The FEMA award was meant to lift the buildings at 87 and 89 Elm Street out of the floodplain. The initial application went in in 2023, but since then construction costs increases has made the project infeasible. The shortfall is now roughly $2 million, larger than the award itself, and too much for Downstreet to absorb.

“Downstreet asked that we decline the money,” Matthew Jelacic, Community and Economic Development Specialist for Montplier said. “And our congressional delegation has said that we can’t decline the CDS grant.”

Jelacic said city staff are trying to find a substitute project at the same address that FEMA would approve.

The Gaithersburg Planning Commission voted unanimously Wednesday, August 5th, to strip the city’s school capacity fee on new residential development out of the zoning code, after staff said no Gaithersburg public school is projected to be crowded enough to trigger it.

The commission recommended adoption of text amendment which removes the Gaithersburg public school utilization premium payment fee. Michael Hayes, Long Range Planning Manager, gave the commission two reasons.

The first, he said, is what the fee does to the price of a home. The fee effectively becomes a “pass-through cost” added to residential units when it is assessed, Hayes said.

“The city of Gaithersburg no longer has any public schools that would exceed the threshold that would lead to accessing the fee,” Hayes said, describing the determination as official “just last week.” The projection runs five years out and is updated annually.

The Montgomery County Council voted unanimously on July 28th to bar new data centers anywhere in the county and to strike the one sentence in its own moratorium bill that would have let the pending Dickerson project walk through the gap.

The ordinance approved, defines a data center as a building or group of buildings that “has or is projected to have an aggregate monthly electricity demand of at least 25 megawatts,” and removes the use from every zone in the county. They then passed the bill “Buildings – Moratorium on Permits for Data Centers – Established,” dropping that same definition into an 18-month permit moratorium.

Neither the Dickerson project, nor Atmosphere Data Centers, nor Terra Energy came up by name during the votes.

Dickerson is considered a cable communication system, which were exempted from the bill, until they weren’t.

Gaithersburg planning staff asked the Mayor and Council and the Planning Commission on July 27th to sign off on a proposed citywide zoning map that would rewrite what can legally be built in the city. This is the largest rezoning the city has attempted since it rebuilt its zoning ordinance in 2024, for outreach, the city mailed about 400 letters.

The Montpelier City Council approved a $99,209.80 five-year contract with Axon Enterprise, Inc. for 17 Tasers on July 22nd, passing it on the consent agenda in under a minute with no discussion, no public comment, and no councilor spoke about the cost, or even uttered the vendor’s name aloud.

“I would like to state my opinion about the Taser issue because it’s on a consent agenda. It’s not going to come up for discussion tonight,” Mayor Gwinn said.

“We are currently hiring for officers and we’re still hiring for officers not because there are no applicants but because we have very high standards for who we will employ in the Montpelier police department I believe that we have fine officers with the right training they are requesting the right equipment to do their jobs and I think it’s important for us to not only give them the equipment that they need but also to let them know that we trust their judgment and we support them,” Gwinn said.

He added: “It is right for us to give them the tools that they’re asking for.”

City Councilor Adrienne Gil resigned from the Montpelier City Council effective last Wednesday, leaving her District 1 seat vacant and triggering a charter-required appointment process to fill the remainder of her term. The council took up the vacancy at its July 22nd meeting, the same night Gil delivered her final remarks.

Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich says that he will sign Bill 23-26E into law at 12:30 p.m. today, six weeks after the attorney who beat the County at the Maryland Supreme Court stood in the Council hearing room and promised to sue again.

“And yes, I promise you that if it’s enacted as written, it will be challenged,” Mark Pennak told the Council on June 9th. “I will challenge it, and I will prevail in federal district court.”

Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich signs Bill 23-26E into law at 12:30 p.m. today in the 9th floor conference room of the Leggett Executive Office Building at 101 Monroe St. in Rockville, four days after the County Council enacted the firearms measure.

The Council approved the bill on July 21st. Its official title reads "Weapons – Restrictions on Ghost Guns Near Minors and Carrying of Firearms in or Near Places of Public Assembly."

The County announcement states the legislation updates Montgomery County's firearms law to comply with a Maryland Supreme Court decision "while preserving the strongest local firearm restrictions authorized under State law."

The bill keeps the County's prohibition on carrying firearms near sensitive public places, including schools, parks, libraries, polling places and houses of worship, according to the County announcement. It removes or modifies provisions the Court determined the State must regulate. That includes repealing the County's previous restriction on the purchase, sale, transfer or transport of ghost guns, including 3D-printed firearms, in the presence of minors, because the Court determined regulation of that area falls under State authority.

Councilmember Dawn Luedtke (District 7) sponsored the bill. Co-sponsors include Councilmember Kate Stewart (District 4), Council President Natali Fani-González (District 6), Councilmember Andrew Friedson (District 1), Council Vice President Marilyn Balcombe (District 2), Councilmember Sidney Katz (District 3), Councilmember Evans and Councilmember Evan Glass (At-Large).

