Town of Cheverly
Meeting Minutes
May 9, 2013
Call to Order
Meeting called to order at 8:00 pm in the Cheverly Community Center.
In attendance: CMs, Riazi, Coolen, Eldridge, Thorpe, Cook.
Pledge of Allegiance
Swearing in of Mayor and Councilmembers
Mr. Watson of the County Clerk’s Office administered the oath of office to the Mayor and Councilmembers.
Agenda/Approval/Changes
Town Administrator added the Introduction of OB-1-13 regarding the FY14 Budget.
Minutes – Town Meeting 4/11/13
Approved as written.
Minutes – Worksession 4/25/13
Approved with one correction.
Town Administrator’s Report
Mr. Warrington noted that we just completed an election, truck touch and were getting ready for Cheverly Day.
Chief’s Report
Chief Robshaw unfortunately crime has been creeping back up and the majority of the crime is theft. Theft from autos is still our most prevalent crime so please “Conceal it so thieves won’t steal it”. Robberies and other crimes are crimes of opportunity. This year every robbery has resulted in an arrest. We do have 2 more radios left and ordered 10 more. So, we are in good shape to add to our radio watch. Our radio watch program has resulted in inquiries from across the nation. We now have over 70 radios out in our community. We are on the National Registry of Volunteer Programs.
Committee Reports
Recreation Council Report
No report.
Green Infrastructure Committee
Ms. Shiela Salo this is the year of the heath, which includes blueberries etc. Stop by the Lower Beaverdam Creek table on Cheverly Day for a map to find heaths along paths in Cheverly. At the Nature Park you can now see in through the trees through a donation of time and materials from Branches Tree Experts invasive Chinese Wisteria is gone. Come by the table on Cheverly Day to view the amendment to the Town Park Master Plan.
Cheverly Day Report
CM Thorpe Cheverly Day is May 18th. Donations are still being accepted and tables for community organizations are available. We will have a few prom the tickets left the evening before, the market and fireworks. Please see the website, Cheverlyday.org or Cheverlyday.com. There will be a great music line-up with Jazz, Blues, Salsa, Scah and Rock bands.
Planning Board Report
CM Eldridge the Planning Board has made Margaret McDonald as the new vice-chair. They discussed the Landover and 202 Plan along with the County wide Park plan along with a look at non-motorized connections between Cheverly and the Anacostia trail system. The meeting is next Tuesday.
Citizen Input
Ms. Joyce Lang May is Peace Month in Cheverly. Thanks for supporting this idea. Read a piece about peace. Read a Peace Proclamation from Congresswoman Donna Edwards. Finally, I have a request for a grant at Peace Camp.
Mayor and Council Announcements
CM Eldridge thanks to everyone that participated at Truck Touch. Tomorrow is Cheverly’s Bike to School Day and I hope folks come out at 8 am in Legion Park. A week from tomorrow is bike to work day and there will be a pit stop at the Cheverly Metro Station. You can go online to biketoworkdc.com to register for a tee shirt. It will run from 6am to 9am. Thanks to everyone who participated in this past campaign.
CM Cook I want to echo CM Eldridge for a great campaign and thanks to a great Town.
CM Coolen I want to remind everybody that there will be a Community Market on the morning of Cheverly Day.
CM Riazi the Boy Scouts of Cheverly are looking for more Boy Scouts to sign up. There will be flyers on Cheverly Day. The American Legion will be holding a Memorial Day event at 10 am at Legion Park on Memorial Day.
Mayor the Garden Club Sale is Saturday morning. Please pick-up the Gazette to see that CM Cook was the first place winner in the Chili Cookoff. Worksession agenda will include: O-6-13 Amending Section 20-4 regarding Dangerous Weapons, Selection of Vice-Mayor, MML Conference and a Budget Discussion.
Adoption – R-2-13 Appointment to the Property Maintenance Review Board
Mr. Warrington this explained the process and purpose of the Board. The Board allows residents to appeal to a body to look and determine if the Town is being overzealous or not. It is a checks and balances. It is a three year appointment and either he or the Town can change the person in the position.
CM Eldridge do they have a criteria? Mr. Warrington it is in the Code along with the procedures governing the Board. This is to contest a notice prior to the issuance of a citation and or action by the Town to address the issue. Once a citation is issued, then the courts will adjudicate.
CM Cook this pertains to your property not what is occurring on your property, like the complaint we got today about leaf collection bags on the wrong day. Mr. Warrington no that charge is not appealable.
- CM Thorpe to adopt Resolution R-2-13 Adding a member to the Property Review Maintenance Review Board. CM Coolen seconded. Approved 5-0.
