November 16 before mayor and council.

Woodley Swim Club had an extremely successful swim season. The owner is looking to sell for retirement income. He could sell to build single-family homes. Adding senior living or housing in place of the pool is off the table.

Deer – a pilot program will be tried in the forest preserve off Norbeck. Certain types of bows, shooting the bows downward, etc. are some of the rules involved with the deer hunt.

November 3 safe election- drop box at City Hall is actually a county drop box.

Construction at swim center is new skate park. The skate park will have supervision.

Garden Club fall sale is on the civic association web site. Bulb offerings are listed there.

Closing comments: By end of meeting there were 34 attendees.

Meeting adjourned: 20:14 EDT