REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING
MONDAY, MAY 5, 2003

CALL MEETING TO ORDER:

The Regular Meeting of the Bowie City Council was held on Monday, May 5, 2003 in the Council Chambers at City Hall. Mayor Robinson called the meeting to order at 8:00 p.m.

QUORUM:

In attendance were Mayor Robinson, Councilmembers Aleshire, Bannister, Bennett, Booker Jones, Brady and Jenkins; City Manager Deutsch, Assistant City Manager Fitzwater, City Attorney Robert 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. Ms. Juanita Thompson, 8303 Zug Road, and Priscilla Sprehe, 12415 Stafford Lane, representing Disney Bell Post #66, spoke about “Poppy Month” in Bowie, handed out poppies to the Council, and collected donations for the American Legion. Ms. Thompson noted that the money goes toward rehabilitating disabled American veterans.

B. Mr. Andrew Kaplan, 12804 Keswick Lane, spoke about CB-16-2003 and Nash Woods. He commended Council and staff for their work on this subject and hoped involvement will continue.

PRESENTATIONS:

A. Teacher of the Month Recognition – Mr. Alan Kolski, Education Committee, introduced Pat Connolly of St. Pius X School, Teacher of the Month for March, Trish Smith of Heather Hills Elementary School, Teacher of the Month for April, Jorgetha Pettysettles of Pointer Ridge Elementary School, Teacher of the Month for May, and Kara Harvath of Yorktown Elementary School, Teacher of the Month for June. He presented each with a certificate from Washington Savings Bank, and Mayor Robinson presented a proclamation from the City Council. He congratulated them for their dedication to the students of Bowie.

CITY BOARDS AND COMMITTEES:

Appointments/Reappointments/Swearings-in – Mayor Pro Tem Jenkins moved the reappointment of Angela Cipolla as Chairman, Joseph Foley, Sherman Krasney, and Cheryl Amitay as Regular Members of the Board of Elections for another two-year term. Councilman Brady seconded the motion and it carried unanimously.

COUNCIL ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Mayor Robinson announced the City will hold a month long celebration to salute the troops serving overseas which will culminate with a parade to be held on May 24.

CITY MANAGER’S REPORT:

City Manager Deutsch reported on the following items: 1) Ardleigh Court Property – This property was acquired from HUD under the one dollar acquisition program; staff has been working with contractors to determine the exact cost of rehabilitating the structure and have come to the conclusion that rehabilitating would be extremely expensive; the appropriate thing to do would be to demolish the property and the lot could be marketed to the private sector. Mr. Deutsch noted that funds derived from such a sale have to be used for community redevelopment and staff recommends that any net proceeds be used in the Huntington area since there is an on-going defined redevelopment program in Old Bowie.

CONSENT AGENDA:

A. Councilman Aleshire moved the approval of Items A. Approval of Minutes of April 14, 2003 Council meeting; B. Approval of Resolution R-42-03, Waiving the Competitive Bidding Requirements of Section 61 “Purchasing and Contracting” of the Charter of the City of Bowie to Acquire a Sound System for the Bowie Ice Arena, and Authorize the City Manager to Enter Into a Contract with Baltimore Sound Engineering, Inc. in the Amount of $22,837; C. Approval of Resolution R-43-03, Authorizing the City Manager to Enter Into a Landscaping Maintenance Contract With the Bozzuto Landscaping Company; D. Approval of Proclamation P-10-03, Proclaiming the Month of May, 2003 as National Bicycle Month in Bowie; E. Approval of Proclamation P-11-03, Proclaiming the Month of May, 2003 as Salute the Troops Month in Bowie; F. Approval of Staff Recommendation Re: Preliminary Plan #4-03001 – Daisey’s Addition to Old Chapel Estates; and G. Introduction of Ordinance O-6-03, Providing Supplemental Appropriations for the Annual Budget for the Fiscal Year Ending June 30, 2003 for the Purpose of Funding Additional Snow Removal Expenditures, State Grant Proceeds for a Tot Lot at Allen Pond and a Teen Mentoring Program and Construction of the Pedestrian Bridge Located at the Bowie Town Center. Councilman Brady seconded the motion and it carried unanimously.

OLD BUSINESS:

A. Ordinance O-5-03 – Approving and Adopting a Budget for the Fiscal Year Beginning July 1, 2003 and Ending June 30, 2004– Since there were no persons signed up to speak, Mayor Robinson declared the public hearing to have been held.

B. Resolution R-39-03 – Adopting a Capital Improvement Program for Fiscal Years 2004-2009. Since there were no persons signed up to speak, Mayor Robinson declared the public hearing to have been held.

