MINUTES OF THE CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION
Held April 5, 2000
For the purpose of reviewing the Planning & Community Development budget and the Capital Projects budget

The meeting began at 8:07 p.m. It was held in the Senior Classroom & Meeting Room in the Community Center.

PRESENT WERE: Council members Rodney M. Roberts, Alan Turnbull, Edward V.J. Putens, Thomas X. White and Mayor Judith F. Davis.

STAFF PRESENT WERE: Michael P. McLaughlin, City Manager, Jeff Williams, City Treasurer, Cathy Serra, Accountant, Anne Marie Belton, Executive Secretary and Celia Craze, Director of Planning & Community Development.

ALSO PRESENT WERE: Karl Hille of the Gazette and Betsy Likowski of the News Review.

Mrs. Craze began with the accomplishments of the Springhill Lake Neighborhood Inspection program that recently began by the new inspector approved in the FY 2000 budget. Mrs. Craze highlighted on the new playgrounds, repainted crosswalks and graffiti removal in the Springhill Lake area. Mrs. Craze has also been working with Citizens Academy alumni on traffic calming. The objective is to gather data for possible traffic calming areas in the City.

Mrs. Craze went on to discuss the concerns with burglar alarms. Many companies are of the opinion that they don’t need to register their alarms with the City. The fines imposed by the City for a false alarm are not influencing them to re-certify their alarms. She noted that they are looking for ways to address this problem. So far this year, there have been 113 calls for alarm service to the police department. Seven (7) companies constituted most of the false alarms.

The Planning department also received the site plan for Target this week. Mrs. Craze says there are some concerns with the site plan. She did not elaborate on the concerns. With the addition of the Target store, Mrs. Craze is interested in seeing a path from Beltway Plaza to Breezewood Drive. This would have to be done by the owner(s) of Beltway Plaza.

Mayor Davis asked Mrs. Craze to possibly include a study of the cross walk at Giant on Cherrywood Lane. Vehicles coming from the Greenbelt Metro area come across this cross walk blindly. Mrs. Craze responded by saying that this request could be incorporated with the other traffic calming studies.

Mr. White asked for some rational behind only budgeting $5,500 in FY 2000 for Street permits with an estimate transaction amount of $40,000. Mrs. Craze responded with the fact that the Lakes at Greenbelt Village has several outstanding permits which will need to be renewed.

Mayor Davis raised the question of why the dog park fees were a one time only fee. Mrs. Craze’s response was that it would be an administrative burden to have this as an annual fee.

Mrs. Craze ended the discussion of the Planning and Community Development budget by saying that as of March 31, 2000, Greenbelt has a return rate of 46% for Census 2000.

Mr. McLaughlin began reviewing the Capital Projects Fund by stating that in FY 2000 it was anticipated the City would use all of the available fund balance. Mr. McLaughlin noted that the beginning FY 2001 fund balance of $667,050 is healthier than expected. This is due to receiving some payments which were not expected and some projects that were not completed in FY 2000. The City received a payment of $40,000 from the State for the Mother and Child Statue renovation and the County reimbursed the City for a portion of the Lakewood Storm Drain project ($60,200).

Mr. White had concerns about the curbs and driveway aprons from Hillside to Northway that sustained damaged by WSSC while repairing water lines. Mr. McLaughlin informed that WSSC had given the city money for the curbs and they will be redone as part of the resurfacing of Woodland Way.

Mr. McLaughlin stated that $75,000 of Program Open Space and $25,000 of general City funds as well as $30,000 of CDBG funds have been set aside for playground improvements. Mayor Davis suggested a public meeting on playgrounds. Before a meeting is set, a report will be brought to council, either at the second meeting in April (April 24) or first meeting in May (May 8).

Mr. Turnbull expressed an interest in having the Jaycees building placed back on the Capital Projects list. All of Council agreed with Mr. Turnbull. This issue needs to be set up for a meeting at a later date. Mr. Turnbull also asked about the appropriation of monies that he believed had been set aside for the construction of sidewalks on Southway Road. Staff will look into this matter.

The meeting ended at 10:12 p.m.

Respectfully Submitted,

Anne Marie Belton

Executive Secretary

City of Greenbelt, Maryland
City Offices, 25 Crescent Road, Greenbelt, MD 20770
Phone: 301-474-8000 FAX: 301-441-8248