Members Present: Lina Vlavianos, Chair
Sally Hornor, Vice Chair
Dave Hanson
Scott Hymes
Charlotte Lubbert
Jeff Schomig
Michael Shultz Guests and Staff: Albert Johnston, Greater Severna Park Council
Kurt Riegel, Severn River Association
Brenda Reiber, AACo. County Executive’s Office
Brenda Weeks, AACo. DPW/WES Absent: Joe Rubino
Debra Smith
Virginia P. Clagett, MD House Delegates (Ex officio)
Ron Dillon, County Council (Ex officio)
Sam Shropshire, City Council (Ex officio) CALL TO ORDER Chair Vlavianos called the regular monthly meeting of the Severn River Commission to order at 4:10 p.m. in the Chesapeake Room. A quorum was declared present.
MINUTES The Minutes for the October 4, 2007, regular monthly SRC meeting was presented for approval. No corrections or additions were made so the minutes were approved as written. It was noted that separate minutes were generated for the Closed Executive Session and are available only for SRC members to review on request. MOTION: A MOTION, TO APPROVE THE MINUTES FOR THE OCTOBER 4, 2007, REGULAR MONTHLY MEETING OF THE SEVERN RIVER COMMISSION AS WRITTEN, WAS MADE AND SECONDED. THE MOTION WAS PASSED AND THE MINUTES WERE APPROVED.
ANNOUNCEMENTS / CORRESPONDENCE - The Jabez walk took place on October 24, 2007. Three SRC members participated. Vlaviano felt the walk was very useful in preparation for developing the overlay zone legislation.
- Lynn Miller, AACo. Planning & Zoning, will brief SRC on the General Development Plan at the December 6, 2007, meeting. The public is invited and encouraged to attend.
- Schomig notified the chair that he would not be present at today’s meeting.
OLD BUSINESS - SPECIAL COMMITTEES REPORTS Critical Area Legislation On behalf of the Commission, Schomig drafted a letter to be sent to County Attorneys Mr. Jonathan Hodgson and Mr. Jim Chance thanking them for the information presented to the SRC during the Closed Executive Session in October. Schomig will hold off sending a letter to the County Executive requesting that SRC be involved in revisions to the Critical Area regulations because of possible time constraints to attend meetings. Hanson suggested delegating the task outside the SRC therefore engaging the public in SRC activities. Vlavianos objected, noting that governments need to be able to have internal meetings, write internal memos and hold closed discussions in order to conduct government business. SRC as part of County/City government has privileged access to such information within limits, but such is not to be delegated outside. Hanson feels open meeting laws are not being respected. He will talk with Schomig about contacting the County Attorney for information regarding attendance by the public at internal County staff meetings. Education/Communication The new County email address for the SRC website should be added within the month. Hanson reported that he received neither negative nor positive comments from SRC members regarding his request to review the website. This matter will be discussed within committee prior to the next SRC meeting. As many SRC historical documents as possible will be retained on the website as long as there is no problem with space. Allison Buckalew, Program Coordinator for the Severn Riverkeeper, will attend future SRC meetings. The College Creek Watershed Public Forum and the Annapolis Growth Forum is scheduled for November 3, 8:30 to noon, at the Adams Academy, Adams Park Middle School on Clay Street. A forum on “Managing Growth—How?” sponsored by Growth Action Network of Anne Arundel County is scheduled for Saturday, November 3, from 9-3 p.m., at the Anne Arundel Community College. Jabez Branch Environmental Overlay Zone: Vlavianos reported that Hornor and she will attend the next Overlay Zone Committee meeting to be held on November 5, 2007. The Committee expects the work to be completed by the end of 2007, and their recommendations will be sent to P&Z for review and comment. Vlavianos announced that a Left Fork Stream Restoration Repair report had been received from Brightwater Inc. indicating that work done to repair structures put into place in 1997 on 1,475 linear feet of stream that had failed, is now complete. The report is available if anyone is interested. Naval Academy Dairy Farm: At the present time, there is nothing new to report. KCC Properties: The Watershed & Ecosystem Services (WES) division of Anne Arundel County DPW/BOE submitted a current condition assessment and plan review comments to the Office of Planning & Zoning (P&Z) for this property. The analysis was done based on the request by SRC to P&Z that such analysis be conducted using the watershed management tool (WMT). WES followed up with comments for reviewers to consider. A number of recommendations and conclusions were presented in the report. It is not known if P&Z reviewers have incorporated any of the information. Hymes felt the analysis was very useful and very detailed. Innovative low impact stormwater management was recommended. Following additional discussion, members