As you may have noticed in The Capital, at our last meeting we passed R-61-20 , the short-term rental license moratorium (for non-owner-occupied units), but it was amended to only last for 3 months. I’m also pleased to say that we passed R-17-20 , the annual performance standards, with my proposed amendments to create standards for our environmental programs.

Our next meeting will consist primary of public hearings on a few pieces of legislation. Read on to see if there is anything you would like to testify on.

I’m hoping to schedule a virtual town hall meeting for Ward 7 residents sometime in late February. I will see if we can get the Mayor and a representative from either the County Health Department or the City’s Emergency Management Department to participate as well. Once I get some dates from them, I’ll send out an invitation.

Stay healthy and stay safe,

 Rob

Happy New Year!

As you may have noticed, at our last Council meeting we voted against accepting the grant money from the state to develop predictive policing algorithms in partnership with the University Maryland. There are just too many questions and risks about such programs, especially with the program they were using the algorithms with.

As for Monday night’s Council meeting, we have quite a number of ordinances up for final votes.

I’ve also included links for another survey on the Comprehensive Plan and a special request from The Capital to hear about any losses your family may have experienced due to COVID.

Stay safe,

Rob

Happy Holidays everyone. This month we only have one Council meeting and it’s a special meeting scheduled for this Monday, meaning it is dedicated to public comments and public hearings. There is legislation up for comment that would put a temporary moratorium on short term rentals on whole homes in the conservation districts, as well as legislation that would shift leash law authority from Anne Arundel Animal Control to the Annapolis Police Department and make it a $250 fine for residents. I’ve posted my thoughts on these below.

Happy Holidays! (and please don’t forget to shop local!)

Rob

West Annapolis Trees

The developer, MRE properties, is proposing to build a mixed use building with housing and a first floor restaurant; that's the good part. The bad part is that they are proposing to unnecessarily remove all of the trees on the property (4 total), including two very large specimen street trees (42" and 36") along Annapolis Street that are in fair health with no sign of decline, despite two laws (Chapter 14 and Chapter 17, thanks to former Mayor Moyer) stating that such trees should be protected (as a side note I’m currently working on legislation to strengthen these laws). Their removal could easily be avoided if they would simply move the building back to the current setback, rather than moving it closer to the road. Furthermore, this risks creating a precedent where any future redevelopment along this road will also move closer to the road, meaning that many of the street trees along Annapolis Street will need to be removed, and it would prevent us from planting new large canopy trees along this street due to the power lines (having more room means the trees can be planted to avoid the powerlines). The important thing to factor in is that the developer is not making any compromises. They are removing ALL of the trees on the site. If we can’t protect trees that are in good shape and at the peak of their lives, providing the maximum benefits they can, than what trees will we protect? Aren’t these the most important trees to protect? There is a solution in sight that would not require any parking to be lost. I’ve attached a PDF with a sketch I put together showing that this is possible simply by relocating one of the stormwater management facilities. What’s more, besides just saving these tree, my proposal could enhance and restore these trees by reducing even the current impacts to the critical root zones of these trees. The developer could even maintain their outdoor dining by using a raised decking as opposed to paving over the roots.

What can you do?

Here are a few notes regarding the Council meeting coming up tomorrow. Of note, we have legislation supporting local journalism, the nomination and possible confirmation of Jackie Guild to our newly created Deputy City Manager for Resilience and Sustainability (she is our current Director of the Office of Environmental Policy, which has been dissolved), and a vote to reconsider housing commission legislation we passed at our October regular Council meeting. Also read on for information on electric bill support being offered through the County.

I hope you had a fun and safe Halloween. Enjoy the weather this weekend!

 Rob

This Monday is our “special” Council meeting, so it’s dedicated to public hearings and ceremonial items. There are a few non-controversial items up for legislative action on the consent calendar (means we pass them all with one vote) and I have summarized them below. There are also a few new pieces of legislation being introduced.

