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And I just tell everybody to call me Jean.

I grew up over in Skimmore.

That's just before you go across the Bay Bridge.

My church is not too far.

I belong to Asbury Broadnay.

Over in Skimmore, they had about three, three, four plantations, because there was a plantation down at the bridge, not too far from the bridge.

Yeah.

But at times you can go back in the day and go fishing and catching mushroats.

My grandfather used to go and lug in road all the way back there.

It was like a near the water.

And he will used to go down there, and he used to catch mush rats.

And back in the day, when you catch mush rats, you catch it for the skin.

And you make plenty of money like that.

And the meat, you can just give it to anybody because the mushrats was really good eating.

I'm from the country.

And when, you know, we didn't have televis telephones and stuff like that.

You when you do wrong in school, it got home before you did.

We never knew who called, how they got the information, but they was there and they got after you.

They showed love and understanding.

And that's how we was brought up.

Knowing about love and understanding.

Yeah, because in the country churches, a lot of them.

We were sl our ancestors were slaves.

So we are related to some of them.

So, you know, we got to know we could the those churches are still in the community, and sometimes we have to use those churches to get some things that we want to know about.

See, my mother and um her sisters and brothers, they got baptized at St.

Margaret's because of my grandfather and stuff.

So, you know, they they are part of it.

So, you know, St.

Margaret's is a part of all of us.

And right now they are doing things to help the community and everything else, you know.

They didn't they don't like the idea that we were slaves and everything else.

Our ancestors were slaves.

The roles of the churches and the community is to bring people together, show them a little bit of love and understanding and help them whatever they're going through.

And to me, that's a lot.

The reason why I got into helping the homeless, my minister called me and another lady to church and gave us a paper about the winner relief.

And she told us she wanted us to go and check it out.

And we saw how they treated the homeless and everything else, provide food and everything else, and automatic.

We just say, yes, we're gonna do it.

You know, we didn't have to do no more.

Every week it was a different church.

The homeless will come in the evening and spend the night.

We you feed them.

Um, you talk to them.

And we then we learned the reason why they are homeless, why they are in the situations that they are in.

I mean, they was lovable, and we enjoyed it.

So we went back, we said, hey, no matter what what you say, we're gonna do it.

And we that's when we started.

And to me, that's what's in the Bible, where we're supposed to help one another.

And in the black churches, they keep pushing that.

Where we supposed to be here helping one another.

It's like when you have a band's day and different holidays, it was like everybody come together and show love.

And that's how we we like doing now.

You know, having people to come and show and help us.

And that's what I really like, and I still think about it.

And you miss all those old people who's not here now because how they used to treat you and everything else.

How you think I I figured that God wanted me to go ahead and do what I'm doing.

And at times when I can have too much food, I don't know where I'm gonna take it, and I can go driving, and somebody said, Gene, take it here.

And all I can say, thank you, God, and I go ahead and take it, and the people are happy about it.

That's how it goes.

We we was taught about God from them old folks in the church.

The first time that I was aware of an election, my grandmother, Lena Holland Foreman, she'd be out there every election on that corner, any kind of weather, passing our flyers, talking to people, because she believed in that, being able to catch a vote, to have your voice, that voice.

And when Eisenhower ran, I went in there with my grandmother when she voted because she couldn't read.

And uh, I was always excited.

I remember all I remember was Eisenhower being elected, you know, president.

And I was living in Cosby Terrace at the time.

Push that button, mail that thing in, do that voting.

Okay, it might not look like it's going anywhere, but it will.

It will.

I went to New York and found out they were worse than they were down here, and I had to take a test before I could vote.

And I didn't believe, I didn't really understand it, but I later on I didn't believe that I had to do that.

I said, little simple mad little reading thing, you know, question, uh uh question and answer page.

But I didn't have to do that here.

So when I came back home, I re-registered and we didn't have to do it.

And I've been voting since I was 18 years old.

I might have missed one year.

That's when I transitioned from Maryland to New York that one time, and that was in Stanton Island, and I didn't know where to go.

Things weren't going so good over in our neighborhood, and I had been there for a few years in Eastport, and somebody was running for office, and we never saw him, and so I'm never met him or anything.

And he never came to any vow that I knew of.

Um meetings or anything.

Things weren't good for the working class, the children mainly.

There were a lot of things that needed to be done.

You know, the tracks and park thing had to be done and corrected.

It's uh there was no activities for the youth.

There weren't any black businesses.

Cab drivers, barbershops, beauty shops.

That was it.

And every time one of us came in, we had to go to hell to get a certificate or something.

Just talking to people in general, how hard it was to live in the Naples and being poor was very hard.

Yeah, all of this was going on.

They were losing their homes.

A lot of the people did not live up to uh or the children weren't able to purchase the property that their families had, they just died off.

And those who could, they they left town and never came back.

So a lot of the property they sold it for 20, 30,000, and it went up to 250,000 in cost.

Uh those kind of things.

Um, I was concerned about.

And I messaged someone and said, Well, yeah, you can run as a write in.

I said, Well, they already had the election, that was a primary.

I said, Well, the primary's over.

So, but you don't have to run right in as primary, you can run it right in as a uh uh Nigerian.

And then I spoke to Carl, he said, Well, you know, they never had a woman in there, you know, and and a black woman and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Hey, look, I have nothing to lose.

$50 or whatever it was to put my paperwork in, that's what I did.

I said, Well, I'll give it a shot.

The way those booths were set up during that time, you had the little levers where you write in something, or you push the little keys down.

Well, if you were left, if you were right-handed, it was hard because of the way the the booths were set up, yeah.

So we had to educate people how to write with your left hand in the left-hand corner if you were right-handed.

And then you had the little short people, a couple of little short ladies.

We had to make sure they had a little stool there so they could stand up and see what they were doing.

And it was interesting, it was a lot of education in three weeks.

We had to do it.

And sure enough, it happened.

I just kind of fell into it.

In my first six months sitting on that council, I didn't open my mouth.

I tried to learn, and nobody was to teach me.

They don't have any, and I I since then they are now, they have classes.

But to actually perform and how do you serve?

How do you uh uh put in some legislation or amendment?

Moder price dwelling units.

I've for years I worked to try to get that done.

That was one of the main things.

I still have the legislation that Barbara Samarazic did with the county, and the county, you know, knocked it down.

They didn't vote, wouldn't vote on it.

So but it was to say that leave the city alone, let's get it in the county, and that would encompass the whole city and all.

And they knocked it down, and still to the day.

The county council said, You know, the MPD youth.

Okay, affordable housing, okay.

I don't care how you name it.

Let's get it.

Do you see all these places growing up around here?

And it's pushing the working class out, not just blacks, I mean people who struggle.

You got to get up and do something.

So we are going through life as a bud, and we're bud in the mud, and I would like for them to learn what politics is about.

It can be dirty like anything else.

But you that's why you need good clean minds with integrity, with respect to get in there to teach children and teach people.

The importance of this.

Uh, my name is Lewis Day, better known as Mooney Day.

That's my stage name.

Everybody knows me as Mooney, so they don't know my real name, so that's a good thing.

What's your favorite song to say?

I got so many favorites that I can't even pick one.

You just don't want to know.

That's by Marvin Winings.

Yes, you just don't want to know.

Heard so many days, cried so many hours, trying to get it right.

I just didn't have the power.

You renewed all my fears in hopes I wouldn't disappear.

I tried to let it go, but I guess you just don't want to know.

That's what that's the first one.

First time I went to Cars Beach was uh I think James Brown was on stage.

After seeing that guy on the stage, all I wanted to do was hope I could get with a group would be on the stage to see all of that.

And I did, but I got a chance to be up there, and all those people out there, come on, sing it, Mooney, sing it, sing it.

You know, it was it was just that it made me excel to do good.

I've sang with, like I say, the first band was Mooney Day and the Moonlighters.

The next one was DC and the Capitals, the third one was Trey and the Diamonds, and then there was uh a black band, the witness band, then there was a black band, the Marquettes, and then there was a band called the uh XPDs.

Okay.

That was called the X-Pipe Dreamers.

But they just didn't say X-Pipe Dreamers, just call it the XPDs.

And we went all over the place, man.

