Pump Station

Just received from a visitor:

 

I want you to know that we have confirmed one final community input meeting to discuss siting options of the Pump Station Control Building in the Newman Street Park.  The meeting will be held on Wednesday, May 2nd at 7 PM  in the cafeteria of the Annapolis Elementary School.  Parking and access to the school will be from the rear parking lot on Compromise Street.  I am working with Susan O’Brien, City Communications Officer,  and others associated with several of the local elementary school PTA’s to advertise the meeting.  I have also notified all of the Aldermen and Alderwomen

 

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me.

 

Regards,

 

 

 

Lisa M. Grieco, P.E.

Project Manager

 

City of Annapolis

Department of Public Works

Bureau of Engineering & Construction

145 Gorman Street, 2nd Floor

Annapolis, MD 21401

voice   (410) 263-7949

fax:     (410) 263-3322

email   LMGrieco@annapolis.go

 

Thanks for your email and your continuing interest in the important City Dock Flood Mitigation project.  Over the last year, the City has used several different means of communication and outreach for the flood mitigation project, including press releases, newspaper articles, radio interviews, and public meetings to communicate information and seek comments and input on the project.  Below is a timeline of  communications and presentations for this project.  

3/17/17           Press Release electronically distributed to the Annapolis Capital Gazette, community leaders of Ward One Residents Association (WORA) and Murray Hill, Downtown Annapolis Partnership (DAP), Watermark, Annapolis Developers LLC and Annapolis Boat Show. 

3/20/17           Notification of upcoming HPC Pre-Application Meeting hand delivered to businesses surrounding Ego Alley.

3/23/17           HPC Pre-Application Meeting #1.  Presented the concept designs for north and south side drainage areas.

5/30/17           AECOM submitted their Concept Design Report to the City on May 2 and presented the first concept design presentation to WORA at their monthly meeting.

7/19/17           At the request of Chesapeake Bay Foundation, made presentation to Middle and High School educators on Sea Level Rise and the Flood Mitigation project, the City’s response to nuisance flooding.

7/26/17           Met with Ann Arundel County Public Schools (Alex Szachnowicz, Chief Operating Officer and Greg Stewart, Sr. Manager/ Planning) to discuss siting the electrical control building in Newman Park in the vicinity of the playground and basketball Court.  At that time, the AACPS staff indicated that locations near the basketball court on the playground side of the park will affect teachers’ ability to supervise children on the playground and basketball court during recess.  Due to this feedback, a study is initiated to move the control building to the area adjacent to the basketball court in the rain garden on the Compromise Street side of the park.

9/20/17           Meeting with business owners in the Main Street and City Dock area to discuss the project and provide a status update.  The principal concerns of the business owners was the construction duration, phasing and impact to parking.

11/28/17         Mayor Pantelides, Mayor-Elect Buckley and DPW Director Jarrell make project presentation at AACO State Legislative Delegation meeting.

1/19/18           Mayor Buckley and DPW Director Jarrell make presentation at AACO State Legislative Delegation meeting.

2/27/18           Project

Property Tax

We posted a piece two years ago titled ‘Do the Math’ in which we spoke of the Eastport budget’s heavy reliance on property tax and the need for alternate ideas.

From Alderman Ross Arnette this weekend:

The Annapolis City Council will meet Monday 23 April at 7 p.m. in the Council Chambers.  

Mayor Buckley’s Budget is now with the City Council Finance Committee and we have held several meetings. There has been a lot of commentary on the Mayor’s Budget, especially the big increase in the property tax rate. The Mayor proposes an increase from the current 65 cents per hundred dollars of assessed value to 78 cents. I don’t necessarily support the size of the rate increase or the allocation of the things to be funded by the increase, but I do support the need for an increase. However, I’m also looking for the spending cuts that would mitigate the need for such a big rate increase.

Back in March of 2016, Capital published a commentary from me questioning Mayor Pantelides’ Fiscal 2017 budget. I cited the structural deficit problem – spending increasing faster than revenue – that existed then. It still exists now. I voted against last year’s Budget (FY 18) because it did nothing to address the long-run structural problem. I applaud Mayor Buckley’s attempt to address our budget problem, but it is not a permanent fix. We need to get spending in line with revenue.

The City goes along for years kicking the can down the road, ignoring the fact that we are spending beyond our means. We then respond with a big increase in the tax rate. But we never address the problem that we are providing more services that we can afford. Elected officials, including yours truly, don’t like to tell constituents that they can’t have all the things they want provided by the City, or that they can have those things but they will have to pay for them via increased property taxes.

Global Warming

Will rising sea levels have an impact on the Annapolis Historic Areas? “Nuisance flooding” has increased 10X from 4 days per year to 40. I believe it’s safe to say that flooding will become more frequent, last longer and become more disruptive.

