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

KHCA NEWS BULLETINS 

The monthly KHCA Executive Committee meeting will be held Thursday, September 21 at 7:30 pm at the home of Dan and Tish Mueller, 2708 McComas Avenue. Our special guest will be Peter Nelson, head of the company doing the construction work on the residential project on the north side of McComas Avenue  at the site familiarly known as “Mt. McComas.”  More on this topic below in the Land Use Committee update, but this is your chance to ask questions and get updates on how the project will play out over the next several months. We will also talk about the upcoming KHCA officer elections to be held during the Membership Meeting that will take place in October. We are also considering offering a program on “how to deal with the problem house next door,” i.e, what are your options for the noisy, unkempt, abandoned house that you may look at every day from your front door. Come join the meeting, and let us know what you think or if there are other topics of interest.   

Just a reminder – we need you to maintain your active voting membership in KHCA. The current Bylaws require that you must reactivate your membership every two years to retain your voting status, BUT it’s easy to do. Just go to the KHCA website About section and find the membership forms (on-line and paper) at the bottom. Please sign up soon. We value your input. At the Membership Meeting in October, we intend to submit bylaw amendments to remove that requirement, but we need to have voting members under the current system to do that.

We also plan to take a vote during the October meeting on annexing a group of our neighbors who have asked to join KHCA. The proposal is to extend our eastern boundary over to, but not including, the west side of Georgia Avenue down to Plyers Mill.  So, we will pick up St. Margaret’s Way, Douglas Avenue and Court, Drawbridge and Chivalry Court, Kimberly, Eugene, and Jennings Court as well as additional houses on Jennings and Plyers Mill.  With the new homes we will have just over 1,000 households, which should help us to further get the ear of the County when we need to have actions taken.  But, to do that, we again need Active Members who can vote – so please sign up now!

And, while you’re there, how about clicking on the “Donate” button at the top right to help support KHCA. The requested donation is only $10 per person or $20 for a household.  We also need people to be active in many other ways, including working on communications and helping us reinvigorate our “block captain” program.  If you can help in any of these ways, please contact KHCA President Karen Cordry.

The annual KHCA picnic held August 5 in Kensington Heights Park was, once again, a rousing success with the “bounce house” being inhabited by an ever-changing kaleidoscope of kids and their parents relaxing and meeting their neighbors around a potluck cookout. KHCA supplied the burgers and hotdogs and the cooking; the members supplied a wonderful variety of salads, desserts and more that filled everyone up and sent them home happy. See our website for photos. 

>> County Grant for Park Benches:  KHCA Interest 

The one thing lacking at the KHCA picnic is enough benches for those who want to sit and enjoy watching the fun.  The County has recently announced a small community grant program whereby it will provide matching funds up to $1,000 for a community project.  The KHCA Executive Committee is looking into this to see if we can put together a proposal for one or more added benches for the park that could bear the names of some KHCA’s long-time active members who have passed away in recent years.  This would both serve the present and be a fitting memorial tribute to those dearly missed friends.  Stay tuned – if we can figure this out, we will need to come to you for the funds to put up for the County match.   

The Montgomery County Council will hold a public hearing on Tuesday, September 19, 2017, at 1:30 p.m.on Expedited Bill 30-17 titled “Weapons – Discharge of Bows, Amendments.” It would reduce the safety zone for archery hunters in the County; and generally amend the laws governing the discharge of bows. This bill brings the County law in line with recently passed State law, reducing the allowed archery hunting distance from 100 yards to 50 yards from a residential building.

The KHCA Executive Committee has been asked to support this amendment given the growing concern about deer in our area. For information on the bill, click here. For information on the public hearing, click here. If you have any views as to what position the Executive Committee should take on behalf of KHCA, please let Karen Cordry know. 

The first Annual Wheaton Arts Parade & Festival will celebrate the diversity and culture of Wheaton's arts community. The parade is at 10 am and the festival is from 12 to 6pm with three stages, exhibits and food. For more info, click here. 

KHCA shares condolences on the passing of Marian Fryer, fondly known as the "Mayor of Wheaton."  This is a great loss for the community, not only in Wheaton but at large. Karen Cordry, President of KHCA, said "I don't know when I first met Marian Fryer but I do know whenever there was anything that affected Wheaton over the 30+ years I have lived here, Marian was at the forefront of those stepping forward and getting involved. She was always kind, always informed, and always active, even while she was fighting cancer and its complications for the last decade."

We are glad that Marian was able to see the ground-breaking for the Wheaton Town Center -- a project that she encouraged throughout its long, long path, We understand there is a suggestion that it be named for Marian and we believe that would be a great tribute in recognition of her contribution to the community, We will all miss her warm words and happy smiles.