It just expanded.

But I learned course music right here at Bates High School.

I've always considered myself a good background singer because I know every pitch because I've learned course here at Bates High School.

This area, Bates High School was the only black high school in Anna Runner County.

All the rest of them we drew from the area of the Calvert County line, from the Baltimore County line, from the Brooklyn line, and from Bristol.

Kids were bust from every area that I just talked about.

So you couldn't miss the bus you didn't have no other way to get to school.

Yeah.

Because by the time you caught the regular bus to come to school, you done spent half of the day, so you you know you done missed a lot of the classes.

And then it became the centerpiece of the black community.

And it was because they had they had scientists, they had biologists, they had educated people in the field of every walks of life where all of the white schools had.

And it was well-educated people that came out.

We drew, we drew the talent from all those different areas, came to Bates High School, you know.

And everybody that came to Bates High School went to Carr's Beach because Spurs Beach was open, but Carr's Beach was the place to go, you know.

All of the black entertainment that came to Annapolis was at Cars Beach.

That's what they came for.

Cars Beach.

It's well known everywhere, from New Jersey to New York, because that's once they saw the stars coming to Cars Beach, they flocked because they know they could swim, they could eat, and they had carnival for the kids.

So they brought the kids and they just could turn them loose, you know, and you tell them where you be, and they would find you if they needed you to, you know, to get something to eat.

But it was uh it was a nice place because it was black entertainment.

Chuck Burry was, I've been able to experience Jackie Wilson at Cars Beach, James Brown at Cars Beach, Otis Redding at Cars Beach, Chuck Burry was there.

Oh, that was that was one of the biggest, almost one of the biggest concerts when he was there because at that time, Forrest Drive was just two lanes.

And they had cars parked from I say a quarter of a mile away, all the way up, all the way down to the beach because they couldn't get no more cars down there, you know.

But it was pet on it.

And we never turned anybody away.

Anybody could come.

But now I will do something down here at the senior center for the seniors if I'm asked.

But other than that, I sing gospel in three different churches now.

Because I like to sing.

The work session for the city, Annapolis City Council for Thursday, February nineteenth, twenty twenty six will be called to order at close to four thirty PM.

At this time, would everyone willing and able please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance?

One nation undergo, invisible with liberty, and justice for all.

Thank you.

First item on the agenda is ID thirty eight twenty-six, which is overview of comprehensive rezoning.

Okay.

Um, before turning it over, I just wanted to share with the council.

This is, I think, a very important uh discussion.

Um, so just uh hope everyone had a chance to read the materials ahead of time, ask their questions.

But this is one of those, I think, big picture things that has a big impact that isn't necessarily so obvious because it's not immediate to today.

So certainly appreciate everyone um uh being here and uh appreciate you all uh being here.

Uh, why don't you um introduce yourselves and all three of you and then dive in?

Sounds good.

Um, thanks for having us.

Uh I'm Eric Lushinski, I'm the chief of comprehensive planning in the Department of Planning and Zoning.

Eric, when you speak, can you go a little closer to the microphone, please?

Hello, my name is Alexis Robinson.

I'm a senior comprehensive planner with the Department of Planning and Zoning.

Thank you.

Um Case Urties with Comprehensive Planning, I'm a comprehensive planner.

Great.

Okay.

So we are the comprehensive planning team uh within planning and zoning, uh, which has several divisions, so we're that division.

Um good to meet the folks uh on the council who haven't met before.

Um really excited to share this initiative zoning unlocked with you.

Um that being said, zoning is a very um challenging topic to make exciting and engaging.

So uh if your eyes glaze over, I won't hold it against you, but we have a presentation that we think is going to be interesting.

And um zoning as a the kind of unusual um honor of of being very consequential to the way the city looks and is experienced and yet is chronically confusing, misunderstood, um, poorly understood.

And so we're trying to help change that.

That's a big part of why we're here.

We can change the city around the goals that we set.

And this is interesting also because the gas, the service station is probably the only thing in this picture that came after zoning.

Everything downtown for the most part precedes zoning, all of our older buildings.

And so this gas station not only it was not only a service station first, but it was actually expanded to include the mechanic bays.

So it was an important part of downtown for a long period of time.

The presentation is going to be shared in parts, and we're gonna have time for questions after each section to try to keep things moving and make sure you have time to ask questions as we go over each topic.

So for overview, um any guesses to how many zoning districts the city has.

This is our zoning map over here.

Um it's uh most of you have probably seen it before.

Um I'll just jump to the answer.

We have 32, and that's a lot for a city that's only eight square miles.

We actually have one zone that's not even on the map.

It's the open space zone that was created in 2005 that was never put to use.

That's something we've we've um come across in the last year.

It's interesting to look at um how this zoning map has evolved uh in just the last 40 years.

Um we've essentially doubled the number of zoning districts in the city without really doubling the size of the city.

Um you can see 85, 17 zoning districts, 1998, 28 zoning districts, and 2026, we have 32.

And you know, we're gonna go into some detail about the zoning map, but one way of thinking about the um the colors on this map, they all represent different types of uh districts where certain land uses are allowed or not allowed, and certain kinds of um densities are allowed or not allowed, and the standards that guide what kind of buildings get developed in the city.

And so this is just one example.

If you look at Inner West Street over that same period of time, 1985, we had three zones for that area, and today we have about six zones.

Um the green area is our mixed-use zoning district that was really purposefully created for that inner West Street corridor to enliven it to basically activate uh an area that was had some vacancy and and to bring back uh local businesses and some residents, and it's been pretty successful for the most part from my perspective, uh, but it's still flanked by a number of zones that um have not been as successful in in getting the the outcomes that they were created to um to to create um to have.

Um, most of what we're promoting here is is in our comprehensive plan.

This is uh the document that was adopted by the City Council in 2024 in July, and it's something we do every 10 years, and it really sets a vision for the city.

And uh this one had been the work for several years going through COVID, and the outcome um has a number of goals that really tell you what kind of city we want to be.

And this is a summary of them here on the right.

Um housing, neighbor preservation, include most of them speak for themselves.

I think inclusive economic growth, one way to think about that is um how easy is it for somebody to open a business here?

Um, do we have a zoning map and zoning regulations that are too complicated to understand that uh somebody who's new to opening a business has a hard time doing that here?

Um and and in which case somebody who's maybe more capitalized or has more experience has an edge on the next person.

Um in general, the theme is um we want uh city development to promote the kind of things that Annapolis has done well in the past.

Um, you think about what draws people to Annapolis, um it's images like this.

I mean, this is a spread from the comprehensive plan that highlighted the great variety of housing types that exist in the city that really have added the character and and um quality to the city and really made it sort of accommodating for a wide variety of households.

But the irony is that most of these buildings are not permitted by our current zoning map, zoning regulations.

Um over time that zoning map changed to address various needs that may at the time seem to make sense, and then as time passes um make less sense.

Um Mr.

Rosinski, do you want us to hold questions till the end?

Yeah, actually, I'm almost done with this section, and then yeah.

Um so ultimately what we're trying to do with zoning unlocked is create a zoning map and zoning regulations that are more intuitive, better address city goals and needs, and provide greater consistency between the future land use map and the zoning map.

And and what we mean by that is we have uh a future land use map in the comprehensive plan.

It's the most important exhibit in that comprehensive plan, it really shows kind of the highest and best use of the city's limited land base, and it's it's pretty straightforward.

It doesn't have a variety of residential zones.

It basically shows one residential area in yellow, and it's mostly what we have today.

Um, but the big themes in this future land use map are you can see the the bands of green that um we've never shown on a future land use map in the past that are our parks and conservation areas or places that should be conserved.

And then in red, these are all our major corridors where in the past we had land uses defined by whether this is commercial or office use.

Um red is now symbolizing mixed use, meaning there are compatible uses that should be situated next to each other, and we could be more efficient in how we develop the city so that particularly on our major corridors where there's transit and services, um, developing in a mixed use way is more efficient and strategic.

And it's interesting to see um while our zoning map does not look like our future land use map today, Charlottesville, Virginia is sort of working in a parallel trajectory to us, and it's similar-sized city, um, shares a lot of dynamics with us.

