| KHCA is a non-partisan neighborhood organization dedicated to representing the interests of all homeowners and residents of the Kensington Heights neighborhood in maintaining and enhancing the quality of life in our community
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>> KHCA General Meeting - Wednesday, November 20
Date: November 20, 2019
Time: 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Place: Kenmont Swim Club, 2900 Faulkner Place (Notice the different location this time!)
KHCA will hold our annual business meeting on Wednesday, November 20, where new officers will be elected for the next two-year term. The Nominating Committee report is can be reviewed here. Its recommendations are:
President: Karen Cordry*
Vice-President Erl Houston
Secretary Ann Arevalo
Treasurer Peggy Alpert
*In the absence of other volunteers, the Nominating Committee agreed to waive the current 2-term limit in the By-Laws and nominated Karen again.
Other nominations will still be accepted from the floor during the meeting if anyone else is still interested in running for one of the offices set out above. In order to vote, you need to be a paid-up member of KHCA – it’s cheap and easy to do so. Just go to kensingtonheightsmd.org and click on membership at the top. It’s $10 per adult (18 and up) to a maximum of $30 per household.
The program topic for the meeting will be a presentation by the Montgomery County Planning Department about its work on drafting a complete update of the County's Master Plan, labeled Thrive 2050. This plan contains all of the broad outlines by which the County sets its goal and vision for the County for the next thirty years. Previous plans gave us our current patterns with dense business development along major road corridors, residential areas surrounding those corridors, and the setting aside of a significant portion of the County for the agricultural reserve. In the next 30 years, we’ll be facing the challenges of a growing and ever more diverse population; the demands of the climate emergency; the crisis in affordable housing; the needs and opportunities for educating our children to face those issues, and the critical importance of growing the County’s economy to help us meet all of those challenges. County planners have many thoughts on those areas and they want to show you what they are working on – but they also want to know what you want to see this County become in the next three decades, so please join us and be ready to voice your opinions.
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>> KHCA Activities Going Forward – Membership and Block Captains
Things are reasonably quiet for KHCA so we think it’s time we revitalized a system we used to have in the old days (pre-email!) when we hand-delivered newsletters to our neighbor through block captains who took responsibility for talking to all of the neighbors, getting their contact information, and making sure they knew about KHCA and, oh yes, dropping off newsletters. We want to get back to the same system of making sure we have contact with everyone since there are way too many folks who still don’t know there even is a Kensington Heights Civic Association. So, once the holidays are over, don’t be surprised if we invite you to be the captain on your block. And, we want to have a Membership Committee to help us spearhead this effort – if you’re the one who loves to meet everyone, or if you’re just the type who’s good at details, we can use both of you. Contact Karen Cordry to volunteer as a block captain or join the Membership Committee.
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| >> Support KHCA -- Pay Your Annual Dues
To carry out our many activities, KHCA needs your support -- both through your volunteer efforts and also, your financial donations. All residents of Kensington Heights are members of KHCA, and all members are welcome to attend and speak at KHCA meetings. However, to be a voting member, KH residents are asked to pay annual dues of $10 per adult resident (18+ years) to a maximum of $30 per address. These monies are much appreciated and help to ensure that KHCA remains financially viable. Payment can be made online using the membership link on our website. Thank you!
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>> Traffic Safety Issues
Traffic Safety Committee Chair Andy Fraser reports that he, Karen, and Traffic Committee member Jon Foreman have continued to try to find a solution to the problem of Farragut Avenue being appropriated as a diversion point for traffic seeking to avoid the bottleneck at the Connecticut-University Boulevard intersection. St. Paul is an alternative route to reach Plyers Mill and bypass two traffic lights, but the Town of Kensington has tried to cut that route off by putting a “Do Not Enter” sign at Perry and St. Paul. The only problem is that hundreds of drivers have figured out that Farragut can be used to bypass that sign, and they create a constant stream of traffic on a narrow, hilly dangerous road. We have had discussions with the residents on Farragut (and Glenway, which is accessed via Farragut), the County and the Town of Kensington, and there are several options but no easy solutions. We are also looking at traffic control issues on some of the other KHCA roads including Drumm, Hobson, and McComas. We are working with the County to have it gather some more speed and volume data and then we will be working on setting up a three-way meeting with the County and the Town (and possibly the state as well), to see which are the best options we can offer to the community. Stay tuned, and we’ll update you further as soon as we have additional information.
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>> Community Service Project
If you have driven past University and Drumm Avenue, you may have noticed that the KHCA welcome sign at that the intersection is in poor shape and needs to be replaced. Also, having annexed several households, so we now run down to Plyers Mill, and over to Douglas Ave, it would be great if we could also place several signs along our expanded boundaries so everyone would know when they are entering the beautiful community of Kensington Heights. It there is anyone out there with the necessary skills to take on such a project, KHCA would be very glad to hear from you! Please contact Karen Cordry if you can help!
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>> Sidewalks
If you are interested in getting sidewalks on your street, you can use this form. It is our experience that it usually works best if a group of residents jointly make the request and if the Association also provides its support. We have been instrumental in getting the sidewalks installed on the eastern end of McComas Ave, and we think there are other streets where they might be a good idea, so if you and your neighbors are interested, please contact Andy Fraser.
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>> Inflatable Bounce House has been a Great Success
As you may recall in our September newsletter, KHCA is making its new bounce house available to any KHCA Community Member who would like to use it for a birthday party or block party or the like. Contact Karen Cordry if you'd like to reserve it. To defray our expenses, we ask for a nominal donation of $40 per day (commercial bounce houses usually charge $200 or more).
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COMMUNITY NEWS & CALENDAR
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>> Other Montgomery County News
>> County Pedestrian Safety Master Plan
The County recently completed a master plan for bicycle paths and bike safety issues. It’s now putting together its companion plan on pedestrian infrastructure and safety issues. It’s an ambitious project – they are assessing every roadway, sidewalk, and intersection in the county to determine its “pedestrian comfort” score; i.e., how comfortable are you to walk along and cross those roads? Are you teetering on a narrow sidewalk with no separation from a six-lane river of traffic? Or is there a wide path with a buffer area that makes you feel safe as you walk along, and that encourages you to use alternatives to driving for short trips? If you’d like to check out a presentation about what’s being done, and where you can give your input (is there a particular spot you’d like them to fix?), you can check out this presentation. We’ll also try to keep you informed about County meetings being held on these issues so that you can attend.
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