REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING

MONDAY, MAY 2, 2005

CALL MEETING TO ORDER:

The Regular Meeting of the Bowie City Council was held on Monday, May 2, 2005 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, Booker Jones, Brady Jenkins, Kroemer and Lyles; 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:

1. Mr. Bill Britton, spoke about the police force ballot question and noted that this is a big issue in terms of policy and cost, and should be debated openly and candidly. He asked when the issue would be debated.

2. Ms. Maureen Barber, 12010 Long Ridge Lane, responded to an article containing remarks by Bowie Volunteer Fire Chief Mellits regarding an emergency call at her address. She explained the situation, which resulted in a call to 911 and other details after the arrival of emergency personnel. Ms. Barber expressed her concerns regarding fire department personnel determining whether a call was an emergency or not.

3. Mr. Charles Burton 12410 Canfield Lane, read his statement, a copy of which is attached.

CITY MANAGER’S REPORT:

City Manager Deutsch responded to the comments from Mr. Britton regarding community education regarding the police matter. He said it was worth noting that although Mr. Britton suggested the issue has been lingering since October, it was only on April 4, that the Council decided to take the issue to an advisory question in November; the Council also charged the staff with coming back to Council on June 6 with recommended language for the advisory question and recommendations on how to assist the community in understanding the issue; staff will present a series of recommendations regarding various opportunities for public involvement so that the public can speak to this issue.

CONSENT AGENDA:

A. Mayor Pro Tem Jenkins moved approval of Consent Agenda Items: A) Approval of Minutes of April 4, 2005 Council Meeting; B. Approval of Minutes of April 11, 2005 Special Council Meeting; C. Approval of Proclamation P-8-05, Proclaiming the Month of May as National Bicycle Month in Bowie; D. Approval of Proclamation P-9-05, Proclaiming May 20, 2005 as Bike-to-Work Day in Bowie; and E. Approval of Resolution R-23-05, Awarding a Contract to Braking Ground, LLC to Provide Design/Build Contract Services to Construct a Skatepark Facility at Allen Pond Park. Councilman Brady seconded the motion and it carried unanimously.

OLD BUSINESS:

A. Ordinance O-4-05 - Approving and Adopting a Budget for the Fiscal Year Beginning July 1, 2005 and Ending June 30, 2006

Public Hearing:

1. Mr. Kevin Conroy, 12432 Shawmont Lane, spoke highly of the budget as presented. He also noted that there was a lack of a strategic plan. He also noted that the City’s unreserved General Fund balance is at 50% of expenditures and in five years it will be at the legal minimal requirement of 25% of expenditures; this means the City will not be able to comply to the fund balance policy given all the forecast assumptions are correct. Mr. Conroy also spoke about water rates and noted the budget does not include information about the safety survey.

B. Resolution R-21-05 - Approving a Capital Improvement Program for the Fiscal Years 2006-2011 -

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 explained that over a decade ago the State passed a law requiring local governments to place an ad in the newspaper about Constant Yield, and that the ad has to be a certain size. He reported that the City will be receiving more revenue because the assessable base has gone up; the rate will remain the same, but the tax base has expanded because of growth in the community, higher property assessments and a homestead tax change from 103 to 105. Mr. Deutsch said the notice suggests that the real property tax rate should be reduced from .322 or .305; if the City did this, it would forego $670,000 in revenue and the budget would not be balanced.

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

D. Ordinance O-6-05 - Amending City Code Chapter 4, “Animal Control”, Section 4-22, “Enforcement”, Subsection (c) “Penalty” to Increase the Monetary Penalties for Certain Violations of Chapter 4 - City Attorney Elissa Levan summarized the ordinance and said this ordinance simply increases the fines for the animal control violations from $25 to $50.

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

Councilman Brady moved adoption of O-6-05. Councilman Aleshire seconded the motion and it carried unanimously.

