For Immediate Release: Friday, June 21, 2024
The joint Economic Development (ECON) and Health and Human Services (HHS) Committee will meet on Monday, June 24 at 9:30 a.m. to review Executive Regulation #18-23, Food Services Licenses and Manager Certification – Alterations.
The members of the ECON Committee include Chair Natali Fani-González and Councilmembers Marilyn Balcombe, Evan Glass and Laurie-Anne Sayles.
The members of the HHS Committee include Chair Gabe Albornoz and Councilmembers Dawn Luedtke and Sayles.
The Planning, Housing and Parks (PHP) Committee will meet at 1:30 p.m. to review the Great Seneca Master Plan: Connecting Life and Science and receive a briefing on the Planning Department’s Attainable Housing Strategies Draft Report.
The members of the PHP Committee include Chair and Council President Andrew Friedson and Councilmembers Fani-González and Will Jawando.
More detail on each agenda item is provided below.
Executive Regulation #18-23, Food Services Licenses and Manager Certification – Alterations
Review: The joint ECON and HHS Committee will review Executive Regulation #18-23, Food Services Licenses and Manager Certification – Alterations, which would reduce the number of copies of documentation required to be submitted by an applicant for an initial food service facility license. In addition, the regulation would eliminate the requirement that a photograph of the applicant be submitted with an application and substitute the requirement that a certificate from the Maryland Department of Health indicating completion of a sanitation course for a certificate of completion of an American National Standards Institute-approved food service manager course.
The regulation also would eliminate the requirement for the submission of a transcript for a food service sanitation course and provide that official documentation of a food service manager certification from another political subdivision in the state is an acceptable method of demonstrating certification as a food service manager. The amendments also make the same changes for renewal of food service manager certification and change the County’s certification as a food service manager from three to five years.
Review: The PHP Committee will continue to review the Planning Board draft of the Great Seneca Plan: Connecting Life and Science, which covers 4,330 acres located in the heart of the I-270 Corridor between the cities of Gaithersburg and Rockville and the town of Washington Grove. The plan area includes several distinct areas, including the Life Sciences Center, Quince Orchard, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Londonderry and Hoyle’s Addition, Rosemont, Oakmont, Walnut Hill, Washingtonian Light Industrial Park, Washingtonian Residential and Hi Wood. The plan makes recommendations to strengthen the economic competitiveness of the Life Sciences Center, guide future developments, and transform public spaces and amenities in the area to provide valuable links and social spaces.
At this meeting, the committee will review the Life Sciences Center. During a PHP meeting held on June 17, the committee reviewed the introduction to the plan, including the plan’s purpose, the area’s history, demographic context and plan framework. The committee also received an overview of the Life Sciences Real Estate and Land Use Compatibility Study as background. The committee is expected to hold additional meetings to review the remaining districts and Fiscal Impact Statement.
Review: The PHP Committee will receive a briefing on the Planning Department’s Attainable Housing Strategies Draft Report, which considers a set of zoning modifications and other policy changes that would permit duplexes, triplexes, townhomes and small apartment buildings in more residential areas of the county while still allowing the development of single-family detached homes. The proposed zoning changes considered in the report would contribute to an effort to help current and future Montgomery County residents find housing that fits their needs and enable more diverse, better integrated and economically sustainable neighborhoods.
The Attainable Housing Strategies Initiative launched on March 4, 2021 to consider zoning reforms that would allow greater opportunities for Missing Middle Housing in Montgomery County. Missing Middle Housing refers to a range of buildings that are compatible in scale, form and construction with single-family homes, but offer multiple housing units, and a variety of apartments or flats that are at least three stories. The current recommendations include a requirement for small scale attainable housing to follow the same setbacks, lot coverage and height restrictions as a single-family detached house. More information is available at the Planning’s Department’s Attainable Housing Strategies Initiative website.
The Committee meeting schedule may change from time to time. View the current Council and Committee agendas, Council staff reports and additional information on items scheduled for Council review on the Council website.
Council and committee meetings are streamed live on the Council’s web page via YouTube and on Facebook Live and can be watched on County Cable Montgomery on Xfinity/RCN 6 HD 996/1056, Fios 30, and on the CCM live stream.
Release ID: 24-240