Rules & City Government Committee Special Meeting on July 11, 2025: Property Sale and Zoning Amendments
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Rules & City Government Committee Special Meeting – July 11, 2025
The Rules & City Government Committee of the Annapolis City Council held a special meeting on July 11, 2025, at 1:06 PM in City Council Chambers. The committee considered two legislative items: O-20-25, authorizing the sale of city-owned property at 932 and 935 Spa Road to the Resilience Authority of Annapolis and Anne Arundel County for environmental remediation, and O-9-25, which would expand permitted waterfront commercial uses in R4 General Residence Districts. Both items were postponed to future meetings after discussion and amendment.
Consent Calendar
- Approval of Minutes: The committee approved the minutes from the June 6, 2025 regular meeting by voice vote.
Discussion Items
-
O-20-25 – Sale of City-Owned Property at 932 Spa Road and 935 Spa Road, Lot 1
- The committee heard extensive testimony from city staff, including City Attorney Mike Lyles, Assistant City Attorney Ashley Leonard, Director of Planning & Zoning Chris Jakubiak, Director of Central Services John Flinner, Director of Public Works David Vogel, and Housing Authority Executive Director Melissa Maddox-Evans.
- Key issues raised included:
- The need to subdivide the property before sale; the sale is contingent on completion of subdivision.
- The purpose of the sale: to transfer ownership to the Resilience Authority for up to seven years to enable the Authority to apply for federal brownfields grants for remediation. The city remains liable for pre-existing contamination regardless of ownership.
- The sale price is nominal ($1, with a typo in the ordinance showing $0 to be corrected).
- A reverter clause was proposed and adopted by amendment: the property shall revert to the city no later than seven years from the date of transfer.
- The relationship with the Choice Neighborhoods Initiative (CNI) program: Maddox-Evans described conceptual plans for up to 240 housing units, city offices, parking, and public amenities on the site post-remediation, but emphasized that those plans are separate from the sale legislation.
- Alderman Arnett expressed concern about the lack of detailed information provided to the council in advance, and about the city’s ongoing liability for remediation costs.
- Alderman Finlayson and Alderman Schandelmeier supported moving forward, citing the urgency of the brownfields grant deadline (October 2025) and the potential loss of federal funding.
- The committee heard that the Resilience Authority will be invited to the next meeting to answer questions.
-
O-9-25 – Expanding Waterfront Uses in R4 General Residence (Zoning) Districts
- The committee discussed proposed amendments to add five water-access uses (boat rentals, charters, in-water boat storage, on-land boat storage, tugboat services, and water taxis) as permitted uses in R4 districts, with some subject to standards.
- Alderman Dales (who is not a committee member but participated) described the amendments as a product of discussions with the Maritime Advisory Board, which had made a favorable motion.
- Alderman Arnett reported that he had misplaced his folder and could not present the amendments in proper form, so he requested postponement.
Key Outcomes
- O-20-25:
- The committee adopted an amendment (by voice vote) to change the reverter clause on page 2, line 24 to read “no later than seven years” (or “up to seven years” per the intent).
- The committee voted to postpone further action on O-20-25 until the July 23, 2025 joint meeting with the Environmental Matters Committee. (Note: The minutes record the postponement to July 23; the transcript also reflects this.)
- The committee directed staff to have the Resilience Authority present at the July 23 meeting.
- O-9-25:
- The committee voted to postpone consideration until a future meeting. According to the official minutes, the postponement is to September 5, 2025. However, the transcript indicates a motion to postpone to July 23, 2025, which was approved by voice vote. This discrepancy should be noted; the minutes are the official record.
- General: Alderman Finlayson urged better advance coordination between the administration and council on major projects, noting that the public and council were not fully informed of the plans for Spa Road.
Meeting Transcript
Good afternoon. I'd like to call the rules and city government committee meeting to order. Uh please for the record. I'll entertain a motion to approve the agenda with an amendment. Or a reorganizing, really. Okay, takes us on to legislation. Uh 02025, sale of city owned property at 932 spa road and 935 spa road lot one. And I see we have Miss Leonard, our assistant city attorney, and Mr. Dinner, who is our central services director, and Mr. Chris Jacobia, who is our director of planning and zoning. And then we have Mr. Lyles, who is our city attorney, and we have Miss Maddox Evans, who is uh the executive director of the housing authority. So we have uh many of the experts in the room who can help us uh get through this. Um for the record, I will say that this legislation is not gone to public hearing. That will be on Monday. Hopefully, the committee will hear enough information today to be able to uh take a position on it. If not, then it will have to come back to committee again. So let's see if we can get through this and uh get it all done today. So who'd like to begin? Um colleagues, would you like to ask questions of um any of the experts who are here with us? Or um, I know yesterday hearing this in economic or environmental matters. We had a lot of questions, especially as it relates to league of the legal components of it. So uh Alderman Arnett, would you like to start with the question? Yeah, be happy to. Um on page two of the ordinance, uh, starting in the now therefore. Um there are a list of six uh conditions that the sale is subject to. Um most of them are fairly pro forma. We had some confusion about what are lots one and lots two. We finally got a map, which I think is the most current map. Um, it does not tell us on the map that um what is the ballpark? The ball fields uh are not part of this. So the map shows whaling. So it shows things divided into lot one and lot two. You all seen this. Uh I mean I've seen various different versions. Um both of those seem to be on the east side of spa road, but I think the sale has to do with uh the west side of spa road also, but we're not sure. So yes, yes, it does. So it's a little bit of background on this is that when the city first acquired a lot of this property, it was all one big parcel, and there was no road through it. Um the road went through, it was never subdivided, separate tax ID numbers were not given to the parcels on one side versus the other. So that's what's causing, and we are going to clear that all up as we go through the subdivision process, um, and the deed. Um, but it's just one of those, and I've already been talking with STAT to get it done, but they need to see a deed in order to be able to assign new tax ID numbers. So that's part of the confusion is that it used to be all one big piece, and then they drove a road through it, and then they didn't really follow up with the paperwork behind it. Um, so we are planning to um so it's just on the the Weems Whalen side, it would just be lot one. Lot two is being res and jump in if I'm getting this wrong. Lot two, we're keeping lot one would go, and then all of the stuff on the other side, which is actually two sort of it's one small parcel plus a parcel that's still connected across the road, are gonna go as well. If that so unfortunately I'm now more confused than ever. If you look at the map that you have, um lot two seems to be on the right hand side of the map. Uh at least that's where lot two shows up. In lot one. Lot one is also should also be here's the road, right?
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