At this meeting of the February 19th meeting of the Frederick City Council will come to order.

We're gonna start with the Pledge of Allegiance.

We have some special guests from Troop 274.

They're gonna come up with that supposed to go right by the rib.

There you go.

Well now join please join us in the Pledge of Allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God in the visible way with liberty, justice for all.

Thank you.

Thank you.

So moved.

Move by Councilmember Shackelford, seconded by somebody over here.

Oh Councilmember Hapkins.

All in favor.

Aye.

Pass 60.

Next up we have uh appointments.

First on the list uh appointment of John Temple to full member of the planning commission uh f full member of the planning commission completing a current term from February 20th, 2026 to July 18th, 2029.

Seconded.

Move by Councilmember Brent, second by Councilmember Hempel Irani.

All in favor.

One, two, three, four.

All opposed to passes four, two.

Next up, appointment to the Active Mobility Advisory Committee.

Appointment of Eric Jones for a four-year term from February 20th, 2026 to February 19th, 2030.

I move to approve.

Second.

Moved by Councilmember Taylor, seconded by Councilmember Bram.

All in favor.

Aye.

That's six zero.

And a reappointment of Missy Connor for a two-year term to the neighborhood advisory council.

Two-year term from February 20th, 2026 to February 19th, 2028.

So moved.

Second.

Moved by Councilmember Akin.

Second by Councilmember Bram.

All in favor.

Aye.

Four.

Oh, okay.

Six to zero.

Yes, I did.

We'll go back.

Uh an appointment of Gwen Kinsey to the Historic Preservation Commission for a three-year term from February 20th, 2026 to February 19th, 2029.

I move to approve.

Move by Councilmember Taylor, second by Councilmember Hemplerani.

All in favor.

I that's 60.

Thank you, Councilmember Bram for keeping me straight.

All right.

Certainly.

Um for arts funding.

But one of the delights of that day is to meet people from all over the state and and to see what people are doing.

They even had a Super Bowl commercial.

And uh we especially learned about the economic impact of the arts.

And I just want to to highlight a few things.

In the state of Maryland, uh the nonprofit arts organizations have 1.2 billion dollar economic output and generate 28.4 million dollars in state and local tax revenue.

And I think a lot of people think about the arts being extra, but they're very much not just a part of who we are and our identity, but they're an economic driver.

So I love Arts Advocacy Day.

No, sir.

No, sir.

Um nothing for me to start, Councilmember Taylor.

I no comments.

And Councilmember Sackelford.

No comment.

No comments, thank you.

Okay.

Now is the time for uh public comments.

This is an opportunity for members of the public to address the council regarding items that may or may not appear on the agenda.

Please note speakers should first give their name and address.

You reminded that these proceedings are broadcast on live TV and should speak clearly and directly into the microphone.

All comments are limited to a total of three minutes per individual.

If you wish to ask a question or want a response, that will become part of the three-minute limit.

So we have a list of people.

If you did not sign up and still wish to talk, um I will call for any additional people once we get through the people on the list.

So first up, Robert Sharp.

Thank you very much.

We had snow, which everybody had plenty of.

Two of the three got shoveled out three days after the snow.

One was never shoveled out.

I don't know why it was done, but I was told the reason why those crosswalks were put in there was a slow down traffic so people could cross the street.

Well, if it's not functional for people to use, there's no sense in having it there.

And it does snow in Frederick.

So I don't know who screwed that up, but they screwed it up rurally, but not having it taken care of when it should have been done.

Do you mind asking where's the where on Rosemont is the one that didn't get shoulder?

Uh I'm sorry, I didn't know.

Uh where on Rosebond was the ones that did not get cleared.

The furthest one west.

The two closest to the main entrance on each side of the main entrance, those two were cleared out three days after the snow.

The third one, which is out further westward on it, was never done.

It took a week, a little over a week for it to melt down so you could walk over it.

In the meantime, people were walking across through it as it was.

What if they if they if they used it?

But I know for three days none of them were used for three days because it was over a foot deep there.

And nobody went through it.

I don't blame them because they can just walk on the road where it was plowed.

The plowing was done very well this time around for as much snow as we had.

Um where I live on North Market Street, I was opening up my driveway to they came by, and the man even said, I'll come around and scoop out what I'll push in, and he did.

Which I was really outstanding.

Took the time to do it.

And we helped my neighbor and I use my snowblower to help clear out the area.

There was a far hydrant uh uh I live right a cut of corn from ninth and market.

There's a far hydrant there, of course, when they pushed all the snow back, you couldn't see it, it was buried.

So I used my neighbor used my snowblower to go across the street and clean that out so they so you could get to the far hydrant if necessary and went all the way up the up the side of the street and back down, because most people don't have snow blowers, and it you sure needed a snowblower.

And we did the same thing on our side for the whole 800 block.

So I guess on my three minutes is up.

Uh but it is a uh along the okay, thank you.

Uh next up, Christian Benfirst.

Hi, good evening.

My name is Christian Benford.

I live on 750 Carroll Parkway.

I'm here to speak on agenda item number nine.

I didn't know if that was what it was.

It was just about the transit oriented development.

I am all for transit oriented development.

Um besides the numerous economic benefits.

I think something uh Mayor O'Connor said in his inaugural address is that we're no longer a town becoming a you know city.

We are we are a city at this point.

Um there's an application that is going to be approved by the council tonight, and this it was a draft of the application was done in October, so before most of you took office, and I would recommend that you would hold off and re-review that application.

There are there's a question on there, question number two.

Please describe and provide documentation of pedestrian, bicycle, and personal mobility connectivity strategies within the proposed designation area.

I brought up that we're no longer a town becoming a city because we're also a city that is not just full of more uh you know automobile users or bus users, but we're also a city of more uh walkers and bikers, and there are a couple plans that are mentioned in question two, like let's move Frederick, East Street redesign, downtown streetscape, the 7th Street Protected Bicycle Lane in the Mobility Fee District.

Uh and four out of five of those plans have been in development hell for years.

Pardon my language.

