Did you miss the virtual Ward 7 Town Hall?

First of all, I wanted to thank those of you who attended the Ward’s first virtual town hall. If you missed it, and would like to hear the updates and remarks from myself and the Mayor, you can view the meeting here. I hope to hold another one in late April or May.

I’m running again!

You may have noticed in yesterday’s Capital Gazette that I’ve declared my run for a second term. I have enjoyed serving you during my first term and I hope I can count on your continued support. Please consider donating $25 or $50 to my campaign, or sign on to be a sustainer by donating $5 or $10 a month. www.robsavidge.com/donate

Next Council meeting

There isn’t anything too exciting on the agenda for Monday’s Council meeting. New legislation is being introduced that attempts to allow greater numbers of Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs). If you recall, an earlier version of this legislation was withdrawn about 12 months ago. Other than that we have a number of pieces of legislation up for a final vote but nothing too controversial. I’ll provide full details below.

Stay healthy and stay safe,

Rob

Before I get into the details about this Monday’s Council meeting and let you know about things that may be of interest, I wanted to remind you about the first virtual Ward 7 Town Hall meeting, coming up this Tuesday, March 9^th, from 6-7:30 pm. Mayor Gavin Buckley will be our special guest for the first half hour, and we will both give you updates on things in the Ward and City and answer any questions you may half. After that we are welcoming Eileen Fogarty with the Maritime Advisory Task Force, who will tell us about the work the task force is doing, which could greatly impact Ward 7’s industrial maritime district (i.e. the area down Edgewood Rd on the west side). I’ll paste the login information for the Zoom meeting below.

Stay healthy and stay safe,

Rob

I would like to invite you to our first virtual Ward 7 Town Hall event, coming up on Tuesday, March 9th, from 6-7:30pm. We will be having two special guests: the Mayor Gavin Buckley and Eileen Fogarty, with the Maritime Advisory Task Force.

I miss holding the in-person town hall events for Ward 7. After Alderman Arnett held a virtual one for Ward 8, it has encouraged me to give that a try for this Ward. I have a tentative date of March 9^th from 6 to 7:30pm. I’m going to try to get the Mayor to join us for this first one, and after I give a few updates we can just dedicate the rest of the meeting to open questions & answers. I may also invite Planning & Zoning to present on the Comprehensive plan, but rather than pack all of that in a single meeting I may just schedule a second town hall for April or May that is dedicated to that topic. I’ll send out more details on the 9^th when I have them.

This Monday’s Council meeting is dedicated to public hearings on a number of pieces of legislation, which I’ll detail below. Of particular note is R-3-21, the resolution accepting the report and recommendations from the Charter-required Council Compensation Commission. They are formed every 4 years to make recommendations on if and how the Mayor or Council’s compensation should be adjusted. I certainly have my own opinion on that but it’s all a moot point since I see zero chance that we would give ourselves a raise during a fiscal year where we may very well be furloughing and laying off City employees. Regardless, even if this Resolution passes at our next meeting, it only accepts the recommendations and doesn’t act on them. To actually enact the pay changes we would have to introduce a separate ordinance to do that no later than 4 months prior to the next election. Again, virtually zero chance of that.

When you get to the end of this email you’ll see a more detailed update on the budget as well as an update on the proposed Lidl development that is slated to be built on the old C&C Liquors site across from the Giant.

Stay healthy and stay safe,

Rob

We have a lot of legislation being introduced at this meeting. Not all of the staff reports have been posted so I’ll keep an eye on them as they work their way through the process. The only legislation up for a final vote are the proposed leash law adjustments that would send the enforcement of those laws to the Police Department, which I have concerns about, but fortunately I think this legislation is being withdrawn. Also of note is legislation being introduced that would allow medical marijuana dispensaries to be opened in the same zoning districts that allow pharmacies.

It is still on my to-do list to setup a virtual town hall meeting in either late February or early March. Could you let me know what topics you would like to discuss and whom you may like to attend? I’m thinking of inviting the Mayor, since we haven’t heard from him in a while in this Ward, and also someone from either the City Office of Emergency Management or the County Health Department to talk about the pandemic.

Stay healthy and stay safe,

Rob

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