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March 8, 2012 Town Meeting Minutes
DRAFT
Town of Cheverly
Meeting Minutes
     March 8, 2012

Call to Order
Meeting called to order at 8:00 pm in the Cheverly Community Center.  

In attendance:  CMs Riazi, Coolen, Eldridge, Thorpe and Cook.

Pledge of Allegiance

Agenda/Approval/Changes

Minutes – Town Meeting 2/9/12
Approved as written.

Minutes – Worksession 2/22/12
Approved as written.

Town Administrator Report

Mr. Warrington had nothing to report.

Police Department Report

Chief Robshaw was not available to be at the meeting.  

Committee Reports

Recreation Council Ms. Pejokovich reported that the Recreation Council meeting will be Tuesday the 27th in the conference room at 7pm and all are invited.  We are preparing for the Easter Egg Hunt on April 7th at 11am.  Bring a basket or bag to collect eggs and that volunteers are needed.  Anyone under 9 years old can participate.  Also, the Spring Flea Market will soon be upon us on March 14th and the proceeds help fund scholarships for Cheverly high school seniors going to college.

Cheverly Day is coming along well.  We are pushing the theme this year of local artists.  We will have their talents displayed.  We will have the race and music in the morning.  There is a group that is meeting to train for the 5K and you can get involved.  The ChevProm is also the day before Cheverly Day.  We will not be having a booklet this year.  We will have our booklet on line.  The prices for ads have been reduced.  Please follow the Newsletter for details.

Green Infrastructure Report Ms. Salo noted that there will be a workshop for green landscaping at the Hoyer School.  It will be held Tuesday March 20th at 7pm in the cafeteria.  At the same event you can get a white oak seedling absolutely free.  Everyone is invited.  

Citizen Input

Ms. Joyce Lang on behalf of the Cheverly Woman’s Club to note that our 5th Peace Month is on the way.  Please participate.  The calendar will be in the May Newsletter and if you wish to add something, just call me.  Also, the Woman’s Club will be making the chicken salad this next flea market.  The money the kitchen raises goes to scholarships to Peace Camp.

Ms. Braddock from Ward 1.  I am a parent and resident and I wanted to thank the Mayor and Council for their support for our Middle School tag students to stay at Kenmore Middle School rather than Walker Mill Middle School, which is much farther.

Mayor and Council Announcements

CM Riazi Judith P. Hoyer will be performing the school play at 7pm Friday and Saturday evening.  It is $5 and children under 3 are free.  Today is the International Day of Women.  In Ward 1 I would invite you all to take advantage of using a club on your car to protect from theft.

CM Thorpe the safe passages program helps young men with studies, you can volunteer call 301-772-5174.  Also, there is a homework program in town twice a week and it may be worth your time.  We need volunteers, but we need more kids to participate and it is free for the teens.  It is Mondays at CUMC or at the Town Hall on Wednesdays.

CM Coolen just two quick announcements.  The Community Market will have a pot luck dinner the weekend before Cheverly Day on Monday May 6th.   Tuesday, April 3rd is Maryland’s primary day.   

CM Cook I just wanted to assure the residents of Cheverly Oak Forest Court that the streetlight requested has been ordered from Pepco and we are just waiting for them to schedule it for installation.

Mayor the Route 202 corridor study and a Landover Metro Plan held its first meeting tonight.  The bag fee in the legislature, which we supported, has passed.  On March15th at the Public Playhouse and March 22nd at Boyd Park there will be groups of kids from the Midwest pay to come and clean streams.  For the last 7 years they have come to clean the Lower Beaver Dam Creek and adding Quincy Run this year.  Old Ward 4 people will note that this year they will be voting within the Town this year as a result of the efforts of previous Town Councils and the current 47th District.  There seems to be some willingness to help us with the previously discussed graffiti on the CSX bridge over Route 50 so we shall see. The agenda for the next Worksession is: our new Ethics Ordinance, Pet Ordinance Signage, Police Complaint Process and discussions about the upcoming Budget.





WSSC Presentation

Mr. Phillip Wong we are here to discuss some sewer improvement projects that will be occurring in the Town during the next year.  The presentation will be done by Mr. Dudley tonight.

Mr. Dudley I have a handout that I will be referencing tonight. I will go through the overall goals the project objectives, the impacts on properties, why it is being done, the methods to be used and how we are going to communicate with the community.  The project objectives are to correct deficiencies and comply with State requirements.  The program will address issues in Cheverly and the lower Anacostia basin.  In the WSSC consent includes the roads contract, which is what we are talking about tonight. There are 3 sewer mains on Laurel, Belleview and Kilmer that we will be addressing.  Most of these repairs are trenchless technology that lessens excavation.  We will be working 7:30-4:00 and there will be traffic control to keep traffic moving.  We will be going up to the property line, but not on private property.  A lot of this program is to fix things to keep extraneous water out of the system, which is what EPA wants to have happen in order to reduce the treated amount of water.  There is a WSSC website where you can go to see the progress.

CM Eldridge can you give me a sense of how long we are talking about once a project starts.

Mr. Dudley the pipe bursting is about a 5-7 day period.  Kilmer is about a 2 day work and the manhole is 3-4 days.  Homeowners will still be able to have water.

CM Riazi I would like the residents to be kept abreast of your operations and process.  You have hired an environmental consultant regarding what trees can be cut down, but we want to have a voice as well as to these types of decisions. We would like an open dialogue.  It would be helpful to notify residents that this is going to occur around your home.  The initial notification is wonderful, but people forget and then they feel blind sided.  When people are out there working they should go ahead of the work and inform people that they are coming.  We need communication for a much more positive outcome.

Mayor this is great.  Maybe we could have you speak to the Old Ward Four meeting.