E. Ordinance O-7-05 - Amending City Code Chapter 17, “Parks Rules and Regulations” Section 17-2, “Rules” to Amend the Provisions Pertaining to Fires and Renumber the Subsections of That Section; and Amending the Corresponding Penalty Provisions of Chapter 17, Section 17-5 “Enforcement of Chapter” - City Attorney Elissa Levan summarized the ordinance and said the only changes are in Sections 17-2 (b) to add other specialized cooking equipment in addition to the private grills which are regulated by the City. She added the ordinance also requires that anything that is hot should not be left unattended and clarifies the term “unattended”.

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

Mayor Pro Tem Jenkins moved adoption of O-7-05. Councilman Brady seconded the motion and it carried unanimously.

NEW BUSINESS:

A. Fire Department Staffing and Responses to Incidents - Pete Mellits, Chief of the Bowie Volunteer Fire Department, Jon Bigony, President, and Lt. Col. Larry Joy came before Council to address them regarding staffing and responses to incidents. Chief Mellits summarized the informational package which was provided to the Council and included the location of fire stations in Bowie, a description of the apparatus currently owned and operated by the Bowie Volunteer Fire Department, the organizational structure, correspondence regarding articles which have appeared in the Bowie Blade-News, information concerning Station 30 response times, and a Time and Safety Worksheet. A copy of the informational package is on file at City Hall.

Lt. Col. Joy noted that it was his responsibility to assure service delivery to the citizens of Prince George’s County; there are 44 stations throughout the County. He said they realized there were issues that needed to be addressed in July of 2004; they have met with Chief Mellits to work out a strategic plan to resolve the issue raised by Mrs. Burton, so that it will not happen again.

Mayor Pro Tem Jenkins asked several questions regarding response times. Chief Mellits said response times are comprised of 3 components - dispatch time, turnout time, and response time; what is currently recognized as the industry standard for an ambulance is 7 minutes and about 8-10 minutes for a truck; the actual response times for Station 39 are within the numbers mentioned. Mayor Pro Tem Jenkins discussed hiring of fire fighters and the level of education for the recruits.

Councilman Kroemer noted that the report is focused on Station #39 and there is nothing in the report for comparison. Discussion was held regarding the EMS Station at Bowie Town Center, which will assist Station #39 and Station #43.

In response to a question posed by Councilman Aleshire, Lt. Col. Joy responded that the most that can be expected in terms of additional staffing would be a minimum of two on each shift at each firehouse.

Councilman Brady said that he expected this briefing to cover all 3 stations with regard to staffing and response issues; a comparison for the regional and national numbers is needed. He asked for consensus of Council to request that the City be placed on the distribution list to receive the quarterly report for the 3 stations. Council concurred.

Councilwoman Booker Jones said that she felt the City appreciates what the fire department does on a day-to-day basis and wished much success in the recruitment effort.

Mayor Robinson said that some of the challenges are significant and recognize the staffing issues are broader than initially known. He said that if there was anything the Council could do to facilitate improvement in the process, they are prepared to do that.

