Frederick Public Works Committee Meeting on Sidewalks and Affordable Housing - March 24, 2026
Frederick Public Works Committee Meeting on Sidewalks and Affordable Housing - March 24, 2026
The Frederick Public Works Committee met on March 24, 2026, beginning at 9:00 AM, to discuss sidewalk maintenance and repair policies, and to receive presentations from the Affordable Housing Council and the Frederick Housing Solutions Task Force regarding affordable housing strategies. The meeting included detailed discussions on current sidewalk repair programs, funding sources, and policy recommendations for increasing the supply of deeply affordable housing. Public comments were also heard.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Kevin (last name not provided) urged the committee to consider a policy change to not waive school construction responsibility when annexing property, advocated for allocating 2.5% of the general fund for affordable housing gap financing, and recommended waiving fees for affordable housing developments, citing examples from Salisbury, Maryland. He also suggested exploring form-based code changes to allow additional stories for affordable housing.
- Alan Feinberg (East Church Street) echoed support for the 2.5% general fund allocation and referenced a video by Jake Day, mayor of Salisbury, as an inspiring example of what can be achieved with leadership.
Discussion Items
Sidewalk Maintenance and Repair Program
- Tracy Coleman, Director of Public Works, and Nicole (last name not provided) presented an overview of the city's sidewalk code (Chapter 22, Article 2), which holds property owners responsible for adjacent sidewalk repair and maintenance. They explained that the city's enforcement is complaint-driven, with inspections triggered by resident reports. The city uses a 0.5-inch variance threshold for ADA compliance.
- The city has a sidewalk repair program where property owners can either use the city's contractor (simplified process) or hire their own contractor (must meet city specifications and obtain permits). If sidewalk damage is caused by a city street tree, the city covers 50% of the repair cost only if the property owner uses the city contractor.
- The city's operational budget allocates $1.5 million annually for sidewalk repair, with expected revenue of $1 million from property owner reimbursements. A separate CIP (Equity Emphasis Area Sidewalk Repair Program) was created in July 2024 with $1 million for precision cutting and full-depth replacement. Approximately 2.2 miles of sidewalk were repaired last year using $2–2.5 million, equating to roughly $1 million per mile.
- A citywide sidewalk condition survey and inventory is nearing completion; it will include recommendations for repair methods, prioritization, and cost estimates. The committee plans to schedule a follow-up presentation for late May 2026.
- Councilmember Brem and Councilmember Shackleford asked about the role of the city arborist, the historic preservation overlay's concrete color requirements, and coordination with the Downtown Frederick Partnership's streetscape initiative. The Downtown Partnership has received design funding but not construction funding; staff are collaborating to avoid duplicate street work.
- Councilmember Hemplerani raised the need to revisit the 2001 sidewalk repair policy, particularly regarding snow removal and the 50% tree-related cost share, noting the policy is 25 years old.
Affordable Housing Council Presentation
- Mary Ellen Mitchell, Chair of the Affordable Housing Council (AHC), and Michael Hatfield, Vice Chair, presented the council's mission to advocate for the preservation and expansion of affordable housing in Frederick County. The AHC includes representation from the city (Councilmember Shackleford) and the county (Councilmember Cavante Ducket).
- Key policy priorities include speeding up the permitting and approval process, sustaining housing assistance programs, and supporting senior housing. The AHC hosted seminars on permitting delays and is seeking funding to bring in an expert to fast-track projects. They also publish a monthly blog to educate the public about affordable housing.
- The AHC is actively involved in the city's Housing Task Force, which is meeting weekly for two months to develop a strategic plan based on the recently released county housing needs assessment. The AHC is also working to engage surrounding municipalities in addressing affordable housing regionally.
- Councilmember Brem noted the tension between residents' perception of rapid housing construction and developers' complaints about slow permitting, and raised concerns about infrastructure capacity (schools, roads, transit). Mitchell responded that nearly half of the county's land is preserved as agricultural, limiting buildable land, and that preservation of existing housing stock is as important as new production.
Frederick Housing Solutions Task Force Presentation
- A representative (name not given, referred to as 'Anne' in later comments) presented the task force's mission, formed in partnership with the Coalition for Healthier Frederick, to increase the supply of deeply affordable housing for those earning under 30% of Area Median Income (AMI). The task force identified a need for 1,600 units (160 per year for 10 years) for this income group.
- The task force is organized into four priority teams: (1) New Units – exploring partnerships with faith communities, city/county land, and a dedicated fund; (2) Shared Housing – promoting single-room occupancy (SROs) and home-sharing for seniors and others; (3) Landlord Engagement – creating a registry of affordable units; (4) Policy – reducing zoning barriers, passing an SRO ordinance, and pre-approved permits.
- Specific recommendations include: setting aside 2.5% of the city's general fund for an innovative housing demonstration project fund to cover pre-development costs (engineering, architecture, legal fees); requiring developers to build MPDU units rather than paying in lieu of; and building on city-owned land such as the Highland site (530 Highland), which was awarded five years ago but stalled due to a DPW dump site relocation issue.
Bruce Davis (Davis Architecture and Design) Presentation
- Bruce Davis, with 40 years of experience in affordable housing, presented a set of actionable items. He emphasized that existing MPDU payment-in-lieu policies have resulted in zero built MPDU units since 2011, and recommended forcing developers to build units on-site. He supported the 2.5% general fund proposal as a stable revenue stream for gap financing.
