Frederick City and County News of Interest VOL. 4, NO. 7 | July 10, 2025

VOL. 4, NO. 7  |  July 10, 2025 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: City: Election Plea City: Housing Rent Stabilization City: Cricket Stadium County: Data Center Update: New Overlay Zone Introduced Upcoming Meetings and Events ______________ City: Election Plea The 2025 City election season has begun! Enrollment of candidates for Mayor and City Council closed on July 1. Voting begins in less than 8 weeks, with mail-in ballots for the primary election sent to each registered voter by August 10–11. One secure drop-box for mail-in ballots will be located in each Council district, early voting in person will take place on August 22 and 23, with in-person primary day voting on September 9. Registered voters will also receive general election mail-in ballots, with early voting on October 24 and 25, and general election day voting November 4. Although there are multiple candidates for City Council and Mayor, there will only be a Democratic primary as no more than one Republican candidate has filed in any district, or at large, or for Mayor. Candidates in bold below will be on the primary ballot. CRG strongly encourages all voters to dive deeply into candidate platforms and carefully review archived videos of candidates seeking re-election, and we urge voter diligence in inspecting current stated focus areas versus previous records and votes. Catchy phrases may prove inconsistent with past commitments and actions. Please do your homework BEFORE casting your vote! Platforms for multiple candidate races, incumbents (i) and opponents can be found at the websites or emails posted below: MAYOR — Ron Beattie (futureforfrederick.org), Michael O’Connor (i; oconnorforfrederick.com), and Tom Trott (tomtrottforfrederick.com — site ready after July 15) DISTRICT 3 — Peter Brehm (friendsofpeterbrehm.com), Dave Schmidt (voteschmidt.com) DISTRICT 4 — Joe Adkins (adkins4frederick.com), Fredy Ventura Garcia (email: Fredy Ventura Garcia), Scott Lasher (Time4Scott.org), DISTRICT 5 — Rob Callahan (email: Rob Callahan), Sara Hempel Irani (sarahforfrederick.com), Ryan Trout (email: Ryan Trout) AT LARGE — Jennifer Dougherty (jenniferforfrederick.com), Donna Kuzemchak (i; vote4donnak.com), Kelly Russell (i; email: Kelly Russell); Derek Shackleford (i; email: Derek Shackelford), and Libby Taylor (Taylormadeforchange.com) City: Housing Rent Stabilization Paraphrased from Frederick Progressive documents: Over 20,000 households — especially those working in food service, sales, janitorial, and administrative support — cannot afford Frederick's median rent of $2,750 per month (for all rental units) on their current wages. This median rent is 24% above the national average. In efforts to identify a suite of options to increase housing accessibility for low- to mid-income individuals, rent stabilization is continuing to be considered to protect renters from egregious rent increases which some landlords impose on tenants. Montgomery County (MoCo) has enacted rent stabilization which ties rent increases to rates of inflation or the Consumer Price Index and still allows collection of maintenance fees a landlord may seek. At a minimum, this approach minimizes evictions from rental units and still allows landlords to recover fees adequate to meet finance obligations, maintenance costs, as well as to collect profit. MoCo accomplishes this through its independent Housing Commission which is authorized to seek its own funding in bonds, loans, and partnerships, independent of elected officials. Frederick City and County have nothing similar. All affordable housing funds are allocated through the normal budget process, receipt of state and federal grants and other awards sought by staff and accepted by elected representatives (mayor, City Council, County Executive, County Council), as well as collected fees in-lieu that developers pay instead of building low-cost housing. Can alternative government entities like MoCo’s Housing Commission be explored within our City and County governments? Although rental stabilization does not increase affordable housing, it at least ensures that rental properties remain accessible to individuals and families with minimal fiscal flexibility to meet rent demands for overzealous landlords seeking rapid fee recoveries at the expense of current fiscal inflexibilities for many struggling residents. CRG hopes to assist local officials in exploring this rent protection option, as housing demand encourages rapid rent increases so those more well off can replace residents who have found their resources cannot be stretched for maintaining the roofs over their heads. City: Cricket Stadium The Cricket Stadium project (https://www.fredericknewspost.com/news/economy_and_business/real_estate_and_development/cricket-stadium-for-up-to-25k-fans-could-bring-major-events-neighbors-have-questions/article_acd42c8a-f5fe-578f-85ee-47a179983e62.html) is moving through the planning and permitting process quickly. The use of a portion of the 16-acre floodplain, originally annexed to the City, was approved by the Parks and Recreation Commission, giving their support for the Cricket Stadium to be built on the land. The Planning Commission (PC) will vote on the project July 14 and will communicate