VOL. 1, NO. 5 | October, 2022
Frederick City and County News of Interest
- Ft. Detrick Update: Area B discussion/decision making continues:
- The City’s plan for a Road through Area B:
- City planning proposal to rent storage space at Area B:
- Environmental Overlay Map:
- Sugarloaf Update
- East Street Corridor Update
- County Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance
- County MPDU Revisions to Increase Affordable Housing
- City Rental Inspection Ordinance
- County Council Approves Pandemic Extension Ordinance for Developers
- Update on N. Market Street
- Charter Review
- City Requested Input on NACs
- Frederick’s African-American History
- Elections, Elections, Elections
Citizens
for Responsible Growth (CRG) is a grassroots coalition of Frederick
residents who strongly favor development to accommodate the projected
increase in the County’s and City’s population, but want to ensure it is
undertaken in a way that considers the cumulative impact on our
infrastructure, i.e., housing (market-driven and affordable/workforce),
green space, schools, traffic, and the environment. Current practice is
to consider each project as it — alone — affects its immediate
surroundings. We contend that each project must be considered as an
integral part of multiple land uses that work together to protect public
safety, provide accommodation, minimize congestion, and guarantee easy
access to a functional natural environment that surrounds our built and
arable lands.
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Ft. Detrick Update: Area B discussion/decision making continues:
- The City’s plan for a Road through Area B: As shared at the June 2022 Restoration Advisory Board (RAB) meeting, the Army is not interested in providing land to the City of Frederick for construction of Christopher’s Crossing. Approximately a year ago, the Fort Detrick Garrison Commander conveyed his decision to the City to not provide land for this road. This is a further setback for the planned road after the Board of Aldermen approved a FY 2023 Capital Improvement Project (CIP) Budget which had removed the City’s Area B Road from the budget. The present city plan is to widen Kemp Lane to eventually merge into Christophers Crossing and by-pass Area B.
- City planning proposal to rent storage space at Area B: City planners proposed a 20-year lease of 10 acres at Area B for maintenance storage space as an alternative to its present location at Husky Park. Alderwomen Donna Kuzemchak and Katie Nash voiced their concerns about City employees working in the area of a Superfund site and contaminated groundwater. Nash said she does not trust that the Superfund areas accurately reflect the locations of the groundwater contamination. No decision has been made and the Army has not received a formal proposal. If you want to minimize City worker exposures, please write the mayor and aldermen.
- Environmental Overlay Map: The Frederick City 2020 Comprehensive Plan includes the creation of an environmental overlay map which would show the extent of contaminated groundwater from Ft. Detrick that flows beyond the fort boundary into adjacent neighborhoods. Once available via the City website and periodically updated for accuracy, the map would inform landowners, homeowners, perspective buyers, and realtors of the immediate sub-surface threat. An ad hoc group of RAB members and other concerned citizens is incorporating information provided by the Army to present a draft map to the mayor and aldermen.
Sugarloaf Update
The Sugarloaf Treasured Landscape Plan is the first in depth plan of Livable Frederick. The Plan will be voted on by the county council on October 18, 2022 (see proposed plan at: Sugarloaf-FCPC-Recommended-
- Landowners and those who wish to preserve the area’s forests, agricultural land, and rural landscapes are requesting the overlay be extended to the east side of Rte. I-270 and up to the Monocacy Battlefield. Since before 1970, I-270 has been the dividing line, protecting this unique, natural environment: Bennett’s Creek corridor, Sugarloaf Mountain, and the Monocacy River. Every plan since 1970 used this demarcation to preserve this area, truly “treasuring” its environmental and historical significance. This is also the recommendation of the County Planning Commission and is supported by the Sugarloaf Alliance and Envision Frederick. See Home | Sugarloaf Alliance (sugarloaf-alliance.com for details, including the schedule of County Council workshops and meetings.
- Realtors and developers who see the land as an opportunity to develop high density townhouse communities and data centers. At minimum, they wish to remove 500 acres owned by Natelli, a prominent developer from Montgomery County who has built extensively in Urbana.Landowners of large rural holdings want the opportunity to sell to developers in the future with no preconditions. This group is represented by The Livable Frederick Coalition.
- The Stronghold landowners see themselves as responsible stewards of the land and want to exempt their 3,400 acres from the Sugarloaf Plan. They threaten to close Stronghold to visitors if included in the Sugarloaf Plan. The 2000+ acres of Stronghold are the heart of the rural landscape.