Uh and I would just ask that if we're going to be strategic about the applications we're putting in, especially when it comes to transit-oriented development, and so that we don't get this application denied, that we start making moves on the uh proposed projects that we've had in the pipeline for years at this point.

I think it's a pretty discouraging, even though I don't even live on that side of town.

I do a lot of service on that side of town.

Um for the East Street residents to keep being told, hey, there's this project that's coming along, and we're going to get it, and then it gets stymied and stalled for some reason during this these processes.

So that would be my recommendation.

I don't know if it's too late to submit that, but thank you very much.

Thank you.

Next Randy Cohen.

Good evening.

Uh my name is Randy Cohen.

P.O.

Box 278 Monrovia, Maryland 21770.

I own Highland Trail.

Highland Trail is mentioned in the TOD discussion.

And we have been working very hard to get this thing moving.

The first thing I'd like to say is your planning office is incredible.

They work hard and they do a great job.

And they don't get enough compliments.

And I want to point that out, how good they are.

They must have had some good leadership before.

Don't know who that could have been.

So in our world, it's listed.

We have 100 townhouses, 450 MALDEs, and commercial property, master plan approved, and now we're starting to get site plan approval.

The shocking thing that you come across when you do this is the amount of money you have to spend to make the community approvements.

So that includes Minoxie Boulevard, Highland Street, a traffic light at that intersection, a road to the north, uh, a lot of green space, stormwater management, and it adds up quite a bit compared to the amount of units that we can actually build.

So when I saw the TOD opportunity come up, I said, man, somebody's thinking ahead.

I saw this law.

I saw this bill last year come through the state.

It's a half mile radius.

That works in Rockville.

That works in Baltimore.

That's not big enough in Frederick.

It needs to be expanded.

And so whoever dreamt it up here, they should be congratulated and thanked because that's really good foresight.

And we'd like to be considered.

And we'd like you to pass that law and pass that rule.

That's a great idea.

So I'll tell you something else.

When I farm this ground, and I raised horses and cattle and hay, and the fair still uses it for parking.

Uh we're not allowed to shoot groundhogs there, by the way.

And we used to be taxed by the year, real estate taxes.

The real estate taxes now are by the hour.

That's what it costs.

It's shocking what it costs now just to have it.

So we need to move forward.

We need to process this project.

Things like the TOD will greatly help move forward.

We're missing and need workforce housing.

That's very clear.

I didn't know there was a time limit.

I'm sorry.

Am I allowed to take another minute?

I need to wrap up your file.

Thank you.

The TOD could lead to LITEC or other workforce housing.

I'd love to know who to talk to.

It would be a great opportunity for the city.

We're all about the city.

We're from here for 150 years.

And be happy to help make this happen.

And thank you for considering it.

And again, whoever dreamt it up to expand it, thank them twice for me.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next up, Samantha Wujana Roth.

No.

Hopefully I said that correctly.

Hi.

I'm from Scott Tripp 274, and we meet every Wednesday at Trinity United Methodist Church.

And we're here for the citizenship of the community merit patch.

Thank you for joining us.

And next up, Willie Mahone.

Good afternoon, good evening.

My name is William Maho.

This is the first opportunity that I get to appear before the new board.

And I I looked with uh prospectively at uh this new board moving forward in a progressive manner.

Uh I am the president of local NAACP.

Uh our office is at 12 West Church West Church Street here in Frederick.

I began by noting that this is what's called Black History Month.

And looking at the surveillance of Black history, uh you there's nothing that uh sticks out more prominently than the quest to be included in the electoral system.

Uh this is something that was heralded uh pre-Civil War, uh heralded during Reconstruction, and we know what happened with it during Reconstruction, and it's remained heralded, and we've seen recent attacks on that last 10, 15, 20 years from certain legislative bodies, uh, and unfortunately from the courts.

The uh, and I do want to make another observation.

I find it very, very uh re-invigorating that I saw a presentation being made and I heard some exchange between members, particularly the president, and and the presenter.

And I want to congratulate you on that.

Oftentimes people come here and we speak to our representatives, and it just flies.

So I'm glad to see that.

Now, get into my uh presentation.

In November 2024, Haystack, DNA, a consultant retained by the City of Frederick, issued a report concluding that in six out of nineteen elections over an eight-year period of time, there was racial block voting with the uh voters' choice when with the white voters' choice winning in those scenarios.

White citizen voting age uh population was approximately 72 percent, African American uh voting population 18.8 percent, and Hispanic 9.7 percent.

Because such racial black voting militated to the advantage of the dominant racial ethnic component, it gravitated towards unlawful discrimination.

If you look at the criteria from the Supreme Court cases, that is one of the first things they look at is well, there's racial black voting.

Unlawful discrimination proscribed by the 1964, 1965 voting rights act.

Haystack engaged to devise a redistricting plan that would not be facially in violation of the 19 uh 65 voting rights act.

They presented a map that included, I would ask for maybe another minute, a map that included one majority uh minority district, and the city invited the general public to submit any proposed redistricting map.

The Maryland ACLU presented a map that included two majority minority districts, and the Ferdinand County NAACP joined and strongly endorsed the ACLU's uh submitted map.

However, the City Council proceeded to pass the Haystack, one majority uh minority map, virtually ignoring the sentiments of the city ethnic community, ethnic minority community, which the redistricting was supposed to address.

I'm gonna need you to kind of wrap it up.

Yeah, but I I I have some information for the I'm finishing.

In essence, the redistricting uh modification was an opportunity to expand inclusion and reverse exclusion by adopting the one majority majority minority district, the council imprimatted the continuous construction constriction of the majority vote impact, a form of what we would perceive is voter suppression.

But there's good news.

The good news is that uh I have been informed as president of the NAACP that that matters being reconsidered.

Yes.

And that's what I wanted to let you know that that is something that we are looking at as a as a council.

Um we are going to be looking at the redistricting, and we'll definitely reach out.

And I was told that by your Honor uh at a meeting where I saw you.

And I also got that communication from other person ash.

And so I want to commend you all in doing that reconsideration.

We could also have the right thing to do.

Thank you, sir.

