Environmental Matters Committee - Regular Meeting

There'll be.

That was not right.

Good afternoon, everybody. We'd like to start the June what's this? The twelfth meeting for environmental matters. For the record, all the all the members are present. All the members in licensed join us virtually.

And to start off, I do want to modify the agenda a little bit to move we have a bit of a time constraint. I'd like to move ID fifty one twenty five, which is the development update from plan zoning first. And then I wanna move o six twenty five, which is the snow removal legislation to the end because we're public works can't join us until 04:00. Is that is the committee okay with that and willing to get hear a motion on that?

So move.

I'll second it, but I'm gonna ask the chair chair to keep the moves the two moves that you're making. Yes.

So moving ID fifty one twenty five, which is the planning zoning development update to be the first item of business. And then moving o six twenty five, which is the snow legislation to the end of the meeting so that public works can join us at four.

Okay. Thank you. And I'll second it if I haven't already.

All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Aye.

Thank you.

Motion carries. And we have approval of minutes from May 8. Is there a motion on that? So moved.

Second. All

those in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Aye. Motion carries. Let's just do re reappointments real quick. Is there a motion to perhaps approve all these reappointments at once?

I'll move approval of AP 51, 52, 53, and 54.

Second. Alright. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye.

Aye. Mhmm.

Do we have anyone here to Aries? They're all reappoint.

Alright. And then we will jump into ID 5125, which is development update from plan and zoning. Mister Meakins, thank you for joining us.

Sure thing. Good to be here. Good to see you all. I sent out a updated spreadsheet this morning of the current projects that, current planning is working on. I really don't have a lot of updates or movement on, the majority of those projects, but, I would like to point out that, actually the first one on the, spreadsheet that I sent, AutoZone nineteen forty 2 West Street, which is a proposed auto parts store, approximately 7,400 square feet, building associated parking stormwater management.

That was heard, before the planning commission, May 1. And I know Alderman Arnett actually testified he was there. And Alderman Savage, know you were not available, but you did provide written written testimony. Ultimately, the the site development plan was approved by the planning commission, but there were two, maybe three.

You say that again? Ultimately what? Approved?

With conditions.

With yeah. With conditions. And the applicant, was, very receptive to those conditions of which were the connection point to the West East Express Trail, which is directly behind the proposed development. The they they were You didn't keep They were they were for a pedestrian and bicycle connection point in in their parking lot. Originally, they had there was some pushback for safety reasons, but through some conversations we had with the engineer and then the engineer to AutoZone, they were able to come to an agreement and shift that access point in what they felt and what planning and zoning felt was a a safer realistic connection point.

So that was number one. Number two number two was the installation of three additional street trees along with they had previously proposed a planning buffer in the rear of the property on the side and then screening in the front, along, West Street. So they were receptive to adding three street trees and and the means by doing that was shifting, and losing, parking space or two which they were over, what they needed. So, that was that was the second condition. And then what I say what why I said two slash three conditions.

The third condition, was, installation of silver cells with those street trees to help them and help their root structure naturally grow. And so those trees would mature instead of being just plopped down in the middle of asphalt or concrete parking lot. All of which, like I said, the applicant AutoZone, they were receptive to that. So the Planning Commission has approved that. We're working on wrapping up the fine final comments for the SDP approval, which I think this is gonna be the last iteration if my memory serves me correct.

By the end of this month, those reporting agencies in the city will have their comments in. Hopefully, they'll give a conditional approval. I don't really foresee anything major coming back from those agencies. Is the third iteration. So once that's approved, the applicant can move into grading permits and building permits.

Are there any questions from the committee? See one hand.

Thank you. I just want to echo mister Meekin's statement. The applicant was extremely cooperative. It was kind of an easy hearing because they were willing, and, I thought it was, it was a good outcome.

Good. Any other did you have other projects you wanted to report on?

I really don't me. I really don't excuse me. I really don't have anything else to report other than the two that I have highlighted, the white the white unhighlighted city dock in the Maritime Welcome Center slash Harbor Master's office. Those permits have been approved and issued and some work is underway, mainly BGE for the city dock is is has mobilized. So really that is the up to date update for everything on this spreadsheet.

And so is the fencing down around is that around the old Harlemaster Building or are they doing other work right now besides that in PG?

So I it's my understanding. The fencing's still there. My understanding is that's going to be a, a lay down area, you know, a a stockyard. I I have not looked at the sequence of construction to determine if that is gonna shift anywhere else or shrink down. I know there was talk and I've overheard some talk about some construction trailers, temporary restrooms, and so on. So I don't know if that space would be used for those trailers.

Do you know if we have a we're gonna be hiring a project manager contractually to deal with that project, or is that gonna just be handled in house?

So it's Whiting Turner, and it's my understanding that the the construction manager for Whiting Turner with the the No Hillman Garage is gonna be the same construction manager for the city dock. I think your question would be better answered by DPW, and I have not heard if there's any anyone new coming on board specifically for that as a in a contractual way.

Okay. Alright. Any questions from the committee? I see Alderman Arnett's hand.

Thank you, and and thank you for this updated report. However, no good deed goes unpunished. There are several here, Grisham Square, Loft at Eastport Landing, Parkside Reserve, even the Rocky Gorge, and the Stokes Farm. I see Stokes Farm. I don't remember. Did they present at the planning commission on the fifth? No. So I keep getting questions from constituents about the status. And, I understand, for example, the Eastport Shopping Center may start work at the end of the year. They've told, Eel that they won't renew their lease for their outdoor.

But is there any way we can get from the applicants or failing that, put something on here that tells us when their permit runs out? Thank you.

So you look you're looking for expiration dates for

That would be yeah. That would be helpful. It's just, you know, I feel a little stupid not being able to tell them. Grisham Square is gonna be a nightmare at the intersection for both of us. It would be nice to be able to know when that roadwork is gonna go on and how.

But the lofts is certainly in my ward. Alderman Finlayson and I have some, designs on Rocky Gorge, but I don't know really what its status is. And, I heard some comments both positive and negative from the community about the Stokes Farm. I actually think that applicant has done a very responsible job with the development and responding to the community, but hard to know exactly what's what there. So it it your your reports don't go unused by us, and we appreciate them, but it doesn't answer the questions that we typically get.

Like, when is something gonna happen there? You probably don't know either.

Yeah. Well, that's that's the main reason why the majority of these are highlighted blue because we're kinda in the dark. But I can certainly provide, you know, of those some of those have expiration dates like they went through the site design plan approval or, you know, planning commission and those those do have expiration dates. So I can certainly add that. I've made a note here for that. Thank you. Just briefly to touch on a couple of the ones you talked about, Chris comes square. I reached out to DPW, the project manager in DPW, and it's he responded to me, but crickets from the applicant. So, you know, that's why there is no update.

Yeah.

And I will I will do my best to rattle a couple cages to try to get some fresh information, and I get where you're coming from. It's, you know, it's it your constituents don't wanna hear nothing's changed or I don't know. I mean, that that's not a great way to answer questions about timelines. But, unfortunately, that's right now my answer for several of these.

Just on that one, in speaking to them last year when they were gonna do it, I actually got a call from director Vogel while I was on vacation in Maine asking because there's two choices. One, they can work straight through day and night and clog up that intersection for, like, three days, or they could do nighttime work only with all the nighttime noise and take about a week. Neither of them desirable, but that it it would be better if they could do that work in the summertime when school is out because traffic really gets backed up with all the school buses as well. So I don't know if that's a message that you can, like, hint hint, do it now while school is out, but that would help with the traffic problem there. With that, I you know, again, thank you.

We anything we can add that I can just pick this up and say, oh, yeah. I just happen to know the update is blah blah blah.

Alright. I see alderman from Mason. You have your hand up.

Yes. Thank you, mister chair. Mister Meekin, same type of question.

We can't hear anymore. Muted.

Sorry. I muted myself. Thank you, mister chair. Mister Meekin, same type of question specifically about Rockford. The last time I spoke with the director, we understood there to be a new owner. I was just wondering if there's been any update or any efforts to get proper permits for the new owner.

I I cannot speak, about a new owner. I'm not aware of that. That's not to say there could be. And there have been no submittals for or no contact from any new parties regarding resubmitting submitting for new permits. So, unfortunately, I I am in the dark, but I can certainly circle back to see if there's any movement. But I have not heard anything regarding that project.

Okay. Maybe we can speak offline for a moment about, you know, an initiative that was started. But a question about the permits that the, I'll say, current owners have. Are they transferrable with the property?

No. It's my understanding that they've all expired.

Okay. Thank you, sir, and thank you for your report. I'm not able to access it where I am, but thank you. I will when I find my iPad.

Sure.

I just had one question on Griskam Square. Assuming not much of an update on that. On griscomsquare?

Griscom Square. Yeah. I I I don't know. Like I said, I reached out to DPW, and they didn't have any information. Okay. Any new information.

Alright. So just wanna encourage you to work with I guess, with Eric Lashinsky on this because I know, you know, we chatted a little bit about it when he was giving me an overview of the Tyler Avenue complete community in that, and there might be some you know, we talked about the potential of putting in something akin to, like, an alleyway to help give more flexibility in being able to reduce some of the off street parking requirements that they're trying to work into the legislation regarding the Tyler community. Okay. But I think if there might be some My point is there might be some tweaks to that project that could help coordinate with the larger effort, and, you know, now might be a good time to do it. But, yeah, that's all I had.

