Montgomery County lawmakers on Monday plan to take another look at their vision for Kensington as a pedestrian- and bicycle-friendly town with mixed-use properties and open, green spaces.
The draft of the Kensington Sector Plan, to be examined by the County Council’s Planning, Housing and Economic Development Committee on Monday, describes a retail-oriented town center with much of the town — east of Summit Avenue and south of Lawrence Avenue just outside the town limits — rezoned for mixed-use development.
The plan is intended to encourage redevelopment on a small scale, maintaining Kensington’s small-town feel, said Councilwoman Nancy Floreen, D-at large, who will head the committee meeting Monday and previously served as mayor of nearby Garrett Park.
“It’s designed to create an atmosphere for a modest amount of revitalization … making Kensington’s streets a bit livelier,” said Fred Boyd, a community planner with the county’s Planning Department.
At a hearing last month, many residents spoke out against the proposed plan, while other residents flooded the council with letters and emails. They worry that the proposed development will worsen congestion on the roads and irrevocably alter their town’s atmosphere.
The proposed growth would double the town’s population and increase traffic by 50 percent, said resident Phillip Baker.
Some residents, like Carol Besozzi, pointed to the fact that Kensington doesn’t have a Metro station to keep cars off the roads. Others, like Colleen DeFraites, reminded council members that Kensington roadways have already been hit by the August move of the decommissioned Walter Reed Army Medical Center to the former National Naval Medical Center campus on Rockville Pike in Bethesda.
“The roads in Kensington are already beyond capacity,” wrote residents Linda and Scott Wolpert. “It would be extremely foolish to increase residency density without providing better transportation options that will, at the very least, improve the existing conditions.”
The plan suggests lengthening Summit Avenue, which Floreen said would help mitigate congestion.
Because White Flint and Wheaton are also being redeveloped, increasing east-west travel through Kensington, intersections along Connecticut Avenue and University Boulevard may also need to be widened, the plan says.
In addition to transportation concerns, residents worried about altering Kensington’s small-town feel with 75-foot building heights and higher density construction.
Along these lines, residents Richard Hodgson and Kathleen Malloy asked the council to limit building heights to four stories.
Some residents said revitalizing the town could be a good thing. According to Bradley Hansen, for example, it could increase property values and bring jobs to the area.
At the end of the day, the plan doesn’t have any effect without developers and concrete plans, Floreen said. “It’s just a vision.”
