Members Present: Lina Vlavianos, Chair
Sally Hornor, Vice Chair
Scott Hymes
Charlotte Lubbert
Joe Rubino
Jeff Schomig
Michael Shultz
Debra Smith Guests and Staff: Albert Johnston, Greater Severna Park Council
David Mauriello, Public
Lynn Miller, AACo. OPZ, Long Range Planning
Carole Sanner, AACo. OPZ, Planning
Brenda Weeks, AACo. DPW/WES Absent: Dave Hanson
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 4:13 p.m. in the Chesapeake Room. A quorum was declared present. GUEST SPEAKERS Ms. Lynn Miller, AACo. Planning & Zoning Long Range Planning Administrator, and Ms. Carole Sanner, AACo. Assistant Planning & Zoning Officer, were introduced to Commission members. Ms. Miller had been invited to brief the SRC on the current status of the 2008 General Development Plan (GDP). She started the presentation by explaining the makeup of the Project Staff Team (interdepartmental county staff) and the Technical Advisory Panel (TAP - County department/assistant department heads). TAP’s role is an oversight role responsible for reviewing Project Staff findings and recommendations to make sure they are consistent with the goals and policies of all the different departments effected. Ms. Miller reviewed the approach overview: draft findings reports by elements - land use, transportation, community services, natural resources, water quality. Preliminary findings will be summarized for staff and the public to see what information is available and what issues need to be addressed. As each element report is completed, reports will be submitted to the TAP for review, and then will be posted on the county website for public review and comment. In April, a Planning Advisory Board (PAB) briefing on some preliminary findings will be open to the public. Based on the findings, some preliminary goals and recommendations and a draft plan will be put together. An overview of the preliminary draft plan will be presented at public forums across the county. A final draft will be done based on input from the public followed by a final Planning Advisory Board briefing. An introduction to County Council may occur in the fall. An outline with general contents of the plan is on the GDP website to show what topics are included in comprehensive plans. A background data study was started in July with an outside consultant. This is a county-wide cost revenue study to see if county government will be able to afford the growth that is coming to the county. Results of the study will be used to look at the current land use plan. Both the impact fee study and the fiscal impact analysis study are being done by outside consultants. New requirements by the State are part of the comprehensive plan. The water resources element has to be completed by 2009 by in-house staff. This relates to the Tributary Strategies Chesapeake Bay Program and the new Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) requirements. The County still has to assess when changes are made to the current land use plan and any future changes have to do a better job of assessing what the impact is going to be on our water resources. Additional development cannot be prohibited in the county. TMDL goals and requirements cannot necessarily be addressed by making changes in the land use plan, but will have to be addressed in other ways. According to Ms. Miller, the Watershed Management Tool (WMT) will be used to do the modeling to project the loads for the water resources element. An update to the water/sewer master plan was recently done, so current treatment plant flows and projections are available. DPW is in the final stages of another outside consultant study of onsite septic systems. This will help identify for the future the areas that may become problem areas. Responding to numerous questions, the GDP is a guidance document referenced in the state and county codes. The implementation of the GDP is done through changing ordnances, voluntary mechanisms, capital budget, doing another master plan, and legislation. The WMT is better used to help layout the land use plan and making policy decisions. Ms. Miller thinks the WMT is a good analytical tool and will be very useful for the GDP update to look at the big picture, different land use scenarios and pollutant loading. It was observed that the WMT could be used in zoning (not project specific planning) and the implementation, goals and objectives of the GDP are actually carried out through zoning. A recommendation to include an environmental overlay zone in the GDP is possible. Comprehensive rezoning will be done following the revision of the GDP. Some of the recommendations in the GDP may require zoning laws to be revised. The outreach approach had to be trimmed down because of time constraints. A GDP 2008 homepage was setup with an email address that can be used for comments. PAB and SRC briefings will be scheduled. The administration established a Special Advisory Committee (SAC) to the PAB consisting of 20-21 people (one representative from each of the 16 small areas and 5 at-large members). SAC will not work with staff but will help the PAB by reviewing the draft findings and provide feedback. SAC applications will be submitted to the County Executive’s Office (application form is on the website) with a January 15 deadline. Public forums will be scheduled. Some suggestions SRC made during the briefing were: to incorporate the utilization of the Watershed Management Tool (WMT) into the GDP policy; to have SRC (Hornor, Shultz, Vlavianos) represented on the Special Advisory Committee forming now (Hornor is to complete an application form to be delivered to P&Z); to include the Jabez Branch Environmental Overlay Zone policy language in the GDP document; and to address the huge projected forest cover loss for the watershed (reduced from 33% to 6%) based on current zoning. Requiring forestation of agriculture land being developed is a possibility. Commission members thanked Ms. Miller and Ms. Sanner for the briefing and noted all the information presented was very helpful. MINUTES The Minutes for the November 1, 2007, regular monthly SRC meeting was presented for approval. Hornor noted two corrections: On Page 2, in the last sentence, “Riverkeeper” is one word; and on Page 3, under KCC Properties, in the first sentence, the word should be “Planning” instead of Plan. MOTION: A MOTION, TO APPROVE THE MINUTES FOR THE NOVEMBER 1, 2007, REGULAR MONTHLY MEETING OF THE SEVERN RIVER COMMISSION AS CORRECTED ABOVE, WAS MADE AND SECONDED. THE MOTION WAS PASSED BY UNANAMOUS VOTE AND THE MINUTES WERE APPROVED. ANNOUNCEMENTS / CORRESPONDENCE - The SRC 2008 meetings schedule was distributed with the agenda/minutes. The SRC July 3 meeting (1st Thursday) will be rescheduled to July 10 (2nd Thursday) because of a long July 4 (Friday) holiday weekend.
