REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2001

CALL MEETING TO ORDER:

The Regular Meeting of the Bowie City Council was held on Monday, November 19, 2001, in the Council Chambers at City Hall. The meeting was called to order by Mayor Robinson at 8:00 p.m.

QUORUM:

In attendance were Mayor Robinson, Mayor Pro Tem Peters, Councilmembers Aleshire, Brady, Ellington, Green, and Jenkins; City Manager Deutsch, Assistant City Manager Fitzwater, City Attorney Elissa Levan, Members of the Staff, the Press and the Public.

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG:

The Council led the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.

CITIZEN PARTICIPATION:

A. Mr. Edward Stone, 13200 Forest Drive, said he was pleased that the City now has its own cable television studio and employed the two former BCTV employees; felt that BCTV should hold their Board meetings in public places, announce their meetings beforehand, locations of meetings be given, and the public given a chance to participate.

B. Jack Booz, 12600 Chanler Lane, representing the Bowie Boys and Girls Club, congratulated the City Council for working with the County Executive for the construction of a school on Mitchellville Road. He asked that staff provide BBGC and other youth groups in Bowie with a time line for the loss of the Mitchellville fields as well as the construction of the replacement fields when known; agreed with the South Bowie Boys and Girls Club that they need adequate football facilities in South Bowie. Mr. Booz then presented a plaque to Councilman Green as a token of their appreciation for his service to the club for providing pro bono legal counsel.

PRESENTATIONS:

A. Teacher of the Month Certificates for September, October and November - Mr. Alan Kolski, Education Committee, announced the names of the Teachers of the Months of September, October and November and gave some brief background of the program and the careers of the teachers. He said the Teacher of the Month for September is Monique Plater, Highbridge Elementary School; for October, Sheila Benac, Samuel Ogle Elementary School, and for November Holly Emerson, Yorktown Elementary School. Mayor Robinson presented Certificates of Recognition and a savings bond from the Washington Savings Bank of Bowie.

B. Certificates of Recognition of Contributions to the PEPCO Wildflower Meadow Demonstration Area at Stewart's Landing - Ms. Lori Shirley, City Planning Department, said that Steve Genua and Britt Slattery are to be publicly recognized for their work on a Wildflower Meadow Demonstration project in PEPCO's right-of-way in the Stewart's Landing neighborhood. Mayor Robinson presented Certificates of Recognition to Mr. Genua and Ms. Slattery and commended them for their outstanding work in making the area as beautiful as it is.

C. Proclamation P-33-01 - In Recognition of the PEPCO Wildflower Meadow Demonstration Area at Stewart's Landing - Mayor Robinson read and moved approval of P-33-01. Mayor Pro Tem Peters seconded the motion and it carried unanimously. He commended PEPCO for their efforts on this project.

CITY BOARDS AND COMMITTEES:

A. Appointments/Reappointments/Swearings-in - Councilman Ellington moved the appointment of Anne Smallman as Regular Member of the Heritage Committee. Councilman Jenkins seconded the motion and it carried unanimously.

B. Councilman Jenkins moved the appointment of Claude Tanoe as a Regular Member of the Bowie Advisory Planning Board. Councilman Brady seconded the motion and it carried unanimously.

C. Councilman Aleshire moved the appointment of Reginald Derrickson as a Regular Member of the Community Recreation Committee. Councilman Brady seconded the motion and it carried unanimously.

Mayor Robinson swore Ms. Smallman, Messrs. Taneo and Derrickson into office in accordance with Sec. 92A of the City Charter.

COUNCIL ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Mayor Robinson congratulated County Executive Curry for transmitting to the County Council the final three choices for school construction sites which includes a site for a new school on Mitchellville Road.

CITY MANAGER'S REPORT:

A. City Manager Deutsch reported on the following: 1) Bowie Dog Park - The Dog Park is scheduled for opening on December 15 at 10 a.m. 2) Mr. Deutsch wished Councilman Green well in his new career and said he had enjoyed working with him in the past six years.

CONSENT AGENDA:

A. Councilman Jenkins moved approval of Item A: Approval of Minutes of September 10, 2001 Council Meeting; B. Approval of Resolution R-107-01, Adopting the Recommendation of the Bowie Advisory Planning Board in the Case of BV-6-01; and C. Approval of Resolution R-108-01, Adopting the Recommendation of the Bowie Advisory Planning Board in the Case of BV-7-01. Councilman Jenkins seconded the motion and it carried unanimously.

