This Wednesday at 6pm we will be having a virtual community meeting (this is NOT a town hall event) regarding the Griscom Square development, at the corner of Bay Ridge Ave and Tyler Ave. This may especially be of interest to those of you who live on Tyler Ave, in Bethany Court, or Cedar Ridge. I've contacted the developer, John Pilli (previously of Annapolis), and he has agreed to join us for a community meeting so that everyone can be briefed on what this project is, and so that the community can voice any questions or concerns they may have. On the plus side, John is a local developer who I think will be sensitive to the community's concerns. 

For those who may not be aware, this is one of the "zombie projects" that have been spoken to in the paper recently. What this means is that their approval dates to 2006, which in turn means they don't have to comply with our newest laws. I find this especially frustrating given that I've worked incredibly hard to get our laws updated to protect our environment, schools, and communities. Unfortunately, previous Councils (way before me) have "tolled" their permits repeatedly, and also unfortunately, staff has been granting them extension after extension when they really probably shouldn't have been. I've also learned that there are numerous loopholes in our code that allow this type of development (planned unit development) to get around our most current laws. I plan on doing my best to close those. 

However, regarding this project, Griscom Square, there really isn't much we can do at the moment to "reset" their permitting, so I've decided to organize this community meeting to make sure that everyone is aware of what's going on (since this is such an old permit, many people weren't aware of it), and to give you an opportunity to voice your comments to the developer themselves. 

Please RSVP to me, and I will send you the login information for the virtual ZOOM meeting when I have it. 

The meeting will be from 6-7:30pm on Wednesday, August 10th. City Planning & Zoning staff (the planner and arborist) will be joining us as well.

You can view the final plans here in preparation of the meeting.