B. Bowie and Vicinity Master Plan - City Planning Director, Joseph Meinert, gave a brief outline of the contents of the Master Plan; a copy of the staff report is on file at City Hall. He then highlighted several recommendations: 1) Jesuit Property located on MD 450 east of Race Track Road - Rural Tier should be expanded on all of the land area of this property up to Rte. 450 thereby down zoning the property from R-R to the R-E zone (1 dwelling unit per acre) in order to meet with the Rural Tier designation and to be compatible with other developments in the area. 2) Bowie Race Track Zoning - The current zoning is R-R and staff believes a more appropriate zone would be the O-S zone to conform to the surrounding O-S zoning and to match the Rural Tier designation. 3) Chesley-Gibralter Property - Was retained in the Rural Tier when the General Plan was being updated and staff believes the timing is right to place this property back into the Rural Tier; the zoning of this property is R-A. 4) Mixed Use Policy - Staff believes it is appropriate to limit the applicability of the Mixed Use Policy to focus on existing activity centers; new activity centers are not endorsed by staff and staff is opposing the median I-4 properties which have been recommended in the proposed Plan in favor of retaining the current median policy. 5) Old Town Bowie - Staff is recommending limiting the geographic area to the existing commercial district, and further recommends that only parking standards be applied. 6) Staff is opposing the new park land acquisitions that are recommended and noted that the standards for local park land and community park land will continue to be exceeded into the year 2030 time frame with existing park land; the policy should be revised and Park and Planning should encourage development of facilities on existing park land rather than expansion and acquisition of new park land; staff further recommends that collector roads be limited in residential areas; a new interchange at U.S. 50 and Church Road and inter-jurisdictional congestion management system should be supported. Mr. Meinert then addressed the Church Road interchange and said one of the attributes of the interchange being at this location is that it provides for acceptable levels of service, and all four quadrants are currently undeveloped and are in public ownership with the exception of the southwest quadrant which is owned by Freeway Airport. In contrast to this, he said the Enterprise Road interchange location has a lot of development north and south of the interchange and staff have found that when this road is ultimately expanded and improved, the introduction of an interchange at this location would actually be detrimental to the levels of service on Enterprise Road by creating heavier traffic burdens than anticipated. Mr. Meinert added that staff is recommending that the PT-1 alignment, which extends from Church Road to the Town Center area, be retained as part of the hiker-biker trail system; a fiscal impact analysis of the planning area should be made prior to any increases in commercial zoning. With regard to historic properties, he said staff recommends that the Council support historic designations only if the property owners are in agreement with the designation; the two grave sites identified at the Lansdale property and the Mitchell property, as well as the Mills property ballfield, should be evaluated by the historic division of Park and Planning.

Public Hearing:

1. Ms. Nancy Brown, 8301 Chestnut Avenue, spoke about her property being designated as an historic site or resource on the proposed Master Plan. She said she is opposed to any historic designation for her property and asked the Council to send a letter asking that the property be removed from the Master Plan.

2. Ms. Connie Wilson, 8300 Chestnut Avenue, passed out photographs to Council depicting zoning violations along Zug Road. She said that the proposed zoning of Zug Road to industrial and the widening of Chestnut Avenue is not acceptable; the south side of Zug Road across the Pope’s Creek railroad track has had a major excessive expansion in the last few years; this area was zoned light industrial in the 1991 Master Plan; the traffic and noise has become excessive and the 25 mph speed limit is being ignored by commercial vehicles. Ms. Wilson then spoke about a landscaping business property that is now being leased to Petroleum Management Environmental Services that has numerous, large pumping trucks, which carry contaminated fuel for recycling; this fuel is stored in four storage tanks capable of holding 8-10,000 gallons each. She spoke about the odor from fuel oil and the noise from trucks.

3. Mr. Gary Allen, 13003 Beechtree Lane, addressed the topics of the economic and environmental elements of the Plan. He said he strongly supports the staff recommendations that this property be designated for employment use only for the Science and Technology Center property; Mixed Use on this site is not consistent with Bowie’s economic future and supported the City’s defense of the covenants. Mr. Allen then said with respect to the environmental issue, the draft Plan is consistent with the Council’s actions and many of the policies and strategies adopted in the City’s Green Infrastructure Plan.

4. Mr. Richard Schroder, 1305 Port Echo Lane, representing the Citizens Association of South Bowie, spoke about the proposed SMA relating to the median strip in Rte.3/301; the planners have recommended updating the median strip to allow development with the purpose of preventing the increased traffic that development would incur; it is inconsistent with the analysis of Rte. 301 which is severely congested from the County line to Rte. 4; why would traffic and access points in the median strip to compound an existing problem be added? Mr. Schroder urged Council to support the staff recommendation.

