Frederick City and County News of Interest VOL. 1, NO. 3 | August 2, 2022

VOL. 1, NO. 3  |  AUGUST 2, 2022 Frederick City and County News of Interest The Primaries are Over!  All City Picnic Summary Street Safety Gang  Update on Neighborhood Advisory Council (NAC) Revitalization Update on Downtown Late Night Weekend Disturbances: A July 23 homicide Update on the City’s East Street Redevelopment Effort City Mobility Fee District City Rental Registration Plan Visitation Academy  County APFO Revision County Sugarloaf Treasured Landscape Management Plan & 85-355 Corridor Plan 6-point Plan to Reduce Early Morning Weekend Street Parties and Violence 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 PM, 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 Jacubczyk (jakubczyksteven@gmail.com) for consideration of your issue.  _______________ The Primaries are Over!  The primary elections have passed with several surprises of much closer contests in some cases than expected, and we can only hope for brighter times ahead. However, the very bleak turnout suggests much greater participation is needed in November — so get engaged…   All City Picnic Summary The All City Neighborhood Picnic was held July 17 at Kidwiler Park with ~80 participants attending to ideally create community-wide connections and awareness. As the first annual City-wide picnic, both the Citizens for Responsible Growth and The Street Safety Gang were encouraged by conversations and comradery. More to come in the months ahead…   Street Safety Gang The Street Safety Gang's mission is to create safer, slower streets throughout Frederick City neighborhoods. People in years past have tried unsuccessfully to rally neighbors and City officials to do something about speeding on their particular street. When started in spring 2021, we too were looking at only our street, Lee Place. It didn't take long to understand that this was a City-wide issue needing the help and support of residents over the entire urban area. With that in mind, the main goal today is to be able to communicate to a broader audience. Like all successful community activism has proven, it only works when the community is engaged and part of the solution. So today I am asking for your engagement and support. Please join in our efforts to be a solution-based group working to make Frederick City neighborhoods safer by slowing the speed. The big yellow signs around town are a symptom, not a cure! Long term solutions include Street Stripping, Public Street Art, and Personal Behavior! These are the things we’re working towards in 2022. If you'd like to help with the conversation and be part of the solution, please email Gayle Petersen at streetsafetygangfrederickmd@gmail.com. Enjoy the ride!   Update on Neighborhood Advisory Council (NAC) Revitalization As reported in the June 7 newsletter, residents across the 12 NACs continue to pursue re-emergence of NAC influence in City decisions and policies. Board member Derek Shackelford (dshackelford@cityoffrederickmd.gov) promised to deliver a draft policy July 27 now postponed until September; he has requested that anyone interested may contact him directly. Residents have proposed that they be included in the discussions of the new NAC design as it is residents that comprise these advisory groups and hence, participating rather than being dictated to will result in the most effective dialog/communication between City staff and homeowners, tenants, and small businesses of our municipality. Stay tuned!   Update on Downtown Late Night Weekend Disturbances: A July 23 homicide The downtown very early morning street parties common to 4th and 5th street blocks of N. Market have gotten out of hand, with loud crowd noise, shootings, and a murder just one week ago. Police spokespeople state that there is nothing that can be done, yet a 6-point plan (see bottom of page) has been submitted to the Frederick Police Department (FPD), Board of Aldermen (BoA), and mayor with multiple options to curtail these weekend events. Several of these options were discussed on Monday, August 1, at a neighbor/police/City official/business meeting. Residents stressed that the downtown area must be made safe during the early morning hours when rowdy crowds empty into the street and continue their celebrations or alternatively move into a flat above Carmen’s Grocery Store for more consumption and exuberance. Owners of Exhale and the new corner juice bar introduced themselves and clearly stated their intentions of becoming good neighbors and will work with residents and City staff to resolve the expanding early morning street rowdiness. Mayor O’Connor and Chief Lando indicated an enlarged presence in the area for the coming weekends, as well as exploring options for minimizing the post-Exhale partying in the vacant flat above Carmen’s. Without huge resident input in the coming weeks, no change will occur, as we are constantly told that the number of comments is critical to any action by the BoA or mayor. And importantly, the City is run through complaint-driven requests, NOT proactive or reactive responses to obvious City problems — so act with written and oral comment and calls (non-emergency FPD number: 301-600-2102) when unrest is encountered!   Update on the City’s East Street Redevelopment Effort The City has completed a new study that reimagines the East Street Corridor (https://www.cityoffrederickmd.gov/DocumentCenter/View/20208/East-Street-Redesign-Final-Report?bidId=). The study is a high level planning document that includes conceptual design recommendations for 1) reimagining vehicular traffic patterns for both autos and trucks; 2) multi-modal options for pedestrians, bicycle lanes, and transit; and 3) commercial development. This study will be followed by a new iteration of the East Street Corridor Small Area Plan, recommendations for Form-Based Design (informed by all stakeholders in multiple-day charrettes) that will set the template for new commercial and residential development, modify the Capital Improvement Plan for implementing recommendations, conduct a detailed traffic study to determine that the recommended road diet will be viable, and undertake a truck traffic study that will recommend formal truck routes throughout the City and minimize truck traffic on East Street. Identified issues include representation of small businesses and lower income services in future designs. Public participation in a multi-day meeting (charrette) will begin at 7 pm on August 12 at the City Annex, 140 W. Patrick Street with a Saturday morning open meeting to begin mapping stakeholder thoughts on the future East Street design. Participate!!   