At a relatively short meeting on November 22, the Greenbelt City Council approved comments on the state’s draft Consolidated Transportation Plan (CTP), cleared the way for awarding a contract for the reconstruction of Buddy Attick Park’s parking lot at the next meeting, and accepted several citizen petitions and requests. The published agenda indicated that council would discuss appealing the Bureau of Engraving and Printing decision to build a facility on the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, but that item was removed at the request of Councilmember Rodney Roberts.
Transportation
Council unanimously approved a letter to the Maryland Secretary of Transportation containing the city’s comments on the draft Consolidated Transportation Program, which allocates $l6.1 million for Fiscal Year 2022 for the maglev project and states that planning activities are underway. The city conveys its continuing strong opposition to this project which the Federal Railroad Administration has “paused” for review.
In its letter, the city conveys its strong support for the design funding included for the full Beltway interchange at the Greenbelt Metro Station. Currently, only traffic to and from the west can enter the station directly from the Beltway. However, the city does convey its disappointment that the Greenbelt Road streetscape project is still on hold, as it has been since 2002, along with expressing its concern about the reduction of funding for support of locally operated transit systems.
The city also expressed its strong opposition to a study of capacity improvements to MD 201 and U.S. 1, saying such changes would have significant negative impacts on wetlands north of Greenbelt as well as on Beltsville Agricultural Research Center property. The CTP does not allocate any funding to this project.
Legislation
Councilmember Judith Davis introduced for first reading a resolution to negotiate the purchase and installation of construction services for the Buddy Attick Park parking lot reconstruction project to E&R Services, Inc. at a lump sum cost of $610,744 and an agreed upon unit cost of $100 per square yard of base repair. The Advisory Committee on Trees has reviewed and supports the plan. The resolution will be considered for final adoption at the December 13 council meeting.
Petitions and Requests
Bill Orleans objected to the Ethics Commission’s decision to only review the financial disclosure statements of the successful candidates for city council. He urged council to direct that all candidates’ disclosure reports be reviewed.
Ed Fallon called for weekly reports on the number of people receiving eviction and foreclosure assistance from the city and a monthly report on the number of evictions in the city. He voiced concern that Franklin Park had recently evicted eight residents. He referenced a News Review article that he said stated that Franklin Park would not evict anyone through the end of the year, however, that article actually said that “Franklin Park has no plans to evict 180 residents within the next week, month or remainder of the year.”
Administrative Reports
Assistant City Manager Timothy George reported that the city has met with its contractor regarding closed captioning of its broadcasts. He expected to have a proposal later in the week and to have improved captioning in place within a few weeks.
Holiday Displays
Recreation Director Greg Varda confirmed that there would again be no public tree lighting ceremony although the Roosevelt Center tree would be lit and the craft show would occur the first weekend in December.
Proclamation
Mayor Emmett Jordan read a proclamation declaring November as America Recycles Month. Luisa Robles, the city’s sustainability coordinator, talked about the city’s efforts in recycling and pointed out that there now is a food scraps collection bin at the recycling center at Buddy Attick Park.