Next

Ross emailed this shortly after the last town hall meeting:

Thank you to everyone who came to the Town Hall Meeting on Quality of Life.  We had a record turnout. For those of you who could not attend and thanks to my sister Mary Anne, we have a transcription of the charts with the quality of life factors we identified. I was impressed with the work we got done, but there is still time to add more thoughts. Whether you attended or not, if you wish to add to the quality of life factors or to the action steps, please send me yours thought by email. I plan to have a summary report finished soon.

Update on the Shopping Center

I understand and share the frustration that some you expressed regarding your ability to give input on the development plans for the shopping center. So I have asked the Mayor to give me a date when we can have him and his planning staff to come to another Town Hall Meeting to explain the planning process and provide you an opportunity to give your opinions about the proposed development plans. The Mayor has agreed to set a time, hopefully before the Planning Commission Work Session with the developers on 2 March.

So stay tuned, I will be getting you the report and a date for the next Town Hall meeting.

Ross Arnett, Alderman, Ward 8

(443) 745-2901

Reminder for Tonight

Hi,  Eastport residents concerned about responsible growth: Please join us for a half hour at the start of City Council tonight, 2/27, when we will address the Mayor and City Council in a televised and recorded hearing.  The purpose will be to share our concerns about the proposed plans for 127 apartment units at the Eastport Shopping Center.  Harold  Sherman, a representative  of our community, will read the petition which now has nearly 300 signatures of your neighbors.   City Hall, 160 Duke of Gloucester St., 7-7:30 PM, Monday, 2/27 Signs are fine.  We should plan to sit in the audience and clap at the end of reading the petition.  Having a big crowd will make a significant impression.  For those of you who missed it, here is how it looked and sounded when the President of ECA did something similar at the previous council meeting. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnB1VLns6_g&feature=youtu.be Sent via Action Network, a free online toolset anyone can use to organize. Click here to sign up and get started building an email list and creating online actions today. Action Network is an open platform that empowers individuals and groups to organize for progressive causes. We encourage responsible activism, and do not support using the platform to take unlawful or other improper action. We do not control or endorse the conduct of users and make no representations of any kind about them. You can unsubscribe or update your email address by changing your subscription preferences here.

Council

(The full Agenda can be found in SHARE:  COMMUNITY ANNOUNCEMENTS)

Remember, at the beginning of the meeting, we are reading the petition for Eastport Shopping Center and will then present it to Council.  Please show up!  Unless you have a personal reason for staying, we should be out of there by about 7:30.

Here’s Ross:

Ward 8 Residents and Friends

 The Annapolis City Council will meet Monday 27 February at 7 p.m. in the Council Chambers. Public hearings will be followed by a legislative session. Although your attendance is preferred, all Council meetings are broadcast on Comcast channel 100 and on Verizon channel 34.

 Thank you to everyone who came to the Town Hall meeting on Quality of Life in Eastport. The count was 160 attended. I am working on the analysis of your input and have already shared the information you put on the chart paper tablets around the room. The next meeting is not yet scheduled, but will be soon. The total focus of that meeting will be a discussion of the proposed redevelopment of the Eastport Shopping Center. The Mayor and the Planning and Zoning staff will be in attendance.

 For those who knew and loved Mike Miron, you should look at the Resolution being introduced on first reader in the Consent Calendar section of the Agenda. If all goes well, I hope to have a dedication ceremony at the end of Sixth Street on a warm weekend in spring.