KHCA UPDATES 

The KHCA Public Safety Committee Chair attended the Wheaton Safety Task Force meeting on September 11, where tactics for changing the public perception of the Wheaton area were discussed. Ideas included releasing articles to news sources about local events and positive changes being made in the community.

Also, WMATA Metro Police and Montgomery County Police Department representatives provided crime statistics for the year. Crime is down!  The Wheaton Metro Station has had only 22 reported crimes since September  2016. In the County, the police have been making a concerted effort of patrolling the more developed business districts, which has led to a decrease in crime countywide.  However, there has again been a rise in auto thefts and thefts from autos. The majority of these crimes could have been prevented by locking the cars while unattended.  

If anyone missed the recent "Coffee with a Cop" or "Cone with a Cop" events at Westfield Wheaton, the next "Coffee with a Cop" will be held at Ana G. Mendez University (next to AMC Theatre/Bar Louie) on October 4 from 11 am to 1 pm. This is a great opportunity to meet and talk with police officers in our community.  

[Submitted by Chris Peoples, Chair, Public Safety Committee] 

The Traffic Committee has reached out to neighbors near the intersection of Drumm and McComas. The overwhelming majority are in favor of the traffic calming plan provided by the County. The reason the County proposed the location of the Island is that there are no houses directly in front of the intersection  We will continue to work with the County on ways to improve traffic safety in the area.  

[Submitted by Andy Fraser, Chair, Traffic Committee] 

“McComas Manors” has final taken off !!

When the Wheaton Mall was expanded in 1987* to include the Hechts building on the south side (now converted and expanded to the Costco warehouse), the excavated debris and dirt was piled up on the ground just south of the ring road and covered with more dirt. It instantly became Mt. McComas – leaving those wandering by for the last 30 years to wonder what they were seeing, Ever since then Mall management has been trying to make something useful out of that property. About 10 years ago, it looked like a project was ready to go, but the Great Recession hit in 2008 and shut down the efforts. With the economy finally shaking off its effects and other projects moving ahead, the developers finally decided it was time to pull the trigger. Anyone venturing by the site will see huge changes already,

Sadly, the first change has been the removal of the trees on the site. Although most were relatively young trees, a number near McComas Avenue were much older, perhaps as much as 200 years old for one tree.  KHCA had discussions with the developer about whether the trees could be saved, but the County’s Forest Preservation statute did not require that they be kept. The primary difficulty for the biggest and oldest tree was that the constraints placed on the site by setback requirements from the surrounding properties and the road meant that the single family home fell directly atop the tree’s location.  In addition, it would likely be difficult or impossible to keep the tree’s roots from being damaged during the construction process. That was especially true since the first thing to be done at the site is to remove as many as 900 (!) truckloads of dirt to bring Mt. McComas back down to ground level. The builder is required to replant 6 trees to replace on a 3:1 basis the 2 “specimen trees” (i.e., trees that are more than 30” in diameter).

The development itself will have 3 single-family houses at the front of the development, and 11 townhouses along the right side and back of the development. They are designed to be 3,000-4,200 square feet and to sell for $795,000 to $950,000. More info is available at the developer’s website.  We will be interested to see the finished product and its final sales – the development on “Outlot B” at the Valley View entrance to the Mall has not sold out yet, offering some competition. We’ll keep an eye out to see how these projects do.  

 [Update from Karen Cordry while Land Use Chair Donna Savage is on vacation.]

 

We will have a full Education Committee update in our next newsletter. 

COMMUNITY NEWS & CALENDAR

One of many goals of the Villages of Kensington is to provide small but nonetheless significant opportunities to reduce isolation that may be felt by some of our neighbors.  In the early 2000s, older residents of Beacon Hill in Boston,Massachusetts, planned and organized the first Village. Their success has inspired more the than 200 Villages today throughout the U.S., including Villages of Kensington; many more are forming. To honor this success, Beacon Hill Village has invited Villages around the country to participate virtually in an event featuring Dr. Atul Gawande, author of the seminal book Being Mortal, who will discuss the value of community and choice as we grow older.  

We invite you to join with VoK in this national celebration of Villages on Monday, September 25, at Montgomery College, Takoma Park/Silver Spring, Cultural Arts Center, 7995 Georgia Avenue from 4:45-6:00 pm (doors open at 4:30). Silver Spring Village is sponsoring this simulcast and VoK is joining in the celebration.  For more info or to carpool, contact Donna Savage at this link. We need to RSVP to the organizers, so please contact Donna if you plan to attend, with us or on your own.

The most recent report on the Wheaton Town Center Project tells us that it’s “slightly ahead of schedule” and on budget. Welcome news for a project that took forever to get going. Weekly updates are available here. The contractor is almost finished with installing the underground geothermal system (that taps groundwater to help in heating and cooling the building) and will be starting on excavating the foundation soon. That is expected to be completed by mid-January and then the project will start going up, not just down!  Information on the relocation of the Mid-County Regional Services Center and the projects it housed is available here. 