Anything else from the committee? Alright. Thank you. Thank you for Have your

a good rest

of your afternoon.

Thank you. We're gonna move on to the I assume move on to 08/25, which is Chesapeake Children's Museum lease renewal through 06/30/2030. And do we have anybody here to brief us on this? Oh, miss Leonard, are you here to brief us on that one? Oh, and a director planner planner.

Ashley Leonard, assistant city attorney.

Matt Flinner, director of central services.

I just draft these things. Did you have any specific questions?

I I don't. Does the rest of

the committee? Seems straightforward to me.

So what's the relation with, I know this is city owned property, city owned building. We're gonna lease it out. What are the responsibilities for Sumter Services at this point? Once it's signed, is it gonna be entirely maintained by the private?

Yes. The terms of the lease have all maintenance and site improvements assigned to the lessor, at the Children's Museum. So the city's providing support, but the lessor is responsible for all repairs.

Okay. Alright. No nothing

It I mean, it's substantially similar to the lease we did for the last ten years. The, the only main shift is, the city used to maintain things in the basement. We are giving up that space, and we are rethinking how they're gonna pay you their utility bills. Otherwise, it is materially the same lease that they signed about, like I said, ten years ago.

Why is it only five years now as opposed to another ten?

That was a decision by, the city attorney and various others who weighed in.

Okay. Alright. I see a hand from alderman from Mason.

Yes. Thank you, mister Care. I was gonna ask if there was anything materially different in this contract, but miss Leonard just answered that question. So my second question has to do with our belongings. I recall, and I believe it's still true, that the city stored files in that in the basement of that building, years old files that are still there. So was there a discussion about removing those things or allowing the tenant to, just throw it all away? No. I I'm very concerned that there's valuable stuff there that we should have on in our files.

Corey Bradley, who's, was with the finance department now with central services, has been coordinating to remove all of those files, and discussing with the relevant department, city clerk, a few others who have things down there. So, no, it's in process to have those all removed. We we're not just gonna let the tenant throw them away.

Okay. Great. Great. Thank you. Thank you. The tenant has been there for many, many years, and I know she's definitely interested in maintaining, you know, her museum in that building. So, I would make a motion that we, give a favorable recommendation to o eight twenty five.

Second. Okay. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Aye. Motion carries. Thank you. Thank you, Zach. Alright. Moving on to the next item. We will move to ID 2125, which is resilience and sustainability update. You. No. You. You're up on the agenda for your update.

In lieu of my report right now, we would like to invite Kathy Welker, the chair of the environmental commission, up to discuss the commission's environmental priorities for fiscal year twenty twenty five.

Thank you. Could you just make sure the mic's on and state your name, address for the record? Sorry. Try the mic again.

Oh, there. Kathy Welker, chair of the Annapolis Environmental Commission. Thank you for having me. So our 2025 priorities that I just wanted to review with you all today are not substantially different than our 2024 priorities. We did make some some updates and tweaks to them.

So our first first pillar of our priorities is to support the alignment of the environmental programs with the with the city's comp plan. And one of our big priorities is the expansion of the tree canopy. That's a recurring priority for us. We were very pleased when to see the foresters budget was increased and that there was increased focus on maintenance of, you know, the current trees and their health as well as, you know, increasing the the canopy. So what we wanna do is emphasize several actions that we feel are necessary, which is that tree planting and proactive tree maintenance, but also education of city residents and the private sector to really help them, you know, understand the value of trees and their role their role in increasing the canopy.

And then also to explore innovative measures to increase the canopy, you know, sustain the canopy that we have, you know, through research and see what other, like, cities are doing, if there's anything that we can bring to the to the council and the mayor and city staff in that in that about that. We also want to encourage the adoption and widespread use of nature based solutions and green infrastructure. And so one of the things that we also appreciate getting every month is the planning and zoning worksheet of developments. We'd love to be able to provide input on that from environmental point of view perspective to really, you know, kind of promote, like, pollinator friendly native plants, green roofs, urban agriculture, things like that, and, like, our letters of support and testimony that we may give. And then one of our new one of our new priorities this year is really to support increased public awareness and community involvement and environmental actions.

So we're looking at supporting the educational initiatives and the programs that the Office of Resilience and Sustainability does because there are so many so many different programs. We'd like to make sure that those stay more visible to the public, and we'd like to be able to use social media and other platforms to array to really raise awareness of environmental initiatives and really encourage community participation. Then our second pillar is to support the city efforts to reduce carbon emissions and increase resilience. So one of the things that we are looking forward to is supporting the city's development of its resilience plan. We would, you know, like to contribute through research, you know, and advice based on the technical expertise of our members to that plan as that is developed.

We also have a strong interest in improving the mobility options in the city, and I know at your last meeting you had a a long discussion about that. I I watched the the the recording of that and shared information about that with our with the AEC at our last meeting. So for instance, we're reaching out to the transportation board and planning to talk to transportation staff, sort of have a have a conversation with them about how they see these you know, see those options and the work of the city, and then how the AEC can can contribute. And then, also, we wanna support flood mitigation and water quality improvements. And one of the things that we are wanna focus on there is to really reach out to the many environmental nonprofits that are local and really talk to them about the work they're doing, see if there's information we can bring back to the city about that, and then also to help those organizations kind of better understand how their work connects to the city priorities.

And then finally, strengthening community and access through environmental efforts. So we want to, you know, continue to support public access to our waterways and green spaces. And then the other piece that's a little bit we expanded a little bit on this is to for the AEC to explore options and make recommendations to the city council staff and mayor for solutions that address resilience challenges of underserved Annapolis community members. So for instance, you know, issues such as food deserts, heat impacts, alternative energy options, and things like that. And that pretty much is it. I'm happy to answer any questions you have about these priorities.

Any questions from committee members? Pretty comprehensive.

Thank you. Thank you.

Yeah. I don't have any questions at the moment. I may at the next meeting. But, you know, you're always the commission's always welcome to comment and to give comments to the the committee or the entire council on a legislation that's before us. We don't have to refer something to you Mhmm.

In order to get your comments, because since you're just a a advisory commission, but we always welcome it. Yeah. I think, you know, I think we'll we'll be having a lot of legislation coming through the system over the next few months. And yeah. Well, I I guess we'll try to keep you posted as far as what gets introduced and accepted.

That would be great. Thank you. Thank you. And I know Jackie and Dylan are really excellent at keeping us apprised of current legislation and things that, you know, would be good opportunity opportunities that for us to look at and to, you know, write letters or testify about.

Yeah.

So I wanna thank them for all their support.

Good. Thank you.

You.

Alright. Do you want, do we have time for me to do some highlights from resilience and sustainability? Do you wanna move on?

Mhmm. Go do highlights.

Go ahead. I'm Jackie Gyle, deputy city manager for resilience and sustainability. So I'd like to thank the the council at the whole for continuing funding our programs. We do a lot of our work through grants, but we do have a contract budget that for resilience and sustainability with which we usually do some work with during the year, One of which is our update to our greenhouse gas inventory. We are in the process of using the f y twenty five funds for the data gathering information and analysis stage.

The second phase of that work was something that we asked for funding in the f y twenty six budget we did receive was to take that data and then create a climate action plan. So we will be able to transition straight from the data gathering phase into the climate action plan and hopefully have a plan by the end of this mayoral term that we can start to implement across all departments. The second thing is that we had asked for funds so we could look into transitioning our utility poles all over to LED lighting and how much and a feasibility study to see how much money that would save us and how much money that would cost to achieve. The feasibility study was a bit over $14,000 and that was covered in this budget. So we can now look to contractors to perform that work.

Estimated savings from changing our infrastructure ownership and maintenance is over $6,000,000 over twenty years. So I think the money will be well spent on a feasibility study for that work. And we do have grant funding in hand and are starting work on conversion of many of our lights which are still not LED on Main Street and West Street which are very expensive to convert because they are the acorn top lights and they require it's much more expensive to convert them. So we do have money now to do that work as well as another grant to do conversions along most of Forest Drive to LED, which are much easier and less expensive to do because they are just the cobra lights, the more modern lights that look like a cobra's head. They call it the cobra lights.

So that work is continuing. The Pollinator Park, we have a 100% design for Larry Weiner Associates that was shared with you and with the committee. They could start work, I know, in the fall. However, we do have some monitoring continuing at the solar park by the Maryland Department of the Environment. We may not want to disturb the earth there and draw attention to earth disturbances that may trigger MDE to say that they're not gonna sign off on our permit our our permit to close the site.

So we're working with public works to see what we can do there. We may have to wait until spring or later in 2026 to actually start work at with plant was preparing the site and starting to plant pollinator plants at the solar park.

Yeah.

Let's see. Our electric ferry grant is still on hold. We still don't have word from the Federal Transit Administration whether we can proceed with that grant. They are supposed to do a thirty day review. That time for that review was over at the March.

I have asked the Department of Transportation to make inquiries to the Maryland Transit Administration about whether they will continue to hold those funds or whether they will be released to us so that we can order our electric ferry, which we were on the verge of doing several months ago. The Annapolis Maritime Resilience Initiative, which is looking at we do have presentation today from the Resilience Authority, but I did notify this commission committee about the stakeholder coordination meeting, which we held on June 23 from 10:30 to twelve at the Pit Moyer Recreation Center. We have another update on that. That's not a public meeting. That's a state stakeholder by invitation meeting.

