Frederick City and County News of Interest VOL. 3, NO. 12 | DECEMBER 11, 2024

 

VOL. 3, NO. 12  |  DECEMBER 11, 2024 Frederick City and County News of Interest Please join our monthly email list by clicking here. Learn more about CRG at the bottom of this newsletter. For quick access, click on a title here and jump to that article, below: Editorial: Resident Advocacy Works! City: Hillcrest Library & Brickworks City: A Hood Baseball Field on the City Max Kehne Park City: Community Outreach Meeting Summary City: Hotel and Conference Center Moving Forward City: Winchester Property/E. 6th Street Update City: Districts County: Data Center Update — Is the County Stepping Up? County: MPRP Transmission Line Update City-County Joint Session Upcoming Meetings and Events ______________ 1. EDITORIAL Resident Advocacy Works! CRG has always supported grassroots advocacy throughout the City and the County through our own initiatives and those of others. We especially want to call out recent efforts to make a positive change and to encourage caring and concerned residents to keep up the good work!   The articles below on the Hillcrest Library, Brickworks and Max Kehne Park are excellent examples of where and how resident involvement has had a significant impact. In addition, support of a Community Center at Westside Regional Park, the public outcry against re-establishing a downtown “after hours” BYOB on North Market Street, and County-wide efforts to fight the intrusive and unnecessary high-voltage transmission lines, and review of the planning guidelines for Data Centers are especially admirable.   One critical factor in these united “neighbors helping neighbors” actions is that in most cases the Neighborhood Advisory Councils (NACs) are no longer “invited in” to discussions about projects and programs that affect their communities. Thus, residents’ concerns are not given the City’s consideration at a point at which they (the residents) can help shape the discussions/outcomes. For example, NAC 11, which used to meet monthly — at which time residents (and area business owners) could weigh in at an early stage on proposed development activities — now meets only 4–5 times year. The result? A lack of continuity and loss of NAC 11’s history of effective vocal advocacy by and for its residents. Hence it becomes even more critical for people to stand up and make their voices heard however possible. CRG is proud to have initiated and partnered with efforts throughout the City ensure residents’ advocacy and will continue to do so. ______________ 2. City: Hillcrest Library & Brickworks On December 5, the City Council zoned the Hillcrest property in west Frederick as institutional (https://www.fredericknewspost.com/news/economy_and_business/real_estate_and_development/city-council-rezones-park-property-for-library-site/article_d3c57483-5572-52cc-9b6c-82189c40498b.html), paving the way for the City Council to agree to a Memorandum of Understanding with the County to build the Hillcrest Library. This action was long overdue and needed. The Brickworks property has been further characterized in the November 12 City Planning Commission meeting: several modifications proposed by Greenberg-Gibbons for trees on the Brickworks property include, unfortunately, removal of 85 specimen trees to accommodate contaminant mitigation on the property and 140 new trees to be added by the developer; and 6 lots for the property with 3 outparcels (under power lines) with the latter explored for shared use paths to the MARC train station and Monocacy Blvd. Lot 4 has been described as a commercial 79,000 sq ft lot with 2 pads for restaurants and a grocery store, with a pocket park and surface parking screened from East Street. Lot 6 is proposed for vertical mixed use with 9,000 sq ft of commercial property (probably a restaurant) and 4–story multi-family buildings with 340 units. Wormald is proposing purchase of Lot 1, a 7–acre lot for 99 4–story townhomes with rear-loaded garages, and each townhome featuring varied designs and rooftop decks. Parkland in the lot will total 1.5 acres as a passive recreation area, with 3 acres total in the entire east side of the Brickworks property. A storm water pond is necessary for stormwater management. Contaminants have been identified on this lot so the eventual owner will submit an application to MDE’s Voluntary Cleanup Program for acceptance of lot mitigation through an acceptable Response Action Plan to reduce lot pollutants. Two separate conversations highlighted the possibility for an urban school on Lots 2 and 3. CRG will follow FCPS queries to the U.S. EPA on the agency’s recommendations for treatment of the lot and will rigorously pursue all avenues to assist Greenberg-Gibbons and the Frederick County Public Schools to reach an agreement to plan an urban school on-site! 3. City: A Hood Baseball Field on the City Max Kehne Park Hood College was proposing a college baseball field at Max Kehne Park to the dismay of many local residents. The college had approached the mayor’s office for an NCAA-defined baseball field for future college games, independent of the Planning Department, Parks and Recreation, and the City’s normal channels for redevelopment. Five meetings were scheduled, the second on November 12 at Hood College. Many local residents attended and the majority suggested that neither the City nor Hood had notified them of this possible change in land use AFTER discussions had been held between Hood and the mayor’s office. Hood and residents believed there are other possible locations to be examined, as noise, safety, lights, parking, and mandatory Hood use remained issues. All hope Hood secures a baseball field, but due to the substantial resident pushback, Hood has withdrawn its interest in the park. Congratulations to local residents for convincing the college of their concerns, and to Hood responsibly stepping back from its proposal! Residents can be heard, HOORAY! This case suggests the mayor’s office should abstain from bypassing normal development procedures, as well as strongly encouraging all future entreaties from individuals, groups, or organizations to ensure immediate outreach to residents for any such request. 