Chevy Chase Town Council Meeting

The Chevy Chase Town Council met yesterday and managed to get through an amazingly ambitious agenda. All five members of the Council were in attendance. Here are some brief highlights:

1. Strategic Vision. The Town formally adopted its Strategic Plan designed by the Visioning Committee during the Town's building moratorium. Hats off to Bridget Hartmann and Pat Burda and the many others who were active on this committee and in developing the plan.

2. Vote Early, Vote Often. The Town approved an extension in voting hours and no-excuse-needed absentee voting. On Election Day, town offices will open early at 7:30am so that voters can pick up and cast an absentee ballot before work. Regular balloting will begin at 5:00 when the town offices close and continue until 8:00pm. Absentee ballots will now be accepted until 8:00pm instead of 5:00pm as was previously the rule. (Note: I need to doublecheck the exact times but you get the idea.)

3. Seeing Purple. The Council asked the Town Manager to include $250,000 in the FY08 budget for the purpose of conducting independent studies of the Purple Line. The Town has never been thrilled by the proposed light rail running along its northern border. It is even less happy now that the proposal has the trains running on the south side of the current trail and thus closer to the houses in the Town. The trail next to the trains would be on the northern side of the current trail and thus not easily accessible to town residents. The purpose of allocating the spending appears to be to have the money there and approved if needed but it is far from clear that the Town will actually spend even a fraction of this amount.

4. Shredder Time! The Town will pay for a shredder truck for four hours on Saturday, April 21st so that town residents can shred their documents. Folks, only in the Washington metro area!

5. Traffic. The Town is postponing most efforts to install most new crosswalks or raised intersections because work on stormwater and water main infrastructure is about to turn the Town's streets into a construction site for two years. Some painted crosswalks may be tried out in the meantime as an interim solution. At this time, the Town Council also decided not to pursue to creation of entryway barriers during rush hour at Leland and 46th St. as a means of preventing cut through traffic in the Town. The Town is also considering extending rush hour traffic limitations from 6 to 7:00pm.