Ross

Dates You Should Be Aware Of

Thank you all for signing the petition for the Eastport Shopping Center! Here are some next steps: Step #1   Copy and paste the text of the petition (or your own message) and send it to: Mayor@annapolis.gov, Pgutwald@Annapolis.gov, ECAPresident@EastportCivic.org, eastportross@aol.com The petition is at the end of this email so you can copy/paste from there Step #2  Attend the City Council public comment period next Monday where one person from Eastport will read the petition and present it to the Mayor. We will all stand and clap at the end of the testimony. It should take a total of 15 minutes and we should be out by 7:30 pm. The point is to put us on City Council’s radar screen. When: Monday, 27 February, 7:00 pm Where: City Hall (160 Duke of Gloucester) Step #3  Attend the Planning Commission Work Session When:  Thursday, 2 March, 2017, 7:00 pm Where: City Hall (160 Duke of Gloucester) The developers will present the project to the Planning Commission and we are not allowed to participate. We can peacefully protest by holding up signs. The good news is that the city has promised that citizens will have their own work session with the Planning Commission (date tbt) some time before the date of the Planning Commission’s formal public hearing and vote. RECAP of recent events regarding the Shopping Center: Alderman Ross Arnett held a town hall meeting on February 16, 2017 for Ward 8 residents to discuss quality of life issues with key planning staff from the City in the room. This came on the heels of a meeting that ECA board members held with the Mayor, Bob Agee and Pete Gutwald (P & Z Director) on January 17, 2017 as a follow up to  ECA’s 10 January 2017 Letter from the ECA to Mayor Mike Pantelides. Here is the email to copy and paste (or if you prefer, send something you write): Dear Mayor, Planning & Zoning Director, Aldermen/women:  Eastport has NOT been designated as a “growth opportunity” area in our City of Annapolis Comprehensive Plan (CAP), yet we are clearly being targeted for growth by developers.  Please do not allow developers to build the massive residential apartment complex currently being considered. We know that additional apartments are going to be proposed in the near future at Watergate Village. So, to allow 120 or more apartment units in the shopping center will kill any chance of attracting retail opportunities that would improve our quality of life in Eastport.  The traffic study for this project is woefully inadequate. It omitted important data including the fact that we have a drawbridge that opens several times a day for 8 months of the year AND also did not take into consideration 5 residential projects which will directly impact traffic flow in Eastport, among other significant issues. There are not the 522 parking spaces legally required, which assumes 1.4 cars per unit. Many other problems exist and are too numerous to detail here.  We are not against growth in Eastport, however, we must be thoughtful about it rather than reactionary. Please make sure the Planning Director does NOT recommend this project for approval by the Planning Commission.  Sincerely,

 

Recap: What Don’t You Know?

On the 17 Jan, 2017 a meeting was held by ECA board members, where the Mayor, Bob Agee and Pete Gutwald (P&Z Director) heard our concerns about quality of life in Eastport considering the glut of new development projects.  One item discussed at length was the Lofts at Eastport Landing (Eastport Shopping Center).

This proposed project is getting more and more attention as residents learn more of the details of the 127 new apartments proposed for Eastport Shopping Center. By the way, and as we have noted, the shopping center is zoned B2 (Commercial/Retail) and not residential.  Considering that Watergate Village, very close to Eastport Shopping Center, is zoned residential and will soon propose adding hundreds of apartments on that property, residents of Eastport are expressing the view that the City needs to go back to the drawing board with traffic, parking and adequate public facilities considerations.

Why?

The Annapolis Comprehensive Plan 2009, required the city to develop, within 3 years, new regulations to replace conventional methods for evaluating a development project’s traffic impacts, create a Site Design Manual to replace the outdated 1986 Parking and Landscape manual which calls for 1.4 parking spaces per residential unit and spells out the need for 3.2 officers per every one thousand City residents.

The City has not met the requirement.

In addition, the Comprehensive plan designates 4 “opportunity areas” for growth:  Certain portions of West Annapolis, Bay Ridge, Forest Drive, and Outer West Street.

Eastport is notably not a growth opportunity area but is being treated as a growth opportunity area without the benefit of the requisite sector studies that must be completed before projects are approved.

As we noted in our 20 Feb post, a Planning Commission Meeting is scheduled for 2 Mar 2017,  7:00 PM at City Hall.  We, the public, are encouraged to attend, but we will not be heard.  This is where the developers get to present to the Commissioners and we stay silent.

The City has said we will have our own meeting with the Planning Commission.

Date to be determined.

Hopefully, before the Planning Commission has the final public hearing and vote.

Okay.  Let’s see how it all plays out this time on this project.

What’s the Best We Can Do for Ourselves and Our Community?

Yes.  Guilty.  I did read Alderman Ross Arnett’s Town Hall Meeting announcements that “we will give some updates from the City,” to mean that would include project updates, knowing the level of community interest and concern.  I was wrong.

What the 16 Feb 2017 Ward 8 Town Hall did focus on is the very important matter of Quality of Life that we want for our community.  There was great participation and serious discussion about:

The Environment

Diversity

City Services

Public Safety

Other Considerations

It appears that the Town Hall provided just the beginning of what we hope will be a robust and continuing conversation.  However, before we get carried away with high fives, let’s follow the timeline.  This blog has been raising many of these environmental issues in detail for some time.