4. City: Community Outreach Meeting Summary A Wawa gas station is proposed at Mill Pond Road and Monocacy Boulevard that would require a change in conditional use and will therefore go before the City Zoning Board of Appeals. Apartments are located behind the proposed site and single family homes in front and across Monocacy Boulevard. Residents of the area are concerned with safety since it will be open 24/7, as well as apprehensive about substantial lighting, noise, and health problems associated with gas station operations. 5. City: Hotel and Conference Center Moving Forward At its November 20 public hearing, the City Council took two steps to move forward the long-planned Marriott Hotel and Conference Center: Approval of a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) for a mitigation plan to preserve the historic elements of the site; and approval of a reimbursement letter with Plamondon Hospitality Partners (PHP) to formalize the process for reimbursement of (up to) $1 million for pre-development activities. The hotel/conference center site contains several historic buildings, as has been discussed at prior City workshops and hearings over the past several years. Accordingly, the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) and Maryland Historic Trust (MHT) have determined that the project will have an adverse effect on archaeological properties and have resolved the adverse effects of this undertaking through the execution of a legally binding Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between DHCD, MHT, and the City, with the City’s selected developer, PHP, as an invited signatory. The Development Team will use this Treatment Plan to secure professional services to complete the data recovery effort and will coordinate review and approval of the final Treatment Plan (which will identify the personnel, schedule, and selected methods for implementing the work) with MHT prior to implementation. This link to Exhibit B fully describes the background and history of the Birely Tannery: https://cityoffrederick.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?view_id=15&clip_id=6088&meta_id=172838. Council members acknowledged that the mitigation plan is suitable overall (and voted 4–0 in favor) although some concern was raised that the contribution of the original (enslaved) labor would not be recognized; and Council members subsequently requested greater on-site recognition of the Birely Tannery in site development. As for the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) grant for the Strategic Demolition Fund approved in August 2024, the approved (again 4–0 in favor) letter allows the City to disburse the grant funds and specifies the way the City will reimburse requests, what specific activities can be reimbursed, etc. There is no “clawback” provision in the grant, thus the presumption is the funds are to be used for all types of pre-development activities. A question was raised regarding the time frame for vendor reimbursement as smaller companies cannot wait months to be compensated for work performed. City staff advised that a 10-day turnaround is anticipated, that the developer pays vendors for their performance, and submits an invoice to and is subsequently reimbursed by the City through the grant. Council members agreed that the hotel/conference center is a “gigantic project” and the City cannot make mistakes. They applauded the details incorporated in the agreement and the partnership with the State. 6. City: Winchester Property/E. 6th Street Update Two recent articles in the Frederick News Post, as well as Facebook postings, have helped to present the community’s case for preservation of the entire homestead and gardens of 19th century Frederick luminary, B.F. Winchester on E. 6th Street. However, as alluded to in the November CRG Newsletter, City staff’s recommendation of “noncontributing” for the stable/garage (despite compelling evidence to the contrary presented to them in a recent Community Statement) threatens to allow development to proceed. On Thursday, December 12, at the 6:00 PM hearing, the Historic Preservation Commission is scheduled to vote “contributing” or “noncontributing” regarding both the house and the stable/garage on the property. Verbal comments at the Hearing, as well as written comments in advance of it to City staff (for forwarding on to the Commission) are encouraged. Please contact Jim Wagner at your.james.wagner@gmail.com, 301-682-4836, for more information. Thanks for your continued engagement and help to save this site! 7. City: Districts First drafts of possible City Council districts were presented to the City Council on December 3. A consultant was hired by the City to draw five district