REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING
MONDAY, JUNE 7, 2004

CALL MEETING TO ORDER:

The Regular Meeting of the Bowie City Council was held on Monday, June 7, 2004 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, Bennett, Booker Jones, Brady, Jenkins and Lyles; City Manager Deutsch, Asst. City Manager Fitzwater, City Attorney Robert Levan, Members of the Staff, the Press and the Public.

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG:

The City Council led the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.

CITIZEN PARTICIPATION:

Mr. Bruce Pletsch, 16520 Abbey Drive, expressed support for the City in their opposition of County Bill 16-2004. He also thanked the people of Bowie for their support of the petition drive in opposition to this legislation. He also said that it was encouraging to see those who live outside the County Council District 4 are also enthusiastically in opposition to this legislation.

PRESENTATIONS:

Councilman Lyles presented a Certificate of Recognition to Pointer Ridge Elementary School and noted that it is in addition to the recognition they received as a National Blue Ribbon School from the National Parent Teachers Association. Mayor Robinson congratulated the PTA and faculty for their excellent efforts as well as outgoing Principal Rebecca Weeks on her retirement.

COUNCIL ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Mayor Robinson congratulated staff for a job well done on the recent Memorial Day Parade.

CITY MANAGER’S REPORT:

City Manager David Deutsch reported: 1) Testing of City water facilities for lead has been completed; over 120 locations that were tested came up well under the limit according to EPA regulations; the School Board is working with WSSC to resolve some issues they have; the majority of the locations were in areas not accessible to students. 2) The hearing on CB-16-2004 is scheduled for June 8 and staff will be presenting a statement in support of the Council position to oppose the legislation. 3) Mayor Robinson, staff, 2 members of the Bowie Volunteer Fire Dept., as well as a representative from County Councilman Peters’ office met to discuss the status of plans for the new EMS facility; there is $600,000 in the County budget for FY ’05; the need for additional information was discussed and this item will be discussed at a worksession on July 12, at which time Council may be in a position to reach a consensus in support of the recommended location.

CONSENT AGENDA:

Mayor Pro Tem Jenkins moved approval of Consent Agenda Item A: Approval of Resolution R-25-04, Authorizing the Waiving of Bidding Requirements and Allowing for Contract Renewal for Street Repair; B. Approval of Resolution R-26-04, Authorizing the Waiving of Bidding Requirements to Allow for the Issuance of Purchase order for Four (4) Refuse Trucks; C. Approval of Resolution R-27-04, Authorizing the City Manager to Enter Into a Contract to Purchase Carpet for Rooms 103, 106, 112, 201 and 203 at City Hall; D. Approval of Resolution R-28-04, engaging a Certified Public Accountant for the 2003-2004 Annual Audit; E. Approval of Resolution R-31-04, Accepting Bid Proposal for the Liquid Chlorine and Hydrated Lime Utilized by the Water Treatment Plant an the Waste Water Treatment Plan; and F. Approval of Proclamation P-10-04, Declaring June 18, 2004 as “Prince George’s Chamber of Commerce Day” in Bowie. Councilman Aleshire seconded the motion and it carried unanimously.

OLD BUSINESS:

A. Ordinance O-5-04 – To Establish a Homestead Property Tax Credit Percentage for the Fiscal Year Beginning July 1, 2005 – City Manager Deutsch reported this issue was brought to Council’s attention last fall with a recommendation of change; Council felt that the issue should be considered at budget time and staff recommended at that time a change to 105% breaking the connection that currently exists between the City’s rate and the rate established by Prince George’s County. He noted that the ordinance was introduced several weeks ago and a chart has been provided that takes 3 properties in each of the councilmanic districts demonstrating how the change would affect those properties. Mr. Deutsch pointed out that 17 of the 27 municipalities have delinked themselves from the County rate. He concluded by saying that given the loss of 1.7 million dollars in State revenue over the last 3 years and an on-going structural deficit, staff is recommending that Council pass O-5-04 that would establish a rate of 105% for FY ’06 on the Homestead Property Tax.

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

Councilman Brady moved adoption of Ordinance O-5-04. Councilman Lyles seconded the motion and it carried with a vote of 6-1 (Booker Jones).

NEW BUSINESS:

A. Resolution R-29-04 – Adopting the Housing and Community Development Annual Action Plan Fiscal Year 2005 – Ms. Ruth Newell, City Grants Coordinator, showed a slide presentation to demonstrate how the Community Development Block Grant process worked. She also reviewed the staff report and the Annual Action Plan that was attached dated May 26, 2004, a copy of which is on file at City Hall. She said the Action Plan creates activities that meet the goals and objectives and defines resources to implement the programs to meet the goals; the target area is Old Town Bowie and a preliminary assessment of City street improvements was done that were in need of infrastructure repair; a preliminary assessment was also done of where more lighting would be needed for safety measures and where more signage would be needed. Ms. Newell spoke of funding received from other sources. She concluded her report and said staff is seeking approval of R-29-04 for the adoption of the Annual Action Plan for FY ’05 to be submitted to HUD at the end of the month.