What’s new?  First of all, many of the mega projects that will have a consequential impact on our community have been approved, or are in active discussion on the way to approval.  As Alderman Arnett has stated, we may already be at the limits of growth.  We hope that he will continue to champion that concern.

Isn’t it curious that now that all of these project animals have already left the barn, some of our officials are suggesting that we try to close the barn door?

Some number of the Town Hall attendees wanted to talk about the project proposed for the Eastport Shopping Center.  Alderman Arnett first tried to deflect discussion of the matter and, instead, offered the concerned citizens Planning Commission meeting dates during which the proposed project will be presented.  The first date was the 2^nd of March; the other sometime in April.  Ross stated that they will be opportunities for public input.

However, the March Planning Commission meeting will be for the project proponent to make a presentation, with no forum for community input.  We are given  the alternative to submit our comments in writing, or through emails.  The P&Z representatives tried to assure us that all comments are taken seriously.

Anyone, besides me, been here before?

Let’s step back and see how this works.

Remember the meeting many of us took the time to attend on SAYC,  that was billed ‘an application for  preliminary plat approval?’  That meeting appears to have resulted in the project being approved.  Approved; far more of an action than preliminary plat consideration.  How much input did each of us really have?  {See our post, ‘No Detail Too Small’ from 1 Jan 2017 for a more complete description of this episode.)

Whether there was a seemingly open process or not, the public perception is once again that the process is tilted towards the developer.  If we apply past experience to the Eastport Shopping Center project, it is safe to assume the community will have no real opportunity to influence the outcome of the process.

So do we just quit?  The developers would love that.  Though it appears we have a real uphill slog to alter the course of any of the big projects planned for Eastport, we cannot afford to be one iota less than fully engaged. We need to do our research, to write letters and sign petitions.  To attend meetings.  We need to continue to speak up, to voice our thoughts both for and against that which impacts our community.

We cannot allow ourselves to be intimidated.  To become so frustrated with the developers’ creative ways around P&Z codes and regulations that we throw our hands up and walk away from what is our quality of life.

And there is a larger message here.  There is no matter in which we should fail to participate, no matter how small or seemingly how innocuous.  That means we need to have representatives at all forums related to comprehensive planning, budget meetings, P&Z meetings and project meetings.  Alderman Arnett is well-intentioned, but by himself, is only one voice.  He needs to keep hearing from us so that he can represent all of our voices.  We also have to ensure that our voices, as individual citizens, are heard; that we represent our interest.

Further, we have to look at the whole community.  If we continue to be driven by concern over the one project proposal in our own back yard (whatever that project happens to be), we will be fragmented in our collective ability to influence the future of our individual lives and of our community as a whole.

See the post titled Link for Eastport Shopping Center…  Click the link to access the petition.  Please be one of those who act:  Sign and submit.

Missing Petition

The petition that was provided for signatures opposing the residential units proposed for the Eastport Shopping Center seems to have disappeared from the meeting room where the town hall was held Thursday night.

If you signed that paper petition, please sign it again on line.  The link is on a prior post called Link to Eastport Shopping Center…

Thank you!

Link for Eastport Shopping Center Proposed Development

There is a proposal pending in Planning and Zoning  to build 127 apartment units at the Eastport Shopping Center even though the property is zoned B2, which is commercial zoning, not residential.

 

Many of us would rather have additional commercial retail options rather than residential apartments on this site.  There will also be residential apartments under the plan being contemplated by Watergate Village.  So, adhering to the commercial/retail zoning at the shopping center will only happen if the owner/developer and our elected officials hear our views.  Whatever your view is, please come to the informational meeting tomorrow. 

And please click this link to record your view:

https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/eastport-shopping-center-no-apartment-complex

Remember, Ward 8 Alderman Ross Arnett will host a public Town Hall meeting tonight Thursday, February 16, 2017 at 7:00 pm at the Eastport Fire Station to discuss development issues and quality of life in Eastport.

Also, please let  Ward 8 Alderman Ross Arnett, the Planning & Zoning Director and Mayor know what you think about  adding a large apartment complex into an area zoned for commercial.

