Council minutes, Jun. 2007

SECTION 5 OF THE VILLAGE OF CHEVY CHASE
MINUTES OF THE COUNCIL MEETING
Date: June 12, 2007
Time: 7:30pm
Place: 5906 Connecticut Avenue, Chevy Chase Village Hall
Present: Peter Gray; Frances L. Higgins; Farooq Hussain; Ira Rosenbaum;
Andrew Smith; 13 Section 5 residents
1. Minutes
Andrew moved that the May 8, 2007, Council meeting minutes be approved as
presented. Peter seconded the motion and it passed unanimously.
2. Donation for Rosemary Hills Primary School’s Playground Equipment
An Underwood St. resident said that the playground equipment at Rosemary
Hills Primary School is very old and unsafe. Some of it was purchased when the school was founded back in the 1960’s; some was purchased twenty years ago. This resident asked the Council if Section 5 would contribute $10,000 to help purchase new playground equipment which will cost $80,000. Montgomery County has agreed to contribute $20,000. Approximately 600 students attend the school and use the playground equipment. It was determined that about 80% of Section 5’s elementary school age children attend Rosemary Hills for kindergarten through second grade. The Town of Chevy Chase has contributed $10,000. The other adjoining towns will be asked to contribute.
Andrew said that Section 5 has $10,000 in the 2006-07 budget for donations and the Council has already contributed $5,000 to Ellen’s Run and $3,000 to help with the deficit at B-CC Rescue Squad. Farooq said that the Council could elect to increase the donations budget item or consider combining Section 5’s contribution with the adjoining towns’ contributions. There was further discussion. Farooq moved that Section 5 contribute $10,000 to help purchase playground equipment for Rosemary Hills Primary School; Ira seconded the motion and it passed unanimously.
3. Report on Options for Setback Ordinance
Kevin Bromberg said that his committee has collected data from the Town of
Chevy Chase concerning their efforts to address zoning in the Town. Kevin’s committee
will look at this data and decide what aspects of their efforts would be pertinent to Section 5’s effort to address zoning issues in Section 5. Kevin said that the Town of Chevy Chase is considering an ordinance which would set a certain ratio of living space to green space for construction projects. Kevin said that he would like to find a real estate agent and a builder as additional committee members to serve on the committee. Kevin said that the committee will have a report for Section 5 residents at the September meeting. Bill Harlan agreed to serve on the committee.
Andrew said that Margy has suggested that the Council enact a variance which would allow the 1923 Section 5 setback regulation to be in effect. Enacting a variance to make the 1923 setback regulation in effect was Option 1 in the list of options for addressing zoning in Section 5. Margy also suggested that the Council have a meeting in July for residents to consider this proposed variance. Peter said that he thought enacting a variance would be a piecemeal approach and it might cause problems. He also said that no resident has said that he/she supported Option 1 Peter said that he thought the entire matter of zoning should be considered and not just the 1923 setback rule. Farooq said that residents might be away on vacation in July and not be able to attend a July meeting when the variance would be considered. A resident said that it would be better to consider a variance at the September meeting when residents are home from vacations. Andrew said that Podolsky suggested that Section 5 consider Option 4 but Andrew said that Option 4 would be expensive to pursue. It was decided not to have a July meeting to consider a variance for the 1923 setback regulation. The manager will email a copy of the proposed variance to Kevin Bromberg and his committee.
4. Web Site Report
Farooq said that he has placed some information from CASA, an organization in
Montgomery County which helps immigrants, on Section 5’s web site but plans to compress this information and place a link to CASA’s web site.
Farooq said that Section 5’s web site is visited about 6,000 times per month. He thinks that about one third of these visits are by people outside the town. He would like the Council to create a policy concerning what material may be placed on the web site. Farooq said that posting the Council meeting minutes as draft minutes causes extra work for the web master and he recommends that the minutes be posted on the web site only after the Council has approved them. The Council agreed that in the future the Council minutes will be posted on the web site only after they have been approved by the Council.