East Street Corridor Update
Over the past few months, the City has conducted two studies pertaining to the East Street Corridor. The first study re-envisioned East Street as a quieter street that incorporates multiple modes (pedestrians, bicycles, transit, and passenger vehicles). While trucks will be on the corridor, it is believed the City intends to create truck routes that minimize their impact on East Street operations. The second study focused on a new planning concept for Frederick called Form Based Design (FBD). The results of this study, when completed in the months ahead, will suggest the relationship between development along the corridor to the streetscape, including sidewalks, crosswalks, tree canopy, and building setback and parking. Discussions are only just beginning that will identify the activities (pieces of the puzzle) that need to occur to achieve the vision for the corridor. Various people, groups, staff, and consultants are working on obtaining a better understanding of the process involved in funding and scheduling each piece of the puzzle (transitioning from a vision to an actual capital improvement project). It is hoped that understanding the process will allow stakeholders to ensure the City maintains a specific focus and commitment to achieving the reality of the vision as a high priority. Stay tuned for information on next steps and how you can be involved for developing this major City corridor!
County Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance
Designed to ease traffic congestion arising from new developments, this ordinance (https://frederickcountymd.
County MPDU Revisions to Increase Affordable Housing
County Council member Jessica Fitzwater has introduced revised legislation to, ideally, increase affordable housing across the County, as Moderately Priced Dwelling Units (MPDU, Bills 22-27 to 29, https://frederickcountymd.gov/
City Rental Inspection Ordinance
Although a schedule has not been posted for continued discussions and formulations of specifics within the recently passed City ordinance (https://www.
County Council Approves Pandemic Extension Ordinance for Developers
On September 6, 2022, the Frederick County Council passed an ordinance to Extend Certain Development Approvals Due to Pandemic Delays for projects that are deemed in the best interests of County residents and that preserve and improve the health, safety, and general welfare of residents. The ordinance, introduced by Council Member McKay and supported by members Dacey, Fitzwater, Blue, and Hagen, will assist developers who experienced pandemic supply chain delays causing projects to stop, thereby missing County deadlines. To qualify for the (up to 18-month) extension:
- Developers must have had an active and valid approval between March 5, 2020 and July 1, 2021 of Preliminary Plans, Adequate Public Facility Ordinance (APFO) Letters of Understanding, Grading Plans, Forest Conservation Plans, and Improvement Plans
- Eligible projects must have in place off-site infrastructure, a road open/close/alter process, a County road relocation, and water and sewage infrastructure significantly completed.
At completion, the developer, Overlook at Long Branch LLC, a Wormald subsidiary, will be eliminating/closing the present Linganore Road intersection by running Linganore Road through the new community. The builder previously paid for traffic lights necessary to make the Bartonsville Road intersection safer. The lights have been hung but are currently not operating because one major option has Bartonsville Road drivers crossing the intersection onto Linganore Road which will run through the new community. Development and traffic — a huge concern for the ever expanding City!
Update on N. Market Street
First the good news. Carmens (the illegal, after hours club located on the 3rd block of N. Market Street) has stopped holding their late night/early morning events! Based on discussions with senior FPD officers, the primary reasons for this positive outcome were:
- the strong vocalizing of concerns by the residential community who consistently kept the problem high profile for several months through a series of meetings with City officials, emails, and by speaking up at NAC 11 meetings. Hence, the City had to act!
- the behind-the-scenes pressure placed on the primary 3rd Street landlord (by the City’s Code Enforcement and Fire Departments; and the Frederick County Health Department and Liquor Board) stressing her culpability and ultimate responsibility for permitting the incidents to happen on her property.
- the diligence and professionalism of the FPD, who pursued all angles and who kept the community updated and remained transparent throughout the process. The authorization of indefinite overtime has also been a major factor.
- Exhale: Although the situation directly in front of Exhale has improved, the planned expansion of this unregulated BYOB establishment (whose business model is the root cause of much of the N. Market St. troubles and which spawned the copycat Carmens) is an immediate concern. The City is poised to grant the owners of 401-403-405 N. Market a plat consolidation to combine Juice Up and Exhale into one property which more than doubles their space and potentially greater opportunities for disturbance in the neighborhood. The business proprietors (with a similar BYOB in Hagerstown, after denying any business relationship in an earlier public meeting) are already interviewing new bouncers for this projected growth and have recruited the main promoter of Carmens to organize their late-night events.