Uh and and finally, I want to acknowledge the passing of uh of uh uh uh Justice Icon, uh Justice Jackson, and on a more local level, Reverend Graylin Haglet from Washington, D.C.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, sir.

That was the last person on our list.

Is there anybody else who wishes to make public comments at this time?

Once one twice.

All right.

Next up, we have our consent agenda.

All items included under consent agenda are considered to be routine by the council.

They will be approved by one motion without separate discussion of each item, unless any person present requests an item or items to be removed from the consent agenda.

Any item removed from the consent agenda will be considered separately at the end of the consent agenda.

If you would like any of the items below considered separately, please say so when the council president announces each category.

And today we only have one category, which is release of sureties.

I have a motion.

Motion to approve.

And a second.

Second.

Motion by Councilmember Brennan, second by Councilmember Taylor.

All in favor.

Aye at six to zero.

All right, moving right along.

Um our first public hearing item is the approval of naming rights signage on the new batting performance building at Harry Grove Stadium.

Good evening, members of the City Council.

Richard Griffin, Director of Economic Development.

I have with me this evening uh Slater Fuchs, the Vice President of Attain Um Sports, and the general manager of Frederick Keys, and with him is Brandon McGee, our assistant general manager at the uh Frederick Keys.

Um as the President uh the Council told you we're here for approval of a naming rights signage on the new batting performance building at Harry Grove Stadium.

This building was constructed as part of 40 million dollars worth of um improvements that are being made to the stadium by the Maryland Stadium Authority.

The city entered into an agreement with the stadium authority to make these improvements, and they've been going along swimmingly, uh, and they are working very hard to deliver these improvements so that they can play baseball in uh the stadium in April.

Um our first home game is April the 14th, I think, and uh they have a homestand of several games starting on that Tuesday, the 14th.

Um in any case, uh one of the things that they are allowed to do under the lease that we have with Attain Sports is to install naming rights signage.

Uh the lease states that the mayor has the authority to approve the naming rights itself and the city council through uh land management code section 864 may has the authority to approve the signage.

Uh so in front of you is the signage.

Um you have copies of the design, but let me just describe a little bit that this performance building has obviously it's a four-sided building, but the side facing new design road and the side facing the the uh field uh will have signage um that uh says IBEW Local 24, that stands for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, IBEW.

Um the requirement before we came to City Council was that we take the design of the signage to both the Planning Commission and the Parks uh and REC Commission.

We did that last week on the 9th and 10th.

We got favorable uh recommendations from both organizations for the approval of the signage.

I do want to point out that the signage as designed uh and approved by those organizations is non-lit.

Um it is uh just the signage 864 uh says that it cannot be um lighted.

However, the team has requested um that this sign be lit from the inside as the current sign which stayed which says Harry Grove Stadium.

If you've been out there, there's a a large podium or large signs, freestanding sign, and it has a lit um in illuminated face that says Harry Grove Stadium, NIMIO Field at Harry Grove Stadium.

Uh and the City Council has the authority to to make that decision.

Uh in your packet um and backup, you have a copy of the lease.

You have copies of both the civil drawings as well as the building drawings and the location of the sign.

Uh and if you have any more technical questions, uh Slater, Mr.

Fuchs can come up and and answer those, but I'll try to answer any that I can for you at this time.

Any questions from Councilmember?

Question and City Attorney may be more procedural in terms of the motion being made when made on page two Section 864.

That's highlighted yellow Richard on City Attorney.

Should that should that be changed, be made must be approved by the board of City Council?

Do we need to change that language?

I think he is referring to the fact that it still refers to the Board of Aldermen uh in the code.

Yes, Rachel.

Should you say City Council?

When motion is made.

Yes.

Okay.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Any other questions?

Yes.

Hey, Richard, did you all think about either halo lighting, lighting from behind, or like downward lighting for the sign?

They they thought of all those items and the building does have some wash lighting, but for the specifics of the sign, I'm going to ask Slater to give you the more details on the on why they went with um a request for internally illuminated.

Good evening, uh Councilmembers.

I'm uh Slater Fuchs, General Manager of the Keys.

Um to address the uh why we're seeking the internally lit versus uh a wash.

Um for consistency's sake, that NIMIO is an internally lit sign.

Uh we think that you know having it internally lit would be our preference.

Uh we did think about a wash from the bottom up or the top down.

Uh but for the sake of the sign as well as I think the way people would view it at night, uh having it internally lit just made more sense to us.

Sure.

Can you just offer I'm sorry a little bit of clarity?

Uh so this is Harry Grove Stadium, but NIMEO Field, but the the batting area is the IBEW?

Yes, so just the batting area, then which was just built.

Uh NIMEO will still be the naming rights of the actual uh field.

So is it still Harry Grove Stadium?

Yes, still NIMIO Field of Harry Grove Stadium.

So please forgive me in my sports naming knowledge.

Any other questions from Council members?

Uh so just to clarify the answer to Councilmember Shockford's question is we do need to change that or we do not.

If if you're just asking how to refer to yourselves in the motion, you're clearly the City Council now.

The code language hasn't been changed, but it's all it's okay.

So just for us our referring up here.

Okay.

I did forget to mention in my quick opening remarks that the Parks and REC Commission, while they did approve it as it is designed, made a second motion uh which they carried forward to you recommending that you consider the uh internal internally illuminated sign, and I failed to mention that.

I apologize.

Just a quick question.

Uh understanding that the NIMIO sign and this sign are NIMIO is internally lighted.

This one is proposed to be internally lighted.

Uh from a planning standpoint, does this set a precedent for other in eternal because the ball field is sitting off by itself, the IBEW sign is facing Route 70 and a busy road, so I'm I'm anxious that this sets a precedent for other internally lighted signs in other places in the city.

Is that the case?

It's a good question.

Because it is such a unique uh feature.

And despite the fact that, you know, they're the way it's uh currently written, uh clearly the city council approved previously an internally illuminated sign at that location.

So and that hasn't seemed to cause a run on other signage in the city to be internally illuminated.

And I apologize for not knowing this, but would council weigh in on other signs in other parts of the city that would be proposed to be internal internally.

