Meeting Round-up: Wheaton Redevelopment Advisory Committee

The Wheaton Redevelopment Advisory Committee (WRAC) gathered in the on Nov. 16 to discuss a number of issues related to Wheaton’s ongoing redevelopment, focusing mainly on aspects of the plan that will affect small businesses. WRAC also received a Green Wheaton update and allowed the public to air any concerns. The meeting was presented in a bilingual format, with an interpreter translating the conversation into Spanish.

Mitigating the Impact of Redevelopment on Small Businesses:

Following opening remarks by committee vice chair Jonathan Fink acknowledging five births among the board’s families since their last meeting, Joseph Capuano led a discussion of a petition submitted by the Coalition for the Fair Development of Wheaton. The coalition is seeking support for two main priorities:

• The group requests that B.F. Saul and Montgomery County officials meet with the community – and specifically the Coalition to negotiate a Community Benefits Agreement (CBA), which they believe would “preserve Wheaton’s strengths and mitigate the negative impacts of the area’s redevelopment.”
• The coalition also requested that the General Development Agreement (GDA) is suspended until the CBA is approved, making it a legally binding document.

The subcommittee’s recommendation was to endorse a number of the groups' more specific components of the CBA via a letter to B.F. Saul and county officials, but not to slow progress by requiring its inclusion in the GDA.

The subcommittee is willing to endorse seven facets of the coalition’s petition:

• the availability of training for low and moderate income residents
• creating a “first source” hiring system to ensure that a percentage of jobs go to Montgomery County residents, with a preference for low and moderate income Wheaton residents
• help identify and communicate a plan for customer parking during construction
• short- and long-term financial, programmatic and marketing support for small businesses
• the enhancement of public security and street maintenance
• assured continuation of community services offered by the Mid-County Services Center  
• the creation of a town square that will reflect Wheaton’s cultural diversity

Luis Bonilla, owner of Wheaton’s Choice Electronics, presented a coalition petition with 300 signatures and spoke strongly in favor of the Coalition’s priorities. “We believe the county and the developer should have these [issues] cleared before they sign any agreement,” said Bonilla. “They need to make sure that the community benefits from that.”

Green Wheaton Update:  Sanita Alrey-DeBose shared that GreenWheaton had sponsored a shredding/recycling event during Montgomery County Volunteer Week and received an award for excellence from the Montgomery County Department of Transportation. Green Wheaton will actively support the implementation of the county’s .

Public Comments: Filippo Leo, owner of , reiterated the importance of parking availability for Triangle Lane business owners. “I’m a Wheaton guy, I could move tomorrow, but I believe in Wheaton and that it is a great place to work,” said Leo. “We can’t survive two years of construction – we have many older people as customers.” Under the current plan, he remarked that 30 percent of his parking will disappear and wonders if the adjacent greenspace could be better managed. “It is maybe used for four or five events per year. Build a town square - something – it doesn’t bring any revenue this way.”

The meeting adjourned at 8:45 p.m. The next WRAC meeting is scheduled for Dec. 21 at 7:00 p.m. in the first floor conference room in the and is open to the public.