The Montgomery County Department of Transportation (MCDOT) held a public meeting on June 13 to present options for extending Summit Avenue in Kensington northward to connect with Farragut Avenue. MCDOT  agreed to solicit additional public input, and a second public meeting was held in Kensington on  September 14. KHCA will monitor this project as it developed.  For more info, click here.

The Alert Montgomery System provides accurate, immediate emergency notifications from Montgomery County to your cell, work or home phone, via text, email or voice message. Receive notifications about emergencies that may affect your home, workplace, child's school, parents' home, or any other locations within Montgomery County, Maryland.  Sign up to receive the alerts by clicking here.

Most voters can vote by mail even if they have no idea where they will be or what they will be doing on election days in 2018, and even if they might be at home on those days.  So, you can request now -- in 2017 -- to have both the 2018 primary and general elections ballots mailed to your residence. Then in June 2018, you can fill out the primary ballot while you are having coffee at home. And then put the ballot in the mail. The County even pays the postage! You've exercised your right to vote!  You have made our democracy more democratic! For more info, click here.

The MCCF resumed its monthly meetings on September 11, 2017. The program included a discussion about the work of the Montgomery Charter Commission, which periodically reviews and make suggestions about changing the County Charter. One of the hot topics currently is whether any proposals should be made about the composition of the County Council. It currently has 5 districts and 4 at large seats. With a county population of over 1 million, each district covers over 200,000 people and the at-large representatives answer to the entire 1 million plus – a number substantially larger than some states and Congressional districts. Some suggest increasing the number of seats to allow more, smaller districts to be created; and others suggest keeping the same number of seats but reducing or eliminating the at-large seats. The value of closer ties to a community versus a broader perspective is also debated, as well as concerns over the fact that currently several council members all live within the small confines of Takoma Park. Stay tuned for this debate to continue. 

The meeting also heard from District 20 Senator Will Smith and District 16 Representative Marc Korman who discussed legislative action for this year and next. Some issues that were considered but not passed last year and which will be up again are: bail reform (to move away from cash bonds that may keep minor offenders in jail for lengthy periods); the TRUST Act (dealing with the interactions between county law enforcement and immigration authorities; and a “truth in sentencing” act which is one of the governor’s priorities. There was also discussion about potential budget deficits this year and next, and the effect of the need for increased funding for Metro. 

Regarding bills under consideration, a public hearing was held by the Council on a bill to regulate short term residential rentals” (“STRR”) (i.e., the AirBnB type rentals). The bill (ZTA17-03) would allow STRR’s in most areas but would limit them to 90 days when the owner is not residing at the property (otherwise, they could be used year-round). It would also limit the number of adult overnight guests per unit and per bedroom, and require off-street parking for the unit. It would require that the facilities be licensed and bar them from homes with “accessory apartments” to ensure that those units remain available for housing. The proposal has been under review since early 2016; with or without it, these rentals are already going on, so regulating them will at least impose some controls. The devil will be in the enforcement details, so the community will have to be involved to be sure the limitations are observed. Another bill also being considered and revised deals with streamlining the process of approving new “small cell towers” (i.e. those added on to existing telephone or light poles or similar structures). While these will not be massive facilities, there are clearly areas of concern for those living near such structures. The MCCF newsletter has an extensive article on the bill, what it proposes, and how it could be improved.

KHCA CONTACTS

President:                             Karen Cordry (Torrance Drive) karenc425@aol.com

Vice President:                     Mark Meszaros (Peregoy Drive) markm@digitalindustry.com

Secretary:                             Wendy Core (Torrance Court) wendyj3@hotmail.com

Treasurer:                             Erl Houston (St. Paul Street) erlhouston@verizon.net

 

Immediate Past President:     Danila Sheveiko (Melvin Grove Court) dsheveiko@hotmail.com

Beautification Chair                Jon Foreman (University Blvd) jonforeman@gmail.com

Communications Chair           Shruti Bhatnagar (McComas Avenue) shruti_bhatnagar@yahoo.com

Education Chair:                    Shruti Bhatnagar (McComas Avenue) shruti_bhatnagar@yahoo.com

History Chair:                         vacant

Land Use Chair                      Donna R. Savage (McComas Court) donnarsavage@gmail.com

Safety Chair:                          Chris Peoples (Jennings Road) cpeeps@yahoo.com

Traffic Chair:                           Andrew Fraser (McComas Avenue) afraser@sandglass.com

Newsletter:                             Christine Taylor (Torrance Drive) ctaylor3450@gmail.com

Website:                                  Ricardo Gonzalez