Councilwoman Bennett thanked Ms. Newell for her success in obtaining funds for the City. She asked if there is a limit in the number of years the City is eligible for this grant. Ms. Newell replied that as long as Congress continues to provide funding the City should not lose eligibility. She added that the funding is based on a population formula.

In response to a question posed by Councilman Aleshire, Ms. Newell said the Consolidated Plan technically serves as the City’s application and serves to clarify internally where HUD funds are most needed; an assessment of housing needs needed to be done to include homelessness, those with AIDS, etc.; non-housing included economic development as well as infrastructure-type improvements; because Bowie does not have a Housing Authority that keeps track of housing and housing needs in Bowie at all income levels, staff needed to provide this without creating a new department; partnerships with other organizations needed to be created to deal with issues such as homelessness; staff has been working with the Bowie Emergency Aid Fund which is headed by Sharley Ehrenfried, the Program Administrator. Ms. Ehrenfried has been invaluable to the City and could be very valuable in implementing that component of the strategic plan; without the Bowie Emergency Aid Fund, another partnership would have to be created because not even the County has access to homelessness information in Bowie since no one is collecting this information in a central data base.

Mayor Pro Tem Jenkins thanked Ms. Newell for earning for the City and its taxpayers a great deal of aggressive and imaginative and creative things that will benefit everyone, and doing it with the least expenditure of Bowie taxpayer money.

Councilwoman Booker Jones asked if the funding is not able to be secured within a given year, is it possible that the desired objective could be completed in stages or are we waiting for the lump sum. Ms. Newell replied staff is looking at how much linear feet a given dollar will complete; the fact that there is an increased amount of money up front allows more contiguous projects to be done; during the last year the City was able to piggyback on the previous engineering contact which saved a lot of money; it is more cost effective to do one to three projects than to do one and then do another one later.

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

Councilwoman Bennett moved approval of Resolution R-29-04. Mayor Pro Tem Jenkins seconded the motion and it carried unanimously.

B. Economic Development Committee Report – Mr. Ed Leyden, Chairman of the Economic Development Committee, introduced the members of committee who were present. He then presented the results of the committee’s efforts that are contained in a document entitled Strategic Economic Development Vision for Bowie, Maryland in 2016, a copy of which is on file at City Hall.

Councilwoman Bennett thanked the Committee for their hard work. She referred to Page 7 of the report, and asked if staff has been attending the MNCPPC area study meetings. City Manager Deutsch replied the reference is to the consultant study that is underway and is not a series of meetings; as soon as the study is available it will be made available to Council. He added that the City will be involved in the development of the portion of the Master Plan and the charrette is an activity that staff will be participating in. Ms. Bennett then spoke about the intra-city bus system and asked for consensus that the City send a letter to County Councilman Peters requesting the possibility of getting a bus for Bowie as was done for the City of Greenbelt. She also suggested that if this doesn’t work, that the City seek bids from various bus services as a capital project for the future.

Mayor Pro Tem Jenkins also thanked the Committee for the work they have done. He referred to the points noted in the report, and noted that there was only one place in the report that mentions the Maryland Science and Technology Center. He asked if the Committee wanted to exclude this property from its deliberations, has it given up and asked if this was a conscious decision to not focus on the MSTC. Mr. Leyden replied that to focus too much on the MSTC would have an effect of creating leverage for another use, and secondly, they wanted to emphasize that where there are other opportunities within the City, there was a need to diversify; the Committee feels very strongly that the MSTC is the crown jewel of the Bowie infrastructure and should be developed with its intended purpose.

Councilman Lyles asked with regard to a public transportation system if the Committee analyzed whether or not there was considerable will within the community to get something done, what would be the major impediment to getting it done if money was available. Mr. Leyden said they had not found any roadblocks if all the financing is in place; found there was community support at the public sessions that were held for a transportation system. Mr. Lyles then referred to start-up businesses and asked where would someone go to rent space. Mr. Leyden replied most of the existing space is filled, but new space is hopefully being made available such as at the MSTC.

Mr. Lyles then spoke about the improvements that were being made to Rte. 450, and asked did the Committee look at whether or not the improvements would still make it a Main Street. Mr. Leyden answered that it absolutely could remain a Main Street and the fact that the amount of traffic that would come from west to east on Rte. 450 leading into that Main Street area means the more potential for more shoppers; the Committee also looked at the Rouse project and would encourage those residents to shop in Bowie.

Councilman Aleshire asked the City Manager if the Strategic Plan that is currently being developed answers some of the next steps to analyze priorities. Mr. Deutsch replied the document that is being discussed will help Council in its deliberations on the Strategic Plan and economic development is critical to formulating the true Strategic Plan; staff expects to be directed to provide an analysis of the Committee’s recommendations for Council, which will tie into an analysis of the Strategic Plan.