- Davis advocated for the city to conduct an inventory of excess property, noting that the Trinity school site and the Highland site are prime candidates. He argued that the city should prioritize affordable housing in RFPs, requiring a percentage of units for 30% AMI, and that developers should be required to provide wraparound services.
- He suggested that the city consider waiving fees for affordable housing, as done in Salisbury, Maryland by Mayor Jake Day, which led to thousands of developer submissions. Davis also called for increasing density through zoning changes, higher height limits (currently 70 feet), and using form-based code to allow additional stories for affordable housing.
- Councilmember Hemplerani noted that the city is already moving on some of these items, including the city-owned property inventory, text amendments for zoning, and the SRO ordinance. Councilmember Brem questioned the long-term strategy given finite land and water resources, and Davis responded that increasing density and building more units is essential to drive down prices.
Key Outcomes
- The committee agreed to schedule a follow-up presentation on the sidewalk condition survey results for late May 2026, with a focus on policy recommendations and comprehensive repair planning.
- The committee will receive a separate presentation on snow removal policies related to sidewalks, as raised by Councilmember Hemplerani.
- No formal votes were taken during the meeting. The discussions are expected to inform upcoming budget decisions (FY27) and the city's housing strategic plan.
Meeting Transcript
Public works committee will begin with a Pledge of Allegiance. Oh, well, thank you all for attending and uh Tracy and Nicole. It would be great if you could lead off with a discussion on sidewalks. Good afternoon. Councilmember Brem Shackleford and Hemplerani. Nice to be here today. First time before the Public Works Committee. So this is this is fun. So I'm here today. Tracy Coleman, Director of Public Works, by the way. We are here to background on the our code and policy funding sources and assistance programs that we have in place right now for sidewalk repair and maintenance. And then we'll give a just a brief overview of our sidewalk conditions survey and inventory project that is nearing completion. So with that, I don't have a presentation, but I provided a bunch of information in the executive summary. In that I provided the entire section, Article 2, Sidewalks, which is Chapter 22, and it starts on uh in section 22-23 and talks about construction by property owners. Um we're not probably not here to discuss that much today, but just uh some of this stuff is just so that you're aware this exists. Um the construction by property owners, we have utilized that um some in the past. Um the code section itself says if there is a street to grade, then the city engineer can compel the property owner to construct a sidewalk. And um we don't do it often, and street to grade basically means that there's a street there, there's curb and gutter, and then the grade or the you know the land right next to the curb is basically where a sidewalk could be. So a property owner wouldn't have to grade it in any way, shape, or form. They could just call someone and say, place sidewalk, and then that that contractor could come in and place sidewalk in accordance with our standards. So that's what that is. Um like I said, we we haven't utilized that very much, um, but we can if there is a place with missing sidewalk and it's to grade. Um what we're mostly here to talk about, I think, um, is sections 22-24 and 25, um, which is the responsibility of a property owner to maintain the sidewalk that is um adjacent to their property. Um the code specifically says binding thereon, and I just want to clear something up that that is it is very much an engineering and surveying profession phrase. It's a very old phrase, it's really not used very much, but basically it means adjacent. So a lot of people will wonder, hey, the sidewalks in the public right-of-way, why do I have to fix it? Um it's just because of how properties were how right of way was established a long time ago, and what is considered um uh an adjacent property owner's responsibility for that. So the policy says that um the property owner is responsible for installation repair, maintenance um of the sidewalk. Um I think most property owners are okay with general maintenance, you know, cleaning off leaves, cleaning off snow, those types of things. Um may be surprised um when they receive a notice of repair to say your sidewalk is uh uh is not compliant with um ADA, which means it's it's it's unlevel, it's um there's it's broken so that there's big gaps in it. Um, but but that's the section of code that we refer to. Um with respect to policy, I provided you with a policy that was adopted. Um it was there are actually guidelines that were adopted in order to enforce these sections of the code. Um and they were originally adopted in 2001. Um and it gives just much clearer guidance on what our uh city staff do to inspect what criteria means or what it means to be out of compliance. Um let me see um I want to insult you by reading it, but I'm gonna read just a little bit so that it's out there. So our inspector determines um whether or not a sidewalk has a variance of a half inch or more and it's in violation. Um that half inch comes directly from ADA code. Um if you have a travel way that's you know for pedestrians or those that are um in some other um have challenges with mobility, a half an inch is a lot. It doesn't look like a lot if you're if you're not um challenged um, but it's a lot. So that's that's the the criteria that our inspector uses to determine whether a sidewalk is out of compliance. Up until um a couple of years ago, all of our sidewalk repair was a remove and replace in order to level it out or ensure that that half inch issue didn't exist. Um I'm skipping ahead a little bit. Um see. Thank you. Yep. So in um July of 2024, um, the council created a CIP called the EEA Equity Emphasis Area Sidewalk Repair Program in R CIP. Um as part of that program, the city, our staff has uh contracted with a company that uses a technology to basically I'm gonna call it shave, that's not the official like non-engineering term, but precision use a precision cutting method to cut down that half inch or or maybe sometimes a little bit more. They have a they have a certain amount that they can cut um and still leave the sidewalk in a condition that it won't deteriorate, you know, any time too soon, um, but leaving the sidewalk in compliance, um, getting rid of that um that gap or that rise or that unlevel condition. Um I talked really briefly about um the application of the code and the policy.
openpublica.com