OLD BUSINESS:

A. Ordinance O-14-01 - Providing Supplemental Appropriations for the Annual Budget for the Fiscal year Ending June 30, 2002 for the Purpose of Providing Additional Contributions Towards the Construction of the Bowie Civic Auditorium - Mayor Pro Tem Peters moved to place Ordinance O-14-01 on the table. Councilman Green seconded the motion.

Public Hearing:

A. Mr. Stephen Williams, 12703 Millstream Drive, spoke in opposition to additional City funding for the BRAVA project. He felt the citizens of Bowie should be asked for their opinion in the form of a referendum question. A copy of Mr. Williams' statement is attached.

B. Ms. Diane Polangin, 3006 Savoy Lane, said she would like to reiterate her position on BRAVA; understood that the funds BRAVA is asking to be donated comes from discretionary money found in the budget; believed that with the stock market plunging to all-time lows, the City will need this money to make up for the shortfall for budgeted items covered by the interest line item of the budget; believed it would not be fiscally responsible to give 1.5 million dollars to BRAVA or to anyone else when we are not through one half of the fiscal budget year. Ms. Polangin added that she understood that money already donated by the City, the County and the State comes from tax dollars, and the additional money from the City would also come from tax dollars; was not against responsible development, but wanted a voice and felt she had not had the opportunity to vote on funding for even the first million plus given to BRAVA; believed the question should go to referendum, but construction would be delayed if the question was on the April ballot. She said that perhaps the City could cut the request in half and give $750,000 now with conditions: 1) that the BRAVA Board actively seek contributions from the business community to at least equal the City's contribution before further funding could be considered; 2) the City should not be responsible for over $80,000 in yearly maintenance fees for a building, which when completed, would not be owned by the City.

C. Mr. Ed Stone, 13200 Forest Drive, spoke about his visions for the Performing Arts Center; felt this project needed to be completed.

D. Rev. John Cooper, Sr, 12704 Midwood Lane, said there has to come a time when emotions and politics have to be lifted and that citizens be more involved.

E. Mr. Gordon Stewart, 2830 Belair Drive, President of BRAVA, thanked the Council for coming up with ideas to keep the BRAVA project going; felt there was a lot of misinformation being given out; BRAVA has gone outside the Bowie community to bring in 7 million dollars towards the project. He said he did not favor the issue going to referendum and was not in favor of a tax increase. He also spoke about the City's reserves and was hopeful that this project could be paid for out of those funds.

F. Ms. Mary Nusser, 3631 Majestic Lane, spoke about the recent success of a children's play and the Taste of Talent which brought funds in towards the BRAVA project. She also spoke about other local businesses who have given sizable donations. She thanked everyone for their help.

G. Mr. Art Eisenstein, 15500 Annapolis Road, urged the Council to continue their support for BRAVA since it is a critical part of Bowie's Main Street feature.

H. Ms. Lauren Paish, 2814 Bosworth Lane, said she has performed in all of the plays that were produced for BRAVA. She said many people have worked hard towards the construction of the auditorium; when it is built there will be a place to practice any time and a place available all the time for people to be entertained.

Mayor Pro Tem Peters said discussion on funding of this project was started many years ago. He reviewed the past history of how funding occurred to date. He said he was in support of the 1.5 million dollars from the City, but was concerned about the reserve fund. He summarized previous years' reserves and noted that the City has built a gymnasium and a senior center out of those reserves; felt the City is strong with a solid financial position.

Councilman Green said he felt BRAVA did not make a strong case in May during the budget deliberations and they had no strategy to end the requests for funding and that they would come back to ask for more. He was in favor of the 1.5 million dollar and reducing the outlay of operating expenses.

In response to a question posed by Councilman Aleshire, City Manager Deutsch said that the Council, in consultation with the Financial Advisory Committee, requested quarterly reports and the first report was provided in early November and represented the period July 1 through September 30; based on the available data in the first quarter, it was projected that there was a potential $675,000 shortfall in revenue in the current fiscal year.

