Advisory Planning Commission

CITY OF COLLEGE PARK PLANNING ADVISORY ADVISORY PLANNING COMMISSION COMMISSION 8400 BALTIMORE AVENUE, COLLEGE PARK, MARYLAND 20740 TELEPHONE: (240) 487-3538 ADVISORY PLANNING COMMISSION Approved Minutes of Meeting February 6, 2020 Members Present Absent Lawrence Bleau, Chair x Santosh Chelliah x Ben Flamm x Christopher Gill x James McFadden x Stephanie Stullich, Vice Chair x Llatetra Brown Esters x Also Present: Planning Staff – Terry Schum and Theresheia Williams; Attorney – Susan Cook I. Call to Order and Approval of the Agenda: Lawrence Bleau called the meeting to order at 7:40 p.m. Commissioners voted 5-0-0 to approve the agenda as published. II. Approval of Minutes: Christopher Gill moved to adopt the minutes of January 2, 2020. Lawrence Bleau seconded. Motion carried 4-0-1, with Santosh Chelliah abstaining. III. Amendments to Agenda: There were no Amendments to the Agenda. IV. Public Remarks on Non-Agenda Items: There were no Public Remarks on Non- Agenda Items. V. Review and Discuss Draft Annual Report Commissioners discussed the Draft 2019 Annual Report and made the following updates to items III and IV: III, Goals for the coming year: 1. Participate/provide input to the comprehensive rezoning process that follows the approval of the Zoning Rewrite. The Route 1 Corridor will be a particular area of focus. 2. APC training on the final zoning categories adopted by the County and the impacts, if any, on the processing of variance applications. 3. APC to work with City Council on a process for participating in the Zoning Ordinance Pre-Application neighborhood meetings that will be required to inform owners and occupants of development applications being reviewed. Advisory Planning Commission Minutes February 6, 2020 – Page 2 IV. Issues or problems to bring to the attention of the City Council The APC previously provided comments on residential and commercial parking congestion and would like to suggest having a parking forum for residents to come and speak on parking issues and concerns involving the neighborhood and commercial areas. VI. Election of Chair and Vice-Chair Stephanie Stullich moved to elect Lawrence Bleau as Chair. Christopher Gill seconded. Motion carried 6-0-0 Lawrence Bleau moved to elect Stephanie Stullich as Vice-Chair. Santosh Chelliah seconded. Motion carried 6-0-0. VII. Review New Zoning Ordinance Terry Schum reviewed the following New Zoning Ordinance topics: The County has tentatively set a hearing date for the Comprehensive Map Amendment for March 23, 2020. Regulations and standards for all new zones will become effective once the Comprehensive Map Amendment is approved at the end of 2020. The Advisory Planning Commission deals mostly with the R-55 Zone, which is now the RSF-65 Zone (Residential single-family) with a minimum lot size of 6,500 square feet. Most of the exceptions will be carried forward in the new zoning ordinance. The City Council will hear this item at their March 3, 2020 worksession. Staff will make a presentation of its findings and give their recommendations for formal City comments. Pre-Application Neighborhood Meeting Requirement- The Pre-Application Neighborhood Meeting Requirement is intended to inform owners and occupants of nearby lands about proposed development applications to be reviewed by the Ordinance. The City made a lot of comments that weren’t incorporated in the final code regarding this requirement. Currently, before the developer files an application with the County, a meeting is usually held with the planning staff, Mayor and Council and district representatives to get their feedback on the project. When the new code becomes effective, the APC has discussed having a more formal role in this process. VIII. Update on Development Activity Terry Schum reported on the following: Northgate Project – Student Housing project on Route 1 and Berwyn Road. The Subdivision and Detailed Site Plan applications were approved by the Planning Board. The City Council supported the project with conditions. One of the conditions is that the developer will include a trail extension in the back of the property. Advisory Planning Commission Minutes February 6, 2020 – Page 3 Bozzuto project – Southern Gateway at 7200 Baltimore Avenue, the old Quality Inn site, will go under construction any day with grading and foundation work. They have been waiting on their building permit. City Hall Site – The demolition permit was issued, but demolition hasn’t started yet. The groundbreaking ceremony with the Mayor and Dr. Loh is scheduled for Friday, February 14th at 8:45 a.m. IX. Other Business: There was no Other Business. X. Adjourn: There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 9:17 p.m. Minutes prepared by Theresheia Williams