Let's see. And we also

Does that include the council? I think I did get an invite for that

stakeholder meeting. You did council did receive an invite, but mister Cohee is nodding yes. Yeah. That's it.

Oh, I haven't even looked yet. Okay. So it sounds like it might be during I don't know.

Right. It's June 23. I did, the resilience authority did allow me to invite the members of the Water Waste Cabinet and the Environmental Commission to that meeting. Hopefully the Environmental Commission will be able to send someone to that meeting.

Are you going to be there?

Yes, I will. I was invited. Thank you, Resilience Authority. The Resilience Authority is also working on finalizing the priority projects for year one of the Severn River Watershed Resilience Project. Those will hopefully be announced very soon.

Several of those projects are within that look promising to be funded and awarded are within city limits. So we we can't say what those are right now, but very soon we will be announcing that. And also the Anne Arundel County Watershed Restoration Grant Program, which we put money into through the Chesapeake Bay Trust, has issued its letters this week to the grantees. Again, I cannot say who those grantees are. There will be a press release at the end of this month.

They ask that we don't divulge that information until then. But there are six projects funded within city limits at a total of 512,652 We had additional money from the city dock fee in lieu critical area money this year to put into that program above and beyond the $300,000 that we usually fund. So these are all stormwater best management practices, design and permitting, some shovel ready projects, but they're all around stormwater management and sediment and erosion control.

So much of the critical area fund are going to that? How much of the critical area funds are going towards that?

So that would be, $212,652. $212,652.

Okay. So is that separate from the reforestation fund?

Yes. That's that's separate. Well, it's water restoration fund money. It's $300,000 we the city normally puts into that program.

Yeah.

That's above and beyond that. So we won't have that every year Okay. Unless we decide to increase what's coming out of the watershed restoration fund for that program. And then let me go through this quickly, task force to study marine vessels. They've been working very hard and very early and effectively.

They their report is due to city council by mid July, and they are on track to meet that deadline. I understand that Alderman Arnett would like us to have a work session, and I've, put that request in to, the mayor's office about when we're gonna do that around the other work sessions that are scheduled for July. We may have to defer that work session to September because there are already two work sessions being scheduled for July.

Do you know what the July work sessions are on?

Oh, I should.

Oh, I think one might be legal updates.

One is Annapolis Harbor Walk, an extension of the dock space at the harbor. And then the other one, you just said

I think legal updates. Legal updates from the law.

Oh, legal updates.

I think.

Yes. So we may not have time to do that in July. We'll have to wait until September. However, this group did establish a landing page for the task force on our boards and commission page. So you could go there and submit comments on the task force, ideas, concepts, information.

You can see who's on the task force and their agendas and minutes on that landing page. And I think I included the link, yes I did, in your resilience and sustainability updates information. And then I also wanna mention that we are I'm in the process of conducting interviews starting tomorrow and next week for the environmental program manager one position that we advertised on May 2. We left that open for one month, and I received 189 applicants. Oh. Most of which were highly qualified. And

189.

189, and I went through all of them because they were all very good. I had your rate of all, 189. So I've scheduled a first round of interviews starting tomorrow.

Does HR do an initial screening based on, you know, your basic qualifications?

No, they do not. I think I'm one of the first people to use the neogov system. There are some screening tools you can put into that for basic to meet basic minimum qualifications and you can weed out people that way. I didn't spend a lot of time on learning to use that system. There's scheduling you can do through it as well. But in my case, other than five applicants, everyone met the minimum qualifications. So they wouldn't have been caught by end. They were meeting qualifications for the type of degree they held, type of job experience, so I don't think it would have called many out for me anyway.

Yeah. I'd just like to bring it up because I know the county HR screens And first before they give it to

then I wanted to mention that back to funding, we it was not one thing that was not funded in the budget was we passed on March 12. Council passed the demonstration demonstration program to build green roofs on city bus shelters, the pilot program. That was passed but without any funding. So, and there was no funding in the budget for this project either.

We need reconsider.

For this group.

Yeah. We'll take it out of one time only money.

Yeah. If we if we want to proceed with that project, we will have to authorize some funding towards it. We'll have to come from somewhere.

Or find grant money.

Yes. And we are still in discussions with Chesapeake Bay Trust on a contract for the Gas Power Leaf Blower Ordinance Transition Assistance program. We're trying to work with them on a lower administration fee than what they are proposing. We do have other options, other companies that can provide this third party service for the rebate program. So, hopefully, we'll have that done in the next week or two, and we can launch our rebate program.

Good. And I know the the enforcement practices have been changed a bit since they've gone to since Planet Zoning is doing the enforcement. But a couple questions on that. So I I I understand that they're now submitting notices of violations to property owners?

Yes.

Who are the ones who are hiring the landscape?

Yes. Are

they start are they leading with the notice of violation as opposed to leading with a fine?

I believe they are. That's what I was told initially by planning and zoning. They however, they they've only issued one citation so far.

And the one guy who testified.

Yeah. So I don't know. Do have any additional information for planning and zoning?

I've been coordinating with planning and zoning about the best practices and,

you know,

Dylan McConach, probably more programs manager. DPZ has been, very clear about, you know, what the limitations are and, the sort of workflow that's necessary to deliver ordinance or sorry. Sort of citations and municipal infractions for this sort of offense. And based on the information that's available to them, they can make a decision that's based on that's at their discretion. What turns out to be the most convenient for their office is to levy it for the property owner because they find that the property owner is responsible for what's occurring there.

Because of issues with registration for landscapers and because of the information that's submitted by residents on the online complaint system, they just simply might not be able to levy against those landscapers at that time. This is an ongoing process, and so we expect continued collaboration and, resource sharing between offices. It'll have to reflect, ultimately what ends up working, to deter, landscapers in the future. It's fairly novel, and their offices from the start weren't necessarily equipped for this sort of enforcement, which is what we're working on and continuing to develop through the process of this. So that's what I know as of right now.

I don't want to speak on their behalf, but that's sort of in the process and the deliberations between our offices in the past couple months.

Okay. Yes. Basically, the it's difficult to track down some of the landscapers. They're often just random individuals who may not have official businesses or addresses we could track down. I so I get that it's more effective to go through the homeowners. I think that's, as long as they've they're not leading with fines, I think we should be okay with that, and the message will get one way or another to the landscapers. But, yeah, keep us posted. Any other questions? So did you have any other updates?

I was just going say

Oh, sorry. Alderman Finlayson.

I was going to add on, we are going to do a mass mailing once we have the rebate program available so everyone there'll be another opportunity to let the residents and the landscapers know about the ban and the fines associated with it and the availability of the rebate program. Also, do a press release, social media, try to get the message out as far and wide as possible about the gas power leaf blower ban so that no one is truly surprised by it.

Okay. Auto woman Finlayson?

Yes. My question is about the fines that are already being levied. One of the local churches on Forest Drive now has a second warning. I I we had had this discussion, I thought, and that was going to be addressed, but clearly, it hasn't. And it sounds like we're not supposed to be giving fines, but rather we're still in the warning stage.

But the pastor sent me an email. I mean, he spoke at the council meeting. I guess it was last month. And I was assured that and I think he was referred to Dylan, mister, Laconian. But he's now getting citations or, warnings about, him not paying the citation.

Oh.

So how are we handling that? Are we giving tickets to everybody, or are we giving warnings to everyone? And and this is the church that does their own. So there's no, independent company that's doing this for them. The res the congregants are the ones who do the work around, And they have a large they have a large area on on Forest Drive.

Think it's some Yeah. The church did receive a citation, and and I discussed the citation with code enforcement. They felt that it was a valid citation, that the church was had been made aware of the blower ban, and they felt that that citation should stand. So that they do need to pay that citation now. It's a $100 for the first violation.

The planning and zoning department told us that they initially, when they took over enforcement, they had issued some notices, some warnings in other words, but then they decided they were going to start with citations and unfortunately I think the church was one of the first ones, was the only one that I know of as of two weeks ago when I inquired.

So there is no flexibility in this? You know, this is a new program, and I don't wanna say who's telling the providing the most accurate information. But when the pastor came to speak before the city council, he made it very clear that he was not aware, and the his citation was referred to your office. And I assume that it was addressed, but, it appears that it's not. So we're gonna have to pursue it at another level is what you're saying?

Well, if you want them not to pay the fine, we would have to pursue it at another level. It was referred to me and I asked Planning and Zoning about the circumstances and whether there was thought that it could be waived, a citation could be waived, and Planning and Zoning Code enforcement felt that it should not be. So if you want to pursue it further, of course we can, but that was the final decision by planning and zoning.

Well, I definitely would like to pursue it further. And for the one citation that we have given to a local church in our community sends a very, bad message about how we address this. And I've heard you say that there's giving warnings, but no, we're not. We're just giving $100 citation.

What I said was we were giving warnings in the beginning when the ban went into effect, and we were hoping to continue that until we had the transition assistance program in place. However, that was taking longer than expected, and we determined that people by now after two media blasts and mailings should be well aware that this ban is in effect and has been in effect for about six months. And so that peer that leniency period period and warning period is now over and that we would begin to issue citations, and this church was caught up in that first round of citations.