5. Mr. Charles Burton, 12410 Camfield Lane, spoke about public facilities; a copy of his statement is attached.

6. Mr. Roger Goll, 13314 Vanessa Avenue, spoke about various areas of the Master Plan; a copy of his comments is attached.

7. Mr. Paul Thompson, 8303 Zug Road, spoke about the proposed rezoning on Zug Road and said this will correct the conflicting zoning where all the houses are residential now and are shown to be residential in the new DDO zone; felt there was no reason for Zug Road to be called an industrial road when there are residential houses located along it. He spoke about a business which is located across the slow speed track from 8309 Zug Road that has hazardous material trucks based on the property; the residents can smell oil and hear the pumping hazardous material into the tanks as early as 5 a.m. and as late as 11 p.m. every day. Mr. Thompson also spoke about truck traffic along Zug Road and felt it was inconsistent with the quality of life in residential neighborhoods.

8. Mr. Larry Taub, 11785 Beltsville Drive, Calverton, MD, representing the Corporation of the Roman Catholic Clergymen, owner of the Jesuit properties, spoke about a letter he had sent to the City which detailed the position in response to the staff report; a copy of the letter dated March 24, 2005, is part of the staff report on file at City Hall.

9. Mr. Kevin Conroy, 12432 Shawmont Lane, urged the inclusion of the Maryland Science and Technology Center Melford property into the Bowie Regional Center boundary, which will ensure a viable working and retail center for Bowie’s residents. He also urged Council to reject the Master Plan change from commercial to residential at the Willowbrook property; urged the rejection of the change from C-O to R-18 of the Dimensions property so that the expansion of the hospital may be possible and to increase the senior and assisted living housing opportunities in that area. With regard to public facilities, he urged support of a library on the Hall Road parcel, and the EMS fire station at Mitchellville Road and Elder Oaks Blvd., supports the middle school on the Mullikin property, and a County police substation on the Science and Technology property. With regard to transportation, he felt that the Rte. 193/Enterprise Road is a better option for the Rte. 50 interchange; supports the interjurisdictional corridor congestion management system and to work for the construction of a major parking facility and a transit hub in the Bowie Regional Center; supports the need for affordable housing for beginning families as well as seniors.

10. Ms. Martha Ainsworth, 16500 Abbey Drive, said the Master Plan should not allow residential uses at the Science & Technology Center; residential use would reduce the area available for employment, would worsen traffic and increase demands on public services and would endanger the Patuxent wetlands. She also said the Science & Technology Center should have a special designation of its own as an employment center linked to the regional center. Ms. Ainsworth then spoke about an inter-change at Rte. 50 and Church Road and said as a pilot at Freeway Airport, she is concerned about the implications of the survival of the airport and hoped that the City Council would not endorse something without looking at the implications first.

11. Ms. Becky Sunday, 13323 11th Street, and property owner at 8333 Zug Road, said she supported the staff recommendation at the DDOZ be limited to the parking standard at this time and concurs that more time is needed to evaluate the standards and Park Planning’s intent with the DDOZ/MUI overlay.

12. Ms. Megan Bramble, 6305 Ivy Lane, representing the Maryland Jockey Club in reference to Bowie Race Track, reviewed the Jockey Club’s position contained in a letter she had submitted to the City; a copy of the letter is contained in the staff report on file at City Hall.

13. Mr. Bill Kreitzer, 12900 10th St., spoke about properties that are being designated as historic sites, and requested support from the City Council in requesting that these properties be removed from the list. He also spoke about alleyways in the Huntington section that have sheds, swimming pools or garages built on them and could not believe that they are being considered to be opened up for traffic and requested this matter be looked into.

14. Ms. Charita Douglas, 8912 Maple Avenue, spoke about her family property located at Maple Ave. and 4th Street and said she would like it rezoned from R-A to R-55 because it is an eyesore and her family cannot maintain it any longer.

