MINUTES

TOWN MEETING

March 19, 2012

Emmitsburg Town Office

Present:  Mayor Donald N. Briggs; Commissioners Clifford Sweeney, Glenn Blanchard, Patrick Joy, Tim O’Donnell and Christopher Staiger, President.

Staff present were Vickie Felix; Sue Cipperly, Town Planner and Dave Haller, Town Manager.

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I.       Call to Order

Commissioner Christopher Staiger, President of the Board of Commissioners, called the March 19, 2012 Town Meeting to order at 7:30 p.m. Pledge of Allegiance was recited.

Approval of Minutes

The Minutes of the March 5, 2012 Town Meeting were approved as presented.

Commissioner Comments

Commissioners cited attendances, recognitions and announcements to include St. Patrick’s Day concert, mountain trail work above the lake, meet-and-greet with Congressman Chris Van Holen, annual Easter egg hunt, signage in the parks about smoking, Lion’s Club 50’s and 60’s dance, Mother Seton School health fair, summer basketball league, Celebrity Bartender event at Red’s Tavern, Financial Literacy Awareness Week, St. Joseph’s craft fair and Maryland’s 8^th district candidate forum.

Mayor’s Comments

Mayor Briggs announced that Jim Hoover is running for one of the openings on the school board and encouraged citizens to check out his web site. Congressman Chris Van Holen visited some of the businesses in Emmitsburg and met town office staff.  Mayor Briggs recognized the work that Ms. Cipperly is doing on the Sustainable Communities activity.

Administrative Business

• Unauthorized use of the Babe Ruth ball field

• Summer basketball league

• Community Garden plots

• Time frame of splash park construction at the pool

• Little League controlling the use of ball fields

• Use and occupancy permitting

• Mason and Dixon Discovery Center update at Catoctin Mountain Orchard

Consent Agenda- No items

Reports:

Town Manager Report - reported on the public works department monthly activities to include a water production and consumption analysis. Manhole-32 was checked and the flow was only 1/3 of the pipe and was not discolored. Town has a precipitation surplus of 10.2” over the last six months. Mr. Haller will check on the concern of gravel being pushed into the intersection of Brookfield Drive and Irishtown Rd. Town Planner Report – Ms. Cipperly highlighted that she finished and delivered Heart of the Civil War Heritage grant application, worked on the June 30 encampment event and the Sustainable Communities application which is due April 10, and worked with Frederick County GIS on water/sewer line mapping project.  Detailed report at Exhibit A.

Police Report - Deputy Riffle reported on the February 2012 police report. Detailed report at Exhibit B. He also addressed staff on status of additional lights on Willow Drive.

II.       Agenda Items

Rezoning – 303 West Lincoln Avenue

Sue Cipperly stated the property located at 303 West Lincoln Ave is owned by the town and is zoned R2. This is what the zoning was when the town became the owners in 1996. It was used to build a non residential structure that housed social services offices and facilities. The R2 zone doesn’t allow the uses that the building was put to. This is a matter that should have been addressed during the Comp plan but was overlooked. According to Article 66B of the Maryland Code, a local legislative body may grant a change to a zoning classification if they find that there is either a substantial change to the neighborhood character, or if it appears that there was a mistake in establishing the existing zoning classification. Staff’s recommendation is to change the zoning to Village Zone which would allow the variety of land uses for which the building would be suitable. The Planning Commission reviewed this and recommended approval of the rezoning request.

Motion:  to approve rezoning request of 303 West Lincoln Ave from the current R2 classification to Village Zone.