So does it go to the city manager's desk now? How do we address this? Or, maybe there needs to be a a meeting of the minds with the planning department, because this really does need to be addressed. And he was under the impression that your office had addressed it until he got another warning, another he may have gotten another citation because he didn't pay the first one.

Okay. So he may have been under under that impression because I did respond that I would look into with planning and zoning, which I did, And planning and zoning determined that that citation should not be waived. So planning and zoning, we we we should not be adding in on any fees or any more notices that they didn't pay. Perhaps there was a communication breakdown there that they did not receive notice that, yes, indeed, the citation stands. So I can take it up from there.

I'd appreciate that. You're welcome. Alright.

Any other

chair. I Yes.

I did have another question about the green roofs that we had approved in a previous budge oh, not a previous budget, at a previous meeting. Okay. Ms. Gao indicated that there wasn't funding for it. And what is the cost of to to move this program forward?

So we did some initial research when Alderman Gay came to us with this legislation initially, and the bare minimum to build a green roof on a bus shelter would be somewhere in a thousand dollar range. But that does not account for the assessment of that structure to see if it is structurally sound to hold a green roof, any changes that need to be made to it, any maintenance, that sort of thing. So that cost go up significantly. We would need to do a bit more research to have a really definitive number for you. I'm not comfortable saying because there are five green roofs in that pilot program that it's only going to be $5,000 I I would tend to double that at least to $10,000 and it could be more.

But that really I'm not comfortable saying it's going to be more even than $10,000 until I'm allowed to do some research on that.

Okay. I would appreciate it, and I'm sure Alderman Gay, would appreciate the research, so that if this body or the neck would like to, pursue funding, they have a number. Yeah. With regard to There really should have been a number on the legislation. You know, we passed it without funding, but without this accurate information in Right. Months.

We we provided some rough data on it. It was pulled a number of times, you know, from the agenda. So, yes, we can provide better data on that. Now regarding maintenance, I did speak with mister Gratia about that. There is an RFP that public works has out right now for maintenance of our existing green roofs. So the one on Pip Moyer, the one on police station, the one at 39 Hudson, the public works maintenance facility. So the maintenance portion of whatever we install on these bus shelters could be tagged on to that existing contract once we have it under contract.

And I that would be totally expected. All the costs of what it's gonna take to, fulfill this obligation should be included. So thank you.

You're welcome.

Alright. Alderman Arnett.

Thank you, mister chair. First of all, I wanna say that when mayor Buckley first ran for mayor, he promised grant writing ninjas. And looking throughout your report, I think you may have overtaken the office of emergency management, especially on page 12 with all the grants that you've been able to put together. On page two, I do have a general question about the lighting retrofits. Years ago, I was at a demonstration from a light company that not only converted to LEDs, but they also had, and I think it was for $10 a light, video cameras that could go in there.

And it does seem to me that if we could be putting video cameras in all of our lights and then connect them to to police, that would be a good deterrent, make Annapolis an uncomfortable place to conduct nefarious business knowing that you're on candid camera. Are we exploring that at all?

Yeah. That's a great point. There's a lot of really great technology out there that you can incorporate in streetlights. We had actually just submitted, and you can see it in our highlights, for a pilot project that would provide us with technology for six months to provide public Wi Fi and other, you know, public amenities throughout a one square mile area. The current narrative is downtown and, esport, which you might have interest in.

This could include cameras, like I just said, public Wi Fi, and it can also provide different technology, yeah, plate readers, all sorts of different things, depending on, you know, what use they might serve to the community. After that six month pilot is over, we would have to either give it back or procure that technology, so we can't necessarily select every single option available to us. But safety cameras, is definitely a consideration, particularly at bus stops. And that's one of the goals of the program is to provide that public Wi Fi, improve the Internet of Things for microtransit so that people have an easy way of communicating. Well, we have an interface that can communicate to the people who are using it, where they can get that last mile microtransit.

And so with this interesting technology that we can simply install as a streetlight, we can improve public safety, public accessibility, and transit adoption. So, yeah, thanks for bringing that up. Great.

Yesterday, went to one of my favorite little local restaurants to get a sandwich and I got a plastic bag. But it had on the bottom of it, please return this plastic bag to the purveyor. Are are restaurants under different plastic bag rules than, other entities?

No. Not that I'm

aware And is there some policy about returning the plastic bag? If I do, do I get 5¢? No. No. We don't So I'm gonna have to follow that. I don't it's a favorite little restaurant, so I don't wanna hassle them. But I was surprised to get a plastic bag.

Mhmm.

This morning at the Financial Advisory Commission meeting, you mentioned the financial report for the resiliency authority. Can we get a copy of that?

Yes. I sent that to well, I can send it to this committee as well. I did send it to mister Sussman as he requested.

Right.

So it is a remember, it's a joint report of the Resilience Authorities work, their program, programmatic work, as well as their financial status.

I just I wanted to see it too.

Yes. And then you can I sent you also the link where that can be found?

Alright. Thank you. Last question, and it refers to the Resiliency Authority. I noticed it may not be on our agenda anymore since the agenda seems to be going away, but there's an ordinance to turn over for $0 our Spa Road properties to the Resilience Authority. I'm wondering what that has to do with resilience and and just really curious about that whole ordinance.

So we do have mister Cohe here from the Resilience Authority. Pardon me? Mister Cohe is here from the Resilience Authority, and he can speak to that in more detail than I can.

Okay. Good.

You need to get on the record, but you are up next on the agenda. Let's conclude this first.

Yeah. Well, that was mean, again, great report, and I encouraged city manager Giles to send it on to the fact members because I think people don't really understand how much this small city is doing with regard to resiliency. And I I think we need to credit our staff for that, but also take a bow. I think we're pretty active. So thank you for that.

Well, thank you very much.

Thank you. And, yes, so moving on to ID 6825, which is Eastport flood mitigation update. And after you introduce after you introduce yourself, we we can address the last question. Sure.

Is that this one?

Hi, council members. My name is Gabe Coeley. I'm with the Resilience Authority of Annapolis and Anne Arundel County. Appreciate you guys having me back. And so, yeah, as far as Sparrow goes, it may it may be a great conversation for the next meeting, and my executive director, Matt Fleming, could come and speak to it a little bit more because he's been really intimately involved.

But about a year ago, we went through a putting assets to work process with, some some outside third party contractors to help us look at, unutilized and underutilized public assets, to to find ways to to monetize those to then bring money into the city or the county. And so this has been an effort, working with both Anne Arundel County and the city. And Spa Road came up through Allison de DeMatteo at DPW. It's a brownfield site that's been going through some re remediation, and there is opportunity. I think there the plan is to have, maybe a turf field there and maybe some low income residences or or affordable residences, affordable housing.

The interest from the resilience authority at this stage is just to really explore that opportunity with the the local jurisdictions to look if if there's opportunities to monetize some of these underutilized assets to then bring, you know, income in to be used for environmental projects or really whatever the jurisdictions look into. So on the county side, economic development has also been involved. We met or or Matt really met with the county executive last week and and some of the other quasi governmental economic development, some other folks to really hash this out and look at opportunities. So it's really been a fact finding, process for us at this point. Spot road, just this week, I heard was there was an ordinance that kinda happened really quickly.

I think I think Matt left, but with central services. So our Matt Fleming at at Resilience Authority was working with Matt of central services to kinda figure out the spot road component.

So by state law, if municipalities or other governmental entities are surplusing property, and I would argue turning it over for $0 is surplus in property. We need to have two property value assessments. I think a property value assessment of this particular area is going to be complicated, particularly on the side of the road opposite where the Salt Dome is because we have both a gas station there and also the incinerator. I remember hearing some huge numbers for making the properties clean again. But I, you know, I think I'm gonna get a lot of questions about the city giving away property.

For sure.

Or zero.

Burr, yeah, Burr probably has.

Sure. I'm sorry for jumping in in the middle of this

conversation, but

I know we're

Name for the record?

Yep. Burr Vogel, public works director. So this has been something that the public works department has been working on in order to to make the city eligible for a federal brownfields grant. So the the Spot Road land transfer to the resilience authority is the mechanics of. Essentially making that the ownership of that property where there's contamination that the city is responsible for. Just making us eligible for a for a grant to clean that up. So you know what is it comes to property value assessments we're not they're they're not going to be paying us in the in the agreement. We'll have the property coming back to us upon completion of the cleanup.

Oh, okay.

Yeah. That's a key point. Is it is this land doesn't go away from the city. It just goes away for us for long enough for us to clean it up and then get it back.

Right. That'll grant.

Alright. Right. Because we are the responsible party for the contamination.

I feel so much better hearing that.

I I figured. It's like

Is it both sides of the street or just the contaminated side? The Southeast Side.

I think we are talking about the East Side only.

That's good. Alright. Okay.

But but for purposes of the real estate transaction, it might all be one one one plot. But we're doing a subdivision and all the all those things.

That's okay.

Thank

you. See you

by the certainly have more conversations about that in the future. But for now, yeah, please get started with your eSports Club mitigation.

Yeah. So, as you see, Jasmine Wilding, I think, is on the agenda. They're at a conference today. So, I know she was here last month with me and and talked a little bit about the FEMA. No big updates on the on the FEMA funding.

