Town of Berwyn Heights

Worksession Minutes

October 16, 2006

The meeting was called to order at 7:05 p.m. Present were Mayor Calvo, CMs Dennison, Gourley, Jewitt and Lofgren. Also present were Town Administrator Murphy, Clerk Harper, Quantum Corporation Representatives Kap Kapastin and Larry Taub and citizens.

1. Mayor

Announcements: Representatives of Quantum Corporation are scheduled to make a presentation on a conceptual site plan (CSP) for the redevelopment of Beltway Plaza later in the meeting.

Calendar: The Council reviewed the calendar. A District 22 municipalities meeting hosted by Senator Pinsky was rescheduled for November 9, 6:30 p.m. A Four Cities Coalition meeting was rescheduled for November 30. The Tree Lighting ceremony was rescheduled for December 1, 7:30 p.m. November 27 was set as the likely date for the District 22 Legislative Dinner.

Minutes: The September 18 worksession minutes were adopted 5 to 0 on a motion by CM Gourley and second by CM Dennison. The October 2 worksession minutes were adopted 5 to 0 on a motion by CM Jewitt and second by CM Gourley.

Department reports: TA Murphy reported that the Town has received more than $500,000 in income tax revenues for FY 2006 as well as a large personal property tax payment. CM Gourley said that he continues to work on selecting a new Town credit card and that repairs were done on the heating system in the Town Center. CM Jewitt reported that the Town's van is now included in the FleetPro maintenance schedule and repairs will be referred to the Public Works Department. Currently, both the van's public address system and the CB radio are not working. CM Dennison reported that the Historical Committee's Berwyn Heights Tour was a success. Upcoming community events include an October 28 Halloween Party and the December 1 Tree Lighting.

CM Lofgren said that the leaf collection machine has been repaired and is ready for service beginning on November 1. TA Murphy noted that the ball fields have been winterized and that one of the field goals at Sports Park was vandalized. Berwyn Heights police has been instructed to keep an eye on Sports Park. Mayor Calvo reported that County Executive Jack Johnson has announced the the County's switch to an 800 mhz communication system. However, the costs of switching are substantial and homeland security funding for the initiative may not be secure. The Maryland Municipal League (MML) has adopted raising state aid for police protection as a legislative priority.

Citizen Comments:

CM Dennison received comments about the Town Center heating system not working, the Town's flags needing replacement and many positive remarks about the Berwyn Heights Bus Tour. Mayor Calvo received a thoughtful letter about the delivery of unwanted newspapers and a number of comments about the Safe Streets Committee.

Carmen Greenwell of Ruatan Street asked if the Town went forward with getting a new electric supplier. Mayor Calvo confirmed that the Town has signed up with an electric purchasing cooperative and contracted with Strategic Energy for a 9 month period. This saves the Town approximately $3,000 per year. Ms. Greenwell also reminded residents to leave the lights on for Halloween trick-or-treaters.

CM Dennison issued a reminder to residents to attend the November 1 and 2 school board candidates forums at the Berwyn Heights Town Center. Mayor Calvo announced that a flyer announcing the event will be sent home with all Berwyn Heights Elementary students.

PGCMA meeting: Mayor Calvo said that the October 26 meeting of the Prince George's County Municipal Association (PGCMA) has a code and zoning focus. Code Director Solomon may want to attend. Prince George's and Montgomery County delegates have been invited and the meeting will be televised.

Senator Pinsky District 22 municipalities meeting: Mayor Calvo noted that the meeting has been postponed from October 26 to November 9, 6:30 p.m. All Councilmembers of the cities and towns in District 22 are invited to discuss issues of common concern, especially in the areas of economic development, best practices and challenges faced. He asked Councilmembers to brainstorm these issues.

On economic development, the Council agreed that Berwyn Heights is responding to development around it rather than guiding it. The 2003 Community Legacy grant proposal continues to serve as template for improving Berwyn Heights' commercial district. Recent revisions in the business licensing and tax collection procedures are attempts to harness the commercial base for improvements in Town services. The special public safety taxing district established in 2005 could serve as a model.

Regarding best practices, Mayor Calvo suggested that the Berwyn Heights Bulletin compares favorably to other municipal newsletters. Further, Berwyn Heights' Council meeting procedures could serve as an example for openness. The adoption of a set fine for delinquent property tax payments is unique in Maryland. The revised Rental License Ordinance has a number of innovative provisions to streamline the process. CM Jewitt suggested to cite the separation fine schedules from Ordinances as a best practice.

