PRESS RELEASE 15 April 2013
West End Citizens’ Association
Rockville, MD 20850
Contact: Noreen Bryan (301) 762-1256
Jim Coyle (301) 251-1584
Rockville’s West End Neighborhoods Support Historic Designation of 628 Great Falls Road
Historic Gateway to Rockville Should Be Preserved
Staff supporting Rockville’s Historic District Commission has recommended historic designation for a single-family home located at the tip of the intersection of Great Falls Road and Maryland Avenue. “Rockville’s West End neighborhoods ‘wholeheartedly support’ staff’s conclusion that the property located at 628 Great Falls Road is the ‘gateway’ property to the city’s historic core and should be protected,” said Noreen Bryan, President of the West End Citizens’ Association.
The property is owned by the Rockville Maryland Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses, which has filed development plans with the City for a second sanctuary with 135 seats. The church now worships in an existing sanctuary on property located at 624 Great Falls Road and no changes to that property have been proposed. The expansion plans include a 32-space parking lot with a one-way-in entrance from Great Falls Road and a one-way-out exit onto Maryland Avenue. A single-family home located at 626 Great Falls Road, also owned by the church, would be demolished to accommodate the new parking lot.
There are neighborhood concerns about the proposed expansion. “We support the existing church in our community,” said Bryan, “but this new use, when added to the impact of Julius West Middle School, the Masonic Hall and Rockville Home for Boys, serves as the tipping point that will transform our community from a residential neighborhood to an institutional hub that was never contemplated by the master plan.” She also stated that the “residential character of the neighborhood will be even further eroded” if the house at 626 Great Falls Road is demolished to make way for a new parking lot.
Others are concerned about traffic impacts. “We have the crazy I-270 interchange on Falls Road just a few hundred feet away, and a one-way exit from Julius West Middle School right across the street” said Jim Coyle, President of the Rose Hills Falls HOA. “I just don’t see how a one-way-in, one-way-out parking lot that straddles Great Falls Road and Maryland Avenue can safely function at this location.”
The Rockville Historic District Commission will consider this case on Thursday, April 18 during its regular 7:30 p.m. meeting at Rockville City Hall.
The Historic District Commission staff report can be found on-line at:
http://www.rockvillemd.gov/government/commissions/hdc/2013/0513_Item_V-A_HDC2013-00611.pdf