But I did promise to come back this this month, just to give a little bit of feedback on on where we are with project selection. So just as a reminder, the Annapolis Maritime Resilience Initiative, we're looking at nature based, projects targeting that area between Spa Creek and Back Creek really around Eastport, but Wards 67, And 8 have components in there. And we're looking at community scale projects. So this isn't just one person's backyard, but looking at nature based solutions that'll impact the full community. Up until now, we've been doing a lot of community engagement, going to standing meetings as well as holding some of our own information sessions and and and workshops, and identified, I think, upwards of 38 project sites.

When I was here last month, I shared this. And then what we've been doing this month, is working through a project prioritization. And, really, what we focused on is, the potential for resilience impact. So that's looking at flooding, critical infrastructure protection, near term failure and instability, and then the stormwater, maintenance or management conveyance systems, the green infrastructure potential, so habitat enhancement, being able to connect different, habitat, green infrastructure and habitat areas, coastal marshes, as well as the social impact, so considerations of environmental justice, demographics of the area, public outreach, access to water, impact for nonvehicular connectivity, bike trails, pedestrian path, trails. And then project feasibility is a big component of this.

So we wanna make sure that there's access for implementation and maintenance to be considered. We'll make sure there's landowner support, looking at complexity of permitting processes to make sure that we can get these in the ground in the near term. And then availability of funding, I mean, that's always gonna be on there, but we wanna make sure that that if we take on a project, we're gonna be able to to to pull together financial architecture to make it happen. So it was a a pretty robust matrix that that we worked with the team to put on. It says draft really big on it because as miss Gael mentioned, on the twenty third, we're gonna be meeting with some key stakeholders from UMSES, Seven River Association, Seven River Keeper, I think Eastport Civic Association.

We did invite all of the the council members, but, unfortunately, it it impact it it overlaps with MML. But our goal there is to make sure that this list, you can see there's a there's a top 10 between ASPCA and down to, Mel Robb Court there. We wanna ground truth this with some of those other kind of key stakeholders in the area to make sure we're not missing any critical information. So we'll present this process to them. We'll make sure that they're aware of it.

But we also wanna we know that, you know, organizations like South River Association, the city themselves are also looking at some of these street end parks, are looking at opportunities for restoration. So there might be opportunities here for collaboration because through the NIFWIF grant that we have, the quote, unquote top 10 projects will be advanced to conceptual designs. So our next step is once we kinda ground truth these, we'll have our 10. We'll go back to the community to announce this 10 these 10 projects, and then we'll start a a conceptual design for each of these 10 along with a financial plan. So, as I move on, you know, June and July, this is where we're doing our site selection, continue public engagement.

We have that stakeholder meeting. August, we're really gonna start developing those designs. The partners we're working with are also gonna put together funding strategies and some schedules to kind of, you know, put a Gantt chart together when we can try to get these projects in the ground. And, by December, we're gonna have a master plan that then we can come back to, you know, this body here, but also the community, to make sure they're aware of the projects that that have have come to the forefront. So that's where we are on the Annapolis Maritime Resilience Initiative.

The the other thing I'll say, I I believe I mentioned this last month, we should be hearing anytime if we're invited to to put a pool pool proposal in through the National resilient coastal resilience fund at NIFWIF to get a phase two funding to then take those 10 designs. We'll probably have to look at three or four, but to get those all the way through, permitting and engineered designs to then build. So that's, you know, that's kinda on the horizon for for the Maritime Museum or, sorry, Maritime Resilience Initiative.

It's great. Thank you. Any questions? No. I can't we can't see you, Alderman Finlayson. So if you have a question, please feel free to speak up.

I no. I don't have a question. Just, thank you, mister Cohen.

Yeah.

I appreciate it. And I'm gonna find that list because it was kinda small seeing it on the screen, but I'm eager to see all the projects that are on it.

It's very small. And I did I put the draft on there really big because knowing this is a public meeting, I just didn't want to get people's hopes really up before we have that key stakeholder meeting because things may change a little bit. So, but I think that those are are likely, you know, those top projects are the ones that are gonna be pursued.

Alright. Thank you.

Yeah. Thank you. Thank you so much for your time. Yeah.

And I'm on I know director Johnson is here to really go through the the Cars Beach. Are we ready

for Cars?

Sorry. I forgot that you're involved in that one. Yeah. Yeah. Director Johnson, could you please join us for ID 9725 Cars Beach Shoreline? Then we'll get to then we'll get to the snow.

It's I just have this one slide. I'll let you take over. So, really, you know, obviously, the the resilience authority is involved in both the, the shoreline, the resilient shoreline, and coastal shoreline project as well as the the park, components. I just wanted to give an update because, again, I was here last month, I think I promised I'd I'd come back. What we've been doing this past month is really we we met with Critical Area Commission, Maryland Department of Environment, and the Army Corps of Engineers.

We walked the site with them with our original concept design. And, you know, we also got a lot of feedback through the shoreline protection review team at MDE that involves, you know, a lot of different federal and and state, reviewers. And they gave us some feedback especially on nontidal wetland impact. And so in this schematic, I'm sorry, it's not the prettiest thing to look at, but it's what we have right now. In this schematic, you can see, the the, tidal gut that we have here that's really an an integral, like, educational area are kind of kayaking and, ADA compliant kayak slip.

This has shrunk a little bit to limit that impact on nontidal wetlands, and we've also I'm sorry. My curse is a little small. We've also abandoned some of the, the wetland work up in here, the storm water management and wetland work up in here to minimize that impact. So this has become a smaller area. This area, we're really, I guess, encouraged because this area is very heavily impacted by Phragmites.

And in talking with Phragmites, it's the invasive kinda takes over a lot of marshes. You've you've seen it often. But it's very invasive, and we're concerned that as we do all of the park work and we don't control that fragmenty, it could take over and really disrupt some of the work that that we have planned and that Raj is really championing. So, you know, in talking about this tidal gut, there are some regulatory hurdles to to get through, but it's really important to get rid of that seed source for the phragmites. And by doing that excavation is really the only way to do that.

So I think we're in a really good spot with with the shoreline restoration and getting through the regulatory process. We're submitting our official package in July, early July. I think July 6 is the date, And then we'll just be kinda continuing to go through that process. So that's where we are. I mean, a lot of excitement about it. And then we're gonna show if there's any questions, I'm happy to field them, but we'll show how that interplays with the Cars Beach Park concepts. I'll turn it over to you, Roz.

Okay. Alright. I was waiting to see if there are any questions. For the record, Roslyn Johnson, director of recreation and parks for the city of Annapolis. We are ecstatic about, what the concept that the consultants came up with.

As you recall, we had work world class consultants both on the shoreline and coastal renovation as well as the Carr's Beach master plan concept. If we can go back really quickly to the shoreline and coastal restoration, I do wanna share that there's a, public, children and private school children. Children from all over can come and learn that, above the green, that little area right there, the yellow part to the right of the green right there, that is, more or less kind of a natural amphitheater that will act as a classroom. So the participants will actually be able to be there, learn about shoreline and coastal, restoration and just how the shorelines and the coast and everything works. A little bit further down, to the right where those white yes.

Will be a a kayak put in, a public kayak put in. And the beach restoration that they've done is about 300 feet of beach that will be public access, and it'll be the only place in the city of Annapolis where public beach access exists. And this is called, I guess, you talk you may have talked about last time the whale tail or, the crab claw. So whichever way you kinda see it, I kinda see whale tails in this picture, it's also kind of a crab claw, which I'm hoping to have this weekend. So we are super excited about this, and just it will just open up a plethora of opportunities and amenities, to Annapolis and beyond.

And the shoreline and coastal consultant worked very well with the master plan consultant, and we have that information to share with you as well. As you'll recall, we had many, public input sessions. There were many people who gave input, gave thought, came out all I think it was four days. It seems like it was four days. It may have been three days to give public input.

So it was a rather robust public input process, so to speak. There's still time for people, to give input because this is the draft that they came back with. The mayor wanted me to make sure that I let the committee know that there's a work session being planned as well. We do have a public input session next Wednesday from six to eight, PM at Pitt Moyer and the Aux Gym. Based on this plan, both consultants will be there to share the shoreline as well as the coastal, on July I'm sorry.

June 19 Juneteenth at Carr's Beach. We will also have the master planner and the shoreline and coastal consultants because we figured that would be perfect because most of the people who remember Carr's Beach, who were there when it happened and could give some, interesting and, important feedback will be at that event as well. So they'll be at the earlier event, and they'll be at the late all day, the three to 7PM at Carr's Altonia Beach. So with that being said, we'll do, we'll run through these really quickly. I'm not gonna do justice to the master planners presentation.

We took their slides, and I'm somewhat pitch hitting. So, the engagement recap. There were several themes that the community came up with. Of course, care, arts and culture, some design elements. They wanted the history to, really show throughout the, thoughtful master planning and design of the park, and I don't recall what unresolved concerns were.

So oh, unresolved concerns. So there were questions about Elktonia and the history of calling it Elktonia versus Cars. There were many people who had a reaction to Elktonia and many people didn't recollect Elktonia at all. So, we'll have to you know, that'll be a decision that'll have to be made a little bit later on what we're gonna call this particular site. I should also mention that throughout this process, we've been, engaging and involved with blacks of the Chesapeake because they are doing the educational piece, that children will come and kind of learn about as well.