Water is smart. Water, over time will find a way to infiltrate the structure of our buildings. All you have to do is drive up Main Street to see the effects of subsoil erosion. Either the uneven surface on Main Street is the result of poor construction or erosion or both. The effect is pronounced and did not take long to manifest itself.

Major efforts are underway to study the global problem of rising sea level. In our lifetimes we are witnessing changes in weather: What used to be gentle spring/summer rains that would last for the better part of a day and provide ½ inch of rain seem to be replaced by strong storms that last for an hour and leave an inch of rain or more. The ground cannot absorb that much water, so most of it results in runoff. While we cannot immediately control the rain we do play a significant role in managing or not managing runoff.

The problem is not just at the water’s edge but is initiated in the watershed. We have replaced permeable surfaces that can absorb water, that then percolates into the subsoil, with hardscape. Water flows into drains and into the waterways. Additionally, and inexcusably, we continue to destroy what remaining forest cover we have and further reduce open space. As I have referenced before, the flooding in the historic areas should be seen as the “Canary in the Coal Mine”. This is prelude to the more dramatic impacts of climate change and the reckless disregard for the interaction between the environment and society.

We need to use the tools of technology such as computer modeling and simulation to plot and track the sometimes stark and immediate results of our planning and zoning decisions, as well as the more subtle impacts of other policy decisions. We have some pretty smart people in our community but even they cannot fully process the massive number and types of interactions within the environment, and between the environment and society. Water quality, air quality, forestry plans, traffic, rainfall, development, sea level increases, land use and all other planning/zoning and policy interactions need to be considered before we touch one more tree or 1 more square inch of open space.

 

Rhythms

At a recent meeting of the Planning Commission the key topic was the Traffic Study as a component of  the Comprehensive Plan.  The meeting was informative, based on the scope of the material discussed and the opportunity for open communication among the Planning Commission, P&Z staff, consultants, State representatives and members of the community.

The meeting focused on Forest Drive traffic issues but also included area-wide traffic considerations through the 2035 time period (that is only 17 years away).  While the discussions are still preliminary, in the fact-finding stage, it appears to be based on assumptions that the Annapolis area traffic profile is consistent throughout the year.

I asked the traffic consultants what time period/seasons they used as a baseline.  They said they gathered their working data during the Spring and Fall.  My sense is that the traffic consultants are treating the data gathering and analysis as simple algebra:

Land Use + Population +Traffic Signal Sequencing + Modes of Transportation + other traffic-related terms = Traffic Demand/Impact.

I see this as calculus:  It includes all of the terms from algebra but the 1^st derivative is those variations  related to seasonal variations and  the 2^nd derivative is environmental impacts such as the impact of climate change, sea level rise and nuisance or more serious flooding.

One day last summer on my way home from work, I needed to stop at the gas station in Eastport.  As I turned onto Compromise Street, traffic was backed up for several blocks and I realized that the draw-bridge was up; traffic at a standstill.  It seems like it took about 15 minutes until I reached the gas station a couple of blocks away.

This gridlock is the price we pay for living in a picturesque and quaint community.  Eastport and Annapolis take on heightened Spring and Summer seasonal rhythms.  The ‘off-season’ is much slower and calmer, full of empty spaces.

Both Eastport and Inner Annapolis have achieved equilibrium, uneasy though it sometimes is, between community scale and the road system. This is no easy accomplishment. Within our Eastport part of the overall community, in approximately a half-mile radius from the drawbridge, there are mostly single family homes, small scale multi-family housing, small businesses and a pocket park or two. On the Annapolis side of the drawbridge, two major facilities, the Academy and State Government, are anchors that have helped to shape the community, helped to limit the feasibility and wisdom of expansion without commensurate infrastructure.  Fortunately, there are currently no new large facilities planned (however, several may be waiting in the wings) that would cause significant additional demands on our road system.

We’ve all experienced the impact on traffic in the off-season when the drawbridge is infrequently raised, a delivery truck is stopped for a period of time on any of our side streets, or on Compromise in front of the Marriott, or a trash truck is going about its business slowly moving up Main Street.  And in tourist season – April through November – the drawbridge opens every half hour, there are a lot more cars competing for position and the traffic is exponentially heavier and louder.

So I am concerned about any more projects that may impact traffic patterns near the drawbridge and then impact the road network to and from Forest Drive.  All of the projects planned for Eastport and Annapolis are interrelated. They must be considered as a destructive whole since their impacts will certainly be cumulative. Trucks and cars idling in congestion-belching fumes are not the basis for a healthy environment or a healthy community. This will be a year-round scenario, to varying seasonal degrees, if massive projects are permitted to further overwhelm our traffic patterns.

If we do not start our planning processes with  the correct assumptions, the likelihood of addressing issues that may unfold decades from now decreases over time.  If we are not able to fully define the problem we need to solve, how can we have any confidence in any proposed ‘solutions’?

 

From Ross

The Annapolis City Council will meet tonight, Monday 9 April 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. 