They complete a comprehensive plan and then move swiftly into a zoning update and now have a zoning map that really does reflect their future land use map.

So that's just an example I wanted to share.

Um, but before we go into um the sort of schedule of this uh way we're approaching this project, I guess this would be a good time for questions.

Great.

Uh Alderman Smith Brown.

Hello, thank you for coming always.

Appreciate that.

And to the others too.

Thank you for serving our city.

Uh the questions that I have here is you talked about what draws people to Annapolis.

And you know, we all have our own personal backgrounds and stories.

I think it's crucial or important for us to share those, especially for those who don't know.

Um so I was gonna ask you, Eric, if you don't mind, um, whether it is people that see you as ill-intentioned, what in development in our city, um, or even for those who don't are not aware of who you are.

Can you share with us your backgrounds, uh, what led you here to the city?

Um and um really why are you staying here?

What is keeping you here?

What's the vision that you may have uh the outlook that you see uh here?

Yeah, that's a good question.

Um, I was born here, so I didn't have a choice, but I'm happy.

I'm I'm proud to I I mean, I there are a few places I'd rather be from, yeah, candidly.

Um I chose to come back here.

I guess that's the important part.

I chose to come back here, and uh I like I like the scale of Annapolis.

Um it's uh it's a little Goldilocks, I guess.

You know, it's not too big, not too small.

Um what one thing that you know as a planner here, I have a different perspective, maybe when I was um growing up and not a licensed city planner.

Um the thing that has sort of drawn me the challenge of this work is that over the last 60, 75 years, I mean, the city really got away from the things that made it um you know desirable, identifiable uh as a unique city.

Um the sort of suburban age, you know, the the age of the car.

I mean, we we got rid of all of our trains and um and designed everything around the car.

And so that idea of building back the fabric of the city that made it walkable place where you were close to things that you needed and you didn't have to jump in your car to drive everything.

That's to me um that's the kind of city I want to live in.

Um I've lived in those places before, so that's that's what really kind of drives me the most, I guess.

Um do you want to hear from the rest of the team here?

Sure.

Um because I I've heard your story, and I think it's it's more elaborate than what you're sharing here, and I think it's important because um you've done this for a large portion of your life, and you serve communities that needed it the most.

And so I think it's just important as we look at and hear from your guidance, which you helped to really formulate this 2040 comprehensive plan, that you tie that in so that those who are really concerned that this plan is meant uh to help developers and uh you know push out those who can't afford to live here.

That's not really what the purpose is from your perspective and what you've shared.

So I just wanted to draw that out.

Um yeah, no, it's we everything that we want to share is yeah, everything that we want to share is um we feel is sensible.

It's it's things that we should be thinking about.

And um, you know, it's uh things that would really promote um what people consider to be the strong suits of Annapolis, I would say.

Um again.

Um, I must apologize first to say that I was not born in Annapolis.

Nothing to apologize for.

Uh, but I am uh born, raised and stayed in the state of Maryland.

Uh grown up here and visited Annapolis often consider it part of my own community.

Um having been a part of many communities within the state of Maryland, I think I have a good foundation in what uh community development from the ground up can look like.

Um with my background in urban planning, it focuses mostly on community development, that is grassroots and community-led.

Uh, and I am here in Annapolis now because where else in a place that has a great background of being built early and with the contributions of the community and has a very active and thriving uh citizenship to back whatever development in future Annapolis will have.

Hey there, I'm Casey.

Uh I'm not originally from here as well, Maryland, but I've kind of been all over the place in Maryland.

Uh I live actually just outside the city because I can't afford to live in the city.

Uh sorry about that, guys.

Uh, but you know, I've kind of worked here my entire career.

I've worked here for about five years now, and me and Eric worked on the comp plan for a really long time.

I think what's guided a lot of our work is you know, Eric having the experience of having been knowing Annapolis when it was previously what it was like in 70s, 80s, and I'm here seeing it in the 20s, where like so much is different.

There wasn't parole, parole didn't exist back then, and a lot of what guides our principles is you know, wanting to make Annapolis a lot more affordable.

And to your point about is like is anybody else influencing us.

This really came from, you know, comp plan was adopted, uh something that comes in part with comp plan adoptions is rezoning, and this is there's pretty much like no developer in our ear, like, hey, you guys should do this.

This is like us trying to do the right thing and kind of leading into that like four-step approach of why we're taking a really long time with a lot of the work we're doing, is that we're really just trying to do everything the right way and reach out to people.

Yeah, so yeah, all ultimately.

Thanks.

I had a different question.

Uh did you have something more to respond to, Otterman Smith Brown?

Thanks.

So um I love this slide of making Apollo's more Annapolis.

But so uh that's exactly what I say.

Um my question to you, because you you brought up this great point that like so much of what so many of us love about Annapolis, and I've had this conversation I think with you, Alderman Thorpe, is from before we had all these restrictions.

And and I should also I should be very clear.

When I talk about zoning, I'm not talking about historic preservation standards.

I'm talking about zoning here.

But um so much of what we love was built before we had all these restrictions.

So if the goal is to you said I wrote down promote, which we've done well in the past.

If the goal is to do that, can you make the case to me why it is more effective to have different restrictions than the restrictions that have caused all the harm, rather than to have just plain fewer restrictions?

Well, I mean, I would say that the city has changed dramatically since the time when um we didn't have a zoning code.

Um we were about a tenth the size of the city.

I mean, the city has grown kind of outward, and interesting map, you know, in a comprehensive plan shows how the city has grown in 1951, you know, saw that huge increase.

So there and and we're dealing with dynamics today that didn't exist that back then, you know, climate change and the housing shortage, and um and and people have attachments to places in a way they haven't maybe had in the past or have new um emotional connections to places.

So we're trying to navigate a terrain that has changed dramatically and be sensitive to a variety of perspectives.

Um to say that there needs to be some guidance for sure for what gets built here and to be kind of we we take our job seriously in as almost stewards of this place, and you know, to make sure that it grows in a sensible uh harmonious way, and um to not have those kinds of guidelines would would really um ensure um prevent us from kind of maintaining what people have come to expect in Annapolis.

So I think it's a matter of just calibrating them the right way.

Um but they certainly need to be there.

I think to me, I mean, one of the things I chronically find that people don't understand just how much work goes into making Annapolis look the way it does.

You know, the people, the things that we appreciate, it is a very time-consuming, challenging job to I mean when people think about permitting and you know it's typically about well, how long does it take to get a permit?

And so but there is um definitely some value to sort of making sure you you make good decisions.

So but it's not to say we can't improve permanently, but it needs to, I think we need to basically uh have some sense of what we want to protect, what we want to change.

Yeah.

Um can I ask one other sure?

Go ahead.

So I I said that point of I make a distinction between historic preservation rules and zoning.

In the context of how you're talking about zoning today, could you tell me how it's different than historic preservation?

Because they're in my different in my mind, but I couldn't, I'm not trying to give you a definition.

Well, they're yeah, they're very they're very different.

I would say um zoning um well one is a subset of the other.

I think that's maybe the best way to think about it.

Historic preservation.

Uh we have a historic district overlay zone.

Um on that zoning, it's it's not really visible on that zoning map, but the entire historic district is in that is governed by that historic district overlay zone, which supersedes the zoning.

I mean, it guides the um the look of the exterior of the buildings to make sure that they are compatible with the historic character that's there.

Um they don't guide what's happened inside the building.

And so that's the that's the primary distinction.

Um the zoning um typically is focused on what's happening inside the building, what are the uses inside the building, and what does the exterior look like?

How is it what's its relationship to the public space around the streetscape?

Um it goes into uh um it could go into great detail, but the bare minimum is what kind of uses are allowed in that space, that property um, and how does it relate to adjacent properties?

Um you know, we're looking at you'll see these future phases.

Alexis is going to talk about in a second, um, form-based standards.

I mean, that's a way of getting at the kinds of things that are in our historic district overlay, but aren't about preserving something of the past, they're about creating character for today.

I mean, it's it's um similar types of standards in the way that are written, but aimed at a different outcome, I would say.

So I have a brief question on the um a couple slides below where you have the picture of the um many houses or uh homes.

Clarifying question are all of them multi-family like that's they are.