Motion by Commissioner Joy, second by Commissioner O’Donnell

Vote: 5-0 in favor

Review of Constant Yield Tax Rate Calculation Provided by the State of Maryland

Mr. Haller stated that, basically, what has taken place are appraisals and assessments in the Emmitsburg area and Frederick County have gone down 15 to 17 percent. Consequently when the State computes constant yield they determine the tax rate threshold the town would need to charge in order to yield the same amount of dollars received the previous year. In order for the Town to yield $716,000 in property tax as they did last year, the rate would have to be set at a $.4265 rate of assessed value. Staff is looking to Board for direction. Discussion took place among the Board. Commissioner Joy recommended keeping the rate at $.36. Mayor Briggs challenged the Board on how they are going to do everything that has been approved and produce a balanced budget without increasing the tax rate. The reality is that there needs to be revenue or cut services back. Commissioner Staiger commented that staff needs to find solutions for the elected officials to balance the budget. Board directed staff to run the budget on the current tax rate, this year’s carry over will be treated as income going into 2013 budget as opposed to what it usually does and goes to the “rainy day” fund. Commissioner Staiger stated he will make a commitment not to cut town staff and Mr. Haller can go ahead and prepare the budget on that basis as well.

Emmitsburg Multi-user Trail Expansion Update

Commissioner O’Donnell reported that he is requesting approval to allow Mr. Steo to flag the intermediate trail and referred to the map marked in the meeting packet. The flagging would be appropriate at this time of year because the site lines are better to recognize what the features are, and it would be easier for town staff to hike because there would be less undergrowth to manage. Regarding the update of the existing beginner trail, they have made significant progress since last August. This past weekend they had a trail work day and 30 volunteers participated. Next trail workday will be April 22, 2012.The goal is to have a clear trail by June or July 2012.  Public Comment: Bob Mellor, 3 University Drive – in favor of flagging the trail. Mike Hakkarinen, 342 Mountaineers Way – in favor of the flagging of the trail.  Commissioner O’Donnell stated that the flagging could be done within the next 30 to 45 days. No opposition to flagging the intermediate trail. Unanimous consent to proceed with the flagging of the intermediate trail as discussed.

Water Tap Fee Assessment

At the request of the Mayor, Mr. Haller and Mayor Briggs reviewed the possibility of building the already designed, but not permitted, proposed Emmit Gardens Water Treatment plant. Mr. Haller presented the Board with a report of the allocations listed for the wells and computations and also a preliminary construction cost sheet. He went over the options which would be to raise the water tap fee to $8,000 so that it can be built within the governing regulations which say the enterprise fund must pay for itself or don’t build the water plant and only have the 200 taps available. There would be no grant money for this project. Ms. Cipperly mentioned that she has gotten an increased amount of inquiries about commercial projects which could easily use up the taps. It would take roughly three years to build the plant. The plant was sized at 476 taps so that the sewer and water capacity balanced.

Motion: - To proceed with implementing the $8,200 per tap as the Town’s new water tap fee.

Motion by Commissioner Staiger, second by Commissioner O’Donnell
Vote: 4-1 in favor of motion

Commissioner Joy opposed

Mr. Haller will bring it back as a text amendment.

Architectural Guidelines Resolution

This item was brought to the Board at their request for Staff to develop a resolution to adopt the architectural guidelines as an advisory document for the town. This also has been reviewed and approved by the Planning Commission. The guidelines were developed to support and implement the Town’s goal which will result in preserving the Town’s heritage, protecting property values, and encouraging civic pride. They are not mandatory but need to be considered. It would be a useful tool for the planning commission and town planner.
Motion: to modify resolution 2012-04R  on page 24 0f 28 in first paragraph, after Architectural Guidelines be adopted add the language as an advisory document.
Motion made by Commissioner Joy.
Motion failed                                                                                                  

Motion: - To approve 2012-04R, a resolution to adopt Architectural Guidelines in   Emmitsburg’s historic district, without any modifications

Motion by Commissioner O’Donnell, second by Commissioner Blanchard

Vote: 4-1 in favor

Commissioner Joy opposed

At this time Commissioner Staiger addressed Ms. Cipperly that he would like to see someone work on developing residential guidelines.

Set Agenda Items for April 2, 2012 Town Meeting

1. Presentation by Dr. Alban, Superintendent of Frederick County Schools

2. Sustainable Communities application resolution

3. Community Garden program review

4. Emmitsburg Baseball and Softball contracts.

III       Public Comments - none

IV        SIGN APPROVED TEXT AMENDMENTS AND/OR RESOLUTIONS

IV        Adjournment

With no further business, the March 19, 2012 Town Meeting was adjourned at 10:15 p.m.