Meeting began at 7:30pm. City Council members Patrick Wojahn was present.

Prince George’s County’s newly appointed Community Liaison Officer for north College Park Erol Lobin introduced himself to the members. He said that there will be community forum called “Tea Time” at the North Point Hotel in New Carrolton on December 8 at 7pm, to discuss public safety situation with the residents. He said the forum will be an opportunity for residents who cannot attend the weekly Coffee Club meetings, which occur in the morning. He said the residents should call the Police about any non emergency related matters at (301) 352 – 1200. He said in the past couple of months, a number of B&Es have been reported, with some arrests,

Sid Saab spoke about the zoning changes in the property at the north east corner of Rhode Island Ave, / Edgewood Road. The property is currently owned by his father-in-law Randy Sahaban, who currently lives overseas. The parcel includes a dry cleaner and a grassy area behind it. He said On June 18, 2010, the M-NCPPC sent a letter to them informing that their property was zoned as Open Space. The property had been zoned as commercial (C-S-C) before. He expressed surprise on singling out their property as a target for down zoning, whereas every other property around the four corner area remains as fully commercial zoned (C-S-C). He said under the new Open Space zoning, the options to use the property is limited; it can only be used as a barn, a contractor lot or the space must be left open. The property can only have the use it had before it was down zoned (a dry cleaner) for only six months. Moved by Bob Seward / Bill Robertson, “Have NCPCA support up zoning the property back to C-S-C, should the issue come before City council again”. Motion was approved.

Elected District 1 council candidates Patrick Wojahn and Fazlul Kabir spoke briefly to members. They thanked residents for giving them the opportunity to serve them and said they look forward to working with NCPCA during their tenures in the next two years.

Treasurer Larry Bleau reported starting balance of $1475.24, $10 in dues collected, $166.80 in expenses (copying and postage), with ending balance of $1318.44. He also said NCPCA currently has 68 members, of which 52 receive by postal mail and 16 by email only; it only generate 32 labels, however, so that is the number of households who receive by postal mail. Adding the 16 email only members gives us 48 members at different addresses. Mr. Bleau also reported an estimated effect of recent membership change on dues. NCPCA currently has 16 members who already receive by email who would continue in that manner ($5 ea, or $80); an estimated 1/4 of those who receive by postal (8) would probably switch from postal to email delivery only ($40); the remaining 24 who receive by postal would continue that way ($10 ea, or $240); and in the last group an estimated 3 seniors who do not have email whom we would give a credit (subtract $15). This leaves a difference of 20 are those households that have multiple members; This would give an estimated dues revenue of $345, or $135 less than before the change, assuming no change in membership (Without the change, if everyone renewed, NCPCA would have 48 households, which would generate $480 in dues). Costs would go down by the number who receive by postal and would switch to email. An estimate of the annual printing and mailing costs per year, assuming 10 mailings, is $6.60, giving a savings of about $53. The estimated effect of the membership change is therefore a net decrease of $82 in revenues.

Moved by Larry Bleau / Leslie Booth, October 2011 minutes was approved.

Variance committee member Stephen Jascourt reported that four variance requests came up from summer through fall. Two were on the 9500 block of 49th Place. One of the properties requested setback waivers for a small front porch (4×6 foot) and for a 13×20 ft attached garage. The porch was granted but the garage was not, on the basis that detached garages are common among nearby houses and one could be constructed a sufficient distance from the property edge so no variance would be required. The other property involved constructing a new building on a site where a house built in 1949 was razed in 2009. The property owner was denied a variance to have total lot coverage of 50%, exceeding the maximum allowed of 30%. The proposed house was 1447 sq ft and including the attached garage, 1854 square feet, as well as a driveway that looks to be over 100 feet long in the plans. On the 9700 block of 51st Place, a setback variance was allowed for a 4×6 ft porch, actually a cover over an existing stoop. Finally, on the 9600 block of 53rd Avenue, a 1×8 foot addition was allowed for a property which is zoned open space even though an existing house sits on the lot. Five properties near the corner of 53rd Ave and Kenesaw St were rezoned open space by the County in 1990.

President Mark Shroder spoke about Route 1 visioning session at the City Hall on November 18 (9am – 12pm). Patrick Wojahn announced a recycling Sculpture contest at Davis Hall on Nov 12 from 10 am-4pm. Fazlul Kabir announced a forum organized by the Neighborhood Watch Steering committee at the City Hall on November 17 (at 7pm) on how the 911 and Non-Emergency call dispatch system works! Bill Robertson announced an event organized by American Legion commemorating Veteran’s day.

Moved by Bill Robertson and seconded by David Turley, Adjourn the meeting.  Motion passed, and the meeting adjourned at 8:57pm.

Respectfully submitted by Fazlul Kabir, Secretary.