Councilman Brady spoke about the various needs of the City and said he, too, was frustrated on the transportation issue; 10 years ago there was little economic development in the City and little justification for a bus system. He referred to other sections of the report and spoke about the Science and Technology Center and the fact that there is virtually 100% occupancy for office buildings within the City which has been the case for years; this indicates that demands in the market place outstrips supply for space appropriate for professional employment; the current developer’s specialty seems to be flex and they have a strong desire to put residential in a gem of an employment center; residential will tax delivery of services at both the city and county levels. Mr. Brady referred to Page 11, and noted that the youth of the area have been neglected and it is timely that this has been brought out in the EDC report.

Mayor Robinson thanked the Committee for being a vehicle to remind the Council that this community will move to a full service city at some point in time and some strategic decisions have to be made on how to get there; what needs to be done now, is to give direction to do an analysis and look at a means to integrate the efforts into the Strategic Plan.

Councilwoman Bennett moved to accept the Economic Development Committee Report and to direct that a follow-up analysis be done. Councilman Brady seconded the motion and it carried unanimously.

C. Specific Design Plan #0317 – Palisades at Oak Creek – Mr. Andre Gingles, attorney for the applicant, displayed the models of the dwelling units which will range from $500,000-800,000 with a minimum square footage of 3500 square feet. He said they agree with the staff recommendation but had issues with several of the proposed conditions: Condition #1 – felt this condition is inconsistent with the current state of the law and suggest it be deleted; most of the language in the conditions is done in mandatory format using the word “shall” leaving little discretion; suggested using “encouraged” or “make every effort”.

Ms. Beth Chaisson, City Planning staff, summarized the staff report dated June 3, 2004, a copy of which is on file at City Hall. She reviewed the criteria for approval of a Specific Design Plan and discussed the staff recommendation of approval with conditions. She indicated that staff had reworded Condition #1 to eliminate some of the language that resembled the adequate public facilities condition of previous approvals, since the criterion for Specific Design Plan approval is not an APF test. With reference to the applicant’s concern of the use of the word “shall” being too strong, Ms. Chaisson suggested language “to the extent possible” be used. She spoke about an additional condition that the applicant shall either provide separate amenities for Pods B and C or Pods B and C shall become part of the Oak Creek Club Homeowners Association and have access to their amenities.

Public Hearing:

Ms. Iredia Hutchinson, 14504 Jones Bridge Road, President of the Manors of Collington, spoke about traffic through the development, school overcrowding and said there was concern about the buffering along Church Road. She asked that there be assurances that construction traffic does not cut through the Collington Manors subdivision; the residents liked the rural character of Church Road and felt that sidewalks should not be constructed along this roadway.

Councilman Lyles moved for approval of Specific Design Plan with the conditions set out by staff: deleting Condition #1, 2-10 okay, and adding Condition #11 for separate amenities for Pods B and C or document that Pods B and C will become part of the Oak Creek Club Homeowner’s Association. Councilwoman Booker Jones seconded the motion. The motion includes the amendment to Condition #6 to have a generic 8-foot distance of driveways from the property line.

Mayor Pro Tem Jenkins said he supports the motion with the exception of the exclusion of Condition #1; felt the school issue is extremely important and staff has made a strong position.

Councilman Brady said it is important that the Council maintains its traditional stand on the issue of education, and to delete Condition 1 is inconsistent with history and tradition. He also said it was inconsistent with what the law says and what staff is arguing. He moved to amend the motion to include Condition #1. Councilman Aleshire seconded the motion and it carried with a vote of 5-2 (Booker Jones, Lyles).

The original motion carried unanimously.

COUNCIL COMMENTS:

1. Councilman Brady reported that at the last Prince George’s County Municipal Association meeting, Maryland Municipal League President Frazer presented certificates to those who served on MML committees during the year. He was asked to convey a Certificate of Appreciation to City Manager Deutsch for his service on the Legislative Committee. Mr. Brady also reported that a notice had been sent out about emergency responders along with a survey; Leonardtown was awarded funds to purchase radios for their staff through a grant; the due date has been extended and all municipalities were encouraged to apply.

2. Councilman Lyles said he received information regarding the proposal from Mr. Jemal for a City Hall at the Market Place. He asked that a worksession be considered to discuss alternatives and an appropriate response within the next 30 days. City Manager Deutsch said in the discussions has had in the Strategic Planning meeting, the need for a City Hall was demonstrated that staff had produced; it is believed that this issue needs to be addressed. It was the consensus of Council to have an analysis ready by September.

ADJOURNMENT:

Mayor Pro Tem Jenkins moved that the meeting be adjourned into an Executive Session for the purpose of discussing legal matters with counsel. Councilman Brady seconded the motion and it carried unanimously. The meeting was adjourned at 11:45 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Pamela A. Fleming, CMC
City Clerk