Good Morning Ward 1,
Wow! There is a lot going on in Takoma Park right now. My notes for tonight’s meeting are below. The City Council will have a closed administrative session this evening to discuss the City Manager’s evaluation. Thank you to the many people who have talked with me in person, through email, and came to give public comments on tonight’s voting items.
Best,
Shana
Please VOTE! City ballots were mailed Oct. 20. Most residents received their city ballots by Oct. 24 (City Clerk Carpenter can track them). It can take a week or more for the last few to be delivered. If a resident does not receive a city ballot in the next couple of days, call the city clerk at 301-891-7252. She can track whether it's been delivered and issue a new ballot package for the resident if needed. Please don’t wait until Nov 5, if possible--there's only one city poll, at the community center, and very limited parking due to construction.
For 16 and 17 year olds who have not yet registered, they can register and pick up a ballot package in one stop at the community center, to avoid the rush on Nov 5.
Metro Branch Trail–Surface restoration for the biker & hiker trail along Takoma and Fenton Avenue will begin in early November.
New parking system at the Junction Parking Lot beginning in mid-November 2024. The intent is to ensure regular turnover of the lot. The system will consist of a mixture of spaces managed by Park Mobile and others with parking meters. The parking meters are intended to assist those that do not have or want the Park Mobile App.
Details:
Parking Fee: $1 per hour
Parking Limitations: 2-hour parking max time permitted
Hours: 7am-7pm; Monday - Saturday (free parking on Sundays)
No overnight parking allowed
Upcoming vegetation work in Belle Ziegler Park. A new hedgerow of mixed native shrubs will be planted this fall, and temporarily fenced off. The new hedgerow will grow to provide a similar benefit of screening the soccer field, but with the added value to neighboring trees and ecosystem.
Emergency pedestrian bridge repair is underway on Sligo Creek by Montgomery County Parks (NOT City of Takoma Park), near Maple Ave., begins. The work is expected to take approximately 6 weeks. As it is an emergency, the City did not receive advance notice.
Fri, Nov. 1- 9-11AM Peace Park Gardening—corner across from Maple Avenue bridge/Sligo Creek Parkway, one block from Essex House to do light gardening-easy weeding, clean-up and bulb planting. Wear clothes that can get dirty. Tools provided.
Sat, Nov. 2- 1-4PM Community Day at Takoma Park Middle School- Free food, games & entertainment organized by Maple Community Association in BOTH gyms. This 2nd annual Community Day is aimed at promoting community engagement in our City.
Sun, Nov. 3, 8 AM- Long Branch Fun Run-https://discoverlongbranch.com/featured-events/long-branch-5k/
Takoma Park Silver Spring Co-op– Re-opens November 6, Grand Reopening Celebration November 8th 2pm-5pm
TKPK FY2026 Budget Community Survey-You're invited to participate in the Community Budget Survey!! Be heard this budget season by sharing any ideas and innovations you think the City should consider as part of its upcoming budget development: Complete the short survey here.
TKPK Community Budget Forum to be held on Tuesday, November 12, 2024 at 7pm The city administration, staff, and mayor and council prioritize community participation in the budget process.
TkPk Landlords Virtual Roundtable November 20 7:00pm. We encourage you to register for the roundtable here: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_37tQ2vKiQO2-xJgThsz44g
City Council Meeting Agenda - Wednesday, October 30, 2024
City Council Administrative Function Session: At 6:30 PM, the City Council will meet with the City Manager regarding his evaluation. Administrative function sessions are closed to the public.
Changes To The Agenda / Agenda Scheduling Update
Public Comments
Comment in person or via Zoom*
*To comment on Zoom, registration is required by 5 pm on the day of the meeting. There is no registration requirement to comment in person.
Voting Session
1 & 2. Second Reading Ordinance Approving FY25 Budget Amendment No. 2 – General Fund and Stormwater
“As I said last week, this budget amendment is a lot of “accounting” work, where funds are being moved to being spent from our ARPA account rather than from our General Fund, in order for us to deplete our ARPA account fully. Also, the money that we spent for Brashear’s run was actually spent in FY2024, rather than FY2025, so this also reflects that.
One change in expenditure is a $6,000 increase in what we needed to spend on Monster Bash. The State Highway association required a more extensive “engineering” plan for the closure of the part of 410 that we have traditionally used for Monster Bash. We are hopeful that we will be able to use this plan in the future for Monster Bash and other 410 closures, but that is yet to be seen.”
3. Second Reading Ordinance Amending Title 6 of the Takoma Park Code to Add Provisions to Create a Housing Preservation Tax Credit
4. Second Reading Ordinance Amending Title 6 of the Takoma Park Code to Add Provisions to Create a New Rental Housing Tax Credit
5. Resolution Directing Staff to Develop and Budget for a Multifamily Rehabilitation Tax Credit
As I said last week, I will be voting in favor of these tax credits.
Our community has expressed concern about providing a better quality of affordable housing for a long time. The preservation and affordable tax credits will help landlords, including many non-profits, to afford to reinvest and maintain the housing that they provide.
As far as the New Rental Housing Tax Credit, we need to support the creation of new rental multi-family housing in Takoma Park. It has been impossible for developers to secure the financing they need from banks in order to build here. Forgone taxes will not be actualized if we don’t incentivize the building of new housing. There are opportunities throughout Takoma Park for infill or redevelopment, for example in the Takoma Langley Crossroads area, that developers have not utilized. We are working to make those types of projects realistic.
This Grant Program is included in the ARPA budget. I will vote in favor of this ordinance.
From the agenda item:
“This program is funded through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), as well as a NED Grant for the State of Maryland, and will not use General Fund Dollars. The total amount for all the awards is $528,450.”
First I want to correct what I wrote last week. The newest vehicles we have in our marked fleet were purchased in 2021. We did, however, purchase vehicles in 2022 though we have not received them.
I will vote in favor of this ordinance. The Chief of Police sees our deteriorating fleet as an impediment to our police department in doing their jobs. I understand wanting to save money when possible, but having an effective police department is a minimum of the services that residents need.
The City Council is interested in continuing to pursue state legislation language changes that will simplify and reduce costs in removing Unlawful Restrictive Covenants. This will help to ensure that more municipalities and counties are able to afford to work on this important issue.
Comments