Meeting Roundup: Kensington Council Talks Zoning Amendment and More

Here's some notes from Monday night's mayor and council session.

• Councilmember Lydia Sullivan will not run again for council although she said she may run for mayor in the future.
• Mayor Peter C. Fosselman discussed a presentation he heard at the Maryland Municipal League and told residents that highway user revenue fees are important to the municipalities.
• At his monthly Coffee with the Mayor event residents brought up issues with lights on Howard Avenue, the poor condition of the post office, possible farmers market expansion and their hope of erecting banners to draw commuters into Kensington.
• Jack Gaffy was sworn-in as a member of the Town Ethics Commission.
• The mayor introduced the fiscal year 2013 opearting budget setting a public hearing for April 23.
• Kensington's elections will be held June 4. The last date to file as a candidate is May 14.

Council discusses zoning amendment 12-06

County Planner Jeff Zyontz presented information on the county zoning amendment 12-06, which defines requirements for development of commercial-residential zones in relation to its proximity to transit. Zyontz said that although Kensington has a MARC station it cannot be compared to areas with Metro and this new language. The new language would change how developers could use their proximity to the MARC train station.

“If you remove what is there now — right now within the CRT zone [a developer] needs 50 points for amenities— but the closer you are to the MARC station there’s a reduction of points,” he said. “It’ll change the parking requirements.”

Councilmember Mackie Barch said the language changes would hurt Kensington, as it’ll make it more expensive for developers to build here, which will make it harder for Kensington to compete with communities with Metro.

But, Sullivan wants the legislation to read the way it is. She said MARC is not pulling cars off the road and the zoning amendment is a correction to what committee supportive initially.

Council voted 2 to 1, with one member absent, to send a letter to the county council in support of the change. 

A public hearing will be held on April 10 in Rockville.