MEMORANDUM
TO: City Council
FROM: David J. Deutsch, City Manager
SUBJECT: Status Report/Council Poll
DATE: April 19, 2007
Status Report
1. Bowie Community Center
M-NCPPC is holding an Open House on Saturday, April 21st from 11:00 a.m.
to 2:00 p.m. to celebrate the reopening of the renovated Community Center
on Stonybrook Drive.
The festivities will include demonstrations, food and fun.
2.
Maryland Recreation & Parks
Association (MRPA) Award
On Wednesday, April 11th, City Park Rangers Alice Legare’-Martinek
and Jeffrey Nagle were honored as recipients of the MRPA Park and Resource
Conservation Branch’s “Creative Programming Award”. Alice
and Jeff were recognized for their efforts in implementing the City’s
Campfire Stories program that was held in 2006 at Whitemarsh Park. The program
will continue in 2007.
3. Hall Road Zoning Hearing Examiner Hearing
On Tuesday, April 17th, the Zoning Hearing Examiner (ZHE) continued the remand
hearing on the request to amend the conditions of the zoning map amendment
(A-9838-C) for the Hall Road Local Activity Center. The District Council
originally sent the case back to the ZHE in January for details related
to the library construction; this is the second time the ZHE has had to
reschedule the hearing because the information was not available. The ZHE
hearing was continued to June 13, 2007 at 9:30 a.m. in order to receive
updated information from the Prince George's County Office of Central Services
and Office of Management and Budget. As Council is aware, Cenhall, LLC
recently offered a portion of the property for sale to the County, but
the developer's offer was rejected. Mr. Dan Lynch, the attorney for Cenhall,
LLC, told City staff this week that they are still actively negotiating
with the County and hope to come to a resolution. The Proposed County Capital
Improvement Program (CIP) includes full funding for design, land acquisition
and construction of the library in Fiscal Year 2008. According to the CIP,
$500,000 is allocated for land acquisition.
4. County Council Solid Waste Briefing
On April 10th, the Transportation, Housing and Environment (THE) Committee
of the Prince George's County Council received a briefing from M-NCPPC concerning
a Solid Waste Transfer Site study. In 2004, a study was conducted by the Department
of Environmental Resources (DER) that identified 12 possible sites for a future
waste transfer station. County-owned property on Duckettown Road was included
on the list in the 2004 study. A subsequent analysis was prepared by DER in
2005 that included additional sites. The purpose of the recent briefing was
for the County Council's committee to give instructions to M-NCPPC regarding
a process for receiving public input on potential facility siting criteria.
It is staff's understanding that this public input process will not result
in the selection of a specific site, but only the criteria to be used for future
site selection discussions. M-NCPPC Environmental Planning staff were directed
to conduct two (2) community meetings to discuss siting criteria and then make
recommendations about what criteria should be used. According to M-NCPPC staff,
the criteria development process should conclude by the end of summer. Staff
will continue to monitor this outreach effort and update Council as necessary.
5. Prince George's County BRAC Coordinating Committee Meeting
Mayor Robinson and Economic Development Director King attended a meeting
of the County's BRAC Coordinating Committee to reinforce Bowie's interest
in the impacts of BRAC changes at Fort Meade and Andrews Air Force Base
on Bowie and the surrounding area.
The representative from the State's Military and Federal Affairs Office,
Mrs. Julie Woepke, reported that the Lieutenant Governor's BRAC Coordination
team is forming and intends to have a report ready by late September or early
October 2007.
The Anne Arundel County representative said that the Fort Meade area just
received a $1.4 million planning grant from the federal government to study
the area immediately adjacent to Fort Meade. There are no immediate plans
to study the Route 3 corridor from Interstate 97 to US Highway 50.
The City of Laurel reported that they are taking three key actions to prepare
for the expansion at Fort Meade. First, they are demolishing old, obsolete
housing complexes to prepare the way for new housing construction. Second,
they are reconfiguring their existing retail base, e.g., the Laurel Mall
is changing size, configuration, and tenant mix. Third, they are creating
a city transit taxing district to fund bus service provided by the Corridor
Transportation Corporation.
The Andrews Alliance reported that the headquarters for the Air Force District
of Washington is relocating from Bolling Air Force Base to Andrews; that
move occurs next week. There is great growth planned immediately around the
base with such things as five million square feet of secured office space
and two million square feet of new retail space.
The M-NCPPC representative reported they are preparing an impact study for
the County that examines the BRAC impacts on Prince George's County housing,
schools, and transportation infrastructure.
City staff will continue to participate in future coordinating committee
meetings.
6. Training Exercise for BVFD
The Bowie Volunteer Fire Department will be burning a vacant structure on
Mitchellville Road as a training exercise on April 29, 2007. This home
sits on property owned by K & P Builders on which they plan to build
a 13-lot subdivision. The training exercise was scheduled months ago but
was delayed due to the Baltimore incident, which caused the Prince George’s
County Fire Department to conduct a safety review of such training exercises.
The County has now given its go-ahead for this activity.