The Frederick Planning Commission held a special public hearing on May 21, 2025, at 6:00 PM at City Hall to consider four new business items: a final site plan for a Taco Bell redevelopment, a final site plan and forest conservation plan for a new office/warehouse at 27 Corporate Park, and a final site plan and forest conservation plan for a new Extra Space Storage facility. The Commission also recognized outgoing planner Sharon Kemper Suarez. No public comments were received. All actions were approved unanimously by the three commissioners present (Commissioners Valencia, Llewellyn, and the Chair).
Good evening. Um, welcome to the uh May May twenty first, twenty twenty-five um hearing for the City of Frederick Planning Commission. Before beginning tonight's proceedings, I'd like to give a little background information about the planning commission and the procedures that we will follow for this evening. Members of the planning commission are all residents of the city and are volunteers, um, appointed by the mayor and city council. The commission is made up of five regular members and one alternate. All of tonight's cases have been appropriately advertised pursuant to section three oh one of the land management code. Cases will be presented tonight to the planning commission following this format. Commission question of staff, applicant or authorized agent remarks regarding the case, commission questioning of applicant, public comment, applicant response to public comment, commission discussion, and questions, and commission action. In support of the Planning Commission, staff members, staff members from the city planning, engineering, and legal departments are in attendance. Anyone wishing to speak publicly tonight regarding any application beginning begin their comments by providing their name and their general address for the record. Members of the public will have three minutes to give comments. Anyone representing a group will have 10 minutes to give comments. The timer clock is in the back, up on the wall, show them your remaining time. At this time, anyone planning to give testimony tonight, please stand and raise your right hand to be sworn in. Do you solemnly swear to a swear or affirm that the response given and the statements made in this hearing before the planning commission will be the whole truth and nothing but the truth? If so, please say I do. All right, thank you. Before we start with the review of the case this evening, we will see if there are any administrative matters or items to be discussed. And so I'll turn this over to the planning department. Thank you so much. Um good evening. Uh a couple of announcements. Um the first being that our planning commission workshop. Um no, I'm so out of whack because we are at a different time and place than we have been. Oh my gosh, that's how robotic I am, apparently. Um, I have one announcement this evening, and that is um uh a very warm thank you to Sharon Kempers Suarez, our planner. Um she will be leaving us on May 30th. It's her last day with the city of Frederick. Um we wish her all the best in her next endeavors. Um she has promised us that she will be prolific in planning and the community and still be um a member of our planning world. So we are excited for that and grateful for all of the time and attention um that she has given to our department. Um I've learned a lot from working with her and appreciate all of her insights, and I continue to look forward to doing so moving forward. So thank you, Sharon. Well done. We will miss you. And I think that's all I have. Sharon, it was a pleasure to have you and uh to work with you. And you know, I'm a little bit surprised because we didn't get a chance to actually take this to a vote before you decided to leave. No. Well, it would have been a denial, but that's okay. I didn't want to leave before these two uh, you know, I just I gave a month's notice. I wanted to see these there's these two projects specifically started, and I was hoping they would wrap up. So I'm hoping I have my fingers crossed. All right. Thank you. It was great to get to know you in this short period of time, and you know, you've just always you have a light about you, and I appreciate that every time I encounter you. So best of luck in the future. Thank you with all your endeavors. Well, you were all uh have been a delight to work with, and I I know I know myself personally how tough it can be to be a planning commissioner. It's a serious job, and uh it's it's meant to be, but I know it can also be quite enjoyable.