So there are many art and design principles that came through, with the master planners and with the community, and these are just some of them. So here's the first concept. They presented two concepts. There's no major difference between the two concepts other than, if you see the the trapezoid shape at the bottom of the social gathering space right there, this concept has, I'll say, a minimal kind of, pavilion, stage area with three cabanas on the side. The second concept has a much larger pavilion.

So as we did for the other concepts that the master plan consultant presented to us. We wanted a mix of the two. We want a larger pavilion and still the six cabanas. So larger pavilion just means a longer pavilion. So this is the overall, master plan concept that they are going to present to the community. Excuse me. So the first section, is the entrance, and we'll talk about that area first. They wanted to create a sense of place and make sure that people knew you were coming to Carr's Beach, so they wanted to identify it with the entry plaza. They took you know, there's several, iterations of this. This is Brisbane, Australia, but they, wanted to have, like, the Carr's Beach letters, so it would be kind of a photo op.

It would just create a sense of place and some excitement about coming to the beach. There might be some words on the street. We don't know. Obviously, that kinda Overhang Bridge looking, kind of finish line piece would not work because of the number of boats who traverse up and down the street. So, this is again just a concept to kinda show us, what they were kinda thinking about, but the details would still have to be worked out.

This grove space is one of my favorite pieces. Each of those little stars or asterisks that you see represent some type of artwork, throughout the project, and we'll break that down a little bit more. So the Grove, area, we talk about witness walks. This ties walls, this ties in with the history of the actual space, and so this could be some type of artwork, some type of historical interpretation. But you'll notice that people are traversing across some type of walkway.

So, we're working to figure out, you know, in further iterations what type of walkway this will be. One of the key pieces is we wanna make sure that it's ADA accessible and, particularly since it's next to condos with older, people living there, we wanna make sure that they can traverse, this property as well. This, is it shows, some illuminated balls, that are up in the trees. What those would be made out of, we're not sure. We, initially were like, well, the community said they don't want, you know, the area to be open at night, but we thought we should present it to them as, the master planner presented, and we shared it with some of the leaders in the community.

And they were like, well, let's let's, you know, hold it. Let's, put a pin in it because we're not against it, but we're not for it either. So we said, look. We don't have a dog in this fight. If you look at Acton's Landing, there are lights at Acton's Landing, and people in the community in particular like to walk their dog at night. They like to sit on the benches. So we wanted to present the same option, as a discussion point, for the community to decide. The bottom part is a little bit more of like an active, Simon Says. I'm I don't get the warm and fuzzies about that because it's a little bit more active at night and, a little the top one is more passive, which I think is kind of what we're the feel we're trying to go for, at this particular location. But, again, it's it's open for discussion.

This next one is one of my favorite ones, and it's, a larger piece of artwork to occur in the in the asterisk, and this is after the crabbing or basket weaving kind of concept. So it ties in the black waterman, the history of the the area, And so it's some type of art piece. They took this out of, I think this is in Brooklyn, they said, in Brooklyn. So this is an art piece in Brooklyn. Of course, we, you know, would look at it and, you know, make it indicative of something here in Annapolis, but that's kind of the thought behind it to tie in the crabbing and basket weaving and, again, have a sense of place.

This one is, some type of statue. Of course, Harriet Tubman probably would not fit in this particular space, but one of the singers who perform there would. So it's just, you know, a a strong piece, a piece that has a presence, again, tying in the history, which, many of the people at the focus groups thought was very important to be able to include. This next one was so amazing. If you'll notice, this is illuminated in some way.

It could be created so it's illuminated so that the sun shines through. And on this metal, you you would have all the people that perform there kinda etched in the metal. So when the sun shines through, it's projected onto whatever type of surface you have on the ground. So that we thought was, you know, just really kind of a thoughtful idea. But, also, I think there's some Adinkra signs or a mathematical star or something that could also be, either projected, painted, or etched onto the ground that would have some significance of the sense of place and the history there.

The next space is the social gathering space. This reminds me kind of like of a Central Park or smaller much smaller Central Park area, but where people gather, they hang out, they do things on this green space that's kind of open for all. So, with this, there are some cabanas. So this is an example possibly of one of the cabanas. We have an opportunity to put some historical or some paintings on the cabanas.

You'll see a little bit later on that will be somewhat interpretive, but people could go up, they could do yoga, they could stretch, they could sit in here and read a book, but it's more or less, a kind of passive place for people to be with a sense of place. Again, here's, kind of showing the actual pavilions, how it could be set up. Someone could do yoga in the pavilions and people are below in the social gathering space doing yoga, tai chi. This will be where we have our performances when we have them for Juneteenth, but that's the thought that this would create a location and a covered area so we wouldn't have to have a stage. We'd have a built in something for any type of programming that would occur there, whether it's nature, whether it's a performance, for the Cars Beach reunion or what have you.

And this is kind of the back of the cabanas where we could and the thought of the cabanas where we could have some interpretation. When we go down to the next one, you'll see that people will walk behind the cabanas in order to be able to access the area that's the amphitheater, which we call the get down area. And then the top part is the visitor center, and the visitor center is, what I consider a modest visitor center to what other people, kind of saw in the initial kind of, unsanctioned renderings. So, this visitor center would be where we, welcome people, interpret the history, of the piece. I will point out that we have the Sankofa mobile at the Juneteenth, event that's coming up next Thursday, and that's a a trailer essentially that can interpret using technology, but it's we invited them, one, because I think it's really a really nice way to show historical, historical times and historical share historical information in an interesting way that captivates all ages, but you use very little space, and the world is kind of your oyster with it.

And I think, we need to, you know, have somewhat of a modest kind of area when we're doing the historical interpretation, but we wanna maximize our reach. So this is the visitor center, and there's several options we shared, with the leaders, in the the two properties adjacent to the park. I mean, originally, when they heard water tower, their eyebrows went up. They were like, well, wait a minute. How tall is this water tower?

We said, well, you know, wait until a couple of slides, and when you see it, it won't be as, you know, you're kinda thinking of a water tower. But, again, creating a sense of place so people could see this from the pier that we're gonna show in a little while, but it's not really tall. The, Winterville one or walk Watkinsville in Georgia, that one's much taller than I think anything we would have at Carltonia. They're probably a a lot smaller like the water tower that's shown here with Tom Fruin, and it's glass, and it's kind of a decorative art piece. And, again, just creates a sense of play.

I don't think there's any real functional use other than kind of the art piece of it. And then this is the visitor center. It's just the placeholder. I don't think the visitor center would end up looking anything like this at all, but it's just to show that we'll have a visitor center at the location. And this was just a picture, I think, that they just slid in as a placeholder.

Like the one on city dock.

And then the, the pier and the ferry the ferry landing dock is right here. And, again, giving that a sense of place, making it large enough so people could fish, crab, hang out, do, yoga on on it overlooking the water. The next, slide will show you kind of what we're looking, at on the dock, and you'll see the water tower is kinda there so that boats will say, oh, you know, this is the the Carr's Beach landing ferry or dock or pier, that you can come into and some type of sitting bench where people could sit and read or just kind of enjoy the ships as they go by and just forest bathe. I'm sure it's water bathing at this point, though, because they're overlooking the water and their blood pressure can go down. And then the last part is the beach which we somewhat discussed gave discussed in the previous slides.

And so whether or not the next slide will show, you know, kinda some some type of covering or something along those lines. And then when we met with the teens because we did a teen focus group, one of the things they said they wanted was like something coming out of the water to make it super exciting that they don't always see. So, the consultants came up with these types of balls, whether they'll be clear balls or two balls or something that will go out occasionally, that's, yet to be discussed. We showed it to Jennifer, our fitness man fitness and aquatics manager. She didn't pass out, so that's always a good sign.

So we'll see, you know, kind of what what we come up with and where we land. I do wanna share that the beach part, one of the things that really excites me about the beach, obviously, it'll be zero depth because you're walking out. But when you if you go back up to the next slide, when you go all the out kinda to the end of the whale tails or the crab claws, you'll still only be about four feet deep because the water is not that deep in that area, which makes this area a perfect place for a kayak put in and kinda safe time for your first time kayakers to actually put a kayak in. If you've ever which I'm sure you all probably have have put a kayak in an open water, it's like you're really working your core to make sure you don't flip over before you actually take off. So, that's one of the things, again, that I really thought this was very thoughtful because it's it's, again, removing some barriers and making access much more easier for people with special needs, for people who are first time kayakers, and just for anyone to be able to put their kayaks in.

Alright. We're gonna have to, pick it up because we do have, we have to give next presentation done by five.

Sure. Not a problem. We're finished. As I mentioned, the second concept, the difference between the two. So that's the end of our presentation, and we'll open it up for any questions.

Okay. Thank you. Are there questions from the committee?

Alderman Alderman Finlayson? This is this is so exciting.

Thank you.

Hold on. Alderman Finlayson first.

Thank you. And I agree, Alderman. This is exciting. And I'm sitting here watching and listening and thinking we are doing the Stanton Center and the creativity and the vision that's there. And now I see concurrently the same thing at, Cars Beach.

And I will admit I was one of the people, I'm sure, who raised the question about what the hell heck is Eltonia because growing up in the community, it was Carr's Beach. So I'm glad you're gonna do that research to make sure that that's accurate. Any anyway, if I have any questions, I'll hold them. But I just wanna say thank you, miss Johnson and your team, for having such a vision and bringing such excitement to these properties, these two properties.

Thank you. You're welcome.

Bottom of the net. Ditto.