City Mobility Fee District Officials and staff are considering establishing a mobility fee for parts of the City with the fee replacing required traffic studies for downtown areas where no new roads, ramps, or lanes are possible, thereby not wasting money on a study. Instead, fees would be collected for each building type (residential, commercial, industrial, etc.) and pooled for transportation improvements in the Mobility Fee District, estimated at ~$9.3M (a breakdown of the costs, p. 13:  https://www.cityoffrederickmd.gov/DocumentCenter/View/18343/FrederickMobilityFee_101920_PlanningCommission?bidId=). General mobility fee details are available at the Mobility Fee tab of https://www.cityoffrederickmd.gov/1287/APFO. The Mobility Fee will replace the transportation/traffic portion of a development’s Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance (APFO) fee, but payments for the other components of the APFO, like water, sewer, schools, etc., will still have to be made. The fee will be discussed again in an August 18 City meeting with potential adoption by October 1.   City Rental Registration Plan Alderwoman Donna Kuzemchak is advocating for a rental property registry and inspection program within the City. Its goal is to identify all rental properties for inspection of building condition and options to ensure properties are properly maintained to protect renters from poor housing that threaten individuals’ health, commitment of limited incomes to repairs, and access to heating, cooling, water and sewage discharge to ensure a reasonable quality of life. It will be discussed on August 4 at City Hall, 7 PM, details to follow.   Visitation Academy It appears that resident input and dialog with the Visitation Academy developer have resulted in specific site changes to the proposed Building 2 of the campus to reduce some local concerns re: building height, setback, and access to light. Building 2, fronting E. 2nd Street, will not be set back farther from the campus retaining wall because the height of the fourth floor has been reduced so that it will not exceed the height of the adjacent and across the street historic homes. The fifth floor infrastructure on the roof will be set back so as not to be visible from the street. The key is that the developer, in response to citizens, created a graphic that illustrated the relative scale of the proposed building to its historic neighbors and demonstrated that there will be no blockage of natural light. The historic Visitation Academy building will remain the prominent architecture on the campus. Providing a quantitative process documenting comparable mass and scale of new construction to historic neighbors should become a standard for new construction projects in the Historic District. The developer is commended for this response, indicating that resident input at least to this developer and in contrast to City planning staff, can result in positive responses that protect the existing community character and streetscape of a neighborhood. This process and outcome easily justify proposed CRG Land Management Code text revisions submitted late in 2021 and early 2022 to staff, Planning Commission, and Board of Aldermen establishing pre-application review (staff, developer, residents) of any application for new construction in the City long before any formal City staff recommendations have been made. Ideally, this will be reconsidered now that the City budget has been adopted.   County APFO Revision The proposed legislation on future development requirements for roads, by County Council members McKay and Hagen, was passed on July 5 at the County Council meeting; the next workshop is scheduled for August 23 at Winchester Hall. The goal of the legislation is to reduce likely traffic congestion on local roadways associated with large new developments. These would include funds for new signals and access lanes as well as placing funds in escrow for roadway upgrades as development continues to increase in areas beyond the extent of the new development. This forward-thinking legislation seeks to reduce congestion that is more and more apparent as the County (and City) continues new construction to accommodate the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments’ projection of 406,000 County inhabitants by 2040. The legislation is highly relevant to City decisions as well as the current City policy is to review each development on a case-by-case basis rather than cumulative impact of more housing and the accompanying vehicular traffic.   County Sugarloaf Treasured Landscape Management Plan & 85-355 Corridor Plan As you may know, the County’s visionary plan for the future is described in Livable Frederick published three years ago. In it, approximately 8 primary growth areas were identified and the first to be vetted with residents, businesses, developers, and other stakeholders was Sugarloaf Mountain. The Sugarloaf Alliance (http://sugarloafalliance.org/) was formed to provide focused input from residents and other interested parties on the area’s future land use so explore the site for more detail of public input into this plan. After approximately 2 years, the County Planning Commission forwarded the plan (https://www.frederickcountymd.gov/Document Center/View/337082/Sugarloaf-Area-Plan-FCPC-Draft-2022-03-10) to the County Council. The public can provide comment at all of the proposed multiple Council Plan workshops planned for August (9, 11, 15, 22). Council amendments to the Plan will be submitted in August-September with public comment ensured on all amendments including for what will be considered in the final Plan. The final Council hearing is scheduled for September 27.   An open house on the Sugarloaf Plan is scheduled for August 18 at the Urbana High School. Public comment is encouraged at the meeting so plan to attend to provide written or oral input. Additionally, the Rt. 85-355 Corridor will be the next priority growth area to be reviewed with a public meeting planned for August 17, 9:30–1 PM at Winchester Hall; stay tuned for a link to register.   Content Contributors: S. Jakubczyk, E. Law, G. Petersen, R. Robey, M. Rosensweig, K. Sellner, S. Trainor

