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GETTING AMPED UP!
Strathmore announces new music venue for White Flint. B-4
The Gazette ROCKVILLE | ASPEN HILL | WHEATON
DAILY UPDATES ONLINE www.gazette.net
Wednesday, May 7, 2014
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Aspen Hill residents Budget plan: Taxes flat, water bills up form group to oppose City Council to vote Monday on $118M spending proposal potential Wal-Mart n
Others support rezoning process to improve site of building vacant since 2010 n
BY
KEVIN JAMES SHAY STAFF WRITER
As Montgomery County planners prepare for a potential lengthy rezoning process of an Aspen Hill site that could one day welcome Wal-Mart, some area residents have formed a group to oppose the fast-track rezoning. Called Aspen Hill Homeowners, the group believes a Wal-Mart or other big-box store at that site will cause too much of an increase in neighborhood traffic, said Judy Fink, who lives a half-block from the site at the northwest corner of Aspen Hill Road and Connecticut Avenue. Her street is already a cut-through route for many motorists avoiding backups on Aspen Hill Road, she said. “The negative environmental impact would be significant,” Fink said. “A big box is not acceptable to me and to many of us.” But other residents support the site’s faster rezoning process from office to retail, saying it will revitalize the neighborhood and improve the site, which has had a vacant 265,000-square-foot
building since defense and aerospace contractor BAE Systems moved out in 2010. The Aspen Hill Civic Association, which formed around 1980, supports rezoning the BAE site “as the only viable path to change this obsolete vacant building site into a vital and productive commercial property benefitting ours and surrounding communities,” said Alexandra Minckler, the association’s president. “We are not advocating any specific tenant use, and as such are not opposed to Wal-Mart,” Minckler said. At community meetings in December and April, the majority of people expressed support for the rezoning to retail, she added. The county also received letters of support from other groups, including the Montgomery County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, and owners of local businesses, such as Dunkin’ Donuts. Montgomery County planning staff is holding its third community meeting on the rezoning process at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Aspen Hill Library. Bruce H. Lee, president of Lee Development Group in Silver Spring, the developer of the
BY
MARGIE HYSLOP
SPECIAL TO THE GAZETTE
The Rockville City Council will consider a $118 million operating budget when it meets Monday night to vote on the
city’s spending plan for the coming fiscal year. That amount is about $1.2 million more than the $116.8 million proposal that the city manager sent to the council on March 17. The new proposal is $4.1 million, or 3.6 percent, more than the current $113.9 million budget, which runs through June.
Council members and staff detailed several revisions during a work session that was part of the council’s meeting Monday, including a limited increase in the compensation plan for city employees. Under that plan, city workers who are not at the top of their positions’ pay scales would receive, on the anniversary of their employment,
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See WAL-MART, Page A-11
CITY OF ROCKVILLE
Rockville Farmers Market is ready to open Saturday
NEWS
ROCKVILLE RETAILER BACKS DOWN ON SMART GUN Merchant says death threats prompted reversal.
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bedding plants, cut flowers, preserves, honey, herbs and baked goods. Shoppers are encouraged to bring their own recyclable or reusable bags to the market. Vendors will accept Electronic Benefit Transfer cards from those who receive government benefits. For those who eat all of their broccoli by midweek, the Wednesday farmers market, organized by Dawson’s Market, will open June 4. It will be open from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Dawson’s parking lot at 225 N. Washington St. through Sept. 24.
C. Edgardo Zuniga knows he’ll face plenty of challenges launching his own distillery business, but on Friday his most immediate challenge was how to safely transport 1,200 pounds of molasses from a delivery truck to his still. Working with three helpers, Zuniga worked to maneuver the two 55-gallon drums of molasses he’ll eventually use to make rum off the back of the truck, down a steep hill and into the smallish space in the rear of a Rockville industrial park where he plans to make rum, vodka, whiskey and other spirits under the banner of Twin Valley Distillers. “The goal is to do almost everything,” he said. While waiting for a few more permits from Montgomery County to allow him to sell and distribute his products, Zuniga said his state license allowed him to start production as of Thursday. There are only six distillers in Maryland, including Zuniga, said Lou Berman, licensing manager in the state comptroller’s office. Twin Valley is the only one in Montgomery County. The state had been famous for its rye whiskey until the end of World War II, and was home to dozens of breweries into the 1960s, Berman said. But when it comes to legal distilleries, Maryland hadn’t had any since the ’70s until one opened on Kent Island about four years ago, he said. The comptroller’s office breaks up an illegal still every few years, and federal authorities do too, Berman said.
See ALCOHOL, Page A-11
SPORTS
BAD WEATHER, STRONG BONDS Raptors scheduled to begin Region XX tournament Friday.
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May 15, 2014 1910248
RYAN MARSHALL STAFF WRITER
The Rockville Farmers Market, seen here last year, is set to open for the season Saturday.
Vegetable-lovers can start getting their annual local produce fix Saturday when the Rockville Farmers Market opens for the season. The market will be open from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the jury parking lot at the corner of East Jefferson and Monroe streets. It will run Saturdays through Nov. 22. The market will feature farm-fresh fruits and vegetables,
Rockville distillery is first in county BY
PHOTOS BY BILL RYAN/THE GAZETTE
Weekly market runs through Nov. 22
See BUDGET, Page A-11
Taking a shot at the liquor business
Future weed warriors
(From left) Alec Zhou, Heerok Das and Abhiram Kidambi, third-graders at College Gardens Elementary School in Rockville, find invasive plants at the school on Friday. Keith Sanderson, a retired 38-year high school teacher of biology, horticulture and outdoor education, led the program for five classes of third-graders. Below: Elieshia Kim (left) and Gloria Djidjo do their part.
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a lump-sum payment “largely consistent” with already adopted pay plans, according to a recommendation to the mayor and council from city budget and finance manager Stacey Webster. That payment would replace an originally proposed performance-based bonus and would
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