Voters in Rockville will head to the polls Tuesday after a contentious campaign season that has put the spotlight on how the city of more than 60,000 residents views development and growth.
Incumbent Mayor Bridget Donnell Newton, who has often sided with those who support limiting new development, is up against Sima Osdoby. Osdoby, who is heading the Team Rockville slate, has consistently pointed to the city’s long-delayed master plan for Rockville Pike as an example of how the city is falling behind when it comes to development like that in nearby White Flint and Gaithersburg.
Newton has defended her record, and criticized the idea of the Team Rockville slate while praising the four “independent” council candidates.
One of those four is incumbent council member Beryl Feinberg. Feinberg ran on the Team Rockville slate in 2011 but was left off the slate this year after voting with Newton against the idea of loosening a city ordinance that had put into effect a moratorium on residential development projects.
Mayor Bridget Donnell Newton is vying for reelection against challenger Sima Osdoby. Credit: Aaron Kraut
Team Rockville council candidates Julie Palakovich Carr, Virginia Onley, Clark Reed and Mark Pierzchala said they would uphold that controversial decision. Carr and Onley are incumbents who voted for loosening the measure, which tied development to the number of students enrolled in schools in a project’s area.
Council candidate Rich Gottfried said his first move would be to reinstate the development moratorium. Candidate Brigitta Mullican has said it’s not the city’s place to enforce a development moratorium based on the population of schools in the Montgomery County Public Schools system.
Council candidate Patrick Schoof, who along with Feinberg was active in fighting a proposed self-storage facility last year near Maryvale Elementary School, has said he’d seek to limit development until the city gets bigger schools.
David Hill, a council candidate and member of the city’s Planning Commission, has pointed to his experience reviewing individual development proposals.
There are 10 voting districts in the city and polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. For the first time, the city will allow Same Day Voter Registration at city hall. It will also be among the first jurisdictions to use new paper ballot-based voting equipment that all voters will use in next year’s presidential primary and general elections.
The city is expected to announce unofficial results after the polls close Tuesday night.