 

 

6-point Plan to Reduce Early Morning Weekend Street Parties and Violence   Action #1 — Immediately introduce an emergency ordinance limiting the hours of operation of BYOB's to mirror those of Craft Breweries and Distilleries. I recommend sighting the recent shootings, gang-related fights, and murder plus the stress they put on the understaffed FPD causing an excessive use of resources. A 90 day "cooling off " period (giving the City time to review potential long-term legislative options) would seem to be in order and by lining up their hours with other heavily regulated tiers of business such as the breweries/distilleries, we wouldn't be signaling anybody out, just leveling the playing field.   Action #2 — Revise parking regulations on the 4th and 5th N. Market Street block from "No Parking 3:00 am–7:00 am" to “No Parking 11:00 pm–7:00 am” on Friday and Saturday nights. This small move would help alleviate one of the biggest issues of patrons congregating after hours and hopefully encourage them to utilize municipal lots which have much less impact on adjoining neighborhoods. Note that the shooter from the July 23 murder car was parked in front of Exhale well after 3:00 am. Also, use of strong enforcement with a tow truck at the ready will send a clear message. Again, if this minor change had been in effect last week, would a life have been saved?   Action #3 — Call for an immediate halt to all "private party" permits on the 3rd N. Market Street block regardless of intent until further notice or for at least the 90 day period. If the Liquor Board won't grant a permit, why is the City? At the very least, limit the hours granted to what we all recognize is a borderline legal event. Note, the party at Carmen’s Corner Store was still going the morning of July 23 when the fatal shooting occurred.    Action #4 — Increase FPD presence - if overtime is needed, then make it happen. The neighbors have seen a reduction in the presence of the FPD after the previous shooting and it is obvious that the problems have returned culminating with the most recent tragedy. Frederick has a $200M budget - overtime 2 nights a week to protect its citizens is at this point a justifiable expense. We would also suggest reviewing overall scheduling so those on duty at night don't have to play "whack-a-mole" rotating from bar-to-bar as problems arise.    Action #5 — Encourage City Legal and Code Enforcement to ramp up efforts to clean up the 3rd N. Market Street block and aggressively enforce existing regulations whether they be basic safety or the recently passed Vacancy provisions. To be blunt, just putting notices on doors of vacant buildings to remove porta-potties or warning against occupancy limits is not enough. We are in a crisis situation here and just can't be in a risk adverse/business-as-usual mode. This strong response/sense of urgency type action can't be stated strongly enough!   Action #6 — Finally, it is important to know that we are engaging with State and County delegations to change BYOB laws long-term and have full confidence in our eventual success. However, that effort will take 10 months or more. We have to do all possible in the meantime to limit the damage done to the City, its reputation, and the quality of life to its tax-paying residents and prevent any more murders! — S. Jakubczyk

