Mayor & City Council

MINUTES College Park City Council Legislative Dinner Monday, November 26, 2018 University of Maryland Golf Course Clubhouse 7:20 p.m. – 9:45 p.m. PRESENT: Mayor Wojahn; Councilmembers Kabir, Kennedy, Brennan, Dennis, Day, Rigg, and Mitchell. ABSENT: Councilmember Kujawa. ALSO PRESENT: Scott Somers, City Manager; Bill Gardiner, Assistant City Manager; Janeen Miller, City Clerk; Suellen Ferguson, City Attorney; Alex Tobin, Student Liaison; Serena Saunders, Deputy Student Liaison. GUESTS: County Council Members Mary Lehman and Dannielle Glaros; Aimee Olivio (Glaros Chief of Staff); Senator Jim Rosapepe; Carolyn Brosch (Rosapepe Chief of Staff); Delegate Joseline Peña-Melnyk; Edith Perry (Peña-Melnyk Chief of Staff); Ryan Middleton (Sen. Cardin’s office); Pokuaa Owusu-Acheaw (Sen. VanHollen’s office); Terrance Taylor (Congressman Hoyer’s office); Len Lucchi, City Lobbyist; Scott Hancock and Candace Donoho, MML; Ross Stern, Carlo Colella and Anne Martens (UMD); Eric Olson, (CPCUP); County Council Members-Elect Calvin Hawkins, Mel Franklin and Tom Dernoga; Michelle Garcia (Dernoga Chief of Staff); Brad Frome (County Executive’s Office); Mayor Wojahn opened the program at 7:20 p.m. with welcoming remarks and the guests introduced themselves. College Park Accomplishments and Initiatives: Mayor Wojahn reviewed the City’s 2017- 2018 Accomplishments and 2018-2019 Initiatives from the Legislative Dinner briefing book (see attached). Discussion of City Legislative Requests: 1. Councilmember Day discussed the City’s request for support for Baltimore Avenue Improvements (College Avenue to I-495): Comments: • Del. Peña-Melnyk said to make sure the County prioritizes this as #1 or #2 to the state. • Councilmember Glaros agrees we should also be pushing for the other phases at the same time. 2. Councilmember Dennis discussed the City’s request for support for Municipal Authority for Building Permits. College Park City Council Legislative Dinner Minutes November 26, 2018 Page | 2 Comments: • Council Member Glaros will need to explore this. There are different types/ranges of permits. Wants to understand the request more fully. Whatever we do will have county- wide ramifications. • Council Member Franklin doesn’t think it makes sense to duplicate efforts and said the goal should be to work as one unit. • Council Member-elect Hawkins suggested a working group of county and city staff to work it through. • Del. Peña-Melnyk suggested we move expeditiously so that if the County can’t resolve this, state legislation can be introduced this session. • Mr. Frome said we should look at all the different issues/disciplines that are done by the County; there is a big difference between a deck and a multi-family project; have that conversation first. 3. Councilmember Mitchell discussed the City’s request for a Bond Bill for College Park Woods Property and Councilmember Brennan discussed the request for a Bond Bill for Davis Hall. Comments: • Sen. Rosapepe said Bond Bill procedures have changed: they are now called Bond Requests. We should work with Carolyn Brosch. • Del. Peña-Melnyk said the state will support. 4. Councilmember Kennedy presented the City’s position on Preserving Municipal Authority on Small Cell Antenna Siting. Comments: • Brad Frome: We need to be in front of the 5G issue; the City should have franchise agreements with providers. • Ms. Donoho said this is MML’s only legislative priority for the coming year. • Mr. Middleton was not aware of the small-cell issue and will include it in his outgoing memo. General Discussion and Comments: County Council Member Lehman: Updated her two legislative priorities: 1) the County Executive signed the public financing bill last week, 2) she introduced a utilities resurfacing bill. Asked for $100K for the City’s Seniors Program next year but someone else will need to advocate for it. Happy she could provide grants to local organizations like Meals on Wheels and the College Park Arts Exchange. The Kirwan Commission Report is due out soon. Education matters have always been important to her but she doesn’t know yet what her committee assignments will be in the state legislature. Sen. Rosapepe suggested MML should be attentive to the Governor’s “big idea” transportation projects and encourage close coordination with local governments which is currently lacking. Regarding the Kirwan Commission Report: the meaning of “community schools” will be addressed and College Park has played a role through its support of College Park Academy. College Park City Council Legislative Dinner Minutes November 26, 2018 Page | 3 Regarding Dr. Loh’s future at the University: he has been a terrific friend to the City and many have urged him to stay. The legislature will be focused on how to fix the Board of Regents. County Council Member Glaros said the County has opposed the transfer of MD 295 away from the National Park Service and the expansion of I-495. The lack of communication from the State on these big transportation projects is something they haven’t seen before. Same with MAGLEV. Other updates: the College Park Woods Community Playground project is done; getting closer to groundbreaking on the College Park Woods trail project; they approved the PILOT for Bozzuto; the County has commissioned a comprehensive housing strategy to serve as a guiding document; the zoning rewrite was passed – the City was an incredibly active partner in that effort; M-NCPPC just briefed them on a north county transportation mini regional study that should be presented in January. She is interested in our feedback on the Nuisance Abatement Board. County Council Member-elect Hawkins has been a County employee for 23 years before being elected to the County Council as an at-large member. He is committed to finding practical solutions to existing problems. County Council Member-elect Franklin stressed the importance of College Park to the County and looks forward to his at-large seat where he can represent municipalities. Now that the County has at-large representation, it is important to invite those elected officials into these conversations. County Council Member-elect Dernoga: Returning to County Council after an 8-year absence, he is disappointed that US 1 reconstruction isn’t further along; wants to work on Rhode Island Avenue; understands the concern of the zoning rewrite to north College Park residents; renovation to old schools is as important as new school construction. Carlo Colella discussed ongoing partnerships with the City: Lakeland STARs, College Park Dream Team, College Park Day, homeownership grants, Calvert Road School child care facility, City Hall project, Southern Gateway project. Alex Tobin said transportation matters, expansion of retail, and absentee ballot voting, affordable housing and landlord/tenant issues are important to students. Ryan Middleton and PK Owusu-Acheaw are leaving their federal posts to join the Alsobrooks administration. He added there is no federal funding for MAGLEV or the hyper-loop at this time and they don’t see those projects advancing with out it. PK added that Sen. Van Hollen is looking into how the FBI decision was made. Terrance Taylor said Cong. Hoyer appreciates the work being done at the local level. There will be upcoming changes in House leadership. Regarding MAGLEV – any alignment through BARC or other federal property is a non-starter. College Park City Council Legislative Dinner Minutes November 26, 2018 Page | 4 Scott Hancock and Candace Donoho reviewed the MML fact sheet, their priority legislation, and their 2019 strategic initiatives. The Legislative Dinner concluded at 9:45 p.m. _____________________________________ Janeen S. Miller Date Approved City Clerk