Yeah, that that should have I should have mentioned that.

They're all multi-family, it duplex or more.

Even on the left side, the top row, those look like single family homes, but you're they're duplexes of or something more.

Yeah, and that's that's a point we've frequently reinforced.

A lot of single family homes in the city.

Um, you may have to count the mailboxes or or the um electric meters to know if there's actually multiple units inside.

Um a lot of these certainly demonstrate why you can have duplex and triplex without changing the character of a residential neighborhood.

Yeah.

Were there any other questions before we move on?

Okay.

If you can continue your presentation, please.

Okay.

So as uh Casey and Eric mentioned, um, following the comprehensive plan uh we have moved into uh updating the zoning code for zoning unlocked.

Uh this process started in 2024 with some text amendments to the planning districts, plan development district, and um with uh work on the Tyler Avenue Complete Community Overlay District, which I'll get give more information about.

We're currently in the second phase, which focuses on assessing and analyzing our current zoning districts as well as utilizing the open space zoning districts.

Um we anticipate that this will go on until late spring or early summer of this year, and following that will be uh more focused work with a consultant on form-based standards for mixed-use zones as well as residential zones to help uh clarify and streamline those zoning districts.

Next slide, please.

So with the Tyler Avenue Complete Community Overlay District, this was a project through 2025 where we looked at Tyler Avenue from Bay Ridge to Forest Drive to assess how this neighborhood that is centrally located to a lot of amenities could increase the density without disrupting the character of the community.

Uh, this picture on the right was an example for visualization purposes that we use with a community to demonstrate how you can increase density without it being imposing or towering.

Uh, this image actually has a few different styles of homes with multifamily mixed in, but um the recommendations uh that were adopted as a part of this included uh modifying how property owners could increase the density on their property with multiple units uh or smaller units on their property, as well as increasing the uh feel the safety and community feel on the street.

Um to currently uh the Department of Public Works is working on installing a center lane, center line on the street as well as a parking lane so that uh they can slow down traffic, create uh better environment for pedestrians and cyclists, as well as uh working with the police department on installing a speed camera to really manage speeds uh because that was a really big concern for the community throughout this process.

I would just add that I mean I think we all saw the value in the engagement we had with Tyler Avenue residents during this process over several meetings.

We were able to refine the guidance and it I think of it as a success so far.

We haven't seen any new development there yet, but a lot of the residents were really pleased with the outcome.

So we'll kind of want to build on that.

Yeah, that's a great point, Eric.

Um, what I meant to point out also with the timeline in the previous slide, you see that it's gonna take us like three years to go through all of this, and that's so that we can engage multiple stakeholders in the community, uh, do multiple meetings and exhibits to thoroughly demonstrate as well as uh take in feedback and make it part of a uh the process.

So within this phase two, as you can see, we have been uh meeting with the planning commission regularly.

That's where we do our updates for this process.

Uh we are currently in a stage of expanding the engagement and the audience for this project.

So we will now be uh presenting to you all as stakeholders and influence in this project, meeting with the historic preservation commission as well as doing public open house and workshops uh later in March.

Uh, then we'll follow into reiterating that plan and uh coming up with final recommendations later in the spring.

Uh and so now I'll get into the open space zoning.

Uh, this is probably the highlight of the best part of this presentation, if I might say so myself.

So one of the big priorities that staff went into for this process was to find a way to preserve our open space, whether it be active and passive recreation or just environmental resources within the city, because that that is not currently reflected in the zoning map.

With the intentions of creating an open space zoning district, it was discovered that there already is an open space zoning district.

And so since it has not been utilized, this is the perfect opportunity to make that change.

And we are looking to incorporate existing and future parks into this as well as existing and future conservation easements cemeteries and public school properties that are currently managed by the city as parks to create a connected open space space or district in the city.

Some highlights here concerning the pieces that will be connected to public schools.

This will have you know, this will require engagement with Anaondo County public schools to update any agreements that the city has with them as far as maintenance goes, especially when we get into changing what uses or standards may be associated with the zoning district to include.

We want to include this space because they are connected and asset for our communities.

And this really helps to pull it together by including the Bates Athletic Complex and German Town Park.

And so this is a comparison of what our current zoning map looks like to what it would look like with more parcels included into the open space district.

As you can see on the left, there is nothing that tells you where Truxton Park may be, where the St.

Anne Cemetery may be, where any thing that may be more recreational or of value in that aspect to the city versus on the right, where you can see a lot of conservation easements that have been a part of planned developments as well as valuable park uh amenities to be preserved and you know limited in what uses they could be.

Because the idea of Truxton Park being zoned for residential, I don't think anybody wants to see that turn into a residential development, uh, seeing how valuable it is as open space for all the communities within the city.

You know, I just would reinforce that a lot of these sites are dedicated parkland or locked into conservation easement.

So they in our practical level, they couldn't be developed, but um we're we'll get into it's just one other aspect of the confusing nature of our zoning map, where it sort of implies those opportunities that don't exist, you know.

And so I think that's the clarity that we're looking for in the zoning map.

And so uh just for the technical purposes, uh the open space district changes will include language changes within the zoning code to include conservation easements and update the definition of open space, uh, new bulk regulations and development restrictions, uh and additional or changes to the uses that are allowed, additional terms and definitions for things that are not currently in our zoning code, such as for cemeteries and active and passive recreation, and uh new standards for what active recreation uses are, how and uh secondary uses that could be included in those recreational spaces.

Any questions?

Old woman Camera O'Neill.

Thank you very much.

Um I had three phone calls and an email in regards to the slide that talks about um the environmental enhancement versus recreational enhancements.

Um because you highlight environmental enhancements in two areas, one in Wardor and one in Emerald Heights that are currently Ward or they're either privately owned or community-owned, and in Ameral Heights, they're community-owned.

Um we had this discussion when we were talking about the comprehensive plan, and people were going ballistic saying you can't talk about that.

Don't please don't include that in your plan.

Can you talk about why they're still included in the plan?

Yeah, absolutely.

So the map on the left, it's from the comprehensive plan.

It shows in bright green the areas that should be conserved.

Uh most of them are not easily developable or should not be developed.

They're on steep slopes, they're places that are close to creeks.

Um we included we actually had a lot of questions about that during the comprehensive plan process because some of those I don't they're not the ones that you're talking about, but in some cases they were parking lots that are like next to a creek, and you know, the whole intent was well, in the future, um that parking lot if it's not needed or you know, if there's value in actually making it um more green, you know, making it something as when water runs off into the creek, it's not polluted.

Um but everything in bright green, um, those are just recommendations for places that don't make sense to develop, essentially.

And I think what you're referencing it nothing changes with their zoning today.

Um if they're what we're highlighting on the right is all the sites over two acres.

I mean, that's a really key distinction here.

Um a lot of smaller conservation areas in the city would create a like a speckled map that we think would be more confusing.

So we've that two-acre threshold is important.

Um when we did the public water access plan, we had a lot of questions about the Admiral Heights and the Wardor sites, and so those were questions about whether the city was going to somehow force public use of these privately owned sites, and and we were very clear at that point that the city had no intention of doing that.

Those were held in uh homeowners association deeds and so forth.

Um so this is completely unrelated to that.

And um, and we settled that confusion in the public water access plan in my in my view, and and this is really just about um putting the properties that over two acres that are city parkland or already in conservation easement um into a zoning layer that makes sense for them to be more clear.

Their first read this was causing them flashback.

Yeah, I can understand that um and worry.

So I promise I would ask.

So they don't have to worry about us coming in and trying to do anything on these no, and to be honest, I mean um those types of sites that are already conserved within um community HOA communities are less I would say they're less relevant to this because the HOA restrictions typically supersede a lot of our zoning restrictions.

Um so we have a couple of the newer conservation easements on this map on the right, the parkside preserve and the mask farm.

I mean, those are major conservation acquisitions for the city that we want to promote.

Um thank you.

Alderman Smith Brown.

All right, thanks, Eric.

Um, so then what exactly would the environmental enhancement be?

Are we talking about going there and cleaning up and planting trees?

Like what exactly are we doing in this space that we should not or most likely would not be um appealing for development?

Well, it it's it's case by case.