 

Frederick City and County News of Interest Vol. 1, No. 2 July 2022

Vol. 1, No. 2 7/06/22
Newsletter from the Citizens for Responsible Growth

1. Time to VOTE!
2. ALL CITY PICNIC!
3. Ft. Detrick Success!
4. Update on Neighborhood Advisory Council (NAC) Revitalization
5. Wayside Apartments, aka Overlook East
6. Update on Downtown Late Night Weekend Disturbances
7. Update on the City’s East Street Redevelopment Effort
8. City Mobility Fee District
9. City Rental Registration Plan
10. Visitation Academy
11. Banner School Property
12. County APFO Revision

Many Frederick residents want to know but cannot find information about or participate in discussions of important local issues. The City and County generally hold meetings from 3-10 PM, 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) or Marge Rosensweig (marjorie803@comcast.net) for consideration of your issue.

Time to VOTE!

The primary elections are upon us, including Federal, state, and County officials. Mail in voting (including via drop-box) has begun and continues through July 14th and in-person voting is July 19th. It’s critical to help determine your future so VOTE!
 

ALL CITY PICNIC!

Everyone is welcome at the All City Neighborhood Picnic, creating community-wide connections one gathering at a time! SUNDAY, JULY 17TH from 12-4PM Kidwiler Park ~ 551 Schley Avenue, Frederick, MD. Bring your own picnic + lawn chairs. A local food truck will also be there. Ice cream and water is on the sponsors, Citizens for Responsible Growth & The Street Safety Gang. For more information contact Gayle Petersen, SSG at streetsafetygangfrederickmd@gmail.com or Steve Jakubczyk, CRG at jakubczyksteven@gmail.com

Ft. Detrick Success!

 For more than a decade, the City has had a road planned through Ft. Detrick’s Area B, an area with multiple burial sites of very toxic materials, from Agent Orange, to PFAS, other volatile carcinogenic compounds, and pathogens. A determined group of residents has fought this construction for years, with a final success just announced in this year’s budget: There will be no road through Area B but, instead, around the toxic dumpsite, thereby minimizing direct exposures of road construction workers and drivers across the site. Huge kudos to this persistent, science-informed group! Just a caution, however, for the future: Many of the toxic compounds continue to move in a plume of material underground with potential exposures to down-gradient homes and the families therein. The group continues to press for City-mandated installation of prevention technologies in all new construction locales surrounding Area B. As well, the City is being pressed to issue a written statement permanently renouncing the Area B option.

Update on Neighborhood Advisory Council (NAC) Revitalization

As reported in the June 7th newsletter, residents across the 12 NACs continue to pursue re- emergence of NAC influence in City decisions and policies. Reportedly, there is a City plan for the NACs in the works, led by Alderman Derek Shackelford, to be delivered by the end of the month. Stay tuned!