C. Constant Yield Tax Rate – City Manager David Deutsch reported that State law requires certain procedures to be followed in connection with the Constant Yield Tax Rate; a legal advertisement was placed in a local newspaper and State law prescribes the terms of the verbiage, size of the ad, etc. He gave a brief history of why this hearing is required. He explained that there is about $121,000 in increased property tax revenue due to additional assessment increases; the City is facing major budget impacts because the State is taking away over $700,000 in highway user revenue in FY ’04; the entire Constant Yield hearing focus is one of compliance with the State law that every city and town in the State must go through unless they are adopting a tax rate lower than the Constant Yield.

Since there were no persons signed up to speak, Mayor Robinson declared the public hearing to have been held.

NEW BUSINESS:

A. Resolution R-40-03 – Approving the Citizen Participation Plan for the Community Development Block Program; and
B. Resolution R-41-03 – Adopting a Consolidated Plan for Housing and Community Development – Mr. John Fitzwater, Assistant City Manager, summarized the staff report dated April 28, 2003, a copy of which is on file at City Hall. He reported that in May, 2002, the City Council took action for the City to become an Entitlement Community with regard to the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Entitlement Community; the City became eligible to receive CDBG funds directly from the Department of Housing and Community Development (HUD) when the population of the City exceeded 50,000 in the 2000 Census; as a result of becoming an Entitlement Community, the City agreed to no longer participate in the Prince George’s County CDBG program. Mr. Fitzwater further reported that under the Prince George’s County CBBG Program, the City was receiving $100,000 per year; as an Entitlement Community, the City will be eligible to receive $205,000 per year. He noted that two of the responsibilities is to develop a five-year Consolidated Plan which would show how the City intends to spend CDBG money; a Citizen Participation Plan must be adopted to show how the public is informed of the adoption of the Consolidated Plan and other elements associated with the CDBG project. Mr. Fitzwater also reported that the five-year Plan justifies eligible CDBG program activities to be conducted by illustrating that the proposed activities will meet one of the three National Objectives; the Consolidated Plan also has a one-year action plan. He concluded his report by saying that staff recommends adoption of Resolution R-41-03 adopting the City’s Consolidated Plan and Resolution R-40-03 adopting the City’s Citizen Participation Plan.

Councilwoman Bennett moved to adopt Resolution R-40-03. Mayor Pro Tem Jenkins seconded the motion and it carried unanimously.

Councilwoman Bennett moved to adopt Resolution R-41-03. Mayor Pro Tem Jenkins seconded the motion and it carried unanimously.

B. County Bill CB-16-03 (Planned Environmental Preservation Community) – City Manager David Deutsch reported that Council reviewed a proposal a couple of weeks ago from County Councilman Peters to revise land uses at the Maryland Science and Technology Center (MSTC); Council took action and directed a letter to the Councilman Peters; at that time, County legislation to implement the change in zoning had only been in a preliminary format and since that time, the City has received a more complete text for the Zoning Text Amendment and CB-16 which permit residential development at the MSTC; it is staff’s understanding that the bill is slated for hearing on May 13.

Mr. Joe Meinert, City Planning staff, gave a brief history of CB-16 and said that in reviewing Draft 2 of CB-16, staff identified a number of deficiencies which are included as Attachment 3 of the staff report, a copy of which is on file at City Hall. He said the number of deficiencies were so great that it influenced staff to recommend that the City Council recommend that the County Council postpone this legislation for further study and refinement; the biggest issue concerns the proposed use of the reduced Comprehensive Design Plan amendment process which is currently an existing process in the County Zoning ordinance which allows for more expedited review of a CDP; the proposed legislation would allow the planned environmental preservation community to avail itself of this process, thereby taking a shortcut in the public participation aspect of the review. Mr. Meinert said the CDP process requires a finding that the proposed change is compatible with the surrounding portions of the CDZ and staff believes that it would be more difficult to make these findings through a reduced process; the process does require a finding of conformance with the approved Basic Plan for the property and there are no residential uses permitted in the list of approved uses under the ZMA; the applicant would have to both amend the CDP as well as the Basic Plan. Mr. Meinert also reported on other deficiencies noted in Attachment 3 with regard to environmental standards, stormwater management, impervious surfaces, utilities clearing, etc. He said that because of these reasons, staff believes the CB-16 is not supportable at this time and recommends that City Council take a position that the bill withdrawn for further study and refinement in the future.

Public Hearing:

A. Ms. Deborah Sell, 2705 Birdseye Lane, spoke of some research she had completed and said she felt developers do not hold Bowie’s welfare of interest.

B. Mr. Bruce Pletsch, 16520 Abbey Drive, Sherwood Manor, said that it serves no one if the leverage offered by the covenants in place is dealt away without ample review. A copy of Mr. Pletsch’s complete statement is attached.