Normally those signs would not even come to you because they code through straight through the land um land management code and through the planning commission.

And if there was a modification, I guess, to the CBA.

Great.

Thank you.

Any other questions?

Any public comment on the signage.

No.

Okay.

I move to approve the approval of Naomi Rice signage on the new vetting performance of building Harry Grove Stadium with the internal lighting with the following changes on section U.

Prior to the issuance of building permit for any sign, the location size and design of the sign must be approved by the city council.

Prior to approval, the city council shall seek recommendations from the planning commission and the parks and recreation commission.

Second.

I second.

I'm sorry.

Okay.

So that's so what you're reading the language of the one.

That's why I asked you.

Right, but you're not actually amending the language of the code.

Like that's in the land management code, and that just is what it is.

So you don't need to change that.

You're just you're just being asked to approve the signage.

I just want to be clear.

You're not amending the same thing.

Is that language in the comment from the No, I mean that's in the land management code, so you can't change it right now.

Sorry if I misunderstood your question.

Okay.

It's my question.

All right.

I withdraw my motion.

Say accepted.

I move to approve.

Okay.

Do you have a second?

No.

CDs are no you need to.

Second my withdrawal.

You need a second.

I second.

Thank you.

Okay.

So now we need a first motion.

I move for the approval of Namie Wright signage on the new batting performance building at Harry Grove Stadium with the internal lighting change.

I second.

All right.

Move by Councilmember Shackelford, second by Council Member Taylor.

All in favor.

I that's 7-0.

Thank you very much.

All right.

Up next, we're going to talk about the transit oriented development.

Before we discuss the resolution, uh members of the mayor's office is going to come up and say some things.

Good evening.

Good evening, Mr.

President, members of the Council, guy and Samson Chief of Staff to the Mayor.

Alan Etzler, Deputy Chief of Staff to the Mayor.

We're here today to talk about to give an update to the Council for our transmission priorities and the state government.

We have with us our consultants for Funkin' Bolton.

And we are going to have a full in-depth update to you all next week in front of the full council.

But today we're going to talk about our transportation priorities.

And very shortly we'll turn it over to Ben Groff and Ben Smith.

They're going to give an overview of the transportation-oriented development designation bill that's the uh governor and his administration's bill down in Annapolis, discuss how that uh could or could not affect the city of Frederick, um, and then discuss what you all will hear from the planning department um uh a little bit later and how this uh legislation relates to that and as well as some um potential uh uh multi-year changes for the Brunswick line, which some of you may know uh that's been a priority of the cities and our transportation priorities over the last several years.

So with that, I'm gonna welcome up uh Ben Groff to take my spot and we'll be available to answer any questions with any one of the four of us who is most appropriate.

Good evening.

All right.

Okay.

Can you hear me?

Um so we wanted to give uh a quick update on two bills that are live in the Maryland General Assembly this session.

The first is the Maryland Transit and Housing Opportunity Act.

Um this is the sort of marquee TOD bill, um, a governor's priority bill.

Um the spoiler, the spoiler alert on this bill is that it would not uh cover the Frederick Mark station, it would not cover um the Brunswick Line or the Camden lines in Maryland.

And the reason for that is basically that what this bill is generally seeking to do is facilitate some actions that the state of Maryland wants to take related to state land that they own around uh major rail transit stations.

They've sort of in, you know, the bill was introduced last year, did not make it last year, it's back this year in sort of strategizing and scoping the bill.

Um there is a mechanism mechanism in the bill that speaks to like the level of service at each of these stations that uh decides whether or not a state uh a given station is covered by the bill.

Um but just to let you know um sort of some of the other um elements of the bill, um, you know, there are some financing incentives in the bill.

Uh the you know, priority under the strategic infrastructure revolving loan program.

Um, there's automatic designation as an enterprise zone.

Um there's a provision in there that would defer um excise tax and development impact fee um collection until occupancy.

So during the the course of construction, um those fees would would not be collected, they would be collected once construction is complete.

Um finally there's preemption of local land use uh policies around TOD areas.

Um that's uh in the bill, it's specifically it's a quarter mile um elimination of parking minimums and half mile radius elimination of any local policy that would not allow mixed use development.

Um so again, the sort of summary here is that really what this bill is designed to do is get a few things done that the state uh wanted to have to help facilitate their work that they're doing on state-owned land or um around some uh major uh rail transit stage stations in the state.

Um it's not necessarily sort of like the ideal policy you know that would help to activate the Frederick uh Mark station.

Um I'll go if I can figure out how to do it to the Oh, I did get it.

All right.

Um obviously later uh you'll be talking about the the TOD um designation application.

This is a tool that is sort of uh immediately available to the city to help uh activate the TOD strategy around uh the Frederick Mark station.

Um and so what it does is basically at a high level, um, it creates the zone, uh the TOD zone that opens up the door for state partnership, it brings MDOT sort of to the table as a partner, um, makes some incentives available.

Um and then you know local jurisdictions like Frederick can um sort of uh choose your own destiny in terms of your local zoning and and planning and uh policies of that nature and um all the other things that sort of factor into successful TOD like uh other tra you know other transportation plans and things of that nature.

Um, you know, while the the TOD legislation this year does not necessarily apply, this is sort of like a next um step that the city can take to activate TOD around Frederick Mark.

Um another bill just uh for your awareness, because the level of service on the Brunswick Line and future plans for expanding that enhancing service are sort of important to the idea of TOD.

There's a bill called the Maryland Transit Administration Reform Act that's live.

Um it would create a board of directors for Baltimore Corps Transit Service and also a commuter services advisory board.

Um so the commuter services advisory board would provide advice and guidance on um mark expansion plans, basically, including Brunswick Line.

Um there will be eight governor-appointed members, six of whom are supposed to be residents who reside in areas affected by or uh served by commuter services.

So the City of Frederick obviously there could be a resident who could be appointed to that board.

Um it's an advisory board, so it's just uh another public forum to sort of uh review and provide input um and some accountability uh on how those commuter services are operated.

And then in terms of you know how do we get to better service on the Brunswick Line, enhanced service.