Uh the whole idea behind identifying properties for environmental enhancement is to give us a guide for places that either should be put into a conservation easement if they aren't already, or um give community members in some cases some guidance say, hey, this place in our neighborhood that we already appreciate as a natural area, perhaps there is it's worthwhile to um to clean it up to create a trail or um make it more usable for a passive use.

Um but um clean up the invasive vegetation, the vines that might be killing the trees.

I mean, it's uh it's a guide.

It's really um, yeah, that's that's basically the intent.

Also with the future land use, it's it's like a guidance from the state that they ask us to do.

So it's not binding in any kind of way.

It's just something that informs this stuff.

So like in that map on the left, it's from the future land use, but none of it's binding.

Uh the zoning, everything you see on that right map is what we're proposing would be put into that open space zone.

So even though they're side by side, everything in that left map when in regards to residential enhancements and recreational enhancements, it's just it just so happened to be in the comp plan and it's what the state asked for because they asked for like this parcel, how do you break it down so they can put it in their data set?

They refer to as sensitive areas um yeah so then are you encouraging the council and the environment committee Rob and the other members to look into funding projects in these spaces.

Yes.

Okay.

Yes absolutely ultimately thank you Mr.

Mayor yeah um some great find on the open space uh zone I I wasn't aware of that um but uh you know it's something I've long been on my radar is trying to figure out ways to actually ensure that our parks will remain protected as parks and and community space and um yeah I think that sounds like that'll be a good mechanism to use I was also thinking of myself you know uh cemeteries from a planning perspective are a huge waste of space um just as a non as a non-religious atheist I saying that but with all due respect um from a just zoning perspective it's not a good use of space but I think it opens up idea if if we can designate those cemeteries as open space it could potentially allow them to be uh utilized for more purposes recreational purposes potentially stormwater that kind of thing you want to speak to that or um I do want to clear I mean the intention of putting cemeteries in this open space zone is is really just to clarify that their um future use is pretty much locked in and you know we we have no intention of changing their primary use uh as burial grounds um there are examples in other places we've seen where cemeteries to raise revenue for example do events and but you know that stuff would be allowed within the open space zoning guidelines so I mean it wouldn't it wouldn't preclude them from doing but we certainly we want to create a zone that is respectful of what the cemetery is doing today and and you know not change that use so we actually will probably be meeting with some of the cemeteries just to reassure them that this is not about um encouraging active uses per se that might be conflicting with their primary use.

Yeah I'm certainly not saying that your plan was to completely repurpose cemeteries and remove them but I think it should be a good thing to pursue as far as trying to enable other uses right um there are some open spaces left in cemeteries it may make sense in some cases as people change how they're dealing with their loved ones who pass away is to give the the the owners the some of the cemeteries other options as far as perhaps put it in some kind of community amenity or environmental amenity something along those lines I I don't think that's um anything too too drastic.

A lot a number of jurisdictions based on some of my research research are moving in that direction um for some of these uh cemeteries but any case my main point to get back to is I I also just want to blend my support on the environmental enhancement area we talked a lot about that in environmental matters during the crafting of the comp plan and I think those areas would certainly be well suited to receiving such an open space designation um but I do think one of the things that I don't think quite ended up making it into the final companies this inclusion is to get as we move to open up and reduce hopefully reduce some of our parking requirements I think these big grocery stores with these huge asphalt lots I think we do want to look towards some of us anyway to opening those up to other uses um but I think for example putting an environment enhancement area on a portion of those parking lots would be beneficial from a planning perspective to make sure that during any kind of future redevelopment or or repurposing of those lots that a portion of them do get set aside with the intent of true to its name enhancing the environment right as far as installing stormwater management because most of those big grocery stores have zero stormwater management because they same thing with department complexes because they just predate our laws our regs and so I think it is important to set aside space um where we can do some of those um stormwater tree expansion activities um oh and and just one other thing on the environmental enhancement area I would suggest perhaps looking at maybe you've done this but comparing it with some of

As far as installing stormwater management, because most of those big grocery stores have zero stormwater management because they've same thing with department complexes because they just predate our laws, our regs.

And so I think it is important to set aside space where we can do some of those stormwater tree expansion activities.

Oh, and and just one other thing on the environmental enhancement area.

I would suggest perhaps looking at maybe you've done this, but comparing it with some of the topographical data to look for the drainage areas.

Because one of the things I've I've noticed in my day job is the areas that have in communities, the areas that often have the most drainage concerns are when people come in and try to build on these lots that have traditionally been unbuildable.

Um, but now because we're trying to build housing everywhere, um they build housing on these drainage areas, and it becomes an issue.

They get flooded, they get a lot of erosion, and so I think there's a benefit to identifying those drainage areas and putting designating them as open space proactively.

Um because in the end, it's the drainage serves the stormwater management for the community, and there's a reason why they weren't built on for the past 100 years.

Yeah, that's a great point.

Any other questions at this point?

Okay, you want to continue?

Yeah.

Okay.

So I just want to point out one thing before we get into zoning consolidation.

Uh we mentioned earlier there's 32 zoning districts.

We whittled down everything we're talking about in consolidation to immediate recommendations.

A lot of the zones that aren't in what we talk about today, we're most likely talking about in future phases of the rezoning.

And we can, if you guys have questions about those, we can answer them later.

But what is zoning consolidation?

Uh it refers to recommendations to simplify the zoning map by reducing the total number of zoning districts.

Uh most of the work we want to do is to reduce the total amount of zoning districts within the existing ones.

And within that, we want to update the zones.

Uh we want to update a lot of what's in those zoning districts to address our current goals.

By simplifying the zoning map, we basically make it easier for people to open a business, improve their home, or build new homes within the city of Annapolis.

A lot of what informed these recommendations within the city was that they were inconsistent with the comp plan which you saw with the future land use.

They're redundant, outdated, underutilized.

And there's community supported changes.

Uh, a lot of that is what informed why we picked what we did immediately and why we're not focusing on others from the jump.

So in these immediate recommendations, we're looking at about eight, we've whittled it down a lot to these, but we're looking at R1A single family residence, R1B, single family residence, R3R, general residence, neighborhood revitalization, BR business revitalization, B3 C D general commercial corridor design, C1A, special conservation residence, and C2P conservation professional office.

And the reason why I wanted to make sure you guys knew the names, not just the code for it, is because there's a little bit of context behind there's a reason it's named like that.

It's not just even though R1A and R1B have the same name, they do accomplish different things, and it's important to understand that there is intent behind each of the names.

We're gonna go into detail on each one.

So we'll get more into this as we go through each of the zones, but these are the preliminary recommendations that we got to by speaking with pretty much our entire planning department, the planning commission and historic preservation commission, just so that you all know that these recommendations didn't just come from the three of us, that this has been a pretty collaborative effort, and we've talked to a lot of people over a lot of months, and it we have whittled down a lot to just what you're seeing today.

And it's not over yet.

So we're gonna have the public outreach phase and really try to see where the public stands on this, um, as well as your input, of course.

So for R1A, we're talking about consolidating R1A strictly into R1, except for in one location, it's being changed into open space, and that's where because of the mosque uh mosque farm uh conservation easement.

But for the most part, what guides this is we want to preserve neighborhood, we want to preserve neighborhood preservation, stewardship of environmental assets and general consistency with the comp plan by going from R1A to R1, we're not increasing the density.

We're not increasing the density.

It's pretty much going from single family housing to single family housing.

There's no uh big change.

This one shows the development pattern within the Ward or community in Hunt Meadow.

On the left, you see about 1.7 units per acre with a medium lot size of 22,000 square feet.

Hunt Meadow, you get around 3.1 units per acre with an average lot size of 12,000 square feet, and that's well within what's allowed within the R1.

I do want to point out that uh even with changing them in Hunt Meadow and Ward Or, there are homeowners associations and with Wardor by changing from R1A to R1, they have smaller lot they have smaller lot sizes, but most of this area is within the critical area.

So it makes development in this area very difficult, and there are tons of reviews that have to be that have to occur by changing from R1A to R1, it doesn't get rid of that.

It's still within the critical area, and they're still homeowners associations.

And I would just add for those who might be watching from home and um live in these communities.

