Wheaton Urban District Advisory Committee
2424
Reedie Drive Wheaton MD 20902
Meeting
Minutes, Tuesday October 08, 2013
Members Present: Henriot St.
Gerard(Chair), Devala Janardan(Vice Chair), Rick Kessler, Jeannette Feldner,
Nadia Sesay, Tom Stanton, William Moore, Dan Thompson
Members Absent: Luis Bonilla
Staff Present: Ana Lopez van
Balen, Director, Mid-County Services Center
Guests: Chris Gillis, staff
to Councilmember Leventhal. Sgt. Russo,
Montgomery County Police. Chris Helsabeck, representative of AvalonBay. Bob
Harris, attorney for Lerch, Early and Brewer. Randall Spedoni, resident.
Call to Order: 6:02pm by
Vice Chair Devala Janardan in the temporary absence of the Chair. Introductions followed. A motion was made and
passed to approve the September Meeting Minutes without changes.
Directors Report: Ana Lopez
van Balen noted that the comment period on the Redevelopment Project has been
extended to October 18th.
Comments received by October 2nd are online. The developer has been forwarded the comments
and the County is in discussion with the developer on aspects of the project.
The County is recommending
Historic Preservation on the Wheaton Library/Rec Center project and the
Historic Preservation Commission is presenting to the Planning Board on October
17th.
Ana reported that they are about
ready to advertise the Wheaton Façade Improvement Program to businesses. She also informed WUDAC that the Curb Side
Cookoff event attracted around 4000 people and that the Urban District is
pleased with the attendance. She finished by reminding the Committee that there
is one more presentation of the NightTime Economy Task Force scheduled for
October 14th at 7:00pm. This
brought a few comments from members as to the lack of specificity to the
recommendations and the hope that mention of Wheaton as an A&E District
could be included.
Chair Report: Henriot St.
Gerard reported that the retreat went well and thanked everyone for their input
on the Redevelopment Comment Letter and thanked Devala for his work in writing
it.
He mentioned that he had received
a response from County Executive Ike Leggett to a letter from WUDAC with
regards to the Walking Tour. The County
Executive is embracing what we wrote. Henriot stated that our hard work is
paying off and he will forward the response to WUDAC members.
Council Report: Chris
Gillis, staff to Councilmember Leventhal, updated WUDAC on the progress of the
Redevelopment proposal. They had a
meeting two weeks ago and some of the concerns expressed by the Council included
how small businesses would interact with the large buildings and the lack of
green space.
He reported on the introduction
of Bill 27-13, the Minimum Wage Bill. The bill would raise the minimum wage
over three years to $11.50 and then index for inflation. He noted that they were partnering with other
jurisdictions to present an area wide approach to the effort to raise the
wage. There will be a public hearing
before the Health and Human Services committee on October 24th at
7:00pm. He stated that if we had a
strong position on the matter we could coordinate our effort with the
Gaithersburg and Germantown Chamber of Commerce.
Police Report: Sgt. Russo
responded to a question about reports of prostitution in the Urban
District. He noted that it appeared to
be Bar generated and not Street generated and that they were closely monitoring
it. He also reported that they have had
a lot of thefts from autos and thefts from lockers at LA Fitness. He also reported an assault at the McDonalds
on University Blvd. He closed with
statistics on other crimes and noted a couple of commercial burglaries.
AvalonBay Presentation: Chris
Helsabeck, Vice President of development for AvalonBay, presented a visual
rendering of the project. He gave some
background on the company and a history of their involvement in the community
and in this particular development. They
have the 3.7 acre “BBT’ site at Blueridge and Georgia. It was purchased in 2004 as a potential
multi-use community but the zoning did not work out. It is now 75% vacant and will be 100%vacant
in January. The plan now calls for
apartments geared towards Millenials.
They envision approximately 300 units with garage parking and plan to
call the building AVA. Chris stated that
they are just starting the public presentation phase. They are looking for
feedback and a possible letter of support from WUDAC and also advice on other
groups they might meet with.
Other Business: Devala
Janardan explained the formation of our Comment Letter on the Redevelopment
proposal. He emphasized our commitment
to a continuous Town Square on Lot 13. A
motion to approve the letter passed.
Devala also brought up the issue
of the Historic Preservation of the Rec Center.
He discussed an email that he received from DGS. WUDAC members felt we needed more info before
we could act. A motion was made and
passed to ask the Planning Board for a 30 day extension of the comment period.
Community Concerns: A
resident, Randall Spedoni, asked WUDAC to expand ways we are communicating with
the public. He stated that the
Newsletter is good but that they need more.
He pointed out a blog called “Friends of White Flint” as good at keeping
the public informed.
Adjourn: 7:36pm