15. Ms. Patricia Wright-Peregoy, 8210 Chestnut Avenue, spoke about speeding traffic on Zug Road as well as cars not stopping at stop signs. She also spoke about the noise from commercial traffic and asked that additional traffic not be allowed.

16. Mayor Robinson read a letter into the record from Fannie and Mary Basim opposing the historic designation of homes without the approval of the owner.

City Planning Director Meinert referred to a list entitled “Table of Proposed Zoning Changes” he had handed out to Council, which are additional items being added to the staff recommendation. He summarized some of the properties listed; a copy of the list is on file at City Hall.

In response to a question posed by Councilman Aleshire, Mr. Meinert said that Zug Road is identified on a map in the Plan in blue which means there is an industrial design standard applied to all properties on Zug Road; it was pointed out to Park and Planning that the upper part of Zug Road adjacent to Chestnut Avenue is actually residential area, and they agreed to change the color from blue to yellow so it becomes a residential classification from Chestnut Avenue to the railroad tracks; the change will be made at the public hearing on May 17th; it can be added to the City’s position letter.

Mayor Pro Tem Jenkins referred to Page 19 of the staff recommendation which recommends there be an interchange at Rte. 50 at Church Road. He said he did not recall this Council ever focusing on there being an interchange at Church Road. He recommended the entire paragraph be deleted and be reworded to recommend an interchange west of Rte. 197 preferably at Rte. 193. Council concurred.

Mayor Pro Tem Jenkins then referred to Page 22 and said the language needed to be stronger in terms of the Science and Technology Center being a vital portion of the economic development plan for this City. He asked for consensus that it is critical that language be included in the economic development portion. Council concurred.

Mayor Pro Tem Jenkins referred to testimony received in the past on the Melvin property and asked if it is correct that staff is recommending that the Plan stand as is for this property. Mr. Meinert pointed out that there is discussion in the staff report on Page 7 and a recommendation that staff does not support the request for the commercial zoning. Mr. Jenkins said he supported the concept that property not be designated historic without the permission and agreement of the owner. He also supports the reducing of the overlay in Huntington and supports the position on Zug Road to retain it as residential.

Councilman Aleshire said with regard to the Brown property that he felt Council should support this property being a documented property and placed in the Appendix section. Council concurred.

Councilman Aleshire asked for consensus to connect Rte. 3 to Rte. 197 at Bowie State University. Mr. Meinert said that the recommendation is that it be included in the Master Plan of Transportation when it comes up next year. Council concurred.

Councilwoman Booker Jones addressed the staff position opposing new parkland acquisition; finds the explanation based on the projected census in year 2030 to be unacceptable. She asked why would it not benefit the City to accept the land at this point. Mr. Meinert replied that all but one of the park sites are located outside of the City limits so it is more to serve various portions of the planning area; staff is saying the sites are not needed based on the analysis and that the Commission should focus its resources and policies on providing the facilities on the sites they already own. Councilwoman Booker Jones asked for consensus to include the acquisition of the parkland. Council concurred.

Councilman Brady said he agreed with using the strongest language available to convey sentiments regarding the employment aspect at the Science and Technology Center, the issue of getting the property owners agreement for designation of the property as historic, that Church Road is not an appropriate location for an interchange, and the issue of the DDOZ.

Mayor Pro Tem Jenkins addressed the Melvin property issue and noted that in 1980 the property was zoned C-S-C and C-M. He reviewed the history of the property and said he felt the City was being inconsistent in the application of the rationale. He asked for consensus that the Council oppose staff’s position of opposition to the request. Council concurred.

Regarding the maintenance of R-R status on the Jesuit property, Councilman Lyles moved that this property be left in the R-R zone. The motion carried 5-2 (Booker Jones, Kroemer).

ADJOURNMENT:

Mayor Pro Tem Jenkins moved to adjourn the meeting. Councilman Brady seconded the motion and it carried unanimously. The meeting was adjourned at 12:23 a.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Pamela A. Fleming, CMC
City Clerk