boundaries within the City, for purposes of electing City Council members that each represent a district, as recommended by the Charter Review Committee and adopted by the City Council in the last month. Two maps of potential council districts raised considerable discussion by City Council members. Go to https://www.fredericknewspost.com/news/politics_and_government/elections/city-council-expects-to-vote-on-districts-in-february/article_257f484e-8872-55be-b5db-9e882923592b.html to review the session discussion and early options. The City is in the process of gathering feedback on these maps between now and the middle of January. There is a webpage on the City homepage, where information will be kept updated and where residents can respond to a survey about the maps. The webpage can be found here: https://cityoffrederickmd.gov/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=7628. A final vote on district distributions will likely occur February 6, 2025. Top image is Map 1 / Bottom image is Map 2 Map 1 Map 2

8.County: Data Center Update — Is the County Stepping Up? The County seems to be pushing the new data center corporations to meet more stringent siting and operations requirements. The County’s Data Center Workgroup and multiple external organizations have provided comprehensive revisions to the County’s CDI ordinance to ensure protection of residents’ health and the environment surrounding the Eastalco center site. And, on Tuesday, November 19, the County Council received revised requirements for the new County corporations, to the dismay and objections of several corporations. The County’s position included minimizing noise generation from the entire site, not just the individual corporation site, and storage of only 1100 gallons of fuel for center backup generators (a consultant for the property indicated that the centers would require 60,000 gallons of diesel fuel on-site). CRG is impressed, as protection for residents must be THE priority. Aligned, one of the data center occupants for the Quantum Loophole data center campus, has submitted a permit request to the MD Department of the Environment to allow 170 diesel-powered generators for their four data center buildings at the Eastalco site. Governor Moore relaxed the requirements for decisions on use of diesel generators last year, so CRG and multiple other concerned residents and organizations anxiously await the department’s decision as the emissions from the generators counter the state’s stated greenhouse gas emission deadlines [maximums?] for 2030 and beyond. Additionally, storage of the 60,000 gallons of diesel fuel at the campus poses serious hazard risks for local groundwater contamination and streams in the area. Go to https://www.fredericknewspost.com/news/continuing_coverage/quantum_loophole/aligned-applies-to-state-environment-department-for-permit-to-build-generators/article_23c0cbf4-99cb-53e0-8601-812edea108cf.html for more details. 9. County: MPRP Transmission Line Update The Maryland Piedmont Reliability Project (MPRP), a 70-mile-long transmission line proposed to be built through Baltimore, Carroll, and Frederick Counties, was the subject of three public meetings November 12 (in Baltimore Co.), November 13 (in Carroll Co.), and November 14 (in Frederick Co.). The public presentations by the contractor, a New Jersey-based company PSEG (Public Service Enterprise Group), are required by the MD Public Service Commission (PSC) before PSEG may apply for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity (CPCN). The CPCN allows the company to build the transmission line but is not automatic; the PSC may choose to accept or reject PSEG’s application to build. PSEG plans to submit an application to the PSC late this month or in early January.   Several activities are in place to oppose the transmission lines: Legislation for the 2025 legislative session Senator Karen Lewis Young is developing legislation to initiate a Datacenter Study. Participants would principally be drawn from state agencies. An unbiased economic evaluation of the costs and benefits of data centers is needed. Several Frederick-based power engineers are advising Senator Young on possible legislation to require utilities that operate in MD to produce Integrated Resource Plans (IRPs — long-term plans examining utilities’ energy demand and supply and identifying risks that could prevent them from best serving their ratepayers with low-cost and reliable energy, as is done in other states, such as VA). Also, other Maryland legislators plan to introduce legislation in the 2025 session addressing both transmission lines and data centers. Interveners A number of organizations and individuals will be filing to act as “interveners” during the PSC hearings on the MPRP transmission lines after PSEG submits their application. To learn more about becoming an intervener, go to https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_GFmBcTKTRdu5GcMyr2cftw#/registration. Volunteers A variety of actions are being taken by several organizations that have formed the “Tri-County Coalition,” made up of residents from the three affected counties. If you’re interested in lending a hand, please write to smartergrowthfc@gmail.com. Sending comments to the PSC The PSC will decide whether the MPRP will be built. Any resident may write to the PSC to oppose the transmission line. You may submit your comments to this email address, which is dedicated to comments on the MPRP: piedmontcomments.psc@maryland.gov.   