Dear Neighbors:
Due to the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic, the City Council meeting on Wednesday, July 15 will be held remotely. The public can view the meeting on City TV (RCN -- 13, HD 1060; Comcast/xfinity -- 13, HD 997; Verizon Fios -- 28), on the City Council Video Page of the City website; on YouTube, or on Facebook. Sign-up for public comments will be open until 5:00 PM on Wednesday: Sign-up for Live Public Comments on Voting Items or Other Public Comments.
Here’s information on the agenda for the meeting: https://takomaparkmd.gov/meeting_agendas/city-council-meeting-agenda-wednesday-july-15-2020/. We’ll actually be starting Wednesday with an early 8:30 AM closed session to discuss matters related to collective bargaining negotiations with City staff. We’ll then reconvene in the evening at 7:30 PM for the regular meeting. Key agenda items include a public hearing on Charter amendments relating to our plans to conduct this fall’s local elections by mail, followed by a vote on the Charter amendments, and then on the urban forest policy and tree canopy resolution. In our work session we’ll have further discussions on the Tree Ordinance amendments, along with additional matters relating to the elections, and we’ll also cover State legislative priorities for the Maryland Municipal League, plus a proposed budget amendment. More information on all of these topics appears below.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Takoma Park COVID-19 Data: The City’s updated COVID-19 infection rate is 2.6% as of July 10. Montgomery County's infection rate is 1.5%. The updated aggregate count of confirmed Takoma Park positive cases (471) and other data is posted on the City’s COVID webpage: https://takomaparkmd.gov/initiatives/project-directory/information-and-resources-covid-19/. Scroll down on the right side of the webpage to see it. City staff plans to update the numbers every Friday. In addition, we’ll have a briefing from staff on the City’s COVID-19 response efforts at a Council meeting later this month.
Healthy Business Initiative: https://takomaparkmd.gov/news-alert/introducing-takoma-park-healthy-business-initiative/. The Takoma Park Healthy Business Initiative is a response to the ongoing needs of our local businesses in the face of COVID-19 challenges and changes to business operations. There are 4 key components: Outdoor Seating & Hand Sanitizing Stations; Public Health Signage; Business Recovery Cleaning; and Healthy Business Grants (first round grant applications due July 20).
Parking and Code Enforcement Resumption: Parking and Code Enforcement, which have been suspended during the pandemic, are starting up again. Beginning Monday, July 13, citations will be issued for parking violations. Code Enforcement will begin by following up on open cases from violations that were noted prior to the pandemic. The deadline for renewal of expiring residential parking permits has been extended to August 31. Information on permit renewal (including mail-in and walk-in applications), and on parking enforcement in July and August is available through this link: https://takomaparkmd.gov/government/police/permit-area-parking/. If you have any parking-related questions, call 301-891-7112.
City Manager Blog: City Manager Suzanne Ludlow recently posted a blog that covers a number of subjects, including COVID-19, City staffing information, the fall elections, updates on major projects, police and public safety issues, and more. https://takomaparkmd.gov/news-alert/a-message-from-city-manager-suzanne-ludlow/
Update on Takoma Avenue and Fenton Street Resurfacing: Pepco is planning to initiate work on curb repair this month, with resurfacing planned for August. With major excavation work completed on Takoma Ave. and along Fenton St. as far as the intersection with Philadelphia Ave., I asked Pepco to move toward resurfacing that segment, while work continues on Fenton St. in Silver Spring. It appears Pepco will be doing that, with plans for the final Fenton segment to be resurfaced in September when the excavation work there is finished. These schedules can vary depending on factors like weather and unanticipated construction challenges that may emerge. I’ll provide more information as it becomes available.
UPDATES FROM LAST WEEK’S COUNCIL MEETING
Library Renovation. We discussed a range of topics including exterior design options, energy systems, alternative locations for the entrance, comparative costs of brick versus glass, and ideas for gathering spaces outside the structure. The project’s architect, Greg Lukmire, indicated that he would complete this phase of the design process in September, after which we should be able to get a more refined cost breakdown, and be ready to make decisions about construction.
Tree Resolution and Ordinance. We continued our discussions of the resolution establishing urban forest policies and tree canopy goals, as well as amendments to the Tree Ordinance. Among the key issues covered were how to establish a baseline for determining a goal of “no net loss” to our tree canopy, equity considerations connected to increasing the canopy in neighborhoods with less tree coverage, ensuring that planting of native trees is appropriately prioritized, and how to compensate for the potential decline in planting of replacement trees under the proposed replanting revisions contained in the draft Tree Ordinance amendments. That last point is probably the most significant outstanding tree issue that still needs to be resolved.
PUBLIC HEARING ON CHARTER AMENDMENTS https://documents.takomaparkmd.gov/government/city-council/agendas/2020/council-20200715-1-2-rev.pdf. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, plans are underway for this fall’s Takoma Park Mayoral and City Council elections to be conducted through mail-in ballots. Under these plans, as long as ballots are postmarked on Election Day they will be accepted. This means ballots coming in several days after Election Day will have to be counted. In addition, the Board of Elections anticipates a longer than usual process for counting the mailed in ballots in any case. So the Charter amendments would lengthen the timetables for counting and certifying the election, and for when the newly elected Mayor and Councilmembers formally take office.