- Smith, Lubbert and Hymes’ terms expire on January 31, 2008. Smith has contacted the Mayor’s office requesting reappointment. Lubbert and Hymes will contact the County Executive’s office if they each wish to serve another three year-term. Vlavianos requested written confirmation from all three when/if reconfirmed.
- A November 5, 2007, SRC letter regarding the KCC Properties project and use of the Watershed Management Tool (WMT) was sent to Larry Tom, AACo. Planning & Zoning Officer.
- A November 21, 2007, response to SRC’s letter referenced-above regarding the KCC Properties, was received from Mr. Tom. Both letters will be addressed later in the meeting.
OLD BUSINESS - SPECIAL COMMITTEES REPORTS Critical Area Legislation Schomig reported the SRC subcommittee wants to be involved in the Critical Area legislation drafting process to the extent allowed to attend whatever meetings are held as observers. He feels the SRC should not be involved in drafting legislation because the committee members would not know what its mandates are from the Commission as far as recommendations and SRC’s job is to advise the government, not to do the work. Following a discussion about the Commission’s involvement in the Critical Area legislation review process, Schomig will draft a letter to County Executive Leopold requesting he and Rubino, as their time permits, sit in on Staff Critical Area Legislative Review meetings, as observers representing SRC, in order to apprise the Commission on changes being considered. MOTION: A MOTION, THAT SCHOMIG DRAFT A LETTER TO THE COUNTY EXECUTIVE REQUESTING HE AND RUBINO ATTEND COUNTY STAFF CRITICAL AREA LEGISLATIVE REVIEW MEETINGS AS OBSERVERS TO APPRISE SRC ON CHANGES BEING CONSIDERED, WAS MADE AND SECONDED. THE MOTION WAS PASSED BY UNANAMOUS VOTE. Education/Communication Lubbert reported the SRC website had 1,850 hits in October and 1,848 hits in November. Information on pollution received the most hits. Lubbert pointed out the new County GroupWise email address for the SRC is now operational (severnrivercommission@aacounty.org ). With the exception of Hanson, she noted no input has been provided by SRC members regarding the Committee’s request to review the website and comment or make suggestions. Jabez Branch Environmental Overlay Zone: Vlavianos reported Hornor and she will attend the next Overlay Zone Committee meeting on Friday, December 21, 2007. The Office of Planning & Zoning will be in attendance to advise on clarifications needed in the legislative language being considered. Naval Academy Dairy Farm: Rubino reported an agreement has been reached on the provisions of a lease between the Naval Academy and Anne Arundel County Government, and an Advisory Committee is presently being formed. KCC Properties: Vlavianos pointed out the November 21, 2007 letter from Larry Tom, AACo. Planning & Zoning Officer, in response to questions raised by the SRC about utilization and usefulness of the Watershed Management Tool (WMT) for modeling and evaluation of impacts of this development was vague, non-committal and disappointing. Following a brief discussion, SRC will pursue this issue further. David Mauriello and Schomig will draft a letter to the County Executive summarizing the need to incorporate the WMT in future development review and the need to include its use through legislative language. GDP The GDP was addressed with the guest speakers at the beginning of the meeting. Website Check agenda item Education/Communication for a website report. NEW BUSINESS Stormwater Utility Fund Vlavianos reported with the defeat of the $30.00 per year all-payer plan, the County Executive is proceeding to explore alternate possibilities for the stormwater utility fund. Shultz will contact Alan Friedman of the County Executive’s office to request a timeline for the stormwater fund bill and a possible briefing to SRC at the January meeting on the new initiatives being discussed. PUBLIC INPUT Mr. Al Johnston noted the following observations: The County just went through three bills revising the Zoning Code with 550 amendments and now will be doing piece-meal amendments to the Code; regarding Critical Area (CA) legislation, there is a standstill between the County and the Critical Area Commission - the County does not want to amend its CA law; the County is “waiting for the State” on the stormwater bill; under the current review process, citizens will have no input toward the revision of the GDP; the GDP website is active; and in variances cases, communities have to participate - cases are being won on incompatibility to the Small Area Plan that is part of the GDP. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 6:50 p.m. The next regular monthly SRC meeting is scheduled for Thursday, January 3, 2008, 4:00 p.m., in the Chesapeake Room, 2664 Riva Road. | 