The state does have a plan for that, the mark growth and transformation plan.

Um, you know, now's a great time to invest in the Brunswick Line.

Ridership is recovering nicely from uh COVID.

Um the state's plan notes that the Frederick City branch is the stronger of the two branches of the Brunswick Line.

And there's an initial five-year phase of planned enhancements that that are outlined in the plan, which would include upgrading to hourly uh weekday peak service and the AM and PM peaks, as well as two weekday off-peak trains, and there's some other stuff in there, like a bus connection to Haggerstown.

Um, the city and the county both have highlighted in priority letters to MDOT um the importance of uh expanded and enhanced Brunswick line service as well as TOD support.

Um continuing that advocacy, I think you know um is definitely part of the equation to making sure that these investments are followed through on.

And I'll pause there and take any questions.

Thank you.

Any questions from council members?

Is there any consideration for weekend lines?

I could get back to you on that.

I'm not sure that that was included for like the initial set of of recommendations, um, certainly in the long run.

Yeah, I think it would be outside the five-year uh frame, which is what we put up there.

So the there are three basic tranches, one's a 15-year, and then they have the unconstrained timeline, but I would have to go to your point back and look at the plan to know.

I'm I'm not sure I understood the difference between the first bill that said the city would would lose control over the zoning uh if we accepted what could you go back to that slide for me?

So it um the Yeah, sorry.

You're good.

The first bill is state legislation that would preempt local zoning uh um around rail transit stations that have currently have service every hour from 8 a.m.

to 6 p.m.

And so that's like the the Mark Penn Line, um, the Metro and Baltimore, the Light Rail, Baltimore, Womana stations.

Um so the Brunswick Line is excluded on the basis of that mechanism is a the law does not apply to to Frederick City.

All right.

So I I I just to verify then the resolution, the resolution that we have in front of us would if the city did pursue a TOD, this would not apply to the city.

Right.

There they're two different things.

It's the same guy.

Yeah, two entirely different yeah, thank you.

All right, yeah.

Any other questions?

Was there thought about adding us?

Mayor's team?

Was there thought about adding us to the bill?

Did you did you vet that in the section?

Do you want to be as well?

Sure.

Go ahead.

Yeah, so we had conversations with Funk and Bolton about the best way to pursue this.

Um Ben Ben Groff is very tied in to this bill and has been very helpful.

Uh we did discuss an amendment that would add Frederick to it.

Um ultimately the recommendation of Funk and Bolton was to not pursue that amendment in both because it would most likely not be successful, but also our application gives us a little bit more flexibility with what we want to do with the TOD and gives us some of that um zoning authority.

I'd say that's a policy decision, right?

So I think historically city governments would err on the side of wanting to have as much local control.

I think that's a fair assumption.

I don't know if that is still the case with all members of this board or city council.

I don't we haven't pulled that.

I know I'm not, right?

I'm I'm convinced now that setting bare minimums at the statewide level is the only way to move forward on some of these things.

So I'll let it go.

I'll I'll back off it as the governor's bill, but I think if we're not at the table making sure that we're part of that conversation, I'm not sure that we ever will be.

So but I'll I'll say thank you very much.

Thanks for the input.

On the resolution itself, has East Frederick Rising or NAC 11 commented on it?

I I would let the planning department probably be the best best group to answer that when we're ready for that.

Yeah.

Thank you.

The planning folks will be coming up next to talk about the actual uh resolution or whatever.

So any questions for these folks?

No.

Okay.

I did get feedback from people in the audience asking council members to talk a little closer to the mics because they can't hear us.

So it's passed down along.

All right.

If there are no other questions, thank you.

Appreciate you.

And all the planning folks.

Good evening.

Gabrielle Collard, the planning director.

Also joining me this evening is Brandon Mark to present our application.

This is a request for approval of a resolution to support us making the application for TOD that we were just discussing.

And I'm going to turn it over to Brandon to do the heavy lifting.

Thank you.

Again, Brandon Mark, uh community planning urban design, or manager of community planning and urban design.

With me is uh in here in the room also is Arosh Garamani, who's our urban designer.

Um I'd like to point out that Richard Griffin Economic Development Team did assist us with this application, and David Edmondson, our transportation planner, uh did some work on this as well.

Um so we're gonna get into a few a few bullet points here.

We're gonna start with what is it, and we'll end up with what you're being asked to approve to approve.

Um so this definition, I'm not gonna read it all, but it's straight from MDOT's website, and you'll see some themes in this presentation, and that is um TOD generally uh provides us dense mixed use uh built environments that promote walking and bicycling, tend to be uh sustainable sustainable and growth and uh provide uh great economic development tools.

Um of the characteristics of a TOD is obviously the proximity of transit, the vertical integration of mixed uses, um, walkable, bikeable, and there's typically uh a bit of public amenities.

Um these benefits came from a website called TOD.org.

I'm not gonna go through all of them, but uh they provide a lot of um health, uh quality of life uh benefits, um, uh benefits to the built environment, increased transit ridership, etc.

Uh oh.

There we go.

Um sort of repetitive, but successful TOD projects capitalize on synergy of transport transit and um transit facilities.

Um got a little delay here.

There you go.

Why TOD now?

So the MARC station is is uh well the MARC station is uh within the 2020 comprehensive plan density enhancement area um that was uh vetted uh that density enhancement area is is not really a a change to zoning.

It's a recommendation that one day we we create policy or amend the land management code to remove density provisions.

Um it's also within the mobility fee district, the sustainable communities designation and our proposed form-based code boundary.

Um I'll get into the map to the right here in a bit.

There we go.

So the 2020 comprehensive plan, the top two goals are specific just to well, the first the transportation 10.4 is specific just to us seeking this specific designation.

The next is um to develop policy for TOD.

Um then I could probably list dozens of other policies to support this, but they revolve housing, land use, environmentally utilities, et cetera, um, all to promote dense walkable environments near transportation facilities.

Um this was sort of presented before me.

Um, but I would I don't know if there's anything I can add.

Uh but uh the access to state funding and finance tools available both to private and public um investment.

Um the state level technical support.

It was noted that these are 10-year um designations.