Thank you.

Alright. So, yes, I think it's very good. I couple comments. One, suggest looking into some kind of designing in some kind of turnaround for transit vehicles in that parking lot so they could pull in and do a turnaround.

So we are looking, at bus turnarounds. It will be across the street, though, at the Maritime Museum because that's kind of the natural turnaround. That parking in this pad is just for the visitor center and accessible parking. So it won't Okay. It won't be for the general public. As you're aware, we have a 2% impervious, max on this property. On the lower part, which is where the the most of it is designed, we have zero. I'm sorry. That's where we have 2% per, impervious surface. So we don't have space for a turnaround.

And the top part, because it's critical area, we're very limited. And so we're looking at the walkway being ADA accessible, and so that will take away take up most of our, impervious surface. So the bus turnaround will be across the street where it currently exists too in in our park because it's a city park.

Okay. And I'd encourage you, if you haven't done it already, to make sure you coordinate with, Arson Public Places Commission as well as the Maritime Museum just so we don't have, because I think the AIPPC looks like we wanna chime in on any future part, before we get too far along, but also with AMM, Maritime Museum, just making sure we're we don't have too much overlap being parked. And then just just I I I am I think it's great to have the amenities. I think just one thing I am just to be upfront, a little bit nervous about is, you know, we had this is about a decade ago, fifteen years ago, maybe. I think underneath Mayor Moyer, she built across the street at Back Creek, a big stormwater management experience center for kids, but it was never fully utilized because, I I think we had some financial issues after that underneath mayor Cohen.

And it went in disrepair, never really was fully activated, which I think one was one of the motivating factors behind leasing the park to, the Maritime Museum, who's really been able to activate that. So I say that in the sense that I think one of the factors as we move forward is to think about staffing impacts. Like, what do we have the staffing ability to do as far as the amenities out there? Because I I just think we need to be wary about not getting too far ahead of where our actual staffing resources are. Does that

make sense? Thank you for that. This has been designed to be somewhat of a passive part. Okay. So the staffing, of course, would be the lifeguards. We have an onus to be able to lifeguard. We've already looked at at staffing patterns for that. And the other staffing piece will be for, the parking. We think we'll need parking attendance because of the limited parking. So those are really the two main staffing patterns that we feel that the city has a responsibility to do. We'll have instructors come and do, you know, kind of onesie twosie instructor pieces like we do around the city currently. So I don't think for this particular park, it'll be heavily staffed per se. The people will be the staff. The more people you have using a park, the safer it is. So, that's more or less what we're looking at.

We also have a partnership with Blacks of the Chesapeake, and we've talked to Anne Arundel County Public School System. Doctor Bedell, has already expressed his intent to get the children to the water and have them actually learn about water right here in the city of Annapolis. Additionally, the history, it this was on the Green Book. It was during segregation. So those those are other educational pieces that doctor Bedell has committed that he wants Anne Arundel County Public School students to learn about. So I I don't think we're gonna have any challenges with students actually utilizing and learning at this particular location. We've been very thoughtful, and they've been involved since the inauguration of this project.

Okay. Great. And last question is for the Cars Beach event. I wanted to find out where the food trucks are going to be. I know last year, they didn't they weren't in compliance with our new regulations that they have to be hooked up to electricity. You can't use their gas powered leaflet or gas powered leaflet gas powered generators. And so, are they gonna be in the same location that they were last year?

They are. Thank you for that. When you sent the email, we that was the first we heard about. It was the first anyone in the city had ever heard about the ordinance, and no one was aware of it. So, I've in the city. I'm sorry?

Not anyone in the city.

Well, the people that I spoke to, sorry. We talked to Hillary. We talked to Felicia. We talked to Maria Brown. We talked to many people, and no one was aware of it. So thank you for your email. If you'd be so kind too as to share what other people did when you sent similar emails, that would be helpful and lessons learned for us because we're a week out. But we're planning on having the food trucks at the same locations because we're gonna have over 2,000 people for seven hours. So we're gonna have them on the maritime side. We're gonna have them on the Cars Beach side is the way it's planned now.

Okay. Yeah. So that's why I think we're we funded that new position to help with implementation implementing legislation. But, so if it if they're gonna be on the same side, Back Creek side, I suggest reaching out to Clinton Pratt. He's with he's one of the he's electrical inspector with PNC, and, he may be able to assist as far as how to get those trucks hooked up adequately and actually identify if there are outlets that can be utilized over there. I suspect there are since there is a pavilion and there is the build building over there. But, any case, I wanted to just point that out and get that organized for the event.

Thank you. We do have some challenges with that because, as you know, we have performers who are gonna be performing, so that's an electrical load. We have other events that are there other pieces to the event that are there. The fire department has expressed some concerns as far as electrical cords, tripping hazards, all those other things. And my understanding is you're not supposed to be connecting multiple electrical cords up because that poses another challenge. So not having visited the site yet to determine where the electrical outlets are, I mean, we can involve Clint. Happy to. This is not my bailiwick. I we're a programming agency, not a regulatory agency. So.

Yeah. It's not an analytic either, but Clint, he'll take care of it. And, but, you know, it is the law on our books that it could be good because I remember last year I noticed it. I didn't say anything at the time, but, yeah, it'll make it a lot quieter. People will able to hear the music better.

Alderman Savage, I did send some some similar suggestions to, director Johnson about vendors and electricity, etcetera, but also mentioned that I think we should exercise some flexibility this year since this ordinance is something that we were not aware of, and we could maybe do some better planning next year and see what we can accommodate.

I'd like to at least just see a good faith attempt. Yes. If I mean, it'll come down to Clint. If Clint says we have the ability and to get the cords covered and enough electricity, we could do it. But I think we need to at least have that have to have that conversation in good faith attempt to comply with our code. Alright. We need to wrap it up and move on. So thank you for your time. And I wanna move on to legislation. Director Burke, could you come forward? We're gonna talk about o six twenty five.

He's gonna run up

there. Which one he wants to get? Oh, you have three minutes?

Three minutes. I'm gonna be changed and meeting somebody else to do a project.

So Go ahead. Alright.

Bert Vogtle, public works director. I'm here to answer questions.

Yeah. I make an introduction.

Let's

go ahead. It's your legislation. So

the point of this legislation is really to just allow us allow the city to clear people's walkways when of snow. We already have that ability for other parts of other issues with sidewalk. City can already go out and do it and then bill you for it. But this would extend it to snow. The way that we're doing it now is, the underlying legislation is fine, but we are gonna have to bring forward a the resolution different from the fine change that we talked about before.

And, so the way the process will work is somebody doesn't clear their walk, they will get a ticket and their time frames specified in the code already. Get a ticket. You still six hours later have not cleared your walk. The city can come out, clear it for you, and then issue a fee, which we are going to set at sort of three or four or five tiers based off of the approximate size of the sidewalk. Did I miss anything, director? Correct.

Okay. Just like that.

So let me jump in to say, for the sake of time, do you have any concerns about this approach? Are you good with what's been laid out?

We are good. We we kind of laid out the fee schedule like that, but combined it with the fines in a way that I think the mechanics wouldn't wouldn't really work very well. And I think we can do something where we go by by the foot of sidewalk that that you own or that the city have to clear. The the balance thing here, the things that we're gonna balance as we actually, you know, come up with the new schedule is how how administratively burdensome is it. So what, you know, we'll have to to make, you know, find the right balance there to do something that we can actually implement and also keep the the costs high enough that it doesn't make it a good deal for, you know, a shopping center to say, hey, I'm paying this contractor over here a thousand dollars during a snow event and but Citi will do it for me for 700, so I'm just gonna stop.

And I'll tell my contractor, no, I don't need you anymore. We we've got to make sure we avoid that particular trap.

Right. It's a good point. So, again, for taking time, I just wanna focus. So do you have any other specific recommendations for this legislation, amendments?

No. Not nothing specific. Again, we just have to work out the the exact amounts that go on the fee and the fine schedule.

Okay. Are there questions? I see both hands. Alderman Finlayson?

Yes. Thank you, mister chair. Mister Burr mentioned one of my concerns, and that is that property owners will think, well, the city is gonna do it for me anyway, and I'll just pay the fine. And so it becomes easier fix for them, and I I haven't seen the fee schedule yet to indicate whether the fees the increases in the fees will be significant enough to be a deterrent. My other question has to do with staffing, and I don't have the benefit of being able to open the staffing impact report.

But is your do you have the capacity to monitor this throughout the entire city? Or, you know, is it on call as some as a neighbor calls in and, complains because someone didn't clear their sidewalk and then you respond, or is it an action that you take as somebody is monitoring sidewalks?

It'll it'll be a mix of both. Safe routes to school will be the priority, and then after that, kind of complaint basis.

Can we include faith based organizations to that? I know schools are our priority, and our seniors should be a priority also. So but you currently in the past, this was through central services when we had we were monitoring such. So this is all now falling in public works to handle. That's really a question out of state.

Yes. Public works.

Okay. Alright. Thank you.

Alright. Questions for the director and all the residential, I'm there's, I think, three different kinds of people. There's going to be people that are just negligent and go ahead and socket to them. There's gonna be people that are not in town, and, you know, I don't know how much we wanna sock it to them. And and then there's people who actually cannot clear their walk.

