This Monday’s Council meeting will be starting at 6pm, as opposed to the usual 7pm, as we are starting our meeting with a special closed session, I believe to talk about the lawsuit against the City and HACA regarding the maintenance and inspections of their units.

Also, in election news, since we have one coming up in a few weeks, I wanted to make a pitch for our team here in District 30: State Senator Sarah Elfreth, Del Shaneka Henson, & Del Dana Jones, who are all running for re-election, and in my opinion have done an excellent job and deserve to be re-elected. I’m hosting a fundraiser for them, and County Councilwoman Lisa Rodvien, on October 28^th at 6:30 at 117 Legion Ave. I hope some of you can attend!

Stay healthy and stay safe,

Rob

Next Council meeting – 10/24/22 (agenda)

This Council meeting is starting at 6pm and will be televised on local cable, YouTube, Facebook, and the City website.  You can submit public testimony at http://www.annapolis.gov/testimony. This will be an in-person meeting.

Public Hearings

• O-31-22 - Revenue and Finance - Budget - Annapolis Community Grant Program - For the purpose of requiring that all recipients of City community grant funds have proof of non-profit status; clarifying definitions; adding acceptable proof; expanding requirements for grantees; and generally dealing with community grant allocations.
• O-39-22 - Administration - Mayor - Harbormaster - For the purpose of the City of Annapolis Harbormaster reporting to the Deputy City Manager for Resiliency and Sustainability rather than the Director of Recreation and Parks; and generally related to Harbormaster duties.
• O-41-22 - Administration - Rules of Procedure - Reading, amendment and passage of ordinances, etc. - Staff Reports - For the purpose of requiring staff reports on charter amendments, ordinances, and resolutions.
• O-46-22 - Issuance of General Obligation Bonds and Bond Anticipation Notes
• O-49-22 - Planning and Zoning - Parking and Loading Regulations - Parking fee-in-lieu of meeting off-street parking requirements. - For the purpose of authorizing a parking fee-in-lieu for certain businesses required to provide parking spaces; and generally relating to off-street parking requirements.

Legislation being introduced on first reader

• R-30-22 - Restaurant Parking Lot Usage Pilot Program Extension for Outdoor Dining - For the purpose of directing the City Manager to extend the Annapolis Outdoor Dining Pilot Program, allowing restaurants to use privately-owned parking lots for outdoor dining, for an additional six months. If outdoor dining is to continue, this must be passed, as we don’t have the laws created yet to allow it permanently. I support this effort and am inclined to support suspending the rules to pass this in one meeting, pending any comments from you.
• R-57-22 - Correction in Fiscal Year 2023 Fees Schedule - For the purpose of correcting the FY 2023 Fees Schedule by reinserting a line mistakenly omitted; and generally relating to City fees.

Legislation on second reader (i.e. final vote)

• O-9-22 - Off-Street Parking Requirements - Food Establishments - For the purpose of eliminating off-street parking requirements for bars, taverns, delicatessens, restaurants, and social clubs; and generally relating to off-street parking requirements. If passed, this would remove the parking requirements entirely for all restaurants in the entire City. While I do support the goal of moving away from car-centric transportation, I think this goes too far as currently written and for sure would cause problems in places like Eastport, that are short on public parking options. For this reason alone we need to come up with a compromise. Contrary to what I said in my last email to you, Ward 7 would be impacted by this. For example, we have Main & Market in the Georgetown Plaza that shares this building with a number of other tenants, ranging from a barber shop to a yoga studio. I bring this up because all of those uses would still have parking requirements, and it doesn’t seem to make sense to remove them just for one use. Furthermore, there are other potential impacts to restaurants adding additional seating in those parking spots, such as restrooms, ADA requirements, fire safety, grease traps, etc, that need to be addressed through an actual review process. I agree that we need flexibility with our parking requirements, and as it turns out there already is a code provision allowing for such flexibility. But simply removing requirements for one use over another is not a good way to do things. I'm still inclined to support O-49-22, which would create a waiver system (though again, we already have this in place), but also create a fee-in-lieu that would go towards addressing mobility issues in the City and allow for a public process where the public could comment before parking is waived for a particular establishment. O-49-22 represents a compromise legislation that I’m hoping more of my colleagues can agree with, as opposed to O-9-22. I’m inclined to vote no on O-9-22, pending any comments from you, but I’ll see how the discussion goes.
• R-41-22 - Military Bowl Parade and Football Game - For the purpose of identifying the Military Bowl Parade and Football Game that will be held on December 28, 2022, as a Major Special Event; and waiving charges for certain City of Annapolis costs related to city services for that event. When this first came up for first reader, I mistakenly thought that this was a Navy-organized event, and was questioning why the Navy needs us to waive fees. As it turns out, this Military Bowl operation is entirely a non-profit that benefits veterans. So at this point, I am inclined to support this legislation, pending any comments from you.
• R-50-22 - Rocky Gorge Development Emergency Action for the purpose of addressing the Rocky Gorge Development's "Aris T. Allen Boulevard" project, a 23-acre site platted for 48 single-family housing units; calling for an immediate stop work order on site development, and requiring a report on the project. This Resolution was postponed from earlier in the year. I’m going to wait for our discussion before determining how to move forward with this.
• R-51-22 - Director of Transportation - Markus G. Moore - For the purpose of expressly confirming the appointment of Markus G. Moore as the Director of Transportation; and consenting to compensate the Director. I am inclined to support this, pending any comments from you.
• R-54-22 - Non-maritime Use Fee on Waterfront Property per City Zoning Code - For the purpose of establishing a fee for non-maritime use of waterfront property in the City of Annapolis per ? 21.46.010 (E); and generally related to maritime zoning in the City. This legislation simply creates a fee as was enabled via O-25-21, our large overhaul to the maritime zoning in the City. The fee would go towards the Annapolis Maritime Industry Fund and associated programs. Pending any comments from you, I’m inclined to support this.
• R-56-22 - City Dock Holiday Market and Itinerant Merchant Sales in the Historic District - For the purpose of authorizing a non-recurring major City Dock event; and authorizing hawker, peddler, and itinerant merchant sales in the Historic District in conjunction with the Annapolis City Dock Holiday Market event. I’m inclined to support, pending any input from you.

Community & Political updates

Team 30A fall fundraiser

Haunted Hilltop (Halloween celebration at Rec Center)

Annapolis 5k run for K9 dogs

Cover letter/resume workshop

Annapolis receives “Silver” award certification from Sustainable Maryland

Opportunity to Serve on the Annapolis Democratic Central Committee

There is an opportunity for a resident from Ward 7 to serve as an alternate on the Annapolis Democratic Central Committee (http://annapolisdems.org). In addition to fulfilling duties imposed by the Annapolis City Code, the ADCC supports a strong and viable Democratic Party. If you are interested in serving, please let me know and I will put you in touch with the Central Committee.