Wayside Apartments, aka Overlook East

The City has received an application for construction of 79 apartments in 2 new buildings and renovation of the historic Schley House for 6 additional apartments on E. Patrick Street along Carroll Creek in the Carroll Creek Linear Park. The project is largely accepted except for a July 11th Planning Commission (PC) workshop to discuss the new buildings’ exteriors, e.g., all red brick consistent with the Union Mills warehouse and surrounding residences east and west of the new apartments or a mixture of some brick and substantial upper story white cement panels found in many contemporary apartment buildings, complementing the HPC-mandated color of the adjacent Schley House. If interested in future architecture in the Carroll Creek Linear Park east of the Union Mills warehouse (location of Idiom, Steinhardt’s microbreweries), please submit written comments by July 11th or provide oral input at City Hall on that date. The staff report is available at https://cityoffrederick.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?view_id=12&event_id=4153&meta_id=128 600.

Update on Downtown Late Night Weekend Disturbances

Previously, this newsletter reported on a shooting incident in the street and alleys near Exhale, a hookah lounge with a BYOB policy that enables unregulated alcohol consumption. In response, the FPD stepped up patrols in the area during late night/early morning hours. However, another venue, Carmen’s Corner Store, has entered the area’s unregulated alcohol sales/consumption arena. Residents have lodged several complaints about both establishments in recent weeks, culminating in a need for FPD to respond to two separate late night (1:30 am) fights (in the 4th street block) over the July 4th weekend. The only way to stop the unregulated/unlicensed sale and/or use of alcohol products and the  problems caused by this practice is for the residents to get involved: call in the FPD (non- emergency number: 301-600-2102) when you see or hear something regardless of the hour and  help us move legislation forward to regulate these BYOB businesses. Let your City government know that they need to protect their citizens and residents' quality of life. The FPD can only do so much without total community support and maximum effort. Make a call or send an email before something tragic happens—again!

Update on the City’s East Street Redevelopment Effort

As briefly summarized in the June 7th newsletter, City officials, staff, residents, and business owners are now meeting to define what East Street might look like in the future. The design of the future East Street will be drafted through City adoption of form-based zoning for the corridor, a zoning strategy that determines/guides external building designs rather than specific land use (e.g., residential, industrial, retail, parkland, etc.) of a parcel dictated by current City Euclidean zoning. The City has hired a second set of consultants who have provided ‘what is and how to’ form-based zoning presentations to City officials and residents in June. The consultants have multiple years of experience and towns where they have developed form-based zoning and the key point emphasized is that the building ‘forms’ for East Street must be derived from local resident input. To accomplish this, a multi-day charrette (open meeting) will be convened in August where residents and other stakeholders sit at tables with corridor maps and draw out what they envision the future East Street corridor to be. Thereafter, the consultants will compile the options and present these in a report to City officials. The critical next step is implementation of specific form-based zoning that depicts the building, street, and parking designs that will be allowed in the corridor. These designs are the only forms that will be considered for permitting and construction.

The critical concern for residents is our continued participation in defining the form-based code that City staff select. That decision must be a collaborative effort but our history with City Planning and Permitting staff is not of cooperation with residents but rather dictates to us, i.e., ‘this is how it will be’. We will continue to push for a collaborative design decision from all members of the community as the selected form-based zoning will define the corridor’s appearance for the next century.

City Mobility Fee District

Officials and staff are considering establishing a mobility fee for parts of the City with the fee assisting transportation options in specific areas of East Street. Details are available at https://cityoffrederick.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?view_id=12&event_id=4492&meta_id=128 462. The fee will replace requirements in the Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance on downtown areas that have little option for expanding roads, etc. Developers will be required to pay a set fee to meet the following Mobility Fee District objectives: 1. Redirect private sector financial resources from “studies” to “projects”; 2. Improve development review predictability; 3. Generate funds for $9 million of identified multimodal project to accommodate growth; 4. Promote desired private sector investment in Downtown; and 5. Enhance public/private partnership approaches to Downtown. It is to be discussed in a June 6 City meeting at 3 PM (Channel 99).

