Around City Hall: Boards, Commissions, and Committees, Early November

The third installment. Nine meetings in ten days, in brief, with the Ward 7 angle where there is one. Votes are as I heard them on the recordings; the Clerk's minutes control.

• Environmental Commission (October 28). The Mayor visited the commission, which is down to five members of nine, all from Wards 2 and 5, with four vacancies open since February. The Mayor's staff explained why: appointments were paused while the administration considers consolidating boards, and this commission and the Conservancy Board were on the list to be "conjoined." Members said the two bodies have very different charges, senior staff said they have argued for keeping them separate, and the Mayor's staff committed to find out this week whether the merger is off the table and, if so, to start filling seats. I oppose the merger. A working Environmental Commission has plenty to do on its own. The commission also has trouble reporting to my Environmental Matters Committee because the committee meets during the workday. I have invited the commission to give an update at the committee's next meeting, November 12, and I hope to keep doing that at least quarterly. Staff updates: the Climate Action Plan is out and staff will recommend a Council resolution adopting it; Public Works will brief my committee on the stormwater fee credit program and on restructuring the fee by impervious area; and Providence Point drew several citations after runoff from the site in a heavy rain. Tree replacement came up too, which is timely: my Critical Area tree ordinance, O-18-26, is introduced on November 9. On the ferry, staff said the October 26 Council presentation ran two hours and the pushback was on operating costs, which they would put on the operator. Next meeting December 2, in person.
• Economic Matters Committee (November 4). I sit on this committee. The only item was O-29-26, Alderman Thorp's outdoor dining update, and after two and a half hours it went to the full Council with a favorable recommendation. Restaurant owners from the Eastport Business Association and the president of the Ward One Residents Association both testified. My Amendment 1 restores the purpose clause's reference to commercial districts and shopping centers; the bill's replacement, "consistent with the residential, maritime and historic nature of our city," struck me as subjective and an invitation to appeals. It passed two to one. My Amendment 2, which bans barrels and cones and requires crash barriers to be hidden behind planters or finished wood or metal, passed unanimously. On standing, I changed my mind during the hearing: if a restaurant is already limited to a headcount, it does not matter whether a patron is sitting or standing. The committee folded Alderwoman O'Neill's amendment and mine into one: standing patrons may be served at sidewalk and street cafes, no designated standing areas, and nobody in the pedestrian passageway or a travel lane. The committee also agreed that allowing standing service is a minor modification to an existing special exception, so no restaurant has to repeat a ten-month Board of Appeals process. My Fire Marshal amendment, requiring seating comments up front and tied to adopted code, passed with one abstention and is going to the Fire Marshal for review. The owners told us none of them has ever faced a capacity enforcement action; a kitchen breaks down long before a patio overfills.
• Rules and City Government Committee (November 5). Recommended CA-4-26, which names the City Attorney as the City's resident agent in the Charter so there is no gap between attorneys; the committee called it the most common-sense Charter amendment it has seen. Postponed O-15-26, cottage food businesses as home occupations, which I co-sponsor, to its next meeting: the chair wants to confirm whether the state raised the annual sales cap from $50,000 to $100,000 so the City can match it, Alderman Thorp will offer an amendment prohibiting on-site consumption (the sponsor agrees) and may offer one on on-site sales (the sponsor does not), and my amendment is still being drafted by the Office of Law. Alderman Thorp asked that Public Works review my amendment and attend the next meeting; Planning and Zoning and Economic Development were asked to attend as well.
• Finance Committee (November 4). Recommended R-35-26, the water service agreement for 3020 and 3034 Arundel on the Bay Road, after the Public Works Director confirmed the line has the pressure to serve them; my technical amendment was not yet in the system, so the committee took no position on it and it will be handled on the floor. Recommended R-46-26, the 2 percent cost-of-living adjustment for non-represented employees, which is already covered by last month's fund transfer. Postponed the snow fee and fine resolutions (R-30-26 and R-44-26) until the underlying ordinance, O-24-26, comes out of committee, after a useful problem surfaced: a resident who clears the sidewalk on time and then has a City or State plow bury it again has, as the ordinance reads, done what the law asks, and nothing says she must clear it twice. Public Works said it handles those case by case; Alderwoman O'Neill asked for clearer public communication; the City Manager offered to set up a pre-season coordination meeting with the State Highway Administration, which plows Forest Drive and West Street. The Finance Director delivered the first quarter budget-to-actual report less than a month after the quarter closed, a big improvement on past years, when first quarter numbers sometimes arrived halfway through the third quarter, with department-level explanations to follow. One line to watch: the fleet fund had spent 57 percent of its fuel budget in one quarter, partly because the City's fuel island was out of service and vehicles were filling up at retail. Nine interviews for the vacant budget manager position were scheduled that week.
