Town Council Continues Sector Plan Discussion

On Monday, the Kensington Town Council took steps toward bringing the sector plan to a final county vote, scheduling two public hearings on revitalization.

Last week, the to address the issues of moderately priced housing, the plan's design guidelines and a proposal to focus some redevelopment east of Connecticut Avenue.

At Monday's meeting, the council voted to hold a public forum on whether to adopt the county's housing policy on Jan. 23.

The town's Revitalization Committee, which includes Mayor Peter Fosselman and Councilmember Mackie Barch, will meet Dec. 21 to discuss the plan's design guidelines. Two of the Planning Department staffers who worked on the plan will also be at the meeting. 

At that meeting, Stowe Teti will present a proposal for including a Village Center in the plan, an area near the train station zoned for development.

The Revitalization Committee will make a recommendation to the full council, which could vote on the guidelines as early as Jan. 9.

Councilmember Lydia Sullivan said that while she looks forward to the discussion of the guidelines, the town should hold a larger, more open forum than just a Revitalization Committee meeting.

"I want to make sure the process is more inclusive this time," she said. "I know many people feel disenfranchised."

Fosselman said the town has hosted large-scale forums on the issue in the past, and that the committee-to-council system has been in place since before his tenure.

Revitalization Committee meetings are public, and are held in .

At last week's meeting, the PHED Committee tasked the town with resolving the three issues before the committee reconvenes in January. If the committee approves the plan's current draft at that meeting, it could go before the full County Council later that month.

County Council staff have also proposed amending the plan to limit maximum building heights on projects unless developers could demonstrate that their work would benefit the town. The PHED Committee tabled its discussion of the idea.