As you may know City Manager of four years, Tom Andrews, has left the City to work for the state. While we wish Tom well, his departure could not have come at a worse time. We are in the midst of Budget making and Union negotiations and Tom was integral to both processes. This is also the first outing for the Mayor and half of the City Council. Fortunately, Teresa Sutherland, comes to us from the county with a wealth of financial and local government experience. I have observed Teresa’s county work with admiration. From my perspective, she can’t get here soon enough. As I will touch upon later, we are in big financial straits and we will need Teresa’s skills to weather the Budget and Union negations storm.

On the Budget, we are about to pay the price for our “kick the can down the road” practices of the last many years. We have not raised the property tax rate since early in the Cohen Administration when the City was insolvent. However, the cost of doing the business to provide City services has continued to raise unabated. Also, last year the Council voted to move routine annual spending on street, sidewalk, and building repair from borrowing to pay as you go (PayGo) funding. That is funding out of current operating revenues rather than the issuance of 20 year bonds. This move saves tax payers huge amounts of interest payments in the long-run, but puts immediate pressure on the General Fund in the amount of about $4.5 million. Other funding delays are coming home to rest, such as the contributions to the Police and Fire Pension Plan. The Plan funding level has dropped back into the 80 percent range after being nearly fully funded. Underfunding for other post-employment benefits are also growing. The list goes on, with health insurance cost going up, vehicle replacement needs growing, and likely increasing wage and benefit costs from the Union negotiations. Suffice it to say that the new Mayor has been handed a Budget problem not unlike the one given to Mayor Cohen in his first days.

We will learn Monday night the extent of the problem and the Mayor’s approach to solutions. I’m anticipating a significant tax rate increase proposal. I’m waiting to see what spending cuts will accompany the tax increase. From the Mayor’s proposed Budget, the problem migrates over to the Council Finance Committee and then on to the Council itself for a final Budget. Constituents will be well served to pay attention. The Finance Committee will be meeting twice weekly, mostly during the day, but televised. I will also arrange for some nighttime meetings towards the end of the process. The meetings are open and you are invited to attend or view them. 

From Ross

The Annapolis City Council will meet Monday 19 March 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. 

Please note that there are two First Reader actions on the legislative section of the agenda that call for suspension of the rules and, if granted, will go on for Second Reader vote. The first item is a resolution to adopt an amended Natural Hazard Mitigation Plan that needs to be submitted to the Federal Emergency Management Agency before the City is eligible to receive federal disaster funds and FEMA grant dollars. The second piece of legislation is to allow an Alderperson to attend City Council meeting remotely while recovering from surgery. This is a short-term one-time-only resolution and must be enacted at this Council meeting as the procedure will take place at the end of the month. I plan to support the introduction of both resolution, will vote to suspend the rules, and will vote in favor of both items.

What do we need?

When we look into our community resources ruck-sack what do we have or need?

What do we have?

. We have planning and zoning regulations.

• Does the average citizen really understand the details and nuances of the regulations and the process of implementation?
• Even with regulations, do we understand the loopholes and workarounds that project proponents pay their teams to ferret out and use to their advantage and often to the disadvantage of the Community?
• Does P&Z staff have the resources to adequately and effectively use the regulation, protect the interests of the Community? Is that their job?

What do we need?

1. A Community Comprehensive Master Plan (CCMP) that is current, detailed and enforceable
2. All projects currently under review to be held static until an approved CCMP is completed. No new projects would be accepted during this period. All projects would have to comply with the Plan.

• As an alternative until the Plan is completed, all proposed projects currently being considered must be viewed in the aggregate for their impact on the total Community, both short and long-range

1. All projects must be evaluated using computer modeling and simulation tools and techniques (to be discussed at P&Z meeting tonight – Thursday April 5, 2018) to assess their cumulative short and long range impacts on the community. These costs will be borne by the project proponent.
2. All projects over a pre-determined cost and scope threshold will be subject to a Community-wide referendum. These costs will be borne by the project proponent
3. An Office of Community Public Defender in association with P&Z  will be established to ensure that there is an entity that has the legal and planning process knowledge along with the responsibility and authority to protect the public interests in matters of project development. The costs of the Office will be borne by project proponents. This Office will be overseen by community representatives.

• No public portion of a project will be permitted until the project that is under review or appeal has fully completed the process. The punishment for anyone not adhering to that statute will be charged significant fines, be subject to criminal proceeding and be subject to public ridicule.
• The Planning and Zoning office will establish a project-specific website. The site will be updated at least monthly and/or each time there is a change in any project, such as requesting a permit or project scope or cost change.  All projects other than home owned or owner occupied changes over $100,000 for all or any part of the project will be included on the site.

If any of these proposals require changes to current legislation or administrative procedures then make it happen NOW.

[Edited from previous 2015 post]

Date

The P&Z meeting on Simulation and Modeling has been rescheduled.

New date: Thursday (this week) April 5 at 7 PM at Council chambers.