Wheaton Urban District Advisory Committee
Mid-County Regional Center,
2424 Reedie Drive, Wheaton MD 20902
Meeting
Minutes, Tuesday June 11th,
2013
Members Present: Henriot St. Gerard(Chair), Devala Janardan(Vice Chair),Tom
Stanton, Dan Thompson,
Marian Fryer, Jeannette
Feldner, Richard Kessler, Nadia
Sesay, William
Moore
Members Absent: Jim Onder,
Luis Bonilla
Staff Present: Ana Lopez van Balen, Director, Mid-County Regional Center
Guests: Jay Wilson, CERT. Fred Lees, Chief, Traffic Engineering Studies.
Karen Klein, SCRAPDC
Call to Order: 6:05pm by Chair Henriot St. Gerard followed by member and guest
introductions. A motion to approve the
May Meeting Minutes with minor changes was approved
Chair Report: Henriot thanked everyone for making the Walking
Tour a success, and William for the
Blog entries and photos. He reported on
feedback that we should have more experts and better voice amplification. He
suggested we start implementing ideas presented during tour so that future
tours will show tangible progress. Tom
recommended that we file a report to County Council and also thank the council
members who attended. Henriot will task Economic subcommittee to do this.
Henriot went on to report that it
appeared that attendance at Taste of Wheaton increased over previous years and
that many people signed up to receive our newsletter but we had only one
comment card returned. He briefly
mentioned an upcoming Redevelopment hearing at the Library on June 12th,
a June 24th Library/rec center development meeting to be held at the
library and upcoming COSTCO hearings in June and July.
Henriot noted that he had a
conversation about the budget with Joe Callaway at the Taste of Wheaton. The
Chair felt that we rushed budget deliberations this year and that budget discussions
should take place at first meeting in September or at our retreat.
Directors Report: Ana
informed the committee that Marian Fryer
will be leaving WUDAC and we need a
small business representative.
Ana reported that a grant for
Façade Improvement was doubled by the County Executive.
She also will have more information soon on the solar compactors.
The two new apartment
communities, Solaire and The Exchange, have expressed a desire to get involved
with the community.
Einstein fireworks will be on July
4th with rain date July 5th. There will be a shuttle bus at Westfield.
CERT
Presentation: Jay Wilson from the
Montgomery County Community Emergency Response Team introduced WUDAC to the program and gave a brief history of CERT and then led a discussion on the value of this
training and other safety and emergency topics.
This was accompanied by a handout detailing the history of CERT and info on their services and training. WUDAC members also received a brochure on Family
Preparedness from the Montgomery County Office of Emergency Management and
Homeland Security (OEMHS)
Redevelopment Update: Fred Lees, Chief of Traffic Engineering
Studies, DOT, told the group that he was impressed with the Walking Tour and
that he would follow up with transportation issues. He noted the new Streetscaping project right
outside the front door of the Mid-County Center as an example of their work to
improve downtown Wheaton and make it more pedestrian friendly. He then opened up his presentation to
questions from WUDAC.
Subcommittee Reports:
Economic: Nadia Sesay
reported on their contacts with Strathmore and Strathmore’s involvement in a
public/private partnership in building a new music venue in White Flint. Tom Stanton
has been in contact with their Executive and Marketing Directors and will
connect them with Jan Goldstein of
Arts on the Block on a possible effort here.
The subcommittee also discussed
corporate sponsorship of an A&E District in Wheaton by both direct funding or through
reduced rents. Tom
Stanton met MD Del. Craig Zucker on the Walking Tour and
discussed an A&E District in Wheaton. He will follow up with Del. Zucker
Nadia also briefly mentioned that
June 4th was the annual Maryland Arts & Entertainment District
meeting and was held at the Patterson in the Highland Arts district in Baltimore, an area revived
through an A&E focus. This can be a model for the Urban District.
Nadia reported that Devala has
been designated the marketing representative for the Economic
subcommittee. The subcommittee discussed
how the Urban District
businesses can benefit from shared marketing opportunities with the new
apartment communities in Wheaton. Devala will work on inviting apartment
representatives to WUDAC
with the aim of having a WUDAC
marketing packet in the leasing office of each building. Devala will collaborate with Luis Bonilla on this effort and Ana
will meet with Solaire.
Design: Dan
Thompson reported that at the June 3rd meeting the
subcommittee discussed the upcoming Taste of Wheaton and members volunteered
for time slots to staff the WUDAC
booth. There was much praise from
members for the Walking Tour and the presentations made there by members. The subcommittee discussed how to maintain
and encourage community interest in light of the large community turnout at the
event. The subcommittee will work with Urban District staff to develop
“tips” for improving storefronts, beautification, greening and lighting. Members responsible for these areas will use
resources to compile a list of low cost ideas incorporated into a handout
developed by WUDAC and the
Urban District that
businesses can use to encourage a walkable Wheaton. Draft “bullets” will be prepared for the next
meeting.
Dan also stated the Design
subcommittee’s desire to discuss further in full committee the question of WUDAC’s role in the redevelopment
process as the process moves toward the selection of a developer before
December.
Other business: Karen Klein from SCRAPDC gave a brief overview
of her organization to WUDAC.
She described it as a “Goodwill for Artists”.
They are looking for a Maryland
location and hope to find a suitable vacancy in the Urban District to sell supplies.
Adjourn: 7:38pm