Until recently, I had two families on my street that were just physically unable to clear. We have a snowblower for our street. So one of us just blows both sidewalks with the snowstorms. But part of that the good part of that was one of the families would give me chocolate chip cookies for doing their lot. But, I mean, I think there's differences

I'm sorry, Alderman. I really I I told somebody I would be somewhere at five in work clothes working alongside them with tools. I've gotta go.

I I would prefer you

to, b four under the citations. I've got the ability to waive for people under certain circumstances.

Thank you, director. Are there questions for this or anything else the sponsor wanted to say before

So I think I I wanna answer Alderman, Arnett's question. Yes. Thank you, director. So this legislation is for those people. This legislation is for those people who cannot clear their walk.

It's it's for people who are worried about slipping and falling, but it's also for the people who cannot clear their walk and you're right. Don't want to stick it to them. We're not using this to punish them. Is a way for the city to recoup its costs of getting that walk clean because right now it is it is already your obligation as a homeowner to get it clean. And so you, if you are physically unable are under our code already obligated to find someone else, a neighbor, a kid or contractor, whatever to do it.

Is just adding an additional option in a way for those people that if they have not been able to secure a contractor or a neighbor or me or you to go out and do it for them, then we'll make sure that those sidewalks are still clear because the city will be the option of last resort.

Yeah. But in my neighborhood, neither the Smith nor the Carols could afford $200 of snow. And, you know, I know the director said, or you said you could waive it. I just When I saw $200 it was like, I might start doing it.

So I think we have not yet decided what the fees will be, right? That's gonna require separate legislation. So there is two parts to how it will work. There will continue to be the $100 residential fine, right? And that is already in code.

That's not changing. When we bring forward the fee and fine schedule that will accompany this. I do want to add in a $200 commercial property fine. Residential would have 100 commercial would be bumped up to 200 currently there at 100 and then the But to answer your question, I think we don't know what the fee will be yet. But it will be based on Public Works' actual cost.

I thought that's what this resolution was about.

The resolution is just a template at this point. If you look and see the actual fee in here, it's it's a $0 because it's a placeholder. What was recommended by public works before under single family residential, that was what was recommended to get included in the budget. We chose not to do that specifically because we felt like that was not fully equitable.

Right. But if I take this resolution, first of all, I don't want to be a cosponsor of the ordinance, but on the resolution, if you get the normal sidewalk frontage in my ward is 50 feet. I don't know how you do zero to 50 feet if you have zero sidewalk, you have no clearance problem.

We'll start with one foot.

But could be paying $300 You'd pay a $100 fine for a regular 50 foot section of sidewalk and $200 for the clearance.

Well, again, we don't know yet what you would pay for the clearance. It's not necessarily $200 That's not this right here where it says $200 is not going to be included as part of the fee schedule that's just included by Miss Reuter for reference that that was what we were looking at before. So I think your concern is totally valid. I think we're just a little premature in discussing it because what we set the fee at should be based off of those actual estimates from public works. We weren't able to get those before today.

The one thing that we might want to address in this, I'm thinking about the sidewalks that are along county roadways, county maintained roadways within their right of way. Mhmm. So just look it just occurred to me. I wish I followed it earlier. But so the way it's worded, property owners with a sidewalk adjacent to property must remove any snow.

I'm two, on line 34. And then page three Wait. Let's burn. Line six, it says, if property owners or occupants do not remove snow from the sidewalk adjacent to the property. So we don't I guess we don't distinguish here because even those roadways that are county owned in the right of way, adjacent properties are the residents. Right? Correct. But the sidewalks, they're not ours, our infrastructure. So I guess if that's I'm just, I guess, thinking this out loud here. I guess that would automatically because sidewalk in this presumably would be sidewalk in our infrastructure right away.

Right? So in those situations, this law would not apply. They would look for the county law on the county.

If it is within the city, I think it would apply. Even if So if Let's say we have a situation in the city. Wait. Let Just to make sure I'm understanding you. We have a situation in the city, and there is a city property owner. There's a sidewalk which is County maintained and then a County Road which is County maintained in that situation. I believe the property owner would still be responsible for keeping that sidewalk clear. My understanding.

Yeah. My my own at the city attorney law office. Sorry to interrupt. Could you come forward? Sorry. We we do I do have a question for you. I know you're probably not ready for this, but

so

so the situation we were describing I'm sorry. Do you wanna

say that? Yeah. So the situation has to do with, you know, we had an instance So typically, you know, our regulations for sidewalk, like we said, if an adjacent property owner, they have responsibility cleared on the sidewalk in front of their house, their property.

Correct.

And that's and and pretty self explanatory except when you get to the situation where it's a county road, county right of way, county infrastructure, county sidewalk. Can we pass? This would essentially but the adjacent property is our, like, city resident next to county infrastructure. Is that would they have to follow the county laws as far as clearing sidewalk on their infrastructure, or would they follow ours because it's a city property adjacent to that?

It's honestly a conversation I'd probably wanna have with the county law office because Okay. The problem is if it's a county owned sidewalk with county infrastructure in it and we dictate a resident to go out and do something on it and they somehow damage it

Yeah. Good point. Yeah.

Then how how we would resolve that would get a little tricky because the county would be like, well, we didn't tell you to do this. The city told you to do this. You've now damaged our property. And so then that sort of it could get tricky. I mean, if I could probably have a conversation with the county attorney or, my counterpart, one of the assistant county attorneys to ask. But, I mean, that's that would be my only reservation is if they go out there nine times out of 10, maybe probably even more than that, they wouldn't do any damage and

Yeah.

It would be fine. But if they were to do damage, then we'd have to sort

Or got injured.

Yes. Or well, yes. That would be the thing. Or if they got injured out there, are they suing us, the county, both of us, and then we would have to sort of sort that out.

Alright. Well, I don't I don't wanna hold up this legislation because I think underlying it, I don't really see any need to hold it up in that regard. But if if you could sorry to give you some homework, but if you could, check with the county, although I think they're gonna say I think they'll probably say that they want since it's their infrastructure, they're not gonna

Yeah. I mean, think that's the case, and probably the same with I don't know if you have any state, but state roads would also be

Oh, that's true.

Yeah. Because, you know, unfortunately or fortunately, in this area, we have a big mix of who owns what. Because I know, like, it it probably and state laws get a little murky because sometimes the state considers if we've maintained it long enough that it, like Yeah. Transfers to us and it essentially becomes ours, so to speak. But it's probably something I'd at least wanna run by the county.

So the related question would be, depend on their answers, should we modify, amend this legislation to clarify, I don't know, for the purpose of this chapter, you know, the definition of sidewalk means sidewalk, the city sidewalk within the city right away, something like that, or adjacent to the city right away. Presumably, it'd be in our right away if it's ours. So

Yeah. I mean, I yeah. I would think I don't think of the specific wording because, like I mean, I wouldn't think there's it would probably be there's probably not many residences next to county owned roads. I think it's more like commercial areas. But, yes, we might need to add that, but I I will try and see if I can get ahold of the

We have state road owned roads also. Yeah.

Yes. It's state. And

then I

don't think we

I mean, technically, the US Naval Academy is here, which brings in federal roads a little bit.

Yeah. Yeah. So unless unless we're because if if we're not responsible for snow removal on the road, then those particular roadways, then we're probably not gonna be responsible for it on the sidewalk.

Yeah.

Because I think I know we link it to the property owner because that's how we've most jurisdictions do it, I think. But in any case,

Yeah. I'd just say that, if there's a way to amend it easily, I don't mind that. But I think the issue you're discussing is not really related to what the legislation does. Right? The the line of property owners with the sidewalk adjacent to their property must remove any snow, sleet, etcetera. That's already in code. So it's not like this legislation would change that, but could be if there's an easy way to make the issue more clear, we can piggyback that fix onto this.

Well, we could we did recently send a letter to the county. I hope I hope we've sent to the law office as a cc, but we sent a letter to the county executive asking for a meeting between public works, basically, to figure out some of these

Yeah.

Responsibilities. So that I mean, I suppose we could address it legally through a memorandum of understanding Yeah.

I mean,

we we do do that all the time, with other things like emergency services and with public works. So, yeah, we could it could be addressed in an MOU.

Okay. Alright. So I guess I guess that'd be my one one question for you then is

I mean, you could probably leave it as is Yeah. But it's one of those questions if we're gonna start enforcing it, we might need to know the the jurisdictional boundaries of our enforcement.

Right. So they're not going on county, state roads and doing enforcement? Or

mean, I'm also and I haven't checked. If they might have the same language already in or similar in the county, Anne Arundel County code, So it might already essentially be covered to some extent. I could check that as well.

Yeah. Okay. So what's the preference for the committee? You wanna just, give a favorable recommendation? Is there a motion for that today? I'm not hearing any concerns, but Or is there a preference to wait? Well, I think Alderman. Alderman Finlayson?

Was going to make the motion that we give it a favorable recommendation.

I'd second that. I do have one more question. Has anyone paid for certified mail lately? Because I just paid for one. It was $38. So we might wanna up the fees.

I don't know. That sounds like a lot, but who knows with the federal government. Alright. So there is a motion. Second. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Aye. Motion carries. And thank you, miss Leonard. And I guess that's it. I think is there anything else for the good of the order?

Mister Pitter has No. Is he coming?

No. Alright. Is there a motion to adjourn?

No. Motion to adjourn. Second.

All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Meeting is adjourned. Thank you, everybody.