The key item of interest at the January 23 meeting of the Greenbelt City Council was the presentation of a petition related to a proposed apartment building adjacent to Lakeside North Apartments. Once this item was completed, most of the attendees at the meeting left, leaving council and a few residents to deal with grants to local schools, school boundaries and state legislation. The meeting began with the swearing in of the new city manager, Nicole Ard. Mayor Emmett Jordan administered the oath and Ard thanked council, the community and city staff for their help and support.
Brian Almquist of Boxwood Village presented a petition with over 500 signatures asking council to oppose the development of a 25-story apartment building adjacent to Lakeside North and to oppose any zoning changes that would allow for its development. Almquist noted that in the April 4, 2016, council worksession on the proposal, David Hillman, president of Southern Management Corporation, conceded that the company would not proceed with the proposal if there was serious opposition from council. Almquist and the petitioners are asking council to express such opposition. He noted that it appears that the company has been surveying the property. Almquist noted that he had presented a similar petition more than seven months ago that was not responded to by council. He informed council that his group, Greenbelt Advocates for Environmental and Social Justice, will continue to organize against the proposal until council writes to the developers and expresses its opposition to the project. Bill Orleans said that if council plans to oppose the development, there is no reason not to make that position known now.
Jordan addressed the rumors that have been circulating that council plans to vote to approve the project at its February 13 meeting. Such rumors are not true, he said, further noting that it has been almost a year since Southern Management presented its proposal and, so far as he knows, they have had no further contact with either city or county officials. The petition will be placed on the agenda of the February 13 meeting. Click here for the full article.