• Port Wardens (October 27). The board met in one room for the first time, with four wardens present, and approved everything before it unanimously: written findings for four September cases and four new applications. The one closest to home is Safe Harbor Port Annapolis on Bembe Beach Road, on the Annapolis Neck, which will rebuild its 75-ton travel lift slip on Back Creek, slightly wider, in the same place. Two living shorelines were approved. One is 218 feet with a 30-foot stone revetment and about 3,900 square feet of native marsh grass on a residential lot where erosion is dropping trees into the creek; the state license was still under review, with the reviewer asking for a design change to close one open section. The other is 285 feet at 703 Warren Drive, a headland-and-embayment design creating more than 3,000 square feet of tidal marsh, built from land with no excavation, for Gene Godley, who chaired this board for 25 of his 28 years on it. The chair called it everything Title 15 was meant to encourage. The designer, who works with the Resilience Authority, said he is also working on the Carrs Beach living shoreline and expects to bring that project to the board soon. I will be watching for it. A pier repair on Spa View Circle (raising the deck seven to eight inches for the tides) was also approved, and an application for 7001 Bembe Beach Road was pulled from the agenda. Next meeting November 24.
• Human Relations Commission (November 2). The Mayor visited this commission too, the second stop on his tour of boards. The commission is down to five members, so one absence means no quorum, and it could not meet at all last year for lack of one. Three of the five live in Ward 8, one in Ward 5, one in Ward 1; nobody from Ward 7. Members asked for a clearer charge from the administration, a small outreach budget (it once had $2,500 and now has no tablecloth or sign for community events), a shared secure drive to track discrimination complaints with a numbering system, training on hate crime reporting and mediation, and a working relationship with the Housing Authority on tenant complaints, including a pending mold complaint. The Mayor's staff said applications are vetted by the alderperson for the applicant's ward before they go to the Mayor, and that the Council wants City residents and ward diversity on every board. The commission formed a three-member complaint committee, will hear from the County's Human Relations Commission about its strategic plan in December, and capped its meetings at 90 minutes. If you live in Ward 7 and this work interests you, I would like to hear from you.
• Alcoholic Beverage Control Board (November 4). Four approvals and one no-show. Teriyaki House on Main Street transferred its beer, wine, and liquor with meals license to new owners. Sabor Latino at Village Greens on South Cherry Grove Avenue got a new license after its earlier transfer lapsed over the prior owner's tax debt; the restaurant has been weekends-only for six months without one. Neighbors wrote in about noise and trash, and the owner committed to no live music and to pressing the property manager for more than the development's two shared dumpsters; the board said it would take any noise complaints seriously. Cheese Wheel Yum, a pasta and pizza restaurant going into the former Mangia space at 81 Main Street, got a beer and light wine license, on-premises only, in place of the full liquor and carry-out license that building used to hold; the Board of Appeals approved the special exception in September. And the Maritime Republic of Eastport got its one-day license for the 27th tug of war on November 7, Eastport side only this year because of the City Dock construction, with ten certified crowd managers and hired security. The American Legion's December 5 fundraiser was carried to next month because no one appeared.
• Building Board of Appeals (November 5). One case, and a cautionary one for anyone renovating an older house. The owners of a 988-square-foot rowhouse at 21 Pinkney Street appealed a violation notice that requires a sprinkler system. Their permit covered a kitchen, a fireplace removal, and a new bathroom, about 45 percent of the floor area. The inspector found the drywall stripped from the front and back bedrooms as well, which the owners said was water damage repair, and counted those rooms, which puts the work at 72 percent, past the 50 percent threshold at which the code requires sprinklers. The board upheld the City 4 to 0: once the drywall comes down and light fixtures change, it is construction, whatever the reason. Two things troubled board members, and they are worth noting. The inspector told the owners verbally in April 2025 that sprinklers would be required and noted it in the permit file, but no stop-work order or violation notice went out until August 2026, sixteen months after the house was closed in. Board members said the owners deserved that in writing, promptly, and I agree.
• Education Commission (October 28). Ward 7's member, Laura Booth, chairs this commission. The Director of Transportation and Parking presented the Blue Route, the bus pilot I funded by budget amendment, and gave a firm launch date: Monday, November 30, running weekdays 7 to 10 a.m. and 4 to 7 p.m. through the end of the school year, with funding through June 30. The route starts at the Eastport transfer point on Monroe Street, runs through Bay Ridge Gardens, Robinwood, Newtowne Drive, Copeland Street and Bywater Road, then Forest Drive to Riva Road, the Harry S. Truman park and ride, and the swim center next to Annapolis High. Students ride free; adults pay $2. The last evening bus leaves the swim center at 6:14. Members asked for a safer stop near Quiet Waters Park and the library. Whether the route survives past June depends on ridership and FY28 funding. My view has not changed: I asked for a direct arterial route rather than the neighborhood detours, and the route as presented keeps them. The commission also took up the school system's new fingerprint requirement for every volunteer, in effect since October 1 with no announcement: $65, by appointment, at the Riva Road office between 8 and 4. Members called it a barrier for working parents and for the field trips and honor roll events that run on volunteers; the chair is sending questions to the superintendent's office. November and December are combined into one meeting on December 9 at 6 p.m. The Ward 2 seat is vacant.

If you have an interest in serving on this or any City board, the application is at the City's boards and commissions page, the Boards and Commissions Office is at 410-263-7997, and I am always glad to hear from Ward 7 residents who want to serve.