Wheaton Urban
District Advisory Committee
Mid-County
Services Center, 2424 Reedie Drive Wheaton MD 20902
Meeting
Minutes Tuesday January 14th, 2014
Members Present: Henriot St.
Gerard(Chair), Devala Janardan(Vice Chair), Tom Stanton, Jeannette Feldner,
Mirza Donegan, Nadia Sesay, Marian Fryer, William Moore, Luis Bonilla, Dan
Thompson, Rick Kessler
Members Absent: None
Staff Present: Ana Lopez van
Balen, Director, Mid-County Services Center
Guests: Chris Gillis, Staff
to Councilmember Levanthal. Randal
Spadoni, resident.
Call to Order: 6:09pm by Chair
Henriot St. Gerard. A motion was made
and passed to approve the December Meeting Minutes with one correction. This was followed by guest introductions.
Chair Report: Henriot St. Gerard
noted that the letter for capital requests has been sent to the Council. He is drafting a congratulatory letter to
Craig Rice and wishes to invite him or a member of his staff to our
meeting. He will send out this week.
Letter for general funds budget request will be sent out before the end of the
month.
Henriot responded
to an email from WUDAC member Dan Thompson about inviting the press to cover
our meetings. Henriot will reach out to
the Gazette and send an email with our agenda.
He reached out to members about sharing ideas for publicity.
Henriot next spoke
of this year's walking tour and the need to contact parties this month to see
how to proceed. He is also thinking of a
community meeting to introduce ourselves and to recruit members. Several members then shared ideas about the
walking tour.
Director's Report: Ana Lopez van Balen
recapped the many problems associated with the "polar vortex",
including 6 water main breaks and a gas leak.
She also touched on
the Council work towards the Redevolpment contract and its budgetary
requirements but it will be a couple of months before a community update.
She also went on to
inform WUDAC that the they have had favorable responses to the Facade
Improvement Program. Also, the NEA
"Our Town" grant request was sent yesterday.
MCCAB will hold a meeting with the County
Executive at the Mid-County Rec Center next week.
Ana then turned the
discussion to The WUDAC capital request and a meeting that took place with the
Parks Department about Veteran's Park.
She recommended inviting them to a WUDAC meeting to discuss the
Park. She also recommended that the
Dept. of Transportation be invited to talk about pedestrian safety.
County Council Report: Chris
Gillis, staff to Councilmember Levanthal, updated WUDAC on the Wheaton Rec
Center development. There will be a
public hearing on Tuesday Feb. 25th for historic preservation status. Councilmember Levanthal does not support
historic preservation for this project.
Chris then explained the process that this designation will move
through.
The County
Executive will submit the Capital Budget tomorrow and Chris urged WUDAC of the
need to study it. He mentioned that the
Council will receive an update on Wheaton Redevelopment on Jan. 28th. Also noted was Councilmember Roger Berliner's
introduction of legislation(Bill 33-13) to reduce the width of travel and
turning lanes to make roadways more pedestrian friendly.
Lastly, WUDAC
members asked Chris questions about zoning and he responded with a background
on the zoning update. Marian Fryer
suggested someone come speak with WUDAC about this.
SubCommittee Report:
Design: Dan Thompson handed out a draft letter to the
Council about the need for a continuous Town Square. Discussion followed and a motion was made and
passed to accept the letter with changes.
Economic: No report
Other Business:
Ana mentioned that
sub-committees are scheduled to meet Jan. 27 and that she can't attend unless
they are moved to Mid-County Rec Center as she is attending the budget forum
Devala asked about
testimony on the Wheaton Youth Center
Luis Bonilla
brought up that towing is still a problem in the Urban District. A brief discussion followed.
Adjourn: 7:32pm