agreed that Vlavianos should write P&Z inquiring: (1) if the WES analysis and report on KCC was useful to reviewers; (2) whether recommendations made in the report are being considered in the review of the project; (3) would similar analysis and reporting on future developments in the Severn River Watershed be useful to P&Z reviewers; and (4) request P&Z to brief SRC on the project. Hanson said he could not vote in the affirmative on an issue he had not had the opportunity to thoroughly review. MOTION: A MOTION, THAT VLAVIANOS DRAFT A LETTER ON BEHALF OF THE COMMISSION TO P&Z INQUIRING ABOUT THE ABOVE ISSUES, WAS MADE AND SECONDED. THE MOTION PASSED BY A SIX (6) to ONE (1) VOTE. Severn River TMDLs / GDP Hornor noted that there is nothing new to report at this time. A TMDLs report including a decision regarding approval and comments response should be forthcoming. The TMDLs issue will be removed from the agenda for the present. At the request of Vlavianos, Hornor agreed to chair the General Development Plan (GDP) subcommittee. Shultz will co-chair, and Lubbert and Hymes volunteered to join the subcommittee. All SRC members are to look at the County GDP website in preparation for the December 6, meeting. (See announcements) They are expected to understand the basics of the GDP prior to the meeting. Questions to be addressed at the meeting should be submitted to Hornor by November 7, 2007, to include in a letter to Ms. Miller. Website No information was available on numbers of web hits at this time. NEW BUSINESS Stormwater Utility Fund Hymes called the Commission’s attention to proposals that are being made to amend the stormwater management bills before County Council. He is concerned that two of the proposals won’t generate enough money to make a difference with the stormwater issue. A discussion of this issue continued in “Public Input”. PUBLIC INPUT Kurt Riegel, President of the Severn River Association (SRA), was introduced. He addressed the stormwater legislation which began as a proposal from the County Executive for a fee which would only be levied on new development and was quickly recognized by Council members and the public as being inadequate to address the full needs of the County for addressing the stormwater problem. Mr. Riegel described all three bills in much detail and asked the Commission to encourage the County Executive and County Council to adopt measures that would be effective in getting better controls over stormwater. According to Mr. Riegel, both DPW and the County Executive’s Office recognize the great importance of tying any fees that are levied to areas of impervious surface, and are well acquainted with the practical difficulties of qualifying individual technologies that are effective. A vote on the initial proposals may be deferred for a couple of weeks. In addition to the County Executive’s proposal, Councilman Vitale has proposed a tax credit and Councilmen Dillon, Benoit and Cohen have proposed a fixed fee. All three proposals are scheduled for public hearing on Monday, November 5 at 7:00 p.m. The Chair reminded those present that SRC’s letter of August 7, 2005, to County Executive Owens supported the establishment of a Watershed Preservation & Restoration Fund and inquired if other action is necessary. SRC is in favor of encouraging the Council and the County Executive to look at both raising fees based on imperviousness and providing credits and incentives to address the existing problems and stormwater controls on new construction. Since stormwater is the Severn’s greatest problem, a statement needs to be made that it is important that County Council take a step to endorse a plan to create a dedicated source to do innovative stormwater solutions. After much discussion, Shultz will present the following resolution on behalf of SRC to County Council at the public hearing and a copy will be forwarded to the County Executive. Resolved by the SRC on November 1, 2007, we encourage the County Council and County Executive to develop a stormwater management bill that has these key points: (1) a fee based on all impervious surface area new and existing; (2) all revenues raised by this bill would be dedicated and used to address stormwater management in the county; and (3) incentives and credits for best management practices would be developed; the incentives and credits would be applied against fees otherwise applicable. A motion was made and amended to include additional language to adopt the above resolution. Hanson noted that he must be fully aware of an issue before voting. MOTION: A MOTION, THAT SHULTZ WOULD PRESENT TO THE COUNTY COUNCIL THE ABOVE AMENDED RESOLUTION ON BEHALF OF SRC TO SUPPORT A DEDICATED FUND FOR WATERSHED RESTORATION PROJECTS, WAS MADE AND SECONDED. THE MOTION PASSED BY A SIX (6) to ONE (1) VOTE. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 6:55 p.m. The next regular monthly SRC meeting is scheduled for Thursday, December 6, 2007, 4:00 p.m., in the Chesapeake Room, 2664 Riva Road. | 