- Carmack-Jay’s: The parking lot in front of this several decades long vacant building is another tragedy in the making! It is presently the reported gathering place for sex workers and customers, as well as inebriated patrons from neighborhood venues, and the noise level and disturbance to the neighborhood are way past the point of tolerance. In fact, the FPD recommended to the administration to close the lot on Friday and Saturday night, but their request was rejected. It’s necessary to ask why and what alternatives have been/could be explored.
Charter Review
In his State of the City address on September 8th, Mayor O’Connor announced initiation of an extensive Charter review (https://www.
- “Educate and engage a robust discussion about the current charter (which is the City’s government document for policies and procedures for how government operates and represents the public it serves)
- Review language and processes of the current charter to determine revisions and amendments in the City of Frederick’s best interest
- Ensure City government is representative, effective, transparent, responsive and accountable.”
- Phase One
(September–November) focuses on gathering applicants for the
7–11-person review committee and gathering feedback from community
surveys of residents and community organizations. A 30-day application
period commenced September 20. (If you are interested, check https://cityoffrederickmd.gov/
CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=7124 for information on the process and to apply.) - Phase Two (December–May) consists of committee research and meetings, with public access to committee meetings and continued opportunities for public input.
- Phase Three (June–August): Committee members will draft a final report with recommendations for the Mayor and Board. These will be discussed at multiple public workshops for feedback and consideration. A completed report based on the above reviews will be brought to a public hearing for final comment and a vote by the Mayor and Board.
City Requested Input on NACs
In addition to requesting resident input on the Charter Review Committee (see above), the City is asking residents to respond to two surveys on the Neighborhood Advisory Committees (NACs). Research and feedback will be made public to the Board of Alderman when the Neighborhood Engagement Revitalization goes to a Mayor and Board workshop. Although there is concern that resident input will not be incorporated into a revised NAC design or process, we urge residents to provide the requested comment. Substantial input (via the surveys) will, hopefully, ensure that our opinions are at least advanced and will avoid the possibility of the City asserting that lack of resident input indicates a non-concerned populace. The surveys can be found at https://www.cityoffrederickmd.
The Neighborhood Engagement Survey asks:
- What about neighborhood engagement is most important to you?
- When determining neighborhood boundaries, what is most important to you?
- What do you believe the City’s purposed in neighborhood engagement should be?
- What feedback can you provide the City to encourage and activate better neighborhood engagement?
- What is your involvement in the NAC program?
- What is your perception of the NAC Program?
- How has your perception of the program changed from 10 years ago?
- If your perspective of the program has changed, why?
- What could the City do better to re-engage you in the NAC program?
Frederick’s African-American History
We’ve just discovered a tremendously informative educational opportunity to learn about South Frederick’s African American history. The African American Resources Cultural and Historical Society (AARCH) offers African American History Walking Tours presented by local African American residents who have lived in the City for their lifetimes, some more than 8 decades. CRG members who recently participated said the tour was the best overview of early S. Frederick’s black history they have experienced and strongly encourage participation for the last scheduled tour on October 22. Sign up now at https://aarchsociety.org/
Elections, Elections, Elections
The FNP has published a list of upcoming candidate forums. Those sponsored by the League of Women Voters will be streamed at www.facebook.com/
- October 5 from 6:30 to 8:00 PM — The League of Women Voters of Frederick County will hold a virtual forum for County Council at large, District 1, and District 2 candidates.
- October 12 from 6:30 to 8:00 PM — The League of Women Voters of Frederick County will hold a virtual forum for County Council District 3, 4, and 5 candidates.
- October 17 from 7 to 9:15 PM at the Thurmont Middle School cafeteria, 408 E. Main St., Thurmont — The Thurmont and Emmitsburg Lions Clubs will hold a forum for candidates running for Frederick County Executive, County Council at Large, and County Council District 5.
- October 20 from 6:30 to 8:00 PM — The League of Women Voters of Frederick County will hold a virtual forum for sheriff candidates.
- October 25 from 6:30 to 8:00 PM — The League of Women Voters of Frederick County will hold a virtual forum for Frederick County Board of Education candidates.
This election matters for what our future can be vs. restoring policies from decades past. VOTE!
Contributors: C. Anderson, S. Jakubczyk, E. Law, R. Robey, M. Rosensweig, K. Sellner
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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)