City Rental Registration Plan

Alderwoman Donna Kuzemchak is advocating for a rental property registration and inspection program within the City. Its goal is to identify all rental properties for inspection of building condition and options to ensure properties are properly maintained to protect renters from poorly maintained conditions. It will be discussed on July 7th City, 7 PM meeting (but it’s scheduled late in the meeting so more likely 9 PM) so call or write in please (https://cityoffrederick.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?view_id=12&event_id=3491&meta_id=12 8573).

Visitation Academy

As everyone is likely aware, the Visitation Academy (VA) is under renovation at an estimated cost of $20M. The campus will include a boutique hotel, restaurant, and luxury condominiums. The redevelopment required agreement by the MD Historical Trust, National Park Service, City staff, the Historic Preservation Commission (HPC), and Planning Commission, with a required  presentation from staff and the developer at a NAC11 meeting prior to the pandemic. At that meeting, the developer assured residents that the Academy’s exterior design would remain largely ‘as is’ and that all new construction that would front E. 2nd, E. Church, and Chapel Alley would complement the design and facade of the restored main building with red brick and white, double 6x6 multi-mullioned windows. Promises made, promises not kept. Under City staff Administrative Authority and encouragement according to the developer, the designs and facades of the proposed buildings on the VA campus are now ‘contemporary’, and no longer resemble the original VA building nor the area’s historic buildings. Building #1, now under construction, has a modern façade of gray fabricated cement panels, non-white double hung and casement window frames, floor-to-ceiling windows on 3rd and 4th floors, steel-supported glass panel balconies, and ground level garages, not reflective of the charm and character of the historic district. Even more disturbing, the modern façade is being used to justify a similar design and facade for a 5-story Building #2, again, dissimilar to the large VA building. None of this complements the surrounding neighborhood residence facades, thereby ignoring the surrounding character of the historic homes on E. Church and E. 2nd Streets. Additionally, local residents on E. 2nd Street are very concerned about local flooding of an adjacent property attached to the VA as well as extreme reductions in natural light from the 5-story building with only minimal setback from the street (once posted, letters detailing these concerns will be available). Although difficult to assess, we are hopeful that there may be some suggested revisions to this design by at least 2 HPC members at the July 14th commission meeting, perhaps resulting in several required changes. Resident input may be needed to voice concerns on the final campus design.

Banner School Property

The HPC voted unanimously to allow construction of a 4.5 story, ɪ-shaped multi-family building on the north side of the open lot in front of the Banner School Buildings. The buildings and front lot had been designated historic after exploring the history of the Odd Fellows Home constructed early in the 20th century. City staff and the HPC members elected to ignore City guidelines that limit massing, scale, and height to those of the adjacent Banner School Building, allowing construction of this massive complex in the coming years. It again appears that development overrides even officially designated historic property preservation, mimicking the recent new construction decisions for the Visitation Academy on E. Church-E. 2nd Street.

County APFO Revision

The proposed legislation on future development requirements for roads, by County Council members Mackay and Hagen, was passed on July 5th at the County Council meeting. The goal of the legislation is to reduce likely traffic congestion on local roadways associated with large new developments. These would include funds for new signals and access lanes as well as placing funds in escrow for roadway upgrades as development continues to increase in areas beyond the extent of the new development. This forward-thinking legislation seeks to reduce congestion that is more and more apparent as the County (and City) continues new construction to accommodate the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments’ projection of 406,000 County inhabitants by 2040. The Frederick County Building Industry Association objected, citing 1) the County commitment to future development be built near existing roadways so why add  this additional burden when roads are already in place and 2) increased costs that would then have to be passed on to buyers. The legislation is highly relevant to City decisions as well as the current City policy is to review each development on a case-by-case basis rather than cumulative impact of more housing and the accompanying vehicular traffic.

Content Contributors: S. Jakubczyk, G. Petersen, R. Robey, M. Rosenweig, K. Sellner