C. Mr. Ed Ost, 12809 Brunswick Lane, said there is no Open Space money available for Nash Woods and felt that CB-16 was the best approach for success in preserving this property.

D. Mr. Jack Booz, 12600 Chanler Lane, said he felt that since there will up to 600-800 housing units, it was up the Council to hold MIE to the bar of what luxurious is; felt it would be quite a loss if Nash Woods was not preserved.

E. Mr. Larry Wells, 16414 Abbey Drive, Sherwood Manor, said CB-16 speaks to 16 units per acre on a site of 96 acres; this is 1530 units not 600. He referred to the conditions offered by Mayor Pro Tem Jenkins at the last meeting which suggested that a residential permit would not be granted until at least one of the commercial buildings was built, would not apply because there are two or more developers, not just MIE, and the leverage is gone.

City Manager Deutsch referred to a letter received from the Assistant Attorney General. He said there is an agreement in the file dated February 4, 1986, which is a Declaration of Covenants and the signatories include the Maryland Department of State Planning, Prince George’s County, Carley Capital Group, and the University of Maryland Foundation; the focus of the agreement relates specifically to stormwater management and an open space area and does not address the broader issues of land use in terms of residential or office development; there are sections in the agreement that describe the purposes of the stormwater management, discussions regarding pollution and sedimentation, and references to the role of the State Department of Natural Resources; this document has limited scope in terms of the overall 466 acre site, but does have applicability in terms of stormwater management and open space preservation.

Councilwoman Booker Jones said she felt there is a great possibility that even if CB-16 passes, nothing will be done with respect to Nash Woods because of the clouded title; there is no linkage between CB-16 and Nash Woods. She referred to the letter received from the Attorney General and felt that a rush to judgment is not in the best interests of the residents of Bowie; the deficiencies pointed out by staff are real and will not be taken care of with the covenants; the content of the letter should be reviewed with the City Attorney to make a determination as to how it will have implications adverse and otherwise on the residents of the community.

Councilman Brady said he was concerned that if the staff recommendation is accepted, it will be ignored once again; there needs to be a firm statement that these are the things that have to be done to make the proposal palatable to the City; feels there is a need to be definitive in suggesting what needs to be done before the bill can move forward; Attachment 3 and the Council’s previous letter make a strong foundation for what message needs to be sent to Councilman Peters; suggested the Council speak as a body with a single voice and be very firm in defining what is acceptable.

Mayor Robinson said he agreed with Mr. Brady on how the bill should move forward; there are couple of options: the bill needs to be reviewed further or state the deficiencies that need to be defined in the bill that have to be repaired in order to make it a viable action. He said he felt the latter was a stronger statement.

Mayor Pro Tem Jenkins disclosed that he filed several ex parte forms with the City Clerk concerning meetings he participated in with Councilman Peters on March 28 and April 2, as well as telephone conversations from Secretary Scott and Councilman Peters. He said he felt that it was important for people to understand that the text of CB-16 says nothing in relation to the Nash property; it is a free-standing piece of legislation that if it goes forward, and nothing happens with the Nash property, will go into effect and provide residential housing capacity to the Science and Technology Center; the Plan is to try and preserve Nash and the tool in trying to do that is CB-16. He said he would not be entertaining CB-16 if it were not for the prospect of saving the Nash property; would prefer the bill be delayed and would like to see the State of Maryland’s request honored at the County level that CB-16 be delayed. He would like to see the City’s concerns addressed before CB-16 is enacted, primarily the concern about transfer of the Nash property, free and clear title to the City of Bowie. Mr. Jenkins said there is a danger on not commenting on flawed legislation and would like to see the City go forward with sending its concerns regarding CB-16 to the County along with the letter stating the 5 essential conditions. He suggested comments be included in the letter to the County and asked for consensus of Council if it wishes to go forward with the comments in relation to the draft of CB-16; if it is the consensus of Council to do so, then he will offer suggested comments that could be included in such a letter. A copy of Mr. Jenkins’ suggested changes is attached hereto.

Councilman Brady suggested that the correspondence suggest that more time is needed for study, the State needs an opportunity to review, the City recommends postponing the legislation, but if the County chooses to move forward, the correspondence should list the City’s concerns. Councilwoman Booker Jones concurred.

