Wheaton Urban District Advisory Committee
Mid-County
Regional Center, 2424 Reedie Drive, Wheaton MD 20902
Meeting
Minutes, Tuesday May 14th, 2013
Members Present: Henriot St.
Gerard(Chair), Devala Janardan(Vice Chair), Marian Fryer, Jim Onder, Tom
Stanton, Dan Thompson, Jeannette Feldner, Luis Bonilla, Richard Kessler,
William Moore
Members Absent: Nadia Sesay
Staff Present: Ana Lopez van
Balen, Director Mid-County Regional Center
Guests: Al Roshdieh, Deputy Director,
MC DOT. Rick Siebert, Chief of Parking
Mgmt, MC DOT. Rob Klein, Manager, Planning and
Development DGS. Adam Fogel, staff to Councilmember Navarro
Call to Order: 6;04pm by Chair Henriot St. Gerard
Motion to approve April Meeting
minutes without corrections passed.
Chair Report: Henriot St.
Gerard briefly touched on his meeting
with the Coalition for Smart Growth on the planned Walking Tour of
Wheaton. He also reminded everyone that
June 9th is the date for Taste of Wheaton. He announced that the
Nighttime Economy Task Force would hold their first meeting on May 20th
at the Civic Building in Silver Spring and is open to the public. Meetings would be held the 3rd
Monday of the month with the aim to finish its work within 6 months.
Introductions of Committee
members and guests were then made and Henriot handed the floor to Al Roshdieh ,
Deputy Director, MCDOT for a redevelopment review
Redevelopment Report: Mr.
Roshdieh updated WUDAC on some of the current debate of the County Council
regarding redevelopment of the CBD in light of Montgomery County Executive
Isiah Leggett’s recommendation not to include moving DEP and DPS to Wheaton.
This was accompanied by a handout detailing a Split Project Option and a
Developer Proposal Option. It was noted
by Ana Lopez van Balen that Councilmember Navarro supported and the Council
approved a Developer Proposal Option with timelines for performance to move
redevelopment forward.
Mr. Roshdieh continued by
identifying Lot 34, Lot 13, the Reedie Building, and Park and Planning building
at 8787 Georgia Ave as sites for joint development. Proposals would have to
address underground parking, an office building, and town square. Developers
would have to identify Private development components of Lot 13. Goal is to
advertise RFP by June 1st with timelines for submission and
evaluation set forth in the RFP.
Rick Siebert stated that they
have a track record with Public/Private development.
County Council Report: Adam
Fogel, staff to Councilmember Navarro briefed WUDAC on a PDF advanced by Ms.
Navarro that would include firm deadlines and benchmarks that would add
certainty to the Developer Proposal Option. This was approved by the Council.
He also stated that Councilmember Navarro would recommend to the PHED Committee
of the County Council that they add the requests from the Wheaton Urban
District to the FY2014 budget . A straw
vote is scheduled for Thursday.
Directors Report: Ana Lopez van Balen announced that the Wheaton
Urban District has worked with Green Wheaton and will assume responsibility for
the recycling bins.
She also reported that they have
found a low cost solution to make the Urban District’s lights Night Sky
compliant by adding caps. She briefly mentioned that the County presented
designs for a new fire station in Glenmont and repeated the dates of June 1st
for the walking tour and June 9th for Taste of Wheaton. She asked
for feedback on a WUDAC booth for the Taste and it was decided to go forward
with a booth. Ana noted that the Salvadorian Festival will return in August and
reminded everyone that the Nighttime Economy Task Force will meet on Monday.
There will also be two upcoming public meetings for the Library on June 5th
and June 24th.
Subcommittee Reports:
Design: Discussed walking tour. Will yield to Henriot’s presentation in light
of time constraints
Economic: Devala Janardan
reported on a meeting with Green Wheaton and their work on a marketing
plan.
Other Business:
Henriot St. Gerard gave a visual
presentation on the proposed route of the Walking Tour and suggested areas for
talking points. A discussion followed.
Dan Thompson handed out a draft for a media press release. After discussion, a
motion was made and passed to give to Sidney Cooper for media release.
Adjourn: 7:28pm