Councilman Jenkins said all members of the Council have supported BRAVA; would like to seek a compromise and believed it was important that the City of Bowie be seen as unanimous in terms of its resolve. He said he has felt from the beginning that this proposal represents an unsound management of public funds; however, if the people of Bowie say this is the way they want their money spent, he will vote in favor of the proposal; the decision must be subject to ratification through a special January advisory ballot question on this issue. Councilman Jenkins added that it should be a simple ballot question and the voters should be apprised of the tax impact in terms of higher taxes they might pay. He said he is willing to relax that standard and simple ask the people of Bowie "Do you support an additional1.5 million dollar contribution to this County facility bringing the City's total commitment to 3.3 million dollars". He said this would publicly commit this Council to putting the additional 1.5 million dollars on the table for BRAVA pending only a ratification from the voters of Bowie; felt this would send a very powerful message to the County and State levels, and would transmit to the County and State level that there is an additional incentive for them to join the City of Bowie in this project. Mr. Jenkins also felt that if there was a January advisory question, it would minimize the delay in getting the money to BRAVA. He concluded his remarks by asking that his remarks be placed in the form of an amendment to the motion to adopt O-14-01. Councilman Aleshire seconded the motion to amend. The motion failed with a vote of 3-4 (Peters, Ellington, Green and Brady).

Councilman Jenkins said he would like to make some further remarks and said that the City of Bowie has committed some 1.8 million dollars to a civic auditorium which the City will neither own nor totally control; the cost of this facility has estimated some three times its original cost estimate at the time of the City's first commitment of funds; to date, some 7 years after its inception, the project remains uncompleted and there still exists no signed agreement assuring the terms of Bowie citizen access to the auditorium, or who will be responsible for funding upkeep and maintenance of the facility; a proposal to commit an additional 1 million dollars to BRAVA was considered and turned down by the Council in its normal budget process which concluded 4 months ago; now, in the second quarter of the fiscal year, the Council has been asked to consider an additional 1.5 million dollars to BRAVA notwithstanding the continuing bleak economic climate at federal, state and county levels. He further said that lacking a comprehensive forecast of the City's financial conditions for the remaining of this fiscal year, the makers of this motion have asked this Council to make this 1.5 million dollar commitment outside the budget process solely on the proposition that the City's reserve account stands at some $960,000, more than anticipated; the anticipated revenue shortfalls are anticipated to be, as reported by the City Manager, short by $670,000; if the Council is to be responsible for managing municipal and taxpayer money, both sides of the ledger should be looked at in terms of looking at additional revenues to support the 1.5 million dollar commitment.

Mayor Robinson commented that if there is a perception that a negative vote against the ordinance is opposed to BRAVA, he felt that this was not the case; the people who have been working on this project, who have been effectively lobbying at the state, county and federal levels do not fit in the definition of being opposed to this project. With regard to other projects and the concern that those projects may be less worthy than the BRAVA project, Mayor Robinson felt this was not the case; most of the projects are direct City responsibilities. He felt the City was in strong, financial condition and it is commitment to ensure that this stays in place; in his review of the budget, he felt the reserve will start to dissipate significantly if there is not a change in the spending rate or the revenue rate and this could occur in FY 2005-2006. Mayor Robinson called for a vote on the motion to adopt O-14-01 and the motion failed with a vote of 4-3 (Robinson, Aleshire, Jenkins) due to lack of a two-thirds majority.

Councilman Green placed a substitute motion on the table to approve O-14-01 with a substitute amount of $960,000. Mayor Pro Tem Peters seconded the motion and it failed with a vote of 4-3 (Robinson, Aleshire, Jenkins) due to the lack of a two-thirds majority.

Councilman Jenkins asked if there would be a provision for an advisory question on the ballot and Councilman Green replied there would not.

Councilman Ellington placed a substitute motion on the table to approve O-14-01 with a substitute amount of $750,000. Mayor Pro Tem Peters seconded the motion.

Councilman Jenkins asked if there would be a provision for an advisory question on the ballot and Councilman Ellington replied there would not.

Councilman Brady moved to table O-14-01 indefinitely. The motion to table carried unanimously.

B. Comprehensive Sketch Plan CP-0101 - Fairwood, Phase 2 - Mr. Ed Gibbs, attorney for the applicant, gave a brief overview of the project and noted that Phase 2 has frontage on Rte. 50 on the south and on both the east and west sides of Church Road. Mr. Gibbs addressed the conditions contained in the staff report: #1 - do not agree; #2 - does not understand where staff is saving more woodland; it is more appropriate at the Subdivision or Detailed Site Plan state; #3 - agree with first sentence concerning not planting any more trees in APA 1; do not agree with the rest of the condition; #4 - do not feel this condition is appropriate to recommend at this stage; #5 - do not agree because it exceeds the County standards; #6 - should be raised at Detailed Site Plan stage not at Sketch Plan stage; #7 - do not agree with 7(1) regarding the Master Plan interchange for A-44, and 7(2) is more appropriate for the Subdivision stage.