Grant Request Green Infrastructure Committee

  • CM  Riazi MOTION to award a grant for partnering with the Neighborhood Design Center for a landscape design for Town Park in the amount of $700 . CM Coolen seconded. Approved unanimously.
Grant Request Friends of Lower Beaver Dam Creek

  • CM Cook MOTION to approve a $1,000 grant to support the funding of the clean-up in our waterways on March 22nd for the Earth Conservation Center and Students Today Leaders Forever Youth Conservation Corps.  CM Riazi seconded. Approved unanimously.
B-W Parkway Widening Position

Mayor I was supposed to write that position for this evening, but have not.  I will prepare something to distribute to you.  Having attended the meetings, we found their stated mission was way too narrow.  They didn’t look at other alternatives.  The study came back with pretty maps, but they did not have enough information to really begin this process.  The basic thread of information was that they could carry more cars, but no one would go any faster.  Also, they need to look at all the other alternatives.  This will be our basic position.  

CM Eldridge I think that it was woefully narrowly scoped.  It seemed like a silly project to not look at things in a more comprehensive manner.  It was not taken seriously.  I support something that says if you are going to do this job, then do it right.

CM Riazi we did speak of the limited scope and we discussed how this impacted the smaller communities.  It did not seem to be on their radar that we should have been part of this discussion.   We brought out the exits and lanes that were also choke points on the Parkway.  This study did not have environmental aspects, but we noted that they need to consider.  We don’t know if there will be next steps, but we need to remain aware.

Proclamation Designating 2012 the Year of the Oak and Arbor Day

Mayor I would like to note that the Green Infrastructure Committee has asked the Town to declare 2012 as the Year of the Oak via a Proclamation.
 
  • CM Coolen MOTION to approve P-1-12 Declaring 2012 as the Year of the Oak in Cheverly. CM Eldridge seconded. Approved unanimously.
  • CM  Eldridge Motion that April 11, 2012 be declared as Arbor Day in the Town of Cheverly. CM  Thorpe seconded. Approved unanimously
Resolution R-1-12 Cable Television Consortium

Town Administrator this Resolution authorizes the Town to enter into a consortium group made-up of other municipalities and the County for the purpose of negotiating an extension of the Cable Franchise Agreement with Comcast.  There will be a needs assessment by each community and we will probably discuss a second channel for community access.

  • CM Thorpe MOTION to approve R-1-12 authorized the Town Administrator to join the Cable Television Consortium. CM Eldridge seconded. Approved unanimously.
All Saints Anglican Church Presentation

Town Administrator gave a history update as to the Town’s involvement and the process since the church was started in 2006.  It was noted that currently, the building permit has expired on the site.

Anglican Church Representative we have been here in the past and we were hoping that we would be before you for an open house, but now we have delays.  We had severe thunderstorms last year and cost over runs by the contractor.  We have not abandoned the property, but are going full speed and we are paying for two mortgages and we want to be in this property as soon as possible.

CM Riazi timeline is of great concern.   If this were a homeowner we would have completed the project and liened the home.  It is unfinished and I am happy there is a roof on, but I want to see more.  There is run-off of piles of soils excavated and that needs to be addressed.  There is discarded building materials that need to be removed and the building site needs to be maintained.  You need to show your neighbors that you are a good neighbor.

Anglican Church Representative we will address your concerns in the next two weeks.  We want to move forward.  I am hoping that the Town will allow us to move forward in attempting to complete the project.  The first phase is almost done.  The windows are done and need to be installed.  The landscaping can be done within a week of that installation.  Timeline, safely we can do all that in 4 months.  You should see everything in the first phase.  The building will be completely enclosed and all the outside work will be done. We have all the funding for the first phase.

CM Riazi what are your goals and timeline for the second phase?

Anglican Church Representative I don’t want to over promise, but our goal is to move in by the end of the year.  The second phase is the interior work, which needs to be done before we move in, but we do not have funding for the second phase.  We have full funding for the first phase.

Mayor so tomorrow I want you to call David and work that out so you can move forward.  What are your attentions at the lower lot?  We don’t have the documents that were negotiated.  We want to be clear that the lower lot was to be left natural.  As you look at phase 2 is to stand in your parking lot and look down your driveway and you will see a river that runs out and it goes straight out through the bus terminal on to the Parkway.  Could you look at how to mitigate this?  Is your congregation growing?  All these plans were based on your congregation size.

Anglican Church Representative our congregation size is 200 or less or 125 families.

CM Riazi there are many Town organizations that could help you problem solve some of these issues and allow you build community ties.

Mayor this is volunteer help, not Town help.

CM Eldridge could you please share your timeline with specifics with the Town Administrator tomorrow since this would help us in dealing with questions from resident’s questions.




Town of Cheverly
Summary of Action
March 8, 2012

  •  CM  Riazi MOTION to award a grant for partnering with the Neighborhood Design Center for a landscape design for Town Park in the amount of $700 . CM Coolen seconded. Approved unanimously.
  • CM Cook MOTION to approve a $1,000 grant to support the funding of the clean-up in our waterways on March 22nd for the Earth Conservation Center and Students Today Leaders Forever Youth Conservation Corps.  CM Riazi seconded. Approved unanimously.
  • CM Coolen MOTION to approve P-1-12 Declaring 2012 as the Year of the Oak in Cheverly. CM Eldridge seconded. Approved unanimously.
  • CM  Eldridge Motion that April 11, 2012 be declared as Arbor Day in the Town of Cheverly. CM  Thorpe seconded. Approved unanimously.
  • CM ThorpeMOTION to approve R-1-12 authorized the Town Administrator to join the Cable Television Consortium. CM Eldridge seconded. Approved unanimously.