Farooq said that he has received applications from several people to serve as Section 5’s web master. He will remove the names from the applications and present these applications to a three member committee. This committee will consider the applicants’ qualifications and then Farooq will present the committee’s recommendations to the Council. The Council will then select a web master. Andrew asked if an applicant must be proficient with Plone. Farooq said that proficiency in Plone is not necessary because an applicant could learn the system; however if an applicant is proficient, then he/she would have an advantage because Plone is used to manage Section 5’s web site. Farooq said that a web master would be selected by the end of the summer and management of the web site will be completely turned over to the new web master by the end of September. He said that the listserv has not been as successful as the webs site and that a blog intergrated with the website would be introduced over the summer. Andrew thanked Farooq for all his work on the web site and listserv.
5. 7401 Brookville Road Sidewalk
Montgomery County has told the owner of 7401 Brookville Road that he must
install a sidewalk along the north side of his property. The Council stated at the September Council meeting that it supported the installation of this sidewalk. Stephen Smith, a staff person at Park and Planning, called the town and asked the Council to write a letter stating that it supports the installation of a sidewalk. There was some discussion about why Park and Planning is not willing to accept a copy of the September Council meeting minutes as evidence that the Council supports the installation of a sidewalk. The Council asked the manager to contact Park and Planning and ask why the Council needs to write a letter stating its position. A Windsor Place resident said that he objected to the installation of the sidewalk. Two Windsor Place residents called Section 5 to express their objection to the sidewalk.
6. Treasurer’s Report
A CD will mature June 22nd and the manager will contact the bank and get the best rate for renewal. Margy was not present; however, she sent a memo which stated that there will be sufficient funds from State income taxes to increase the tax rebate from $750 to $825 per household. Farooq moved that Section 5 give a real estate rebate of $825 to the 226 households in Section 5 for the fiscal year 2007-08; Ira seconded the motion and it passed unanimously.
7. Renewal of Trash Contract
There was some discussion about the companies which submitted a bid for
Section 5’s trash contract. Unity’s bid was less than Montgomery Sanitation and Recycling, Co.,’s bid; Montgomery Sanitation and Recycling presently has the trash contract with Section 5. When the bids were first presented, the owner of Montgomery Sanitation and Recycling asked if he could make a revised bid. The Council contacted the other bidders and told them that they too could present new bids. They chose not to do this. The owner of Montgomery Sanitation and Recycling presented a revised bid that was $5,000 less than the initial bid. Andrew made a motion that Section 5 accept the bid from Montgomery Sanitation and Recycling, Co., to serve for one year as Section 5’s trash hauler; Peter seconded the motion and it passed unanimously.
7. Building Inspector’s Report
7403 Connecticut Ave. - side and front yard fence
8. Manager’s Report
The Rollingwood Citizens Association has asked Section 5 to send a
letter to the County Council in support of its efforts to become a municipality. There was some discussion and the Council decided not to send a letter.
The Village of Chevy Chase plans to install speed cameras on the east and west side of Connecticut Avenue within the Village’s municipal boundaries. Motorists who exceed the speed limit will be photographed and issued a traffic ticket. It is estimated that this effort will bring in approximately $1,400,000 for the Village in fines. There was some discussion about Section 5 installing cameras on the east side of Connecticut Avenue. No decision was made.
Park and Planning has notified Section 5 that it will have $11,000 of open space money in 2008 and if Section 5 does not use these funds, the State may take them and put them in the general fund. The Council decided to contribute this open space money to the Village of Chevy Chase to help defray the cost of the purchase of the Wohlfarth property on Western Avenue.
Andrew moved that the meeting adjourn; there was a second and the motion passed unanimously. The next meeting will be Tuesday, September 11, 2007, at 7:30pm at the Village Hall, 5906 Connecticut Avenue.