Please send comments to :

1) EastportRoss@aol.com                    (Alderman Ross Arnett) 

2)  ECAPresident@eastportcivic.org,  ( ECA Pres. Vic Pascoe)

3)  pgutwald@annapolis.gov               ( P& Z Director Pete Gutwald)

4)   Mayor@Annapolis.gov                  (Mayor Mike Pantelides)

Thoughts

A model by which to view the immediate Quality of Life can be concentric circles – at least three:

You and your family         Your neighborhood          The whole community

What you do, and how you live your life impacts your neighborhood and, in turn, the whole community.  It also works in reverse.  What happens in the whole community ultimately impacts you and your family.  Whether you want it or not, we are all interrelated.

If we are to be successful, and actually expect to achieve and sustain a reasonable Quality of Life, we need to exercise responsibility and be accountable.

We all have a dog in the fight.

For those of you who are interested, the Eastport Shopping Center is zoned B2 “commercial” and the developer/owners are proposing 127 residential apartment units instead of commercial.

Also, no proposed road widening or traffic lights are proposed even though we know that more residential development will be proposed for Watergate Village very soon.

Many folks who live or work in Eastport  are interested in a small grocery store like Harris Teeter or Graul’s and apparently Harris Teeter had signed a lease to occupy the Eastport Theatre space in 2008/2009 before the market tanked, so they could be enticed to make it work in the Eastport Shopping Center. However this can only happen if the owner and our elected official hear that the residents are more interested in a small grocery store than 127 rental apartment units.

Let the Eastport Civic Association,  Ward 8 Alderman Ross Arnett as well as Planning & Zoning and Mayor know what you think about this issue.  Alderman Ross Arnett  will also host a public Town Hall meeting this Thursday, February 16, 2017 at 7:00 pm to discuss this matter, among others.

Please send comments to :

1) EastportRoss@aol.com                    (Ross Arnett)

2)  ECAPresident@eastportcivic.org,  (Vic Pascoe)

3)  pgutwald@annapolis.gov               ( P& Z Director)

4)   Mayor@Annapolis.gov                  (Mayor Mike Pantelides)

 

______________________________________________

 

 

Meetings: City Council and Town Hall

The Annapolis City Council will meet Monday 13 February at 7 p.m. in the Council Chambers. Public hearings will be followed by a legislative session. Although your attendance is preferred, all Council meetings are broadcast on Comcast channel 100 and on Verizon channel 34.

 The Regular Council Meeting will be preceded by a closed Council meeting at 6 PM to discuss personnel matters.

 I wish I could tell you more about Chief Pristoop’s firing, but I only know what you know from the Capital, that the Mayor wants to go in a new direction. What that new direction is has yet to be discussed with the City Council. The why for’s and where to’s will be the topic of the Closed Session of the Council on Monday evening at 6 PM, before the regular Council meeting disclosed below.

Meanwhile, my next Town Hall Meeting will be this Thursday 16 February at 7 PM in the meeting Hall of the Eastport Fire Station. Thanks again to our hosts the Eastport Volunteer Firefighters for the space, equipment and community support.

I will be giving some very brief updates on City matters, but then move into a discussion of the ephemeral but important matter of what “quality of life” means to you as residents of Eastport. The County Executive has defined quality of life for the county as meaning actions to increase access to the water and provision of more parks and recreational space. I think these are very laudable goals, but perhaps too narrowly focused.

I have heard many of you suggest that pressures from new development, crime, traffic, parking, sidewalks, overcrowded schools, degrading air and water quality, and raising sea levels, among other issues, have changed Eastport in ways that were not bargained for when you moved here. I want to explore with you both the basis of these concerns, but more importantly, what needs to be done to address and correct the problems. Perhaps it may be more a matter of slowing or redirecting the advance of these forces, but there needs to be a collectively developed plan of action.

This will be an interactive exercise that will allow you to express and record your ideas. There will be chart paper sheets around the hall listing areas of concern. I propose that we take a few minutes where each of you record on the charts your rank order priority for each of the issues. Then there will be three ten minute rounds where you can gather at a chart of your choice and more fully define the issue, but also suggest corrective actions. The exercise will conclude with a brief summary report from each of the issue areas.

So please come ready with your ideas and solutions. This is an ambitious agenda and I will try to keep us on point and on time for a 9 PM ending time. I will provide a summary report of the meeting to you by email, give you my reactions and plan for future follow up. I hope to see you at the Town Hall meeting this Thursday.