This is the second talk in a three-part “Planning Our Future” series Historic Chevy Chase DC is hosting to provide historical perspective and context to the Small Area Planning (SAP) process underway with respect to upper Connecticut Avenue.

The May 19 Zoom conversation will pose intriguing “what-ifs” between DC historian Neil Flanagan and HCCDC President Carl Lankowski. As a starting point, Flanagan will discuss how white developers thwarted a plan in the first decade of the 1900s to create a “Black Chevy Chase” on land now occupied by Saks Fifth Avenue on Wisconsin Avenue. What if this enclave, that was to be called Belmont, had been successful? Would we have an integrated neighborhood now, 115 years later? How do we, as residents of Chevy Chase DC, take collective action to shape our future in positive ways? Lankowski will get at these issues and more in this session.

After the talk, which will include a question-and-answer session, the HCCDC board will hold a brief annual business meeting, in which HCCDC members will vote on the 2021-22 Board of Directors. In addition to the 10 current board members who have indicated their intention to continue on the board, four new candidates have been invited to join, thus expanding the board to 14 members, all of whom are volunteers.

Current HCCDC Board of Directors: Carl Lankowski, president; Cate Toups Atkinson, vice president; Richard W. Teare, treasurer; Charles Cadwell; Timothy Hannapel; Joan Solomon Janshego; Jordan Benderly; Tanya Gaskins Hardy; James Fisher; and Keene Taylor Jr. The four new candidates are Pat Spillman, Jerry Malitz, Toni Hennicke, and Edward Hayes. For more information on these candidates visit the HCCDC web site.

The third webinar in the series is scheduled for June 9: “The Small Area Plan: Opposing Voices Consider the Options,” will feature a panel of local activists and professional planners examining proffered solutions to the affordable housing needs in Ward 3 and in Chevy Chase in particular. Registration information to come!