Um the communities that are zoned as R1 today in the city include Heritage, Admiral Heights, um portions of Murray Hill, and um the adjacent neighborhood to it.

Right, and Fairfax Road.

So these are the kinds of community that's the kind of single family detach home character that is the R1 that we think is conducive to what's in R1A today.

Um R1B, this one gets very messy very quickly, but we're proposing changing a lot of the R1B into either R1, R2, R3 in open space.

It really depends strictly on the development pattern.

Uh there's labels for each of them to show you what it's going into, and uh we can get into that later, but that we're really it's based off of neighborhood preservation, continued stewardship of environmental assets, and just consistency with the comp plan.

And you can see here on the left park site preserve, there's about 12.5 units per acre with the average lot size being 2,400.

This is when we talked about changing from R1B into R3, and Kingsport on the right, 5.4 units per acre with the average lot pattern lot size being 6,800 square feet.

We talk about this one being R2.

R3R, uh, we talked about change we talked about consolidating this district into R3 and MX.

The image on the bottom left corner kind of shows where Caraway Lane is.

That's kind of the dividing line for where the R3 would occur, and then everything to the east of that would be changed into MX.

Uh there is no substantial differences between the R3R and R3, aside from more reviews with staff.

And MX would introduce a few more uh residential and commercial uses to the area.

That picture on the bottom, it's that's also the that's the access road to Maryland Hall and Bates Middle School for those who might not recognize it.

So that development on either side of that road is um caraway lane.

Here on B3CD, we're talking about changing consolidating from B3 C D into MX.

Uh, I get into it in the next slide, but we're talking about introducing a lot of residential uses to this area.

Uh there's a lot of community supported uh uh community support to a lot of the changes that we have here, and that if you can go to the next one, yeah.

These are some of the use differences between MX, B3CD, and BR by uh consolidating B3CD and BR into the MX zoning district.

You see, you introduce so much more residential uses to these districts, you get a lot of dwellings above non-residential uses, you get uh a lot, you get multifamily introduced into B3CD along that West Street corridor, and you would make the Toyota auto the Toyota and the Hyundai uh non-conforming.

We talked internally with our staff, they apparently have like a 50-year lease.

So just because the zoning changes doesn't mean that their lease is now invalid, they'd be there for a long time.

But because it's non-conforming, whenever that lease runs up, it's a lot more appealing to the landowner to want to read if they would rather redevelop that into housing that that this would now be an option for them.

And this um when we talk about community supported change, Casey mentioned that I just want to reinforce that this is a site that we hear repeatedly from neighbors that would love to imagine a future when this site is not car dealership lots, and uh we as planners cannot predict when that will happen, but we can help create some incentive for the change to happen, and and we've really tried to work with the neighboring communities for on this vision.

And we didn't include a slide on it, but from for the BR changing into MX, that's along Clay Street uh near the Stanton Center.

Um that would be changing from BR into MX.

Uh it's a lot of community supported changes.

Uh I believe you guys even had to deal with legislation that had to deal with the height in the area.

You know, it there's a there's a lot of kind of reiterating again, just introducing a lot more residential uses to the area.

You kind of are able to increase the density.

Um I want to pause right here because the next couple slides relate to same theme for zoning consolidation, but they relate to the downtown area, so it's a little bit different, it's a shift in focus.

Um can you go back a couple slides to the R1B zoning districts?

I just want to make sure I was understanding was looking at it.

This is the parkside preserve on the left, Kingsport on the right.

That's right.

The R1B zone would allow for what um what average lot size or what minimum lot size?

You gotta go back one.

Yeah.

So today the R1B is designed for approximately three units per acre, pretty low density.

Um, and so you know, parksite preserve doesn't really even meet that, but it was done as a planned development.

And so um it was able to kind of get beyond that.

And it it may have had some previous zoning that was not R1B, so it kind of was maybe split zone, but so if it's uh if the R1B zone would be um three units per acre, what does that make the average lot size?

Um about 20 uh a little under 20,000 um acres per um square.

Um square feet, sorry.

Okay.

Sorry, so yeah, I guess what I'm trying to do.

To the extent that Kingsport and Parkside Preserve are bigger, right, than the lots that they'd be allowed.

Does that mean that owners of those prop parcels could subdivide their property to put additional housing?

They they're they have a homeowners association in Parkside Preserve, so they wouldn't be able to just subdivide the it's also attached homes, so they couldn't subdivide the the homes, but there are also within the R1B, there's other homes outside of Parkside Preserve that are in that area, and if they wanted to subdivide, they could do that.

So it would be permitted non-conforming, correct?

Is that uh no, they they would not be able to subdivide um uh because of their HOA restrictions, essentially.

Um that's something the city can't control, so the HOA could change the rules to allow it.

HOA could change the rules to allow for that if the HUI did lift those rules, they could subdivide.

To be consistent with the base zoning, yeah.

That's right.

And so I assume the same thing would apply for I was trying not to refer to Hunt Meadow, but uh the same thing would apply for the R1A, essentially the homeown the R the HOAs have restrictions, but if the HOAs remove those restrictions, then hop homeowners from Wall Dor or Hunt Meadow could um subdivide.

Yeah, and it's a little bit different with Hunt Meadow and what these ones that we are proposing um to go to R1 because that is still very low density.

Um I think each uh each unit is on um I'm gonna say is it 7,000 or 10,000 square foot per lot.

Oh yeah.

Yeah.

So R1 minimum lot says 7,000 square feet.

So yeah, which is still pretty large lot.

Um that's that's that would if either Hunt Meadow or Wardor wanted to change their HOA restrictions and allow for multiple units on a lot, they they would be limited to 7,000 square foot lots.

Okay.

Yeah.

Not trying to pass judgment, just trying to understand it.

Yeah.

So I could articulate it.

Uh Alderman Huntley?

Yeah, I just want to make sure I'm understanding your question because I feel like I'm looking at the same numbers and getting a different understanding.

What I'm seeing here is that parkside preserve the average lot size is already way smaller than is allowed under R1B.

Is that correct?

That's correct.

So if we were to change it from R1B to let's just say R2, the average lot size would still be dramatically smaller than it's allowed.

That's right.

So you would only be able to subdivide if you had a lot size that's four times the current average lot size.

That's right.

Even if we changed it to R2.

That's a great point.

Yeah.

R so R three, just to be clear, um the average.

Well, that's what our proposed um rezoning for park site would be R3.

Oh, okay.

Just because, as you noted, because the existing lot size there today is it just it's basically still under construction.

So it's it's it's a brand new development.

Um 2400 square feet, you know, that's um yeah, those are very small lots by city standard, by our you know, city standard here.

I I guess I'm just having trouble understanding the slide itself.

So Parkside Preserve Kingsport, that's titled R1B zoning districts that's existing, but you're or these are proposed to move to a different yeah.

The um image upper right is an image of Parkside Preserve, one portion of Parkside Preserve.

It shows these attached uh homes, um, which is there's some detached homes at Parkside Preserve as well, but you can see the density there.

That is more consistent with our R3 zoned areas in the city today, um, where each unit is about 3800 uh the the parcel size is about 3800 square feet um and encourages townhouse development.

Um the image just below that is the king is from Kingsport where it says R2, and that pattern in Kingsport is much more similar to other neighborhoods in the city that are zoned as R2.

Um single family detached homes, no town homes, um, and the minimum lot size is 5400 square feet in the R2 zoning district.

So how are you able to tell from this slide that the proposal is for the parkside preserved to go from R1B to R3?

I'm not seeing it.

Do you guys have an out-of-date power point?

We the one we're showing today is up to date.

We you guys have an older one.

Sorry about that.

I didn't realize that there's labels on this.

I think we added labels to the one on the screen.

Okay.

And then um, yeah, sorry.

We change it like today.

But but you know, by basically looking at the parcel layout, we did, you know, that's that's the analysis we did.

We looked at how these neighborhoods were laid out, the parcel size, um, and came to that.

You know, looked at the kind of pattern of development in other neighborhoods that are zoned as R2 or R3 or R1 to really make the fit seem right.

So Alderman Savage.

Uh thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Uh yeah, you know, I was surprised by some of these slides.

I I didn't, I don't think I quite realized or appreciated with some of the uh zoning, some of the developments that are out there.

