Glenn Dale Citizens Association
Meeting Minutes – January 18, 2005
Prepared By Jim Titus, Secretary
Attendees
Attended By all officers except for President Henry Wixon, plus Greg Dell, Jim Wolf, Susan Wolf, Emma Dudley, Stacey Hawkins and Thomas Howe
Resolution Passed
Resolution 2005-2. Glenn Dale Citizens Association shall send the letter to Mr. Douglas Jermal concerning the tree restoration issue, whose text the Vice President read during the meeting.
Resolution 2005-3. Glenn Dale Citizens Association shall send a letter to the State Highway Administrations stating our position, as read aloud during the meeting. that GDCA is neutral on the ICC but supports the proposed bikepath. GDCA shall also send a similar letter to our state delegation, recognizing their opposition to the ICC but asking that they support the bike trail.
Backlog of Pending Actions (meeting authorizing action)
To do
Done
Preliminaries
The Vice President Mary Vondrak called the meeting to order at 7:42 PM.
Secretary Report. We looked at the November and December minutes and approved both.
Announcements
The Vice President had not visited the P.O. Box, so there were no new announcements. She did recap a previous announcement:
Wed January 26, Green Infrastructure Plan. The plan designates new areas and corridors. We discussed that there is no way to enforce it unless it leads to land dedication, which often occurs during subdivision. It guides various other actions. Go to www.mncpp.org
A tea at Marieta this week. Also, on Sunday Feb 13, there will be a 2-for-1 admission to Marieta. Happy Valentines Days! The themes will concentrate on the couples of Marieta.
Old Business
Glenn Dale Business Park. Mary has drafted a letter addressing the tree restoration issue.
Resolution 2005-2. Glenn Dale Citizens Association shall send the letter to Mr. Douglas Jermal concerning the tree restoration issue, whose text the Vice President read during the meeting. All concurred.
Intercounty Connector. Mary Vondrak and Jim Titus both went to the public hearing at Eleanor Roosevelt High School. There was a large display of the plan. Also, posters on bike trails. At 6:00 PM various presentations by the engineers and environmental officials. The public then made statements, including the Mayor of Greenbelt
Jim Titus summarized how he had represented GDCA’s position of neutrality on the ICC itself but support for the proposed bike trail. Jim Titus then proposed:
Resolution 2005-3. Glenn Dale Citizens Association shall send a letter to the State Highway Administrations stating our position, as read aloud during the meeting. GDCA shall also send a similar letter to our state delegation, recognizing their opposition to the ICC but asking that they support the bike trail. All concurred.
East Glenn Dale Sector Plan. Mary summarized: This week we had the meeting on East Glenn Dale Sector Plan. It was essentially what was in the information brochure. Staff showed existing zoning and various developments that have been approved. Staff felt that the existing zoning must be reviewed. People were allowed to speak for 3 minutes. About 17 people spoke. Doug Peters was there. Mary spoke as agreed in the last meeting. She said that MNCPPC should not look only at East Glenn Dale. Mary sent emails to Mr. Chang of MNCPPC on errors in the brochure, which included omission of the preliminary plan and the detailed site plan for Glenn Dale Golf Course and development along Northern Avenue. Lawyers appeared representing both Kyle and John Shields. A few other people expressed concern about what will happen the golf course. A man from Good Luck Rd spoke in favor of better pedestrian facilities. Stacy, Michael Bryant, Titus all gave presentations as well. Titus’ presentation concerned trail improvements and a possible MARC Train stop. Jermal Development is interested in possibly changing zoning from commercial to residential (possibly townhouses). From Mary’s perspective, townhouses would be better than a warehouse or Home Depot.
John Shields: Only two people spoke against plans for the golf course. Question raised as to status of possible 9-hole golf course.
Mary: Chang made various erroneous statements, including a claim that the golf course had a "P" (for park). In reality, this is the floating P, which meant somewhere in the area. But the county never got the land. PG Parks Department could have made a push for a park if that is what it wanted. We have no indication as to what Park and Planning really intends to do regarding a park.
John Shields:: It is quite odd that the other planning areas in Bowie area are not being considered (aside from Bowie itself). John and Stacy recapped various statements made by Doug Peters regarding his long-term expectations that the hospital will eventually be turned into housing developments. The idea there, is to keep development away from the Park.
Titus: Peters said that he had limited budget and did not want to spend it on Hendershot’s district.
Stacy: Peters appears to be planning to try to develop both sites.
The discussion drifted to Glenn Dale hospital, in particular the 60 acres where the plan always considered some development. Peters had also spoke about possibly returning golf course to rural estate (1-acre). Under that scenario, the entire controversy of 2004 could be replayed, but with half the units: he might push for retention of a 9-hole golf course with a development of about 100 units. Or a swap with hospital might occur in which the 60 acres long expected to be developed would take all the housing units and Glenn Dale gold course would be saved.
Mary: The next key MNCPPC meetings on what happens next will be Feb 24 and March 9 at Glenn Dale Firehouse.
Comments on the overall planning process for East Glenn Dale are due January 28. Comments can be emailed to Joseph.Chang@ppd.mncppc.org
Web Site: Titus will upload minutes onto yahoo. He will also send email to Lil to find out about the other web page that GDCA may or may not already have. No one was clear exactly what the other web page is, aside from the fact that we have purchased the domain.
Backlog of pending actions: Still waiting for Palumbo text. Titus wrote the two letters. Email list apparently provided to Henry, who sent an email out today at 3PM. Most people had gotten Titus’ email announcement, and some had gotten Henry’s as well. Consolidation is still needed.
New Business.
Glenn Dale Forest. John Shields says that he had thought that there was a 50-ft buffer requirement. But it turns out there was not. In this case, they are doing "back-side mitigation." In the future, we should use "preserve existing woodland as a buffer" in the preliminary plan. Any other wording will not protect the view from the road. In this case, a buffer can be 50 feet of grass. A buffer along an arterial requires a sound barrier. It is unclear what is required for buffer along a "collector" road. Only if the County changes the tree conservation law will the situation change, because the staff must adhere to the overall policy even if they do make site-specific applications that may seem to go to the limits of the policy.
Glenn Dale Outreach. Need to at least make sure people are aware of what we are up to.
Stacey: Do people know about us?
Mary: Her homeowners’ association passes citizen association messages along. Glensford is part of Glenn Dale. Maybe we need to get word out to them. The banner on Greenbelt Road perhaps needs to be hung at different places throughout the month. Wingate does not want to come out.
John will knock on doors. We will all try to get one contact for a homeowner’s association. Our objective will be to make sure that we have at least one contact for each citizens association.
Jim: Maybe we need to build an email list on non-members who at least would get notifications.
Reid Temple: Greg asked: Was there supposed to be a turn lane from Md-193? Answer: Regardless of what the plan was, if the land is not owned by Reid Temple Church, they can not build it. Someone suggested a red left arrow from southbound Md-193 to Prospect Hill. Everyone else agreed that we do not want a left red arrow.
Next meeting: Developer of the BP Gas Station will come talk to us.
Treasurer Report: We now have $1575.12
Adjourned at 9:10 PM.