Mayor Focuses On Future Of Kensington Sector Plan

It’s been a long five years as Kensington residents and city council worked to create a plan for their future they hope will revitalize their business district, provide services currently lacking and help meet the needs of their town’s changing demographics.

After Tuesday’s Montgomery County Council vote to approve the Kensington Sector Plan, residents and town leaders can now work to decide what type of retail, restaurants and amenities they’d like to see developed.

Mayor Peter Fosselman said the town was thrilled about the support from the county council.

“The Council’s 8-1 decision is a strong vote of confidence in the people of Kensington who have expressed themselves over and over about the need to plan responsibly for the Town’s future and livelihood,” Fosselman said. “Our residents deserve an attractive, healthy and pedestrian-friendly town and this design provides that opportunity. It is now up to all of us to work together as neighbors and friends to make Kensington even better in the coming years.”

Residents have told him they’d like to see more choices in restaurants. The council worked to pass a bill in the 2007 Maryland General Assembly to allow the once dry town to be able to have eateries with liquor licenses.

“Three or four new restaurants in town could bring more people to Antique Row and the farmers market,” he said. “People panicked when Chipotle came because they thought it would put Continental Pizza out of business.”

Hair salons, dress shops, IT stores and coffee shops would be great in Kensington, too, he added.

“We do not care to be the size of Bethesda of Silver Spring,” Fosselman added, “but our demographics are changing— we’re becoming a younger town, with more children. Residents want things they can walk to.”

He also said that the younger generations want to use mass transit options, including the MARC station where the recent growth of users is leading to parking problems at the station.

Although the county council approved the sector plan, there aren’t any anchor projects, however Konterra’s residential projects and the Antique Village project on Howard Avenue are in the works.

But Fosselman said he’s received some calls from interested parties.

As for Fosselman he’d like to see condos in town for older residents looking to stay in town but don’t want to maintain a large home.

He also said a Whole Foods or another specialty grocer would be great, while for restaurants although he’s not opposed to chain restaurants he’d rather have it be something family-owned, or managed by a celebrity chef so it’s a big anchor.

A small venue for movies, theater performing arts and an area for indoor recreation are also on his mind.

But, Fosselman said that this development will happen over the next 20 years, so there’s time to vet each project and listen to input from residents and council.

“White Flint is going to be great, but we don’t want that kind of scale in Kensington,” he said. “I’m hoping some of the folks that don’t agree with the plan will see some of the positive things this project.”

What businesses would you like to see come to Kensington? Tell us in the comments.