Wheaton
Urban District Advisory Committee(WUDAC)
May
8th, 2012
Meeting Minutes
2424
Reedie Drive, Wheaton MD 20902
Members
Present: Jeannette
Feldner (Chair), Marian Fryer, William Moore, Janet Yu,
Jim
Onder,
Linda Amendt, Henriot St. Gerard, Matt Barry,
Ken Nelson
Members
Absent: Devala
Janardan
Staff
Present: Ana Lopez van Balen, Director, Mid-County Regional Center
Sidney
Cooper, Marketing and Communications Director
Peter McGinnity, Wheaton
Redevelopment Manager
Guests: Adam Fogel, Staff to
Councilmember Navarro
Tiffany Ward,
Staff to Councilmember Elrich
Esther French, Wheaton
Patch
Aaron Kraut,
The Gazette
Larry
Silverman, Abigail Adebe, Donna Savage, Howard Hussbaum from
the Kensington Heights Civic Association
Call
to Order: Chair Jeannette
Feldner, 5:05pm
Motions: Minutes
approved with corrections. Rob submitted written report. Mr. Nelson made a motion to approve minutes, Mr.
Barry seconded the motion.
Police
Report: Sgt.
Currie reported that enforcement continues in the CBD especially around the nightclubs
in Wheaton. Their efforts have helped to reduce crime
associated with clients visiting those establishments. Other than that, crime is low.
Community
Concerns: Donna
Savage from the Kensington Heights Civic Association came to speak on their
civic association’s concerns regarding the Costco mega gas station. They submitted a number of documents for
review and focused on the following points: people are going to come from far
away to get cheap gas; air quality will decrease for their community by the
idle cars waiting to fill their cars, which is why they are recommending that
the gas station be placed in a location with a buffer; state that Costco
reports are not correct, and their consultant will create a report by the 10th
speaking to the deficiencies of Costco’s environmental reports; lastly, having
a mega gas station does not fit in accord with smart growth principles.
WUDAC members expressed concerns with
several of their concerns. Ms. Amendt
stated that she didn’t see the connection with Metro. KHCA responded that the location of the gas
station is connection by locals to the Metro.
Ms. Yu stated she had personal/individual reasons for being opposed as
she felt that what they were asking was not reasonable and they need to take
consideration of residents. Some community members responded saying they were
frustrated with the process and asked for support.
Mr.
Onder stated that Wheaton
is a convergence of roads. He asked how
low can Costco price their gas? KHCA
stated that they did a comparison and stated that on average, Costco’s gas was
about 2 cents lower than most. WaWa was
lower in some areas.
Tiffany
Ward from Councilmember Elrich’s office shared information on the ZTA 12-07
that would limit mega gas stations from being 1000ft from public
facilities. She stated that there are 5
cosponsors and that the public hearing will take place on June 19th . WUDAC
agreed to wait until the public hearing to review information and make a recommendation
Adam
Fogel from Councilmember Navarro’s office spoke on the changes to the rates in
the Parking Lot District. Rates will
change to a tiered system, parking will increase to 60cents/hr and 75 cents for
short term. Long-term will increase to $113/month. Collection times will not be extended.
Mr.
Fogel also spoke regarding the Wheaton Public Safety Task Force that
Councilmember Navarro and Riemer have requested in response to concerns raised
during the redevelopment conversations in Wheaton.
He also spoke to the Council committee on Wheaton
that was being created to monitor implementation of development in Wheaton. Ms. Amendt asked if members of community
would be involved. Mr. Fogel informed
the committee that only council would be involved in this effort.
RSC Director Report: Ms. Van Balen spoke to issues pertaining to predatory towing in Wheaton and the support
trying to be raised on enforcement through Congressman Van Hollen’s
office. She also mentioned that the EMS bill was
reintroduce by the County
Executive due to the
changing economic reality the county was facing especially with the changes in Annapolis. The Mid-County Citizen’s
Advisory Board voted to support it, as did the Washington Post, the Gazette and
many other civic groups. The Youth Advisory Committee for Mid-County will be
working to enhance the World of Montgomery Festival—this is a great group to
turn to for ideas in the future. Lastly,
the farmers market stated on Sundays and is off to a great start.
Subcommittee Reports:
The Communications subcommittee asked for members to review the communication plan submitted
at the last meeting. The Community
Outreach subcommittee discussed plans to staff the table at the Taste of
Wheaton. They also completed efforts
with the community distribution list and will be dissolving group to join the
Communications subcommittee. The other
subcommittees did not meet.
Redevelopment
Report: Peter
McGinnity submitted a written report. He
also mentioned that Safeway is ahead of schedule due to the mild winter.
Westfield Report: Mr. Barry
reported that Costco
is ahead of schedule as well and expect to open in the Spring. They have increased sales to 14.1 million and
are excited to report the
following new businesses at
the mall: G by Guess, Pottery & More, Relax Station, Monster Auto, Bubble
tea. Coming Soon: Costco, Dicks Sporting
Goods, Salon Plaza.
There new tagline is “it’s all here.”
Other
Business: Ms.
Feldner mentioned that everyone should be at the Taste of Wheaton.
She also disseminated the CERB
report created for WUDAC. Lastly, she mentioned accepting that changes
that have come to Wheaton
and possibly inviting Parks and Planning to our next meeting, as they will be
part of the Wheaton
community. Lastly, Ms. Van Balen
mentioned creating a joint memo with council sharing with the community what we
have coming to Wheaton
in the future.
Meeting
Adjourned: 6:30pm