their decision to the City Council. CRG and resident concerns include parking and traffic for the 25,000-seat stadium, frequencies and types of other park ‘events,’ possible hotel construction and subsequent operation. Following the City PC decision, the project will be put before the City Council for review and potential decision on August 21 with an interim Council discussion on July 24, despite the absence of a preliminary site plan. Although the Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance (APFO) process is, typically, integral to decision-making, it is scheduled to occur after the final decision is made (an approach found to be “acceptable” as it is an amendment to the annexation agreement). Two issues will be voted on separately. Issue 1 is an amended annexation agreement. Issue 2 is the approval of the Stadium project overall, with the new Institutional Floating Zone designation for the developer's 24 acres of land. TAKE ACTION: Attend the Planning Commission meeting on July 14 (info below) and/or send the Commissioners your thoughts about this Stadium project. Find details of the project in the meeting agenda links by clicking here. Send your comments to: jgriek@cityoffrederickmd.gov County: Data Center Update: New Overlay Zone Introduced Two important meetings have been held. On June 17, the County Council held its first reading of the Critical Data Infrastructure (CDI) Overlay, serving as an opportunity for public comment on the recently proposed CDI Overlay Zoning text amendment submitted by the County Executive. The bill allows the creation of an overlay in County code and limits data centers to be built on land use designations of Limited Industrial (LI) and General Industrial (GI). The bill would also limit the size of the overlay to no more than 1% of land within the County or approximately 4,400 acres maximum. Also included is a  provision that would allow a data center to be built only 500 feet from residential property. (Consider a 75-foot, massive cinderblock building 500 feet from your bedroom window.) The Winchester Hall Council Chamber was filled with residents challenging the large acreage for data center expansion, as well as citing concerns over noise, loss of property values, and the lost calm of rural residency that many residents indicated drew them to Adamstown and Buckeystown. In the past, 5 Council members have been largely supportive of policy favorable to data centers at the Eastalco site, so it remains to be seen if these members will disregard constituents’ substantive examples of negative impacts of data centers on residential lives reported in almost all data center-developed areas across the nation. Paraphrasing one resident’s position on the electeds' continued support for weak data center regulation with a blind eye to known impacts: ‘Willful ignorance of the facts is not good government.’ In the second meeting (July 9), the County Planning Commission accepted the CDI Overlay with several conditions that they urged the County Council to adopt, the most significant seeking a 10 to 1 procurement of agricultural land preservation for every acre of County land zoned for data centers (light industrial or general industrial). Other conditions included allowing the PC to set greater setbacks limits in the future and protection of natural resources like streams in future data center zoning changes. In the next meeting scheduled for July 15, CRG strongly encourages Council members to represent their constituents first and place rigorous constraints on data center development areas and operations to protect already-preserved and rural legacy lands, local air and water quality, our natural environment, and the quality of lives in our rural areas. Provisions should be made to require data center developers to 1) identify sources for water to meet projected demand without threatening residential and commercial growth in the county, and 2) that the data centers' power demands can be met with existing power supply, without the necessity of additional transmission. Step it up, Council! TAKE ACTION: All concerned residents are encouraged to write the County Council and to attend the “second reading” of the CDI Zone Ordinance on July 15 at Winchester Hall. For current information, see the CDI Overlay Information Webpage — https://mailchi.mp/8ee6b193e89f/cdi-overlay-information.   TAKE ACTION: Data Center Study Bill Sign on Letter — Although Governor Moore has vetoed the Data Center Study bill, the fight continues. CRG asks that you read and consider signing on to this letter, which asks the General Assembly to override the Governor’s veto, as a representative of a group or as an individual. (See https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1uj91y96rZmAbFCJMVvwMHysCfoYELOmSsS7iUXNy6Pc/edit#responses). Upcoming Meetings and Events July 14, City Planning Commission, 6 PM, City Hall — Cricket Stadium July 15, County Council, 7 PM, Winchester Hall — Critical Data Infrastructure (CDI) Overlay Hearing

__________________ See the CRG blog at: responsiblegrowthfrederick.com Contributors: P. Gallagher, R. Huber, S. Jakubczyk, E. Law, R. Robey, M. Rosenswieg, K. Sellner. Guest Contributor: W. Reid 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. We're on Instagram... follow us! Check out our Facebook page!