Mayor Pro Tem Jenkins suggested that the 15 original conditions be repeated in the new correspondence indicating that the City continues to support the conditions as prerequisites to move forward on this matter; Mr. Brady’s suggestion to recommend a delay should be injected and indicate that if the County Council does proceed with CB-16, now that the City has an opportunity to review Draft #2, the City wishes to add additional comments and conditions that would improve the scope and purpose of CB-16 while improving the controls of the application of the changes of the Maryland Science and Technology Center. Mayor Pro Tem Jenkins placed his comments in the form of a motion and noted that staff would review before sending as suggested by Councilman Brady. Councilman Aleshire seconded the motion.

Councilwoman Bennett asked that the word “should” be replaced with “shall” throughout. Mayor Pro Tem Jenkins agreed.

The motion as proposed by Mayor Pro Tem Jenkins carried unanimously.

D. Specific Design Plan #0301 – Maryland Science and Technology Center Stormwater Management – Ms. Tanya Besinger, engineer for the applicant, said the Concept Plan for this project was approved by the City in October, 2002 and it showed the general location of each pond; the Specific Design Plan shows the specific location, grading and landscaping; the ponds were designed to provide quantity control for the future commercial development of Pods 5 and 6.

In response to a question posed by Councilman Aleshire, Ms. Besinger said if the proposed residential development goes through the ponds, they would have to be redesigned. Mr. Deutsch added that the developer is well aware of the status of the matter; it is staff’s understanding that if the change to residential occurs, MIE will come back to Council with a redesigned water facility which will appropriately handle residential development; the Plan before Council is in anticipation of the project proceeding according to original plans. He also pointed out that Condition #5 addresses this issue.

Rev. John Cooper, Chairman of the Bowie Advisory Planning Board, reported that the Board is in full support of the staff recommendation.

Ms. Cynthia Fenton, City Planning staff, summarized the staff report dated May 1, 2003, a copy of which is on file at City Hall. She reported that subsequent to approval of the SWM concept Plan in January 2002, and the engineering plans in October 2002, staff reviewed the landscape plans and they were approved in February 2003. She said the applicant is before Council because the SDP is a requirement for approval in order to go forward with the development. Ms. Fenton said the proposal generally complies with the criteria for Specific Design Plan approval with some minor deficiencies. She reported on the conformance with CDP and Preliminary Plans, the Landscape Plan and the Woodland Conservation Plan. Ms. Fenton stated that the SDP application generally meets the standards and guidelines contained in the CDP and the City’s Development Review Guidelines and meets the criteria for SDP approval, with some minor exceptions; staff, therefore, recommends the City forward a recommendation of approval to the County Planning Board with the conditions noted on Page 6 of the staff report.

Since there were no persons signed up to speak, Mayor Robinson declared the public hearing to have been held.

Mayor Pro Tem Jenkins moved approval of the staff recommendation for SDP #0301 for the Science and Technology Center, Pods 5 and 6 with the change to Condition 5 as indicated by Councilman Brady. Councilman Aleshire seconded the motion and it carried unanimously.

E. City Position Statements Re: County Master Plan of Transportation and Green Infrastructure Plan – Mr. Joe Meinert, City Planning staff, summarized the staff report dated May 1, 2003, a copy of which is on file at City Hall. He reported Prince George’s County will be holding a public form on May 8, on both plans; the position statements were prepared using the City’s Development Review Guidelines and recent General Plan position statement as a baseline; the polices give more of a philosophical planning perspective, rather than those which provide site-specific or detailed recommendations. He said staff recommends approval of the position statements for inclusion in the public forum hearing record.

Councilman Brady suggested the last sentence in the second bullet under Highways on Page 2 be deleted to be consistent with what is built now. Staff concurred.

Following discussion, Mayor Robinson asked that under Highways, the first bullet should read “The City opposes construction of and requests removal of A-44 east of I-95 due to its detrimental environmental impacts ….. “ and to include some language about a new interchange on Route 50. He asked that the last line in the second bullet be deleted. Council concurred.

Since there were no persons signed up to speak, Mayor Robinson declared the public hearing to have been held.

Councilman Brady moved approval of the City Position Statement Re: County Master Plan of Transportation. Mayor Pro Tem Jenkins seconded the motion and it carried unanimously.

Councilman Brady moved approval of the City Position Statement on the Green Infra-structure Plan. Councilman Aleshire seconded the motion and it carried unanimously.

COUNCIL COMMENTS:

A. Mayor Pro Tem Jenkins said that in view of the very complicated issue of CB-16 that was discussed this evening, he wanted to note the Mayor’s key role and active engagement in shaping the approach, which fell to him as Councilman for District II. He wanted to publicly acknowledge the Mayor and express his appreciation.

ADJOURNMENT:

Mayor Pro Tem Jenkins moved to adjourn the meeting. Councilman Brady seconded the motion and it carried unanimously. The meeting was adjourned at 10:30 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Pamela A. Fleming, CMC
City Clerk