Your chance to weigh in on Wheaton's redevelopment

Tomorrow evening (Wednesday the 17th), B.F. Saul, the developer selected by the county to develop the 'triangle' of land between Viers Mill and Georgia, is holding a community workshop to get input on what Wheaton residents want to see happen in this area.  This is a very important meeting for us Wheaton residents to really make our voices heard.

Based on my experiences with these types of meetings so far, there's always a very strong showing by long-time Wheaton residents, many of whom have pretty strong NIMBY leanings.  I'd like to see a more balanced cross-section of our community at these meetings, both homeowners and renters.  I've heard stories of developers avoiding Wheaton in the past for redevelopment efforts simply because they got the impression that residents really don't want anything to change.  While it's perfectly understandable that some residents don't want any redevelopment to happen in Wheaton, I know that there are also alot of other residents out there who are in support of it.

The meeting is on Wednesday, the 17th (tomorrow), from 7pm to 9pm at the Crossway Community Center in Kensington (guess there aren't any large meeting spaces in downtown Wheaton?).  The address is 3015 Upton Drive, Kensington.  It sounds like they're going to have break-out sessions on different topics, so it will be more of a workshop than a public meeting, which I think is a good thing.  The county has a press release with a few more details.  B.F. Saul has also started a website to keep the community updated on the project of their redevelopment effort.  This looks like a good place to go for updates on community meetings.  Hope to see lots of residents at the meeting tomorrow!