Historians have filed a detailed memorandum with the City of Gaithersburg protesting a medical office building slated for the Frederick Avenue Corridor.

The site includes five houses, including three that Montgomery Preservation Inc. and the city's Historic Preservation Advisory Council say should be preserved. One is designated historic and the developer wants to demolish an 1895 farmhouse to make room for the office building and parking lots.

"This entire project turns public policy and good government on its head and must not be moved forward for many reasons," wrote Lorraine Pearsall, president of Montgomery Preservation Inc. in a Sept. 15 letter to Mayor Sidney A. Katz and the City Council.

"It goes wrong right out of the gate with development that at 20,000 square feet is four times larger than the 5,000 square feet recommended in the [city's] Frederick Avenue Corridor Plan for the exact same location."

The building and its 116 planned parking spaces will spread across more than 50,000 square feet or "10 times what was envisioned in the Corridor Plan," said Pearsall, calling zoning and concept plans for the project "flatly illegal."

She attached a nine-page memorandum detailing legal arguments and alleged "mistakes" by city planners.

City leaders are due to vote on the proposal Oct. 5.

Dr. Robert G. Wilson Jr., a city dentist, has proposed a 20,000-square-foot medical office building at the corner of Frederick and DeSellum avenues, where his father owns five properties. His project calls for rezoning two residential lots to be part of the Frederick Avenue Commercial District, moving an 1877 farmhouse and demolishing two houses and an addition, including the 1895 farmhouse.

The mayor and council deviated from usual practice in an Aug. 7 meeting and chose to forego a public hearing on three homes on Wilson's property that city historians had said should be preserved and designated. The mayor and council were acting at the time as the city's Historic District Commission. The following week, at a public meeting Pearsall cited a conflict of interest and called for a public hearing.

The HDC acted "within its authority and in accordance with all legal requirements," wrote City Attorney N. Lynn Board in a Sept. 9 opinion. Six days later, MPI, a nonprofit dedicated to historic preservation, filed Pearsall's letter and memorandum opposing Wilson's plans.

"I'm still sort of absorbing all of this," said Wilson's attorney, Jody Kline of Rockville, saying the late filing surprised him and his client. "I haven't figured out what we would do in response to it," he said. "Those documents are pretty copious in terms of materials and very strongly worded."

The documents challenge the land use basis planners used to justify their rezoning decisions and attack the practice of having the mayor and council responsible for historic designation when they have an interest in development.

Wilson said this is the second time MPI has submitted opposition to his project without allowing him and his attorney the opportunity to respond.

His proposed building could have spanned 30,000 square feet and fit on his father's 2.71-acre parcel, Wilson said. He made it smaller to appease neighbors and agreed to move the 1877 farmhouse at an estimated cost of $500,000 to please historians.

Kline said he believes the city "acted properly in terms of process and made appropriate findings to justify the requested approvals."

Gaithersburg Director of Planning and Code Administration Director Greg Ossont deferred questions Thursday to the city attorney, who did not return calls for comment.

Ossont said he was surprised that Pearsall's letter suggests city planners misrepresented information to the mayor and council.

"There has been no deliberate attempt to do anything other than to process an application in accordance with city code," Ossont said.

Pearsall wrote that zoning and concept proposals violate the city's zoning code, Frederick Avenue Corridor Master Plan and "Master Plan protections" for residential communities. She said city planners should have downsized the project years ago. Instead, she said, they chose to "bend" city code.

The zoning and concept plan proposals should be "rejected outright," said Pearsall.

Mayor Sidney A. Katz said Friday that he had skimmed the letter and planned to ask the city attorney her views Monday "and then we'll go from there."

Planning Commission Chairman John Bauer said that he had not seen Pearsall's letter and memorandum and would not comment until he had received a response prepared by staff.