Under challenges, CM Gourley said that the financing of street renovations has become difficult with the drying up of Community Development Block Grants. He suggested that neighboring municipalities might jointly contract for street resurfacing services and obtain better terms. Other challenges include communicating with non-English speaking residents, lack of a mechanism to engage businesses and developers in constructive planning, difficulty in implementing and maintaining new Information Technology and communicating with the County in the areas of police, code enforcement, park maintenance and schools.

Performance evaluations, merit pay (discussed out of order): Mayor Calvo explained that TA Murphy provided the Council with 2 pay plans: plan A is the original version put together during the last budget process in April and plan B has a 3% Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA), that was given to all employees in July, factored in. The Council needs to decide which plan to use as a baseline. He prefers to use the dynamic plan B, which would automatically go up each year by the amount of the COLA the Council decides to give.

TA Murphy elaborated that each position has a pay scale, which is determined by a minimum and maximum pay. The pay scale is based on a comparative salary study of neighboring municipalities. This budget has sufficient funds to implement plan B. However, a cost estimate of salary adjustments associated with the implementation of this pay plan is needed as well as a cost estimate of any merit pay. These cost estimates will inform the future budget decisions. The Council decided unanimously to adopt plan B that automatically factors in COLA each year.

At 9:32 p.m., the Council took a 10 minute break.

Beltway Plaza CSP presentation: Mayor Calvo welcomed Kap Kapastin and Larry Taub for the presentation of a conceptual site plan (CSP) for the redevelopment of Beltway Plaza.

Kap Kapastin briefed the Council on recent changes of tenants: the closing of Sports Authority, the transfer of the former AMC Theater to PNG Management, new management for Jeepers, the moving of Mattress Discounters and the opening of Anna's Linens and a new Chevy Chase Bank.

Larry Taub explained that Quantum Corporation has submitted a CSP application to Parks and Planning for a mixed use development. This requires zoning designation from the current commercial shopping center (CSC) zone to a mixed use infill (MUI) zone. At this stage, plans call for maintaining the same amount of retail space and adding multi-family residential units on top. Secondly, the site would be reconfigured, with an access road dividing the mall into an eastern and western pad and connecting Greenbelt Road to Breezewood Drive. Thirdly, the currently under-used backside of the mall would be opened up to the Springhill Lake apartment complex with easier access, a more attractive facade and landscaping. The former Sports Authority building would become a 700 units residential pad.

Mr. Kapastin further explained that the 1,400 residential units would be rental apartments. Those would break down into 800 market-rate units, 300 senior living units and 300 student units. There are provisions for approximately 5,000 parking spaces, of which 3,000 are for retail use and 2,000 for residential use.

Councilmembers commented that they welcome the decision to redevelop Beltway Plaza but have a number of reservations. First among them, the addition of 1,400 new multi-family units on top of the retail establishments. They expressed concern that this would cause a traffic nightmare on Greenbelt Road and severely strain the area's public facilities, especially in light of a new residential complex going up at Greenbelt Station and the proposed redevelopment of Springhill Lake. Councilmembers were further concerned about the lack of change proposed for Greenbelt Road frontage across from Berwyn Heights. The parking deck would continue to loom in front of the main mall, the restaurants and other retail businesses along Greenbelt Road would be hard to integrate in a unified design and traffic flow in the parking areas would remain problematic.

Among the positive features Councilmembers listed the opening of the mall with a center road and making it accessible from Springhill Lake. Also deemed desirable was the addition of senior housing and upscale shops as well as newly designed facades and landscaping

Mr. Kapastin replied that planning is still in the opening stages and input from stakeholders is welcome. Quantum is in the process of hiring a developer with expertise in residential planning to come up with a better design.

2. Administration

Bulletin cover: The following items were selected for November Bulletin cover: General Election theme, including School Board election, banner notices for Boys and Girls Club Banquet, Treelighting, trash collection changes and leaf collection start-up date. The Council discussed the format of the cover and voted 3 to 2 to feature one prominent theme as opposed to a comprehensive listing of announcements. The possibility of posting additional announcements on the inside of the cover was also considered.

No items were discussed under Code Enforcement, Parks and Recreation, Public Safety and Public Works.

The meeting was adjourned at 10:12 p.m.

Kerstin Harper, Town Clerk