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WARD 7 NEWSLETTER
Alderman Rob Savidge · City of Annapolis · July 12, 2026
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| MARK YOUR CALENDAR |
| Mon, Jul 13 |
City Council Regular Meeting — public hearings on O-14-26, O-16-26, O-17-26; first Arnett-Finlayson scholarships · City Hall, 7 PM
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| Wed, Jul 15 |
Police Chief search community session — Boys & Girls Club (121 S. Villa Ave), 6:30 PM
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| Thu, Jul 16 |
Council Work Session, 4:30 PM — prescription drug affordability & the Annapolis Arts District (public welcome, no comment period) · Police Chief search session — First Baptist Church (31 W. Washington St), 6:30 PM
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| Fri, Jul 24 |
Police Chief community survey closes — take it online, see below
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Monday, July 13 — What’s on the Agenda
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7:00 PM at City Hall, in person. Televised on local cable, YouTube, Facebook, and the City website. Submit written testimony anytime at annapolis.gov/testimony. The full agenda is on Legistar. |
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The first Arnett-Finlayson scholarships
We open Monday by recognizing the recipients of the first Arnett-Finlayson Scholarships (ID-143-26). The outgoing Council authorized these awards, which honor two trailblazing Annapolis leaders by investing directly in our students, and I am glad to see them finally come to fruition. Congratulations to the recipients and their families. Come early if you want to cheer them on.
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HACA quarterly report
The Council will receive the Housing Authority’s quarterly report (ID-132-26), covering occupancy, the condition of units and repairs underway, and leadership recruitment. These regular check-ins are an accountability tool, and I will be listening closely on unit conditions and maintenance.
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Public hearings — your chance to weigh in
Three ordinances are up for public hearing Monday. Speak in person or submit written testimony at annapolis.gov/testimony.
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O-16-26 — Forest Conservation, keeping Annapolis ahead on trees (my ordinance). Maryland overhauled its Forest Conservation Act this year, and our code has to conform. But conforming does not mean weakening. Where Annapolis already exceeds the state floor, our replanting ratios and afforestation standards among them, we are keeping our stronger rules, and we are formalizing public notice and comment before high-value forest can be cleared. My amendments also fix an appeals process that has been broken for years, so the public can actually challenge a bad tree-clearing decision. Both committees have now reviewed the ordinance: Environmental Matters recommended it favorably with Amendments 2, 3, 4, and 6, and 6, and Amendment 5, the newspaper notice requirement, goes to the floor. I expect a full Council vote at the end of July. The full story, amendment by amendment, is on my blog. |
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O-14-26 — Art in Public Places Commission (Mayor Littmann). This hearing opened June 22 and was held open to Monday, so there is still time to be heard. The ordinance updates the program’s definitions, revises the Commission’s duties, reduces its size, and changes membership, appointment, term, and art-fund rules. I am reviewing it closely and expect to propose committee amendments to restore governance mechanics (terms, Council confirmation, staggering, vacancy procedures) and to preserve geographic equity, so every part of the city has a fair shot at public art. |
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O-17-26 — The right to park in front of your own driveway (Aldermen Smith-Brown and Contee). Several of you have written to me after being ticketed for parking on the street directly in front of your own driveway. This ordinance responds to exactly that: it lets legal occupants and their guests park in front of a driveway serving their property, on streets where parking is allowed on both sides, subject to conditions. I am joining as a co-sponsor. The intent is right. The committee work now is making sure the details are enforceable and fair, and I will be part of that on the Transportation Committee. |
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Also being introduced Monday
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O-15-26 — Cottage food businesses as home occupations (Alderman Schandelmeier; I am co-sponsoring). If you bake bread, make jam, or run a small home food business under Maryland’s cottage food law, our zoning code does not currently recognize you as a home occupation. The State and County both allow these micro-businesses. This ordinance lets them operate here in the city too, instead of pushing that entrepreneurship outside our limits. I am working with the sponsor on a few refinements in committee to make sure the details work for home-based operators. |
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Environmental Matters Committee — July 9 Recap
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A quick report from the committee I chair. We took the quarterly development update from Planning & Zoning, where I pressed for a pedestrian-street standard in our road codes, so innovative designs like the Bay Ridge Road project (the C&C liquor site) are not defaulted to highway geometry, and asked staff to flag code barriers that defeat common-sense design early, while we can still fix them. Our Resilience & Sustainability update focused on clean, lower-cost energy: we pushed for rooftop solar on community housing redevelopment, Robinwood in particular, where it can be installed at no upfront cost, and confirmed the electric ferry procurement stays on track for a fall design-build solicitation. We closed with a joint session alongside the Rules & City Government Committee on O-16-26 and my amendments, with a detailed briefing from our City Forester; the outcome is described above. The committee does not meet in August. We are back in September, when we expect the final Climate Action Plan and greenhouse gas inventory.
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Community Updates
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Help choose our next Police Chief
The City has launched a community survey on what you want in the next Chief of Police: the experience, the priorities, and the challenges you think matter most. It is open through July 24, in English and Spanish, and takes a few minutes. Two interactive community sessions remain: Wednesday, July 15 at the Boys & Girls Club (121 S. Villa Ave) and Thursday, July 16 at First Baptist Church (31 W. Washington St), both at 6:30 PM. This input directly shapes the candidate profile and interview process, so it is worth your time. More in the City’s announcement.
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Speed cameras: target dates for the Edgewood Road corridor & Tyler Ave
Many of you have waited years for speed enforcement in this corridor, and I have been pressing for a firm schedule. Here are the latest target activation dates from the Police Department: West Street near the library (a State Highway location), end of July; Edgewood Road, August 15, with utility power coordination underway; and Tyler Avenue between Hilltop Lane and Forest Drive, September 15. These are targets, and targets can slip. But they are the most concrete timeline we have had, and in the meantime I have asked Public Works to look at near-term traffic calming for the Edgewood/Bembe stretch, such as speed humps, while the cameras come online. I will keep pushing until they are live.
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$4 million EPA grant to clean up Spa Road
Annapolis and the Resilience Authority have been selected for a $4 million EPA Brownfields Cleanup Grant for 932 and 937 Spa Road. The 6.45-acre site served as a landfill and incinerator in the early 1900s, leaving contaminated soil, groundwater, and sediment. This funding pays for remediation that keeps those pollutants out of the Chesapeake Bay, and a cleaned-up site opens the door to future affordable housing and commercial space. Community engagement on the site’s future is built into the grant, so residents will have a say in what comes next.
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Water Reclamation Facility odors: fixes are moving to construction
For neighbors near the County’s Annapolis Water Reclamation Facility: after sustained community advocacy, the County’s odor-control program is moving from evaluation into construction planning, including a comprehensive new odor-control system, a new mudwell to contain sludge-related odors, scrubber repairs, and expanded hydrogen sulfide monitoring. Major construction is expected to begin this fall, with completion projected around spring 2028. Two things you can do: keep logging odor events with the free Smell My City app, which is the data that holds this project accountable, and watch for a community update meeting early this fall. Follow along on the County’s project page.
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Thank you, as always, for your engagement.
— Rob
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