That minimum lot size of what'd you say 20 approaching 22, 23,000 feet.

That's whatever that's that's half an acre.

That's yeah, huge for a city.

Yeah.

Right.

And then it's like you think back, and then I think about, you know, I mean, my ward by the nature of being on the edge of the city as opposed to some that are just bounded by water, but like uh on the edge of the city, we know we got parkside preserve, and it's it seems odd.

You know, it seems like the old development pattern, which is like all right, we're just gonna put new uh you know single family homes, which they did detached on parkside preserve, when it really doesn't again, that doesn't seem to make sense from many standpoints.

Uh one as far as again, we are designated growth area in Maryland, um smart growth, yada yada.

But I also want to connect it to what Alderman Um Chandelmeyer presented to us maybe four or five years ago with the urban three study about um uh it wasn't about valuation, it was about um tax revenue, but also how much if it's a net if the properties are a net um essentially user of taxes, or if they actually contribute more than they use.

And just oversimplifying it, you know, obviously the downtown was the most valuable because it brought in the most tax revenue for the for the city.

But the ones that are most expensive were the ones on kind of the outskirts, the single family homes, um particularly the the the detached single family home.

And you know, it doesn't escape me the irony that those are the most expensive homes, but they also contribute the least amount to um the city's coffers.

And so it, you know, I'm I guess I'm saying all that just from a planning perspective, like at least from from my perspective, I would like to I'd be inclined to say, look, if we have we don't have too many other areas that are not developed, right?

Uh I mean, we have Rocky Gorge, which is I know it already has a bit of a record plat, but um maybe some other properties here and there.

We may annex some property, um, but again, I think it would make sense to really in some way make sure those new opportunities are zoned in a way that's going to make sure because we want the clustered development.

And if you have these, if you have these prohibitions on having attached homes and lot sizes, then things are going to be spread out and sprawled and again cost us more money in the end uh and have a greater impact, environmental impact.

So I don't know.

I know you're focusing starting on kind of downtown area, which I get, but I'm I'm eager to see what you propose for again, like like Ward 7 in particular, because we do have a lot of growth opportunities.

That phase four of our process where we look at the form-based standards for residential zones, um, that's really gonna be the opportunity to look at well, does an existing residential community that doesn't allow for a duplex would it make sense to do that?

And if so, what kind of standards need to be in place to give neighbors some confidence that it's not gonna destroy the neighborhood or something, you know, and that that's really when we're gonna take up that to conversation, and so every essentially every residential area of the city could be discussed at that point and see well, what where does it make sense?

Um, but we're being very deliberate, cautious um uh in our process here to kind of build up towards the things that we think are more complicated.

This seems complicated enough, but in our view, this was sort of low-hanging fruit that we still have to make the case and justify it, but we are more confident that if we can put the data and the existing conditions out there, it'll make sense to people, but it's still complicated things.

Being conscious of the time, I want to take questions from Alderman and Smith Brown and then Alderman Huntley, and then let you finish the presentation.

I'll say you answered my question just now.

I was just gonna grantstand about why restriction on lot sizes are bad.

Wait your turn.

Okay, I appreciate that.

Um so I know we talked about this uh myself and other committee members in our rules and city government committee with the Urban 3 plan, and appreciate you having some of that information here as well.

Um now the thing I was what I was gonna bring up is uh slides 26, 28, 30, all those descriptions, and I think this was a part of our conversation.

That's exactly what um we were asking for, if we can make that more user-friendly on the portal so that when I'm clicking on or any person is clicking on one of those residential areas, they can see exactly what is planned for this.

Like what is what is R1?

And you gave I think these are great descriptions for the most part.

Um, and so if we can make that more accessible uh for us uh to do on our own, I think that that would be really um helpful for many.

Thank you.

You know, we were gonna mention it towards the end of the presentation in a few slides, but I might as well just say it here.

Um we're we're developing like a notification tool so that someone's if anyone who's affected by it they'll be able to know what their existing zoning is, what we're proposing, and then our justification for it for every single parcel that's impacted throughout the entire city.

It'll be like a map viewer that an online map tool that yeah would have those kind of straightforward descriptions to explain what the thinking is.

Um that's the goal.

So I think the school system used something like that during registration that I think people found very helpful.

Right.

And I think like all of this stuff is informing a report that our our intent is for all the information in this and what we've done and in the future is to inform some kind of report that obviously not everyone's gonna read it, but you all are able to read it and understand why we came to the decisions we did, and that all that information is in one spot for someone to read.

Thank you.

Are you saying if you don't mind trying to finish the last and no more than 10 minutes, then we can save uh five to ten minutes for questions before wrapping up in six sharp?

I was it was just it was the same.

Okay, yeah, that's fine.

Um just the last two zones we're talking here about the in the historic district, and I wanted to separate these out because they're pretty unique.

Um in the 90s, we did the ward one sector study that proposed adding three new zoning districts in the downtown area.

The C1A was the first one I'm gonna talk about.

Um things we heard repeatedly in the comprehensive planning process from longtime downtown residents was this desire to have their neighborhoods back, to have more full-time residents, to have businesses that catered to full-time residents.

Um what we found is one of the most uh straightforward ways of doing that is to essentially um remove some of the restrictions that are preventing full-time residents from living downtown.

And so we addressed short-term rentals in legislation recently.

Um that was the big uh a big need.

Um that's certainly a cause for lack of of long-term housing and escalating prices.

But the other thing is this C1A district, you can see all the pink areas.

These are essentially residential areas in the downtown that were deemed in the 1990s.

Uh they were deemed to be nuisance properties, they were um not well kept.

There was a uh basically a desire to bring back more single family owner-occupied housing.

And so apartments were sort of the boogeyman at the time.

And today we have a real housing shortage in the city and and escalating housing prices.

And if you look at these properties today, um, I'm just gonna skip ahead.

I mean, this is a snapshot of the C1A zoning district today.

The thing that strikes me as remarkable is you have a number of very large properties that were seen as ones that could only be used for single family residential.

And so some of these are actually multifamily buildings today, and and so we would say they're they're deemed non-conforming with the current zoning.

They're not um they're not at risk of going away until the property is sold and it's vacant for a year, and then they would essentially lose their ability to be uh multifamily, and they would have to be single family or some one of the few other uses allowed in the C1A.

There's an office building on the bottom row here, uh, law firm office.

If that law firm decides to move, sell the building, um it couldn't and it was vacant for a year, it couldn't be that again.

And so it would have to be a single family residence, most likely.

So we're trying to be cognizant of like opportunities, but also ways of updating the code to make some of these properties conforming to the zoning.

Um, and so what we recommend with this C1A district is to make most of these C1A properties zoned as C1.

Now, C1 is the larger of the residential zones in the downtown area.

It's been successful.

It um guides development in large portion of Murray Hill and we think that that zone is more than capable of continuing the character that people associate with the downtown area.

It happens to allow for a variety of other housing types, multifamily duplexes.

Um we'd like to enable those types of uses to be on the table for some of these properties.

And bear in mind these would also still be in the historic district overlay, which really guides the look uh of the exterior of these buildings.

Um the second zone I want to highlight is the C2P recommended at the exact same time in the 90s to protect office properties, essentially.

So in the lower left is a um set of properties along Franklin Street that were historically across from what used to be the city hospital.

So these were medical offices.

Um this block here.

Most of those have converted over to residential the last few years.

Um there's a few on cathedral where my cursor is on the screen.

There are still offices.

And then this other group of purple properties is on Duke of Gloucester, Upper Duke of Gloucester, behind Main Street, just down from the Maryland Inn, and a couple on the opposite side of the street.

What we're proposing is to make the group of properties along Franklin, lower left here, primarily C1, reflect the residential character that they have today.

The properties that are along Cathedral be zoned as P, it's professional office, which reflects their current uses.

These properties along Duke of Gloucester would be zoned as C2, which is what we have on Main Street.

It allows for b uh residential apartments above commercial or office uses.

Um and then there's one outlier up here in the upper right or up above.

That's a property close to the Naval Academy that historically was a um uh pizza place, Buzzy's Pizza, uh, people have fond memories of.

