Minutes of GHCCA meeting October 13, 2009
President: Richard Falk; Secretary: Steven Kratzer
A motion was made that we put $8000 from the legal fund into a CD with a maturity of up to three months; the motion passed, and Treasurer Gene Gotsch will contact a bank.
BGE had promised to attend tonight’s meeting and make a presentation on the upcoming tree trimming, but they cancelled at the last minute. They are considering merely trimming some trees, rather than – as previously announced – removing all of them on the BGE powerline right of way.
GHCCA has registered with the IRS as a 501(c)(4) non-profit group. This means we pay no income tax, and contributions to GHCCA are not tax-deductible, but we can support (or oppose) political candidates and issues.
GHCCA (represented by Richard Falk), along with other members of the Growth Action Network, attended a meeting with Planning and Zoning Officer Larry Tom. Subsequent meetings will be held bimonthly, and will be open to the public. They will afford citizens the same level of access to Mr. Tom currently enjoyed by developers and builders. The initial meetings will be mainly informational, for relative newcomers to the zoning process.
MD General Assembly delegate James King will attend our November meeting to discuss his proposed legislation to put limits on the types of offender sent to residential substance abuse treatment centers.
In the last County Council meeting (10-05), a bill to modify house setbacks and other requirements for grandfathered lots that are technically too small or too narrow by current standards was withdrawn by its sponsor, Councilman Jones. He plans to modify and re-submit it.
John Fischer represented GHCCA at a presubmission meeting for the building of four duplex apartments on a mostly-vacant lot on Housley Rd. next to the Regatta Bay complex. The Holy Temple Church intends to sell their current land, at 708 Bestgate Rd., and rebuild the church elswhere. In order to facilitate the sale of the land, they want to rezone it to commercial.
An amendment to the GDP bill, changing the land use category of the property was passed without objection. The office of planning and zoning opposes changes in the land use map for this purpose, feeling that specific zoning changes should be pursued at the time of comprehensive rezoning. It is felt, however by the applicants that a change in land use category will have a positive effect on an application for zoning change which will take place in December and January.
County Executive John Leopold has extended the ban on fly ash dumping for another year. The county will discontinue the use of high-phosphate fertilizers, which pollute the Bay. Brenda Reiber, from the County Executive’s office, accompanied Richard Falk on a tour led by Don Yeskey to survey zoning and signage violations along the Generals Highway corridor. Ms. Reiber has referred several cases of illegal signs, unregistered vehicles, illegal grading and tree clearing and other offenses to the appropriate authorities. Legal action, such as citations and stop-work orders, has already occurred in some cases.
A burial ground near the former Crownsville Hospital site will be open for visits by relatives of the deceased.
The GHCCA bylaws call for annual elections of all officers except treasurer and recording secretary. Richard Falk has appointed a nominating committee and a bylaws review committee.
There are several communities along the Generals Highway corridor that have no GHCCA representatives. Richard Falk will appoint various people to contact these communities.