Read on for some information for Halloween and the County GDP. Otherwise, I don’t have much other news for you. Happy Halloween!

Rob

I have a number of important updates for you.

First of all, in regards to our Monday Council meeting, I wanted to make you aware of O-27-20, which at first seems innocuous given its title about “other excluded employees”, but if passed it will require the City to either fire (let go) or hire (as a full time and fully benefited civil servant) all contract employees (unless grant funded) after 5 years. Fully benefited civil servants cost the City more money than contract employees, and while I can understand wanting to give everyone full benefits, we are setting ourselves up for failure with this. We are currently fighting a pandemic. On top of that, we already have staff costs that are rising faster than our revenues.  If this passes, we will be placed in the difficult situation of choosing either to raise taxes or lay off employees, neither of which I’d prefer to do. Until we fix our structural imbalance and address our rising staff costs, I won’t support this. If you feel strongly about keeping our expenses down at this time (and avoiding future taxes) I encourage you to contact your friends in other Wards.

Also on the agenda for Monday is a Resolution enabling our Compensation Commission, which is set up every 4 years prior to each election. We need to select a few people for this Commission, which reviews the compensation provided to the Alderpersons and Mayor. We need volunteers! If you are interested please contact me ASAP as I’ll need to amend this legislation on Monday night to get your name on there.

This Saturday we also have our first budget retreat where we will in part be identifying budget priorities for the Ward. Here’s what I’ll be bringing up (please let me know if there are others to add):

• Sidewalk expansion down Edgewood Rd and Bay Ridge Ave
• Transit down Edgewood Rd
• Resiliency (i.e. sea level rise) assessment for Ward 7 and city-wide so we know what we need to spend, what we need to plan for, and what the most vulnerable areas of the City are.
• Bike paths connecting to Ward 7 to the other Wards

 Rob

Good evening everyone,

What beautiful Autumn weather! It has inspired me to get outside this weekend for some hiking and I hope you find some time to enjoy it as well. Our Council Meeting is on Tuesday this next week.

I wanted to provide a few updates from our last Council meeting. We passed O-18-20 (Institutions for the Care of the Aged), CA-1-20 & O-20-20 (Deputy City Manager for Resilience and Sustainability), and O-34-19 (Appeal Procedures). I want to extend a big “thank you” to everyone who helped to get the Deputy City Manager (i.e. the environmental re-organization) passed. I am hopeful this will really provide the focus and coordination on these issues that we need moving forward. The Mayor will likely be making an appointment to this position as soon as the required Charter Amendment takes effect (I think it’s 30 or 45 days per State law).

Here are details on the meeting next week.

Rob

This Monday we have a packed Council agenda. Rather than go through everything, I’ll just highlight some of the actionable items that you may find most interesting. We have reinstated public testimony, so if you would like to give some read on below for directions.

The big legislation up for a final vote is the environmental re-organization that would create a new Deputy City Manager for Resilience and Sustainability, and the proposed Accessory Dwelling Unit legislation.

This Monday the Council will be resuming live, audio-only public comments. If you would like to sign up to do so, please go to www.annapolis.gov/testimony 4 hours before the start of the meeting, and check the box saying that you want to give live testimony over Zoom. This is also our first meeting with the new setup, where our first meeting of the month, known in the Code as our “Regular” meeting, will focus primarily on our legislative actions, with the second meetings of this month (such as this Monday’s), known as our “Special” meeting, will contain primarily public hearings. That’s why we have so many pieces of legislation up for a hearing this Monday. All that said, we will be modifying our agenda Monday to vote on at least one or two pieces of legislation outside of our Consent Calendar, just to try to get some things passed prior to our August break. Speaking of which, I’ll still be available, but the Council is on recess during August. I will be on vacation for a few long weekends so it may take me even longer than usual to get back in touch with you.

Take care everyone and stay safe,

Rob