For more information on the MPRP, visit www.StopMRPR.com.   How data centers and transmission lines are directly related: In 2023, PJM (the regional transmission organization for the area) determined that MD had sufficient power into 2030. However, after studying the effect of data centers — primarily in VA — PJM signaled that there were now going to be massive power deficiencies requiring $5Billion investment.  PJM says its call for more power is for reliability, but the system has been reliable prior to data centers, and could continue to be so without them. PJM recently redrew the MPRP design to bypass the only substation in MD (Doubs).  Therefore, power will travel directly from PA to VA, providing no power to MD. No one in MD, including Governor Moore, wants the MPRP.  In fact, Moore said the line is of no benefit to Marylanders (see https://www.foxbaltimore.com/news/local/state-lawmakers-encouraged-by-governor-moore-in-transmission-line-fight). The two data centers on the QL site both wrote to the PSC that they did not need any power from the MPRP. Therefore, it is clear that the power is intended for VA data centers. PSEG's threats — that without the MPRP line, there will be blackouts and brownouts — is not true. If the line is denied by the PSC, PJM may bring power from Ohio and WV for the VA data centers. MPRP would improve PSEG's bottom line as the company owns 50% of Peach Bottom Nuclear which will supply the line. PSEG is guaranteed full repayment for building the line plus a guaranteed profit per right of investment. PSEG will charge for power transmitted on this line for the 40 years it will operate.   Specific to the third bullet above, in a very recent development (https://foxbaltimore.com/news/local/possible-maryland-power-project-reroute-would-benefit-virginia-data-centers-a-proposed-change-to-the-maryland-piedmont-reliability-project-may-connect-the-power-line-development), PJM has removed the MPRP proposed connection to the Doubs Substation near the Eastalco site, thereby indicating that the MPRP transmission line is solely for powering northern Virginia data centers with NO BENEFIT for Maryland data centers nor residents. So why would any MD official not oppose this line’s construction and costs to Maryand residents?   10. City-County Joint Session A joint meeting of the Frederick City and County Councils was held on November 20 at City Hall. Ostensibly convened for highlighting common concerns and possible approaches to addressing mutual problems like housing and schools, the primary topics were only minimally discussed, perhaps in 2–3 sentences. CRG strongly encourages both City and County representatives to prepare detailed summaries of each government’s approach to common problems to bring to each quarterly meeting and through those details perhaps identify procedures to move each government forward on ways to jointly alleviate the identified problem(s). Working together should generate action by the other government, certainly a new approach for the next decade. 11. Upcoming Meetings and Events   County Planning Commission, December 11, Winchester Hall, 9:30 AM: Rowan’s Bauxite Data Center site plan decisions   City Historic Preservation Commission, December 12, City Hall, 6 PM: Odd Fellows property Level I and demolition at 127 E. 6th Street.   Stop MPRP documentary, Unyielding Ground, December 14, 1–4 PM, Black Locust Hops Farm Brewery, 21305 Heathcote Road, Freeland, MD.   County Budget Town Halls District 2 — Monday, January 13, 7pm, Twin Ridge Elementary School cafeteria, Mount Airy District 4 — Wednesday, January 22, 7pm, Oakdale Middle School cafeteria, New Market District 5 — Saturday, January 25, 1pm, Walkersville Middle School cafeteria, Walkersville District 3 — Monday, January 27, 7pm, Waverley Elementary School cafeteria, Frederick District 1 — Thursday, January 30, 7pm, Middletown Library community room (will be streamed live) _________________ See the CRG blog at: responsiblegrowthfrederick.com Contributors: P. Gallagher, S. Jakubczyk, E. Law, M. Rosensweig, K. Sellner, J. Wagner CRG is a grassroots coalition of Frederick residents who prioritize responsible growth, expanding infrastructure, and a functional natural environment. We advocate for development that accommodates projected population increases while fostering a strong and diverse community fabric and increasing economic opportunities. Our comprehensive approach emphasizes public safety, traffic mitigation, increasing school capacity, and housing for all members of our community. Many Frederick residents want to know — but cannot find — information about how to participate in discussions of important local issues. The City and County generally hold meetings from 3–10 p.m., making it impossible for most of us to attend meetings or weigh in on issues of interest. Our mission with this monthly newsletter is to highlight City and County activities so you can learn more and, with your limited time, weigh in on areas of growth and development, City and County policies, and other local activities. Occasionally, opinions or longer stories will be offered by knowledgeable experts/readers. We welcome suggestions for articles focused on specific topics. Contact Kevin Sellner (kgsellner@gmail.com), Marge Rosensweig (marjorierosensweig@gmail.com), or Steve Jakubczyk (jakubczyksteven@gmail.com) for consideration of your issue.

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