There is an annual review.

MDOT does an annual review with us and provides us recommendations.

Um it also would provide us um extra points on some of our grant applications for uh projects such as transportation planning, design, construction.

Um so it does provide us a lot of um support there.

Here's all the TOD designated stations in in the state.

Um Frederick County recently received designation for the Monoxy Mark station.

Um we're following closely behind them here.

So these two maps, the one to the left.

Sort of hard to read for folks, but the one to the left provides um the the ten year 10 minute walk shed and the half mile radius.

In green is the proposed TOD boundary.

The other red and pink uh colors are the density enhancement area and the uh draft form-based code boundary.

On the right, this is just to illustrate the amount of development pressure we're getting right now on the east side of Frederick.

All the red um areas are uh entitled developments.

Um our current pipeline is about 6,500 units on the east side of Frederick.

There's about 3100 units.

So about half of our development pipeline is within percentage per proximity of this uh the the mark station and within this designation.

Um the challenges which were noted.

Um right now we have limited mark service, just really limited service and financial support is our our challenge.

Um this process.

So we started this process back in I think 2022 before there was major legislation changes in 2024.

At that time, MDOT represented um the designations through the process, and it went to the Smart Growth Cabinet.

We were all the way to the Smart Growth Cabinet when that legislation changed and put the burden on the cities or private investors to receive this designation.

So uh we had to start over.

So here we are.

Um we're here.

Uh MDOT asks us to complete the application.

They sort of review it as we go along.

They provide preliminary comment, and then they look at our map um and provide comment on our proposed boundary.

Then they ask us to come to you to receive this resolution to make sure you all are on board and understand what we're asking.

We then submit the application, it goes to SmartGross sub cabinet, and we receive that, hopefully we receive that designation.

Um it was noted about the increase of the boundary.

Their um requirements is that it's the designations within 10-minute uh walk or half mile.

Uh Rosh was the genius who figured out to uh expand that beyond because Frederick's different than most urban, dense urban areas, and and we sort of lobbied with the M DOT uh representatives to support that, and they ultimately did.

Um so the enlarged boundary we really see as capturing uh a lot of uh what we would consider underutilized or or vacant parcels that could be developed sustainably and at higher densities.

That's all I have.

Thank you.

Any questions from council members?

I always have a question.

Sometimes higher down densities can mean uh more stories, and I know that we have some limits on how high we can build uh within the historic district, but does this open up the opportunity for taller buildings as we move outside of the historic district boundaries, or what does that look like in in terms of density and stories?

So during the comp plan process, we envisioned the east side of Frederick being being the prime area for increased density and increased height because it is, as you stated, outside the HPO.

Um however, there's limitations to that height with parking and all the other uh requirements uh of APFO and development review.

Um where was I going?

But uh the draft form-based code does does limit height a tad bit.

Um I think the maximum height is six stories in the form-based code, but that's the draft and could be changed.

Reiterate that the TOD designation doesn't change our local statutes, right?

It doesn't change our zoning parameters.

Um I think it is it is a recognition along with the density enhancement area that this is the area where we want to focus on in fill redevelopment and density.

Um, but the the decision to actually increase a building height is one that is a function of changing our zoning or establishing a form-based code.

So there would be a lot more community conversations about um actual new bulk and dimensional standards in support of this.

But this definitely is in in supporting this resolution as a body, you are giving a nod to the concepts uh of that.

Um and how that all plays out is will occur next.

And you're also providing a tool, a tool in our economic development toolbox.

So I I'm sure you said it, I just missed it, but what's the advantage of the increased green area as opposed to the uh using the 10-minute and the half mile radius?

More opportunity for for development.

Um within that 10-minute walk shed or half mile radius, uh, there's not too much opportunity within what MDOT recommends for typical applications, which are typically more urban dense environments to start.

Some of some of the TOD designations are one single parcel in communities.

So this means development in the inside the green lines could qualify for TOD support and financial and grants and and then we would develop along the the using the concepts that TOD calls for in terms of walkability, bikeability.

That development would need to meet the requirements of the LMC right now.

Um but yes.

It promotes walkable promotes redevelopment within proximity to the transit.

Okay.

All right, thank you.

Hey, Brandon, a couple of questions first.

I'm in support of it, and my questions don't may not reflect that.

Um in the first paragraph, it says it does not fully encompass key parcels that are essential to achieving the TOD objectives.

What are we missing?

First paragraph of the application.

No, yes, over the application.

Let me get there real quick.

Sure.

Oh, there's a comma before that.

It's okay.

Thanks.

While the 10-minute shed walk shed, 10-minute shed highlights the station's immediate pedestrian access zone, it does not fully encompass key parcels that are essential to achieving the city's TOD objectives.

That's why we proposed the expanded boundary.

Gotcha.

Perfect.

Thank you.

Um then throughout the application, you mentioned various studies that are going on.

And just to highlight a few, like Let's Move Frederick, uh, the downtown streetscape, uh the Green Street's master plan.

Briefly, can you tell us like are they 70 percent done, 80 percent, or a timeline of when we think they are going to be done?

We're still inching along.

Yeah, okay.

I understand.

So uh let's move Frederick.

We're in its final internal review.

Um we're very close to having that before you guys um this spring and summer.

Okay.

Uh the downtown streetscape, I think was the next thing you said.

Sure.

Uh communicated with downtown Frederick Partnership today, who is, I think, leading that project, and they said they are at 15 percent design at this point.

Uh and they just received a big funding grant for that, if I'm not mistaken.

So yeah.

Um Green Street's master plan is internally drafted.

I think that is anticipated to get before you spring and summer.

Um 7th Street is also mentioned in that where uh we just began the procurement process on that.

Okay.

And just to follow up on what Peter mentioned before, um do we have or do we need letters from groups like East Frederick Rising, Downtown Partnership, uh NAC 7, 11, and 12?

Um so I sit as a liaison on the East Frederick Partnership, and um it was presented to them that we are moving forward for this.

However, the application is very rigid and doesn't provide an opportunity for those letters of support.

Okay.

But uh and I guess the follow-up for that, um, East Frederick.

