MINUTES
TOWN
MEETING
July
21, 2014
Emmitsburg
Town
Office
Present:
Mayor Donald Briggs; Commissioners Clifford
Sweeney, Jennifer Mellor, Glenn Blanchard and Tim
O’Donnell, President.
Staff
present was Vickie Felix; Sue Cipperly, Town Planner and
Dave Haller, Town Manager.
Absent:
Commissioner
Chris Staiger
_________________________________________________________________________
I.
Call to
Order
Commissioner
Tim O’Donnell, President of the Board of Commissioners,
called the July 21, 2014 Town Meeting to order at
7:30 p.m.
Pledge of Allegiance was recited.
Approval of
Minutes
The
Minutes of the
June 16, 2014
and
July 7, 2014
Town Meeting were approved as presented.
Commissioner
O’Donnell introduced Mary Ann Wiles, Emmitsburg
Elementary School Principal. She addressed the Board and
shared her experiences with Frederick County Schools and
stated she looks forward to serving in Emmitsburg.
Commissioner
Comments
Commissioner(s)
cited attendances, recognitions and announcements which
included thanks to
everyone who made community day successful; condolences to
the family of Richard Kelley who passed away, he was a
member of the Emmitsburg Lions Club; congratulations to
the Emmitsburg Baseball & Softball League who went to
New York to play in the Cal Ripken Regional Tournament;
community gardens is flourishing; thanks to town staff for
tree work in the parks; explanation of termination of July
7, 2014 town meeting.
Mayor’s
Comments
Mayor
Briggs also thanked everyone who made community day
successful; congratulated the Emmitsburg Baseball &
Softball League stating the team did a stellar
performance; congratulated Jason Howard who went to the
offensive/defensive camp at Towson University and was
awarded the MVP; there are four properties in the
community legacy grant funding cycle for the 50/50 grant
and seven lined up, received two $50,000 grants and going
to apply for another $150,000, goal is to have $500,000
worth of work done.
Administrative
Business
·
Reappoint Larry
Pavek to Board of Appeals –term expired. Motion made to
approve reappointment; motion carried.
·
Appointment of
Stephen Starliper for the alternate position on the
Planning Commission. Motion made to approve appointment;
motion carried.
·
Resolution
approving the application and receipt of financing for
Community Legacy Projects. Motion made to approve
resolution as presented; motion carried.
·
Parks Committee -
discussion of Sandy Umbel serving and cleaning up website
of members who no longer serve – will come back as an
agenda item.
·
Presentation to
town staff of Parks Committee Minute book binder to be
kept in town office
·
Email concerning
residue on vehicle on Warthens Way after fireworks on
Community Day
·
Emmitsburg
Baseball League $1500 donation – Board directed staff to
investigate refunding of discretionary funds which would
require a budget transfer.
Consent
Agenda- none
Reports:
Police
Report
- Deputy Rohrer reported on June 2014 police activity.
Detailed report at Exhibit A.
Town
Manager Report
- reported on the public works department monthly
activities to include a water production and consumption
analysis. Mr. Haller highlighted that that the town is
still in a rainfall surplus of 11” for the last 6
months; wild water percentage improves because it is
summer; staff has been trimming trees in the parks and
started the installation of the security cameras in the
parks. Town
Planner’s Report – Ms. Cipperly highlighted that
the major things she is working on relates to the
community legacy grant program. She got several
applications for the June 12th deadline and
prepared the application for the 2015 state and local
grant application; the Dollar General is still ongoing,
they hope to get started on site this fall; attended the
MDP Planning Directors’ Roundtable at Morgan State
University, topic was IRR – infill, restoration,
revitalization; the grease trap reports are all in except
for two; the compliance for rear numbers on houses in
alleys have been good. - Detailed report at Exhibit B.
Treasurer’s
Report – Commissioner
Blanchard reported on the June 2014 cash activity.
Detailed report Exhibit C.
Planning
Commission Report – No
Meeting in the month of June 2014.
II.
Agenda Items
Flood
plain ordinance revision
Ms.
Cipperly reported the last time the flood plain ordinance
had been worked on was between 1990 and 1993. About two to
three years ago they met with FEMA who provide town with
things that needed to be updated. Kevin Wagner took the
ordinance template and inserted Emmitsburg and the Town
had Attorney John Clapp put it into code format. Mr. Clapp
recommends it be put in the zoning ordinance because of
the revision which provided for variances and mentions the
Board of Appeals. In order for that it has to be in the
zoning ordinance. Any changes made to the zoning ordinance
needs to go to the Planning Commission. Therefore she is
asking the town council to forward this to the Planning
Commission.
Motion:
Motion to refer the Flood Plain Ordinance Revision
to the Planning Commission for review.
Motion made by Commissioner Sweeney and second by
Commissioner Mellor.
Vote:
4-0 in favor.
Cluster
development update
Ms.
Cipperly stated that back in May she gave a presentation
on the concept of cluster development and would like to
keep the council updated. Since
then she has met with Denis Superczynski, County Planner
for this area and has talked about some approaches and a
menu for development scenarios. She presented the Board
with a map of the Emmitsburg Growth Boundary suggested
land use designations & proposed new roads so they
could see where the cluster ordinance would be involved.
She pointed out existing in-town residential potential and
potential annexations. She also gave them a copy of an
article in the Baltimore Sun titled Redevelopment
is Maryland’s Growth of the Future and went over
IRR which is infill, redevelopment and revitalization.
There was a brief discussion of the amount of taps
available in the town stating there is some potential for
development and that many of the Brookfield and Southgate
residents would like to see their developments finished.
At
this time Commissioner O’Donnell asked the town council
to consider not having the August 4, 2014 town meeting. A
brief discussion ensued and there was unanimous consent
among the members.
Motion:
To cancel the August 4, 2014 town council meeting.
Motion
made by Commissioner Sweeney and second by Commissioner
Mellor.
Vote
4-0 in favor.
Set
Agenda Items for
August 18, 2014
Town Meeting
1.
Flood plain
ordinance for
consideration and adoption
2.
Trail work
days – administrative business
3.
Appoint Sandy
Umbel to Parks Committee and clean up parks committee list
-administrative business
III.
Public Comments – Linda Norris, 9227 Baltimore National Pike, Middletown – addressed
the Board commenting that she is running for County
Council at large and wanted to observe meeting and say
hello.
IV.
SIGN APPROVED TEXT AMENDMENTS AND/OR RESOLUTIONS