VOTING SESSION
Charter Amendments: See above for details. This will be the first of two votes on the Charter changes, with the final vote scheduled for July 29. I’ll be voting in favor of the amendments.
Tree Resolution: https://documents.takomaparkmd.gov/government/city-council/agendas/2020/council-20200715-3.pdf. As one of three Councilmembers on the working group charged with drafting both the resolution and the ordinance amendments, I was pleased to be able to play an active role in developing some of the resolution’s key elements. The most important provisions of the resolution include the three primary goals:
1. No net loss of tree canopy with a goal of keeping the canopy at a level of 60 percent coverage City-wide (which has been the average over the last 10 years)
2. Increased biodiversity with a focus on native species and, where appropriate, climate adapted species
3. Increasing the tree canopy in areas of the City with less coverage, with the aim of creating a more equitably distributed canopy
Another crucial component in the resolution is the direction to City staff to develop a long-term plan in line with the resolution’s goals and principles, with a major emphasis on racial equity.
The goals represent a blend of concepts -- goals 1 and 3 are centered on keeping the overall canopy at 60 percent (which may be higher than today’s level, due to the recent white oak die-off), while increasing it above the current level in some neighborhoods in ways that enhance racial equity. In addition, because we’ve heard from outside experts that the main areas in the City where substantial tree planting is possible are on private land, we’ll be exploring how to incentivize planting on private property. So my hope is that with these goals we’ll be able over time to expand the canopy beyond where it is today, consistent with racial equity concerns, as part of the plan the staff develops with input from the community and Council.
Similarly, goal 2 will significantly heighten the extent to which planting of native tree species is emphasized. By the same token, the goal recognizes that changes in the climate may cause some previously non-native species to become better suited to this area, though native species may still be preferable as hosts for insects and other animals or as positive contributors to our ecosystem.
I plan to vote for the resolution.
WORK SESSION
Voting by Mail: http://documents.takomaparkmd.gov/government/city-council/agendas/2020/council-20200715-4.pdf. In addition to the Charter amendments described above, it will also be necessary to make a number of changes to the City Code concerning the actual procedures by which the mail-in election will be conducted. These changes, which relate to the nuts and bolts of the mail-in voting process, have to be approved by the Council in order to ensure, for example, that the ballots are sent out in a timely manner to voters, or that residents who need assistance in filling out their ballots can get the help they need.
Election Ordinance: Beyond the Charter and Code changes related to the mail-in ballots, we also need to adopt an ordinance addressing other aspects of the fall elections not related to the mail-in process. Background information on this agenda item hadn’t yet been posted at the time I prepared this blog.
Tree Ordinance: https://documents.takomaparkmd.gov/government/city-council/agendas/2020/council-20200715-6.pdf. As mentioned above, the main outstanding issue relates to replanting. Based on community input and Council discussions, the ordinance revamp was drafted so as to exempt from replanting requirements trees that are in “imminent decline.” This category would join dead or hazardous trees which already don’t require replanting. The challenge is that, depending on how the system for rating trees is structured, adding imminent decline to the group with no replanting requirements could mean several hundred fewer trees being replanted each year. That would be at odds with the goals of the resolution and would make it more difficult to maintain a robust canopy over the long term. So we’re looking into some alternatives on replanting that wouldn’t leave a huge gap. I’m hoping we’ll be able to address that problem in an appropriate way in the final version of the ordinance.
MML Legislative Action Requests: https://documents.takomaparkmd.gov/government/city-council/agendas/2020/council-20200715-7.pdf. Each year, communities like Takoma Park which are members of the Maryland Municipal League, can make recommendations on issues for MML to prioritize in the following year’s State legislative session in Annapolis. With the final list of priorities decided through a vote of MML members in the fall, it’s necessary for us to submit our recommendations by late July. A top priority for me, which was on our previous list, is the Community Choice energy legislation, which would allow counties and municipalities in Maryland to purchase and generate electricity from renewable sources. Had this year’s Annapolis session not been truncated because of the Coronavirus, it’s possible the Community Choice bill would have passed. So I’m optimistic it will go through this year, and I’ll be urging that we include it again on our list.
Budget Amendment: https://documents.takomaparkmd.gov/government/city-council/agendas/2020/council-20200715-8.pdf. Periodically the Council considers changes to the budget to reflect either planned expenditures from the previous fiscal year that need to be carried over into the new fiscal year or new expenditures that weren’t anticipated. This kind of change is more common in the period shortly after the switch-over to a new fiscal year (which happened on July 1). The budget amendment we’ll be reviewing includes several dozen such changes.
As always, please be in touch with questions or comments about any of the issues covered in this blog.
Peter Kovar, Takoma Park City Council, Ward One
240-319-6281; www.councilmemberkovar.com
(He, Him, His)
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