The Act amends Chapter 57, Weapons, of the Montgomery County Code, rewriting Sections 57-1, 57-7, 57-10 and 57-11. The bill lists five purposes: to define terms related to weapons and firearms, to regulate the sale or transfer of ghost guns with respect to minors, to amend exceptions to a prohibition against carrying firearms in places of public assembly, to amend the regulation of the operation of gun shops, and to generally amend the law regarding firearms and other weapons.

The Council attached an expedited effective date. "The Council declares that this legislation is necessary for the immediate protection of the public interest," the bill states. "This Act takes effect on the date on which it becomes law."

The bill defines a "place of public assembly" to include a publicly or privately owned park and place of worship.

The measure carves out exceptions. It does not prohibit the teaching of firearms safety or other educational or sporting use in the covered areas. It does not apply to a law enforcement officer, or to a security guard licensed to carry the firearm. It does not apply to possession of a firearm or ammunition, other than a ghost gun or an undetectable gun, in a person's own home. It does not apply to possession of one firearm and ammunition at a business by either the owner who holds a permit to carry or one authorized employee who holds a permit to carry. It does not apply to separate ammunition or an unloaded firearm.

A severability clause keeps the rest of the law standing if a court strikes any single provision. A fourth section directs that the Act and Chapter 57 "must be construed in a manner that is consistent with regulations of the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives."

The bill was introduced on May 12th, 2026, and revised on June 15th, 2026, as Draft No. 3.

Luedtke joins Elrich at the signing. Maria Pekala of the Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America–Montgomery County Local Group and Montgomery County Board of Education Member Rita Montoya (At-Large) also attend, along with representatives of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America and the Montgomery County Department of Police.

Montgomery County’s first tax increment financing deal cleared its final committee hurdle Thursday, as a joint session of the Government Operations and Fiscal Policy Committee and the Economic Development Committee recommended a bill authorizing up to $420 million in bonds for the Viva White Oak development district.

The county’s own consultant projects the project barely clears zero. MuniCap’s But-For analysis sets a target internal rate of return of 7 to 10 percent. Under current market assumptions, Viva White Oak returns negative 5.1 percent without the tax increment financing (TIF) and 0.08 percent with a TIF. Eight one-hundredths of one percent. The scenario that clears the target, at 11.12 percent, requires the life science market to improve on rents, vacancy and yield-on-cost, using assumptions the analysis attributes to the developer. The phase-one-only scenario returns 6.45 percent, still below target, and assumes the life science lots sell in 2030 for $30 million and the mixed-use lot for roughly $80 million. Nobody at the work session mentioned any of it.

Planning Commission approved two site plans by unanimous votes at its July 15th meeting, clearing an early path for a shared-use trail near NIST and the first infrastructure phase of the redevelopment of the former Lake Forest Mall. With no minutes ready for approval, Planning Commission Chair John Bauer moved the commission straight to the site plan agenda.

Vermont Treasurer Mike Pieciak announced $25 million in new lending capacity for housing on Tuesday, unveiling an expanded state investment program at the Fox Run Apartments in Berlin and issuing a request for proposals with a deadline of September 4th.

Gaithersburg’s public works department wants to rewrite how the city decides when a new development must prove it will not choke local roads, proposing the first overhaul of the city’s traffic impact study standards since 2012. Brian Fields, director of public works, and Doug Smith, the city’s traffic engineer, laid out the draft changes at the mayor and council work session on July 13th.

A developer wants to build a senior living community of up to 425 age-restricted units on 8.9 acres at 700 Professional Drive, and on July 6th the Mayor and City Council opened the public hearing that will decide its fate. Three council members were in the room, exactly the number the city charter requires to hold a meeting at all. No member of the public testified. What the applicant said from the podium and what the applicant asked for in writing were not always in alignment.

Councilor Ben Doyle said the level of risk “at this at this time it’s just not acceptable.” Kohn said the council needs “to continue to prepare for a day when we you know we may need to to act.”

Who owns the sidewalks of Montpelier, and who pays when a homeless encampment becomes a legal liability? Which policies and ordinances can the City Council implement that won’t get the city sued? Those questions sent the Montpelier City Council behind closed doors Monday evening, when a five-member council convened a special meeting to talk to their lawyers.

Mayor Marc Gwinn called the special meeting to order at 6 p.m., telling those present that the council had gathered to receive counsel on homeless encampment liability to the city, on the East State Street right-of-way survey and possible litigation, and on the city’s ordinances governing morals and conduct, drinking in unlicensed places, and possible panhandling and sit-and-lie rules.

https://montpnews.substack.com/p/montpelier-council-goes-behind-closed