Uh, people have fond memories of.

That's this image in the upper right here.

Um spake it right now.

Um the bottom row are all the buildings along Franklin, the uh upper row, primarily along Duke of Gloucester, and then this one on by the Naval Academy.

Um this is a summary of what I just went through, but I wanted to highlight one outlier.

There was another zone proposed in the 1990s, the C2A.

It really only governed a few properties.

It was um pretty specific.

There's one we we looked at this very closely and and felt that it has a lot of viability still today, except for one property, and this is around the corner from Hats in the Belfry on Green Street.

You can see the image of it below here.

It's a property that is residential today.

Um, in the past, somebody wanted to make two apartments, they couldn't do it because of the zoning.

Um, we think making it C1, it means that it could do that in the future.

Finally, um I'll just tee up something that we're looking at right now that is a even if we were to pass let if you were to pass legislation making these C1A properties C1, and suddenly they can have multifamily units, duplex, et cetera.

There's a standard in the C1A zoning district today that requires a unit to be at least 1,800 square feet essentially.

It's a suburban house that within our most dense urban environment in the city.

We think that's holding us back from doing the kind of things that the comp plan is recommending.

Um we don't know what that lower unit size should be.

Um, but we're looking at what's there today and what is being proposed.

And then this is just a snapshot on Prince George Street alone.

You have three properties that are not conforming to that standard.

They all have multiple units that are well under 1800 square feet, and um they they we could not create this today.

So that's something we're looking at.

We want to be respectful of what makes sense in the in the neighborhood.

Um, but that's that's essentially the rest of the presentation is just next steps.

Um we're basically out of time, so I think we should probably just ask for questions.

Alderman Savage.

Just try to be mindful of time.

Thank you, Miss Mayor.

I'll just stick to one main point.

Uh because I think so the point was made earlier about uh you know there's some public perception or concern that oh the developers are pushing this.

And um, and look, you know, I I used to admittedly used to demonize uh developers, but I've really come around and realized we have to that they are how we get this stuff done, right?

Um but I think we certainly need to make sure they're driven pointed and you know directed in the right way.

But related to that is I the point I want to just end with for myself, my own comments are this that and I know this is all in your mind, but just to emphasize like I think to for this vision to happen, and this is going to be potentially some have some controversy, concern from the public, but to address that government really needs to keep pace with the infrastructure planning, right?

That is how we address the concerns we're gonna hear.

And I just feel like so.

I think when we had when we do the public outreach, I think being very clear and having those plans outlined would be helpful.

Um, for example, and I have something I'm working on, I need to share um with you.

Um we need to have a strong complete streets policy.

A strong what?

Complete streets.

So when we're doing this work, at the same time, we're adding the street trees, we are adding the traffic calming, we're expanding the sidewalks, adding the bike lanes, because that is gonna directly address those impacts we're hearing from people.

Um, and obviously I can't go without also mentioning the transit planning, right?

Um, I think this needs to get connected with the transit development plan, but even going further than the transit development plan as far as improving our bus services, the coverage, the frequency, again, with the idea of addressing the impacts and concerns we're going to be hearing about.

Um I think that that is something that helped the Tyler avenue is because I feel like we did tie those together uh fairly well.

Um so um yeah, that's that's my final comment on that.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

That's a great point.

Thank you, Alderman.

Any response?

I was just gonna say that's a great point that by and large, what you're seeing right now from this presentation are recommendations to the extent that there would be new density, it's in places that can support that, that where there's infrastructure in place and and it's uh we're really just trying to make things more consistent with the character that's there today.

Sure.

But on the other hand, we also still don't have you know the built-out cycling infrastructure.

So we don't have adequate and we don't have adequate transit at the moment.

All of our every single route we have except the circulator is failing.

It's not meeting the state standards.

We have to do better with that infrastructure if we're gonna do this.

And I want to support this, but I'm just saying we've got to ultimately hunting, then round up to that.

Uh briefly, I agree with you all the savage.

I just want to remind everybody that if we don't build it, it's gonna get built somewhere else, and they're gonna probably have even worse infrastructure.

So just my take.

But um, my actual question is uh sorry if you already said this, but the text amendment to the bulk standards for dwelling units.

Later on, I see you have text amendments as coming in through fall 2025.

When are we planning on doing that bulk standard amendment?

Well, so not sure.

I mean, really, all right, Monday.

Yeah, it really depends on your willingness to advance legislation.

I mean, we I think Casey had a slide early on.

We're we're here to provide recommendations to the council that that you would take action on if you know if it makes sense.

That's really our our role here.

So I would also say that um with those bulk standard changes, there may be discoveries that come with the form-based uh standards as well that may change what those look like Alderman Smith Brown.

Yes, too.

Um I actually to that point I was gonna mention something about legislation, if there's any specific legislation direction you could provide, particularly for our mayor, and because I know he does lead when it's coming from a department or what have you, um, do that as soon as you can so that we can get this rolling and in respect getting into the committees that we need them to go to uh to give that their overview.

Uh secondly, um, for clarification for whomever uh may not have gotten that.

Um, are you saying that the description for these residential uh pieces or parcels of land is gonna be will be provided after you get to that um point in the project where you're providing a new app or what have you that you said the new portal, or are you saying that that can be done where in this time in the next months we'll have or not to give you all a time frame or line that you're working, etc.

Um which what were you saying about that?

Are you saying it can be done sooner rather than later, or you can't be we have a finished draft of it, but we're we're just going through like final reviews of it.

I mean it's just like what what exists, what's the zoning today, what are you proposing, and then why we're justifying that choice.

Yeah, so um kind of just to speak a little bit more on this slide and answer your question.

Um we anticipate that that tool will be available while we're doing public engagement, and so while we're talking to the community about what these recommendations look like, they'll be able to look up that information.

But then after this process, after we've heard from stakeholders, after we've heard from the different boards and commissions, um, our final recommendations will be in a report, and that's kind of what Casey was talking about in our last break.

And that report will be on the project website for people to review what the current zoning districts are, what the recommendations, what changes, what impact areas there will be um so that everyone is fully informed as this goes through the full legislative process.

Okay, um we also plan to have a partnering survey with it so that it's not you're none of you are bombarded with comments on this, but that there's a way for us to collect everything and have a public log of what are what is everyone saying.

Is that so you say I give so you're gonna wait until everything's really compiled or together to then share with us not the current portal that we have because there is one currently where I can go and we can find out these, but you're gonna say let's hold off a little bit and so we can provide it all at once.

Is that that's what you're implying?

Okay, thank you.

Alternate real quick one, uh back to that C1 bulk standards.

Do you guys have an idea of what would be more appropriate than 1800?

I mean, I I used to live across the street from a conservation residence zone, and I I think my place was 500 square feet.

So uh any is that something you have an answer to now or no?

Okay, that's fine.

Yeah, we don't I was in 900 uh square feet as a story home with my wife.

It was great.

Yeah, okay.

That's what we need.

Yeah.

Anyone else?

Any final comments?

All right, seeing none.

Can I just add can we make one final comment?

Go to you to finish up.

If it's quick.

Uh final comment is you can follow our progress on the project website.

Uh that is being updated with every meeting that we have with the board and commission.

Uh that is also where the recommended the tool will be housed as well as the community survey and um all the information for all of our public meetings.

Uh you can direct people to that.

Thank you.

And if you can attend our meetings at the end of March, that'd be great.

You can see them on this slide here.

Bush Library, March 30th.

Can you make sure that you're in touch with our with Mitchell, our PIO department, when you have all these things?

Because I'm I'm not sure how much we advertise this meeting per se, but I mean, I know you do a lot of meetings, so I'd love for our residents to just continue to be as informed as possible.

Okay.

Yeah, absolutely.

And if I could ask you that slide's different than the I'm calling P.

Sorry.

Yes, go ahead.

That slide's different than the one.

If you could just shoot the city council those dates, that'd be great.

We'll send this presentation.

This was a slight change.

We didn't have these dates at the time and maybe a few other no problem.

Okay.

Miss City Attorney, please uh call the next item on the agenda.

The agenda is completed.

Okay.

Uh is there anything else for the good of the order?

All right.

Hearing nothing, the session is adjourned.

Thank you all.