Town Meeting: Public Hearings, Contracts, Recognitions

Two public hearings were on the agenda for Monday's meeting of the Bel Air Board of Commissioners.

Amendments to adequate public facilities and development regulations were approved.

The commissioners also awarded a contract to have the former BB&T building on Main Street torn down and parking put into the space.

9:06 p.m.: After his comments Sullivan wished everyone a merry Christmas.

9:05 p.m.: Hopkins recomended Sullivan speak with Chris Schlehr to further mitigate the issue.

9:04 p.m.: "Consistency and credibility are built on the little things," Sullivan said. "The town lost a little bit with me."

9:03 p.m.: Hopkins said he doesn't know that the board can answer the questions tonight.

9:02 p.m.: Small said he did issue the permits at the chief's request. "We issued four permits. Those permits were issued on a temporary basis," Small said. Small said it was a difference between temporary issues as opposed to permanant parking.

9:00 p.m.: Sullivan said he expected a call about the issue from the chief. He said he believes Commissioner Robert Preston now has parking on that street now also. "Folks this is favoritism," Sullivan said. "Would anybody like to talk to me"

8:58 p.m.: "Are we saying in the town of Bel Air it's not safe to walk two or so blocks at night," Sullivan asked.

8:57 p.m.: Sullivan said he asked planning and zoning about the permits and his understanding was the police chief issued the permits. "Bad decision, this is my opinion, bad decision," Sullivan said.

8:56 p.m.: Sullivan said he has permits, some on-sight parking. A tenant came downstairs ranting about five new cars parked in the spaces where they park for permits, he said.

8:55 p.m.: Sullivan said the owner called him because there are parking issues. She asked if there were any places where she could lease parking. He found her a number of options. Her landlord didn't want to pay for the spaces and neither did she.

8:53 p.m.: I give accountability and expect it back, Sullivan said. He explained there is a salon, Jordan Thomas Salon, that he showed it to a prospective buyer and noted lease issues. The lease said the person was getting temporary parking from BB&T.

8:52 p.m.: "I had something happen recently in the town," Sullivan said.

8:51 p.m.: Sullivan said  worked on the task force for the Bel Air Downtown Alliance and when it became a corporation he decided it was time to leave because he was a sole proprietor or two-person company during that time.

8:50 p.m.: Public comment from Tim Sullivan. "I'm glad everyone is back, that is back," Sullivan said.

8:50 p.m.: The board voted unanimously to introduce the resolution.

8:49 p.m.: Chris Schlehr, Town Administrator, said in the FY 2012 budget he requested cost of living increase, and now asks the town to give all employees a mid-year cost of living increases which will cost more than $64,000.

8:48 p.m.: The board voted unanimously to recieve the ordinance.

8:46 p.m.: Small said any development that requires more than 623 feet of fill go through the board of appeals, the new ordinance does not include that. The variance will now be reviewed at the state level.

8:45 p.m.: The town is required to update a floodplain ordinance to comply with with the state. The town's ordinance mirrors the state's ordinance. The only major change involves any new construction required to be two feet above the floodplain.

8:43 p.m.: The sworn officers' pension plan also increased with the employee contribution going from 7 percent to 9.9 percent. The increase was approved unanimously.

8:43 p.m.: The pension plan was approved unanimously.

8:41 p.m.: Director of Administration, Joyce Oliver, explained a report took into account absorption of 2008 the employee is responsible for any increase in the civilian pension plan. The town contributes 8.7 percent and the trustees vote to increase employee's contribution increase to 3.5 percent.

8:41 p.m.: The motion carried 4-1. Commissioner Robert Reier voted against.

8:40 p.m.: Robertson said there should be minimal impact traffic on Main Street during the demolition which is expected to begin in February.

8:36 p.m.: Carey moved to award the contract to a New Jersey company. Randy Robertson said after investigation it was determined the building should be demolished. The contract is for the demolition and removal of hazardous removal and filling in the basement. Parking meters will be added separately. Six contractors placed bids. Richard E. Pierson Construction Company's bid was low at $251,320, Robertson said.

8:34 p.m.: Carey moved to award a bid of $12,726 to Carpets by Denning Lee of Edgewood to replace carpet and linoleum in town offices. The motion carries unanimously.

8:33 p.m.: Commissioner Robert Preston moved to approvae the development regulations amendment. The motion carries in a unanimous vote.

8:33 p.m.: Carey moves to approve the ordinance amending adequate public facilities portion of the town code. Carey said eh feels satisfied that Small has taken Jones' comments into account up to this point. The motion carries unanimously.

8:31 p.m.: Hearing closed.

8:31 p.m.: Jones again provided comments saying if the developers impact is 10 percent, who pays the other 90 percent. Small explained if a left hand turn lane is needed to mitigate the impact of the development, that is all that is required. It does not involve a percentage, Small said.

8:30 p.m.: The planning commission and town staff recommend the board pass this amendment