Um what about the 90s?

No?

I'm sorry.

Has it been shown to the NACs?

No.

Okay.

Thanks.

East Frederick Rising.

Sorry, I said East Frederick Partnership, I think.

I knew what you meant.

Is there an opportunity to share it with the NACs?

I hope.

Sure, absolutely.

I mean, I think part of this resolution to support will allow us to finalize our application, and then that finalized product, I think, is a great um opportunity to share with the community.

Maybe the all planning meeting or something like that?

I'm sorry.

The all planning meeting.

Uh, yes.

Yes.

Yes, the citywide planning.

Yeah.

Thank you.

So Councilmember Atkins and asked about the um the different plans that are kind of in the area, and that was brought up by uh a com a public comment early.

Is there a reason why we're not waiting for those to be finished or further along before we submit this application?

That was a question that was brought up earlier.

I think it's two separate issues.

Um those projects affect um design and construction of public amenities or amendments to our land management code through the adoption of a form-based code which are separate from this state designation that provides benefits to private and public investments outside of our development regulations.

So I think the answering one of the questions earlier, uh Ms.

Collard, you said that this doesn't affect our current rules or current processes or anything.

So those who could be able to continue and not be slowed down or the fact that they're not completed would not have an effect on what we are able to do with this.

Is that the way I understood it?

So this will not impact our current zoning framework or those other plans.

I think if anything, this moving forward bolsters on the concepts in some of those plans and all of it coming together will then be informed to will then inform the regulatory features, right?

The zoning, or if we update our street details, things of that nature.

So I don't I don't see any conflict.

Um and if the state uh knows these things are in process and says this is still a great application, you're working in that direction.

I think it's an opportune time.

Thank you.

Any other questions from council members?

Any public comments.

I think she's coming up to yell at you for calling them partnership instead of I'm sorry.

Uh good evening, council.

Uh my name is Heather Goddard, and I'm the president of the board of directors of East Frederick Rising.

I'm happy to be here uh tonight to uh say a few words in support of our TOD designation.

Um East Frederick Rising has um been uh involved with the planning department.

They are our liaisons, they uh arrive um they work with us monthly to provide reports and they have notified East Frederick Rising of their intent to apply to be a um tra a transit-oriented development.

Uh this designation is going to help us unlock uh a lot of potential in the East side of Frederick, and we're really grateful for uh the application that is presented before you tonight.

Um we would also like to uh as as the planning department mentioned separately encourage the council to uh monitor and track the progress of the um things that are going to and the the local policies that we have that are going to strengthen our uh walkability, our um uh compact development, and the the mixed use of nature of the east side of Frederick.

We have a lot of potential and we just can't wait to see uh the plans that have been carefully and thoughtfully um uh crafted uh in the planning department thus far come to fruition as these um things come online, you're gonna see more walkability.

You're gonna see the um the sidewalks on East Street.

You're gonna see the pedestrian-friendly streetscape that we um are all envisioning for the East Side of Frederick, and then you'll see the mixed use developments that accompany that infrastructure um thrive.

So thank you so much.

Thank you.

Any other public comments?

Nope.

All right.

Uh looking for a motion to approve nobody?

Motion.

Second.

Move by Council Vice President Nash, second by Council Member Brem.

All in favor.

I seven zero.

Thank you.

And next we have uh announcement on uh something that we are working on, not necessarily that we're gonna vote on today.

Council Vice President.

Thank you, Council President.

So if I could, Ms.

Phyllis, when you have an opportunity just to put the draft resolution, the document up for the uh backup.

So this is also posted online.

Um I believe all members of the council are aware that we've had multiple requests from uh the public to take a look at certain land management code provisions.

Um I would say it's fair to say that there's not uniform agreement on the why or the ultimate outcome.

Uh I would say maybe even the mechanism of creating a commission and who's gonna be on the commission.

There probably isn't all uniform agreement on that either.

But what the government operations committee started to do through the course of two meetings, uh, this was one of our first orders of business, is we contemplated some policy questions that would feed into a resolution for the creation of a essentially what we're calling a land management code review commission.

If you followed city government over the last three or four years, we had a charter review commission.

It's a sort of a similar type process, but one that we all acknowledge is uh very technical in nature and will require probably a lot more time and um attention to detail, maybe might be the best way to put that.

So what we're providing to the world tonight, so everybody knows that we're working on this, and this is something that we're considering is the work that's been done so far.

This is in by no means uh it has not been reviewed by our legal department, it has not been reviewed by our planning department, it has not really been even reviewed reviewed by full council.

I believe the vision, Council President, please correct me if I'm wrong, is to at some point have a full maybe a series of full council workshops to go through this.

The items that uh and thank you, Ms.

Phyllis for doing that.

The items that are highlighted are items where as a committee we acknowledge that we didn't have we we weren't really in a position where we felt like we could prescribe answers.

So specifically, and Ms.

Phyllis, if you could say there just for a minute.

The this is very this is like a very good example of what Ms.

Phyllis has on the screen is the public engagement section.

We we talked a lot about what we thought public engagement could look like.

We talked a lot about different aspects uh of consideration, specifically creating uh Councilmember Brem, I think this was your word, a lens by which to review the work and continue to update us on the work uh and ultimately judge the work uh with you know these values that we wanted to identify.

And so what you have in front of you are some of those items, right?

Affordability, equity, sustainability.

Some of these things are a little bit more easily identified because we already have so for example, racial equity.

We have a resolution that the a previous council already passed back when we were report of Alderman, um, Councilmember Shackelford, I think you led that effort.

Um so we have that guidance already written out for us.

But we want to make sure that we're doing that sort of connecting the dots and ensuring that we're not missing anything.

So that's why that's that's highlighted if that if that makes sense.

So next steps up here are going to be for the full council to take a take, you know, sort of digest this, take a look, bring ideas, uh, and then hopefully we'll begin to kind of go through these sections.

Um we welcome the public, obviously, and the input from the public.

Um, but that's really that's really it.

So what you have in front of you was a very rough draft.

Um we did the best that we could.

