NFCCA President David Rotenstein Opened the Meeting

NFCCA Meeting

February 8, 2017

1. Welcome and Introductions

NFCCA President David Rotenstein opened the meeting

1. Sheila XiahKragie, the NFCCA list serve moderator, discussed development of an online survey to provide the community an opportunity to weigh in on list serve user guidelines. The NFCCA list serve is currently hosted by yahoo! An alternative hosting site, Next Door, which has formalized user guidelines, will be evaluated as well. In our community, there are currently 538 users on the NFCCA list serve and 290 users on Next Door, with many using both sites. The results of the survey will be used to determine whether or not formal guidelines are necessary and, if so, establish guidelines that the community supports. Some attendees also expressed support for rolling out the guidelines on a temporary basis to permit reassessment, if necessary. David Rotenstein also indicated that the Board is working to establish a Communications Committee.

1. BRT update

Kevin Harris reported on developments regarding the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) proposals that will affect Route 29 between Silver Spring and Burtonsville. Although a report with recommendations has been prepared by the County, the State Highway Administration did not recommend any of the alternatives. In short, the alternatives are: 1) No build; 2) Dedicated lanes for use by BRT, HOV-2, local buses, and right turning traffic; or 3) dedicated lane for BRT only. The County Executive and Council, however, remain stubbornly committed to moving forward and are requesting $31 million for capital improvements to begin with the project, despite not having identified a specific plan for the project. An additional $40 - $80 million would be necessary to secure from the state as well as a $10 million federal grant to complete the BRT project. is moving on the recommendations contained in the draft report. The Route 29 project is expected to cost $66 million. NFCCA has pressed for more study on traffic impact or other alternatives, such as Metro Extra which would only cost $1.7 million. County is not studying these other options, and instead is considering two options both of which involve taking away a lane on Route 29 along part of the projected BRT pathway. After a short Question and Answer discussion, several motions were made and seconded, as follows:

• Agreed that NFCCA should take a position on the BRT proposal.
• Agreed that NFCCAshould strongly urge that the County not spend the $31 million pending further public input and study.
• Agreed further that NFCCA supports funding for Metro Extra as a short term pilot to evaluate the feasibility of this significantly lower cost approach as an alternative to BRT.

Text of the draft letter to the County Executive and Council will be posted on the NFCCA website and list serve for NFCCA members to review before it is sent.

1. Treasurer’s Report

NFCCA Treasurer Sondra Katz reported that NFCCA has $16,229.67 in its account, and that there are currently 104 households as members of NFCCA.

1. Other business

A concern was raised that too many large trees are being removed by homeowners, and the questioner asked if there are restrictions on this in the county. Unless property is above a certain amount of acreage, there are no restrictions on a homeowner removing trees on their property.

Prepared by: Sharon Canavan, Secretary, NFCCA