College Park City Hall
Here is what is on the agenda for this week’s Council meeting:
CONSENT AGENDA ITEMS – As noted last week, the Council will consider two variances on our consent agenda because no Councilmember has raised objections or asked to bring them up for review. In addition, we will consider two other items on the consent agenda:
1. 12-R-11 – VARIANCE APPLICATION CPV-2012-01. The resident at 4917 Fox Street, is a Greenbelt City police officer and wishes to construct an 8 by 10 foot dog run at 4917 Fox Street, but his yard is only 50 feet wide. As a result, the APC found that the property is exceptionally narrow. Because the applicant’s job requires him to keep his dog at home, he would face exceptional hardship if the variance weren’t granted. The APC voted 4-1 to recommend approval of the variance
2. 12-R-12 – Variance Application CEO-2012-01. Council will consider an application for permission to construct a side yard fence at 9501 50th Place, at a house where the side yard line is a continuation of the front yard line of an adjacent property. On April19, 2012, the applicants submitted an appeal to permit the construction of a 4-foot fence in the side yard at the premises known as 9501 50th Place. Because the setback of the house from the Kenesaw Street lot line is exceptionally small (only 24 feet), and the house is on a corner lot and often used as a cut-through, the APC voted 4-1-0 to recommend that the appeal be approved.
3. 12-G-70 – POSITION OF NO OPPOSITION TO AND PROPERTY USE AGREEMENT FOR CLUCKSTER’S. The owner of the downtown restaurant Cluckster’s, located at 7415-B Baltimore Avenue, came to last week’s Council worksession to talk about an application to the Prince George’s County Board of License Commissioners (BOLC). The Council will consider a position of no opposition to the liquor license transfer and will vote on the draft PUA tonight.
4. 12-G-71 – APPROVAL of a TEMPORARY PARKING PERMIT FOR a TRAILER AT 5910 CHESTNUT HILL DRIVE. Due to regulations on parking of oversized and commercial vehicles on City streets that the Council passed last year, vehicles of a certain size and vehicles with commercial lettering have to receive a permit to park on the street. The resident at 5910 Chestnut Hill Drive helps run a program for youth called 5-Star Athletics, and keeps a trailer for the program’s sports equipment at her home. The Council approved this permit request unanimously last year, and no one raised objection or concerns during last week’s worksession.
5.12-G-72 – APPROVAL OF THE RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE EDUCATION ADVISORY COMMISSION FOR THE FY 2013 PUBLIC SCHOOL EDUCATION GRANT PROGRAM AND CLARIFICATION OF PROCEDURAL MATTERS RELATING TO GRANT AWARDS.12-G-72. Members of City’s Education advisory Committee (EAC) and Peggy Higgins, Vice-Chair of PGCPS Board of Education (District 2) came to last week’s Council Work session to talk about EAC’s recommendations to disburse $60,000 designated in the FY2013 adopted budget for the public school education grant program, The EAC recommends that the City provide $30,000 to four schools where 71% of College Park students attend. EAC also recommends a total of $17,500 towards individual competitive school grants to other schools where at least 14 College Park youth attend. Additionally, EAC’s recommendations include $ 6,600 for Scholarships to UM summer educational camps for elementary, middle and high school College Park students. EAC is recommending $ 5,900 for additional educational initiatives that would benefit the public schools and College Park youth. The Council will vote on a resolution to approve these recommendations.
6.12-G-73 – APPROVAL OF FY 2013 ACTION PLAN. After a public forum and discussion among the Council at a couple of different worksessions, the Council will be considering the FY 2013 Action Plan for final approval. Thanks to everyone who submitted comments and ideas. The draft plan is available on the City’s website here – http://collegeparkmd.gov/Documents/Admin/DRAFTCCPFY2013ActionPlan(April2012).pdf. A couple additional items were added during last week’s worksession, including: 1) Exploring the possibility of expanding the City contract police to include U-MD police officers, in part so that UMPD officers could write noise citations; 2) Working with the City-University Partnership to create a College Park Academy; 3) Determining the details of the new EAC programs and scholarships; 4) Considering national standards when considering effectiveness and consistency of code enforcement; 5) Implementing the City’s marketing plan; 6) Reviewing options for paid parking on Berwyn House Road; and 7) Work with local business owners to assess the effectiveness of the summer parking program through whatever metrics possible. Councilmember Wojahn also plans to request that we add the following items to the action plan: 1) Work with the University of Maryland to explore expansion of the concurrent jurisdiction area to additional areas around the City; 2) Work with the City Farmer’s Market committee to pursue increased availability of local and/or organic options at the Farmer’s Market; 3) Obtain certification as a sustainable City through the Sustainable Maryland Certified program; and 4) Explore interest among community associations for City resources for localized social events and recreational activities (for example, block parties).
7.12-G-74 – AWARD OF CONTRACT “MISCELLANEOUS CONCRETE MAINTENANCE AND ASPHALT RESURFACING,” RFP CP-13-01. Recently, the City received bids for the Miscellaneous Concrete Maintenance and Asphalt Resurfacing project, Contract CP-13-01, which covers concrete and asphalt for the City’s resurfacing work and sidewalk maintenance. All bids were reviewed for compliance with project documentation and their units prices were checked for mistakes. Two bids, E&R Services and Santosh, Inc., were found with math mistakes in their bids. References provided by the apparent low qualified bidder were checked by staff and found to be very good. NZI Construction Corporation was the successful bidder for the City’s previous contract, CP-09-01. Staff states that NZI’s prior work performance has been exceptional. Funding will come from “Fund 301 Unrestricted C.I.P. Reserve” funds. Based on staffs review of the subject bids, Council will vote on a resolution to award to the lowest qualified bidder, NZI Construction Corp., Inc., for $497,550.00.
8.INTRODUCTION OF 12-O-06, RENT STABILIZATION ORDINANCE. At last week’s worksession, the Council discussed the proposed Ordinance to continue the rent stabilization program for an additional five years. The Council plans to proceed with a public hearing and debate on the ordinance as drafted, although the proposed rent cap is to remain at the higher of either the HUD Fair Market rent for a four-bedroom house (approximately $2400) or 0.6% of the assessed value of the house, instead of 0.8% as was proposed in the initial draft ordinance. We are also planning on holding a Q&A forum and discussion on the rent stabilization ordinance on the evening of July 2, 2012, at 7 pm, location yet to be determined. The public hearing on the rent stabilization ordinance will take place on July 9 at 7 pm at City Hall, and the Council will vote on the ordinance at the official meeting on July 10, 2012. Please let us know if you have any questions about the ordinance.
9.12-G-75 – APPOINTMENTS TO BOARDS AND COMMITTEES. This week, the Council will consider appointments of Lindsay D’Ambrosio from District 1 to serve on the Committee for a Better Environment. The Council will also consider appointment of Nicholas Hardee to the City’s Green Team as a representative of the business committee, and reappointments of Sarah Jazs of District 1 to the Recreation Board and Helen Long from District 2 to the College Park Housing Authority. Thanks to all these individuals for their service
10.WORKSESSION ON CITY HALL EXPANSION PLANS. Following the regular meeting tomorrow night, the Council will be holding a brief worksession with Profitt & Associates, the architects for the proposed City Hall expansion. The Council will hear about the progress of the draft of this proposed expansion, and discuss some of the issues that have come up. One issue that may be discussed is the question of whether the City Hall will continue to be accessible to people with disabilities during the expansion period. If it is not, the City will have to find alternative accommodations for staff and for the public during the time that it is not accessible, which may have budget implications over the next year. We will be able to provide more of an update after tomorrow night’s discussion.
Thank you for reading.