Public Hearing – Town Park Master Plan Amendment
Mr. Warrington the process for amending the Master Plan will be similar to our legislative process in that we will have three opportunities for the public to comment on the proposed amendments. It will be up for adoption in July. Once adopted and incorporated in the plan, we will include it in our Capital Improvement Program and work toward funding and making the plan a reality.
Ms. Salo presented the proposed amendment to the Town Park Master Plan. We will be at the Market before Cheverly Day and on Cheverly Day. The primary purpose of this plan is environmental to reduce erosion, soil run-off and soil compaction. We want to focus on native plantings and improved stormwater management techniques. Also, a broader range of recreational activities are part of the plan. This is a design or concept plan, which will need to be designed by civil engineers. It can be found at www.greencheverly.org. Summarized some of the comments obtained last week.
Mr. Dan Smith Ward 2 – spoke in support of the plan.
Mayor we will take additional input at the next Town Meeting.
Introduction – O-3-13 Amending Section 4-7 Regarding Beekeeping
Mr. Warrington this legislation is being proposed as a direct result of a request by the Community Garden. The Mayor and Council had experts make a presentation at the last Worksession regarding bees and beehives. At the conclusion, they offered wording that is in the Howard County Code regarding beehives in community gardens and the Town Attorney was instructed to utilize it in preparing an amendment to the Cheverly Town Code. This Ordinance will allow for a hive to be established at the Cheverly Community Garden. This legislation is posted on our website.
Mayor we are setting-up a meeting with the residents of Old Ward 4 and the bee experts to explain some of the aspects since the community garden is located in Boyd Park. The 45 minute overview by BUMBA at the last meeting and it was an excellent and educational presentation that made it very convincing. We should be able to adopt this in July once we have all the appropriate resident input. On Cheverly Day BUMBA will have a table to aid in education.
Dan Smith Inwood Street I was not at the meeting where you had the briefing, but I think you should consider expanding this beyond just the Community Garden.
Introduction – O-4-13 Amending Section 27-5 Regarding Zone Parking
Mr. Warrington this legislation is being proposed to address and improve our Zone Parking areas by removing some of the less used and perhaps unnecessary zone parking blocks. In the old days, before the Hospital parking garage, people would park in Cheverly and walk to the Hospital. With the construction of the garage, this is no longer a problem and places an unnecessary burden on the residents in that area to obtain a zone parking sticker every year. Also, there are some very far reaching areas off Cheverly Avenue where zone parking does not seem necessary. We have sent out notification to anyone in the zones of our intent to remove the zone parking restrictions and have not had a negative reaction. This legislation is on our website.
Mayor we are very well versed after months of discussing zone parking.
CM Riazi if we remove these zones and the situation changes and we find there is a need what is the recourse. Mr. Warrington as with all legislation, we can amend it and put it back into the Code.
Second Reading O-2-13 Amending the Parking Section
Mr. Warrington this Ordinance amends the parking section to clearly define that dual wheeled vehicles are prohibited in Cheverly on the street, unless loading or unloading. It is a County zoning code requirement and is outlined in our code regarding off street parking, but we want it clearly defined in our Code regarding on street parking. This legislation is on our website.
Introduction OB-1-13 Adopting the FY 14 Budget
Mr. Warrington this Ordinance is not a codified ordinance and we will be adopting it at our next meeting. The Town Attorney prefers that we adopt the budget by Ordinance and this ordinance has been designed to allow us to do so at our next meeting. Introducing it tonight will allow adoption next month without having to designate it as emergency legislation.
Discussion of the FY14 Operating Budget and Capital Improvement Program
Mayor the May Newsletter and mid-May fyi, which is on line that incorporates the changes from the Worksession, provides a good deal of detail to the budget. We intend on keeping the tax rate the same and the only increase we see is in the multi-family taxes since their assessment increased this year. Details and numbers of the budget to date provided. Noted the merits of paving roads when WSSC is paving and the Governor has provided an additional $90,000 in road funding, which we will be using. Discussed the possibility of trying to better the equity between the single family homes and multi-family homes regarding taxes. The apartments make up 20% of the Town’s units and the Town’s spend a lot of resources there, but the apartments only pay $107,000 or 3% of the real estate
taxes, which is roughly an Officer and a police car. So, we are considering a different rate for the multi-family taxes. We have charged the Town Administrator with trying to address the costs of Workers Compensation Insurance, which has grown three fold in the past three years. This is a significant amount of money that we want to drive to lower.
Mayor we are adjourned.
Town of Cheverly
Summary of Action
May 9, 2013
- CM Thorpe to adopt Resolution R-2-13 Adding a member to the Property Review Maintenance Review Board. CM Coolen seconded. Approved 5-0.
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