Rev. John Cooper, Sr., Bowie Advisory Planning Board, reported the Board unanimously moved disapproval since there are too many issues that need to be resolved, specifically safety issues.

Mr. Joseph Meinert, City Planning staff, summarized the staff report dated November 2, 2002, a copy of which is on file at City Hall. He reported that at the September 4th Council meeting, Council tabled action on this request since the applicant contented they did not have a County Planning Board date for a hearing and had not received agency referrals. He said that as part of the backup material Council has received for this evening's hearing, Council now has all the referrals that are relevant to this application and the County Planning Board date is set for January 10, 2002. He then reported that a Comprehensive Sketch Plan is a preliminary planning document which delineates the general location of the proposed land use areas, existing and proposed public streets, recreational facilities, site amenities, the pedestrian circulation network, and other conceptual design details such as focal points, special gateway treatment areas and views to be screened, enhanced, controlled or emphasized; a text accompanies the plans and establishes general criteria, standards and guidelines for the development of the site. Mr. Meinert reported that a Stakeholders Meeting was held in April, and a summary is attached to the staff report. He said that staff is recommending approval of the Sketch Plan since many of the criteria of approval have been met by the applicant; however, it is noted that several areas are deficient primarily with respect to the compliance with previous approval for this project which is known as the Preliminary Development Plan (PDP); in terms of conformance with prior conditions of approval, there are a number of areas where the application needed to be further refined to be in conformance. He then summarized the conditions on Page 11 of the staff report and concluded that staff recommends approval with these conditions.

Public Hearing:

A. Ms. Martha Ainsworth, 16500 Abbey Drive, said she is asking the City Council to reject the Phase 2 Comprehensive Design Sketch Plan submitted by the Rouse Company for the development of the Fairwood Turf Farm. A copy of Ms. Ainsworth's statement is attached.

B. Mr. Steve Walter, 8110 Maplegate Place, Glen Dale, said he was concerned about the safety issues with regard to Freeway Airport; aircraft have to veer to the right when taking off over Rte. 50 to avoid the power lines.

C. Mr. Tom Paradis, GSFC, Greenbelt, Maintenance Officer for the NASA/Goddard Aircraft Club, said he was here this evening to assist in the defense of the hard work done on the proposed Manual of Regulations for Land Use Around General Aviation Airports in Prince George's County; approval from Upper Marlboro is anticipated shortly. He felt it would be improper, illogical and out-of-order if the approval is given for the Rouse Development Sketch Plan considering the plan does not acknowledge the requirements called for in the proposed Manual of Regulations.

D. Mr. Russell Carpenter, 385 Livermore Lane, Alexandria, VA, said the developer needs to be willing to accommodate everyone's needs and be a good neighbor to the City and to Freeway Airport; asked the developer to accommodate the additional airport policy areas in their Comprehensive Design Plan; encouraged the Council to disapprove the Sketch Plan unless the findings of staff are accommodated in the Plan.

E. Mr. Chris Hudson, P.O. Box 33877, Charlotte, N.C., regional representative for the Aircraft Owners Pilots Association, felt that comprehensive land use planning around airports is very crucial for the long-term survival of airports; believed the density issues are absolutely susceptible to being addressed at this stage of the planning process; it is clear that the density issues are part of the developer's consideration and in drawing the Sketch Plan, it's hard to understand that the density is not appropriate for consideration. Mr. Hudson asked that these vital resources be protected.

Mayor Pro Tem Peters moved disapproval of Comprehensive Sketch Plan CP-0101. Councilman Aleshire seconded the motion.

Councilman Jenkins said there is a need to make sure that the staff recommendation with Conditions 1-7 be sent to the County as reasons for the denial and add the Council's concerns surrounding APF for schools and emergency facilities. The maker and seconder of the motion accepted.

Councilman Brady asked that Condition #1 be deleted. The maker and seconded of the motion accepted.

Councilman Aleshire asked that the airport runway be shown on the Sketch Plan as Condition #8. The maker and seconded accepted.

The motion carried unanimously.

COUNCIL COMMENTS:

A. Councilman Ellington requested a worksession on the Nash Property.

B. Mayor Robinson and Members of the Council presented Councilman Green with a gift of a heritage lamp with the City seal engraved on it, thanked him for his service on the Council and wished him well in his new position as a District Court Judge.

ADJOURNMENT:

Councilman Jenkins moved that the meeting be adjourned. Councilman Brady seconded the motion and it carried unanimously. The meeting adjourned at 11:45 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Pamela A. Fleming, CMC
City Clerk