Regular Meeting on February 10, 2011

Meeting began at 7:30 pm.  Council members Patrick Wojahn and Christine Nagle and Marcus Afzali were present. Bob Catlin joined later. District 1 county council member Mary Lehman was also present.

Moved by Adrian Bradford and seconded by David Turley, January 2011 minutes was approved.

Treasurer Joe Smith reported that $60 has been deposited to the bank, with ending balance of 1448.65. In last month, $23.32 was spent on office supplies.

In the president’s report, Mark Shroder said NCPCA has recently received a letter from Haitham Hijazi of County’s Public Works on NCPCA’s request to install chokers on the shoulders of Rhode Island Avenue at the pedestrian crosswalks between Sunnyside Avenue and MD 193. Based on their study, the DPW&T has determined that the area is generally not suitable for choker usage. Mr. Shroder also reported one NCPCA mail to a member with valid address was returned by the post office. He said he received a letter on Greenbelt Metro Area sector plan and sectional map amendment.

Hollywood Gateway Park committee Chair Larry Bleau presented a conceptual preliminary design of the proposed park at the corner of Route 1 and Edgewood Road in North College Park. Committee members met at the proposed site and later brainstormed the design of the park. Moved by John Krouse / Bill Robertson, Have NCPCA park design committee continues working with City’s planning department with the proposed ideas. Motion passed.

Dist. 1 County Council member Mary Lehman, spoke to members about the proposed county budget and the ethics bill. She said the county council recently had budget hearing at the Laurel High School. The hearing was attended by about 20-25 people. The county is facing a projected $77 million budget shortfall in 2012, The PG school system is facing somewhere between $85 million to $100 million deficit. The new budget will affect the school system with larger class sizes and eliminating Pre-K classes. The school system is also looking into possibilities of restricting school transportation to students going to out of local school districts. She also said she objected to two proposed ethics bills in the MD House of Delegates, one by Co. Exec Rushern Baker and another by the Del. Frush. She said both bills will take away county council’s ability to review Detailed Site Plans, and will leave up to the citizens to request call-up to district council on any future site plans. A public hearing had been scheduled on the bills on February 12 at the PG Community College. She said she is committed to working on the traffic lights at the intersection of Rhode Island and Edgewood and the proposed north College Park Community Center.

Members also discussed the impact of the Greenbelt Metro development on the Narragansett Run stream in north College Park. A permit to make massive alterations to the portion of Narragansett Run across the railroad tracks from north College Park was applied for in 2008, put to rest, and then revived again last month and the comment open period has been extended to March 14. This could well affect water upstream in north College Park, and issues relating to storm water runoff and water quality and environment habitat. The Park and Planning will be hosting an Information gathering session and community meeting on March 2, 7-8:30pm at the Greenbelt community center. Moved by Ann Riley / Larry Bleau, a motion “Have NCPCA authorize the president form a committee on Greenbelt development “ was later amended by Larry /Ann “Have the committee speak on behalf of the NCPCA” Motion passed. President appointed John Krouse and Stephen Jascourt. Sarah Jazs and himself.

Moved by Leslie Booth and seconded by Adrianne Bradford, members adopted a motion “Have NCPCA approve the draft language of the proposed Bylaws amendment to Article X: Dissolution of NCPCA’s By-laws”. The proposed By-laws amendment seeks to clarify reasons for association’s dissolution and distribution of assets in case such dissolution happens. Moved by Larry Bleau / Stephen Jascourt, an amendment to the motion “Add the following text to the end of section 4 ‘Any distribution of assets must comply with the restriction in Article 2” was approved by members. (Full text of the amendment appears elsewhere in this notice.)

Mark Shroder and Larry Belau gave an overview of City’s proposed ordinance in last week to assume more controls over zoning. Titled “Additional zoning authority pursuant to CB-16-2010″, the proposed ordinance would give the City the ability to take on a couple of additional powers. The proposed changes may affect the current way of zoning process which is nearly exclusively administered by the county’s planning department. Moved by John Krouse / Bill Robertson, a motion “Director of Planning should never have the power to waive the posting” was approved (5-2-0).

Moved by Peter Lakeland / Fazlul Kabir, meeting was extended beyond 9:30pm.

Councilmember Catlin said the new census figure has put the city’s population to over 30,000 and 17% of houses in the city are listed as unoccupied. Council member Nagle said a new bill is being introduced at the MD legislature that would stop gun sales at the pawn shops. Council member Patrick Wojahn announced a neighborhood cleanup by Pickup America on February 27 at 11:30 am. Mark Shroder said number of house sales in north college park has doubled, whereas prices fell 14% in the year 2010.

Moved by Bill Robertson / Joe Smith: Adjourn the meeting.  Motion passed, and the meeting adjourned at 9:47pm.

Respectfully submitted by Fazlul Kabir, Secretary