Weekly Status Report - 7/23/09

MEMORANDUM

TO:               City Council

FROM:         David J. Deutsch, City Manager

SUBJECT:  Status Report

DATE       July 23, 2009

Status Report

1.   MD 3 Roadside Stand

Recently, the City received numerous inquiries about some tree clearing on a 10-acre property owned by The Kenneth H. Michael Company located in the median of MD 3, just north of Sylvan Drive and outside of the City limits.  Upon investigation, staff determined that the clearing is for a proposed produce stand, which is a permitted temporary use allowed by the Zoning Ordinance.   A "wayside stand" is allowed as a temporary use; however, the structure must maintain a minimum 25- foot setback from the street, be used only for the sale of agricultural products grown or produced on the premises (and incidental sale of products not grown on the premises), and may exist for a period of not more than two years, with successive renewal periods of two years each.  In approving permits for such temporary uses, the County's Department of Environmental Resources must find that adequate measures shall be taken to ensure that the use will not adversely affect the health and safety of residents or workers in the area and will not be detrimental to the use or development of adjacent properties or the general neighborhood.  The Maryland State Highway Administration's future road improvement plan for the MD 3 corridor, which is awaiting design and engineering funding, identifies the southbound lanes as a two-way service road in this area.  Staff was advised that SHA recently issued an access permit for a driveway on the southbound lanes of MD 3, and the developer purposely limited the amount of tree clearing and disturbance to less than 5,000 square feet in order to avoid woodland conservation and stormwater management reviews.  This property has some history related to agricultural uses.  In 1987, Prince George's County approved a Special Exception application for a nursery and garden center on the site, although the City opposed it.  The approved Special Exception site plan is still valid, and it includes two greenhouses (6,375 sq. ft. each), two retail sales buildings (2,850 sq. ft. each), a 2,850 sq. ft. storage building, two large areas for display and sales of plant materials, and 182 parking spaces.  The Special Exception site plan also includes a temporary driveway access to the northbound lanes of MD 3, which is not proposed for construction at this time. During the review of the Special Exception, Park and Planning's Transportation staff concluded that there would not be any adverse traffic impacts from the proposed development.

2.  Electronics Recycling and Document Shredding Event
This event was held from 8:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, July 18th.  Cars began arriving at 6:30 a.m. and were backed up bumper-to-bumper by 7:35 a.m. from the traffic light at Bowie High all the way to the traffic light at Millstream Drive. The contractors, E-Structors and 2 Pi Shredding, started processing early to accommodate the demand.  Cars kept coming at a steady pace all day.

Public Works managed the event.  People appeared very happy to be able to both recycle and clean out their garages of old TVs, computers, printers and other electronic devices.  The response from residents was very positive.

The event generated 34 tons of electronics.  For comparison, the joint City/County Household Hazardous Waste Events held at the Prince George’s Stadium parking lot generated 20 tons of electronics in 2007 and 16 tons in 2008.  The main difference between the events was that televisions could be recycled for this event.  The high number of old TVs brought in was most likely related to the recent digital TV conversion.  There was everything from 12-inch models to 8-foot projection TVs that required a forklift to load.  The lead coating on the glass "funnel" tube of TVs is a pollutant, so recycling them and keeping them out of landfills is an environmental benefit.

Twenty-one (21) tons of documents were shredded.  This compares to 18 tons in the Fall of 2008 and 14 tons in the Spring of 2008. The 2008 events only included document shredding though.  Having electronics recycling and document shredding services available at this single event is probably the reason the document tonnage was higher than in the past.

The total cost for the electronics recycling was $20,377, which will be partially offset with a $12,000 grant Public Works obtained from the Maryland Department of the Environment.  The document shredding cost was $750.

DJD/JLF/asf

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