Meeting Round Up: Zoning Amendment, Parking Study, and More

The Kensington mayor and town council met Monday night for their regular legislative meeting. The agenda was brief, but with more than an hour of citizen comments and council discussion on zoning amendment 12-06, the meeting ran more than three hours long.

Here’s a rundown of what you may have missed:

Zoning Amendment 12-06
Though the council that would remove the MARC station as a qualifying transit facility, after further discussion,. They will instead send a letter to Montgomery County Planning Board and County Council requesting professional guidance in determining the transit value of the Kensington MARC station. Councilmember Lydia Sullivan was the lone dissenting vote on the measure.

Mayor and Councilmember Reports

• Mayor Peter Fosselman reported that he’d just returned from an eight day trip to eastern Europe, where he and two other local municipal leaders were chosen to speak in Croatia and Montenegro on economic development and community building. The trip was funded by a grant from the U.S. State Department.
• Local music teacher Sean Gaiser will be opening a new business on May 1 called the Foundation Gallery Live Room on Howard Avenue.
• Fosselman also recently attended a reception at the .
• Sullivan reported that she had testified recently at a Planning Board hearing on zoning amendment 12-05, which applies the grandfathering provisions for structures in Commercial Residential (CR) zones to Commercial Residential Town (CRT) zones or Commercial Residential Neighborhood (CRN) zones, and revises the provision for previously approved special projects. She also reported that the Planning Board opposed Rock Creek Hills Park as a site for the new middle school.
• Councilmember Sean McMullen announced that there would be a public hearing on the town budget on April 26

Parking Space Vacancy Study
Town Manager Sanford Daily presented the parking space vacancy study conducted by the town, . Although many town members have difficulty finding parking, Fosselman suggested that the problem may be a lack of proper signage, since the study showed there was not a lack of spaces.

Daily also discussed a parking permit policy to make parking available near the MARC train station for commuters. He suggested making permits available to interested persons for $180 per year.

Resolutions
The council approved a resolution to transfer funds within the town budget due to some unexpected costs and attorney fees associated with the .