We kind of viewed our roles to just try to get something to a point where it was editable, is that a word?

Editable, editable, being able to be edited so that we weren't, you know, we weren't starting from scratch, but um no pride of authorship here, just trying to move move the ball forward so that we can have the conversation.

Thank you.

And that will be uh topic of multiple meetings, like uh Vice President Ash said.

Uh okay.

Um now's the time for any council member comments.

So we'll start with Councilmember Shackelford.

No comments, thank you.

No comments.

Uh just a quick comment.

I apologize for being late.

I was watching public uh the public comment specifically.

I saw the comments from uh Mr.

Mahone, and I appreciate the acknowledgement that we are going to be working on that charter uh discussion about redistricting.

So just wanted to, since I'm here in person, echo those consentions.

Thank you very much.

Councilmember.

A couple things.

First, I'm delighted that the planning department was in consultation with East Frederick Rising about the TOD, and I really appreciate East Frederick Rising coming and sharing its perspective with us because I can't tell you how important it is for citizens, especially who are in groups that are focused on a topic to come and share that knowledge with City Council.

So thank you.

No, sir.

Councilmember Hiplery.

No, thanks.

All right.

My comments are just again to thank the scouts for uh coming out, and I think they're all still awake, so that's impressive.

Um of the adults who were here uh the day that we all got uh sworn in and our our first meeting, uh my son spoke at the end of that and mentioned how he remembered being here uh when he was a scout.

It was the first time that I ever came into this room.

So hopefully it makes an impact and you'll remember it however the heck many years it's been that he did.

So thank you all for coming out and for uh participating.

Um last piece of business is as we've mentioned several times, we have our committees.

We're very committed to making progress and being very transparent on what we're working on.

It hasn't been very long time, and we've just now finalizing our work plans, but I'm just wanted to take a couple minutes for the committee chairs to give an update on the work that they've been doing.

So we'll start with government operations, Councilvice President Ash.

Ah jeez, didn't have it loaded, but I could speak to memory.

So we have quite a list of of work plans that we have begun.

I would say getting the land management code was uh the review process was our our sort of our first order of business.

Um I did want to just make a quick note that with respect to charter changes, we sort of are going to view that as an ongoing discussion.

There's going to be things that come up in the course of our discussions and our metallic heart.

Um so charter changes are definitely going to be something that we're talking about.

Um we have a couple of other things too, but we really view our, I think um our role is going to be to try to create as much uh opportunity for large discussion about things like budget monitoring and um ways that our government delivers services to our residents uh and bring basically do the do some of the homework and then bring items to full council.

I think that's kind of if I could if I could foreshadow our our bigger view.

But I will um we'll be ready to get a list of those work plans up probably within the next week or so uh in some sort of fashion.

So I'll be able to include those in the uh in the backup going forward.

Thank you, Councilmember Bram for the public works committee.

Great, thank you.

Uh we had we started with a long list of coming from a quality assurance background, brainstorm topics that we wanted to think about, and we resolve those into four that we're going to start with.

The first of those is to consider the advantages and limitations of the city taking on sidewalk maintenance.

Um so to that end, the city does have a study that is underway.

It's not delivered, it will be delivered later on this year.

And so we'll once we learn the details of that, then we can take a step forward as far as again talking with both city and uh city stakeholders about the advantages and limitations.

And that of course includes the cost.

Uh the second is a uh land management uh code change pertaining to brown fields in the City of Frederick.

Um I understand, then thank you uh attorney uh Gray for your help on this, that we're going to have to consult with the Attorney General on this, and so that will take some time.

So there might be a gap between our initial discussion on that and when we next pick that up.

Third, uh really big one is uh a discussion about a data center regulatory plan.

As the topic moves forward through the planning department and the planning commission, we want to make sure that we have an understanding of what regulatory framework we want for data centers so that we're ready when uh the planning commission sends to City Council for discussion uh topic on on the zoning for for data centers.

Uh and the last uh is a housing strategic plan.

I am grateful for Councilmember Shackelford for being willing to take lead on this.

Um but we need to, again, starting with topics such as the city-county study that was released today and building on the work when it's delivered from the mayor's task force uh to come up with a plan for the city of Frederick as it relates to price appropriate housing.

So uh Councilmember Shakerford and uh Hempel Rani, any upgrades to anything I said?

So thank you.

Thank you.

And uh Councilmember Shakerford for the Community and Culture Committee.

Thank you, Council President.

Um we have met on two occasions, and we have um thus far we will be focused on equity initiatives, youth programs, and uh particularly uh making sure our youth center, which is in process um will come to completion in 2027.

Uh our city special events, which we have not covered yet, but I think that's important in terms of city-sponsored events also in terms of our traffic patterns and also our communications with that.

And also, particularly I know it's a big interest within our city is our public arts program.

And um and so through this process, we've identified several potential policy areas for deeper exploration, and those include um uh strategic planning for our city utilize properties, um, particularly for human service.

I know we talk about the housing component, but just looking at our city-owned properties in terms of those various usages and also the flexibility within that.

Also, we've talked about um our city facilities, particularly making sure they're um accessible to all of our residents and to all of our of our visitors who utilize those facilities, and also um to ensure that our we have we may have incentive programs to help our downtown businesses with those accessibility issues.

And so um as we continually um meet with our particularly our overall departments, we will be developing our work plan in the next month.

So please um stay tuned um for more information provided by our committee.

Thank you.

particularly making sure they're um accessible to all of our residents and to all of our all of our visitors who utilize those facilities and also um to ensure that our we have we may have incentive programs to help our downtown businesses with those accessibility issues and so um as we continually um meet with our particularly our overall departments we will be developing our work plan in the next month so please um stay tuned um for more information provided by our committee thank you thank you and i think to the committee chairs and other committee members for all the uh the work uh we're just getting started so a lot of this stuff is things that we have planned but it's important to me that we uh let uh people know what kind of things we're working on so all right and last and one more opportunity for public comments if there is anyone who wants to give a public comment um I'm James Legal from Troop 274 and I just wanted uh further thank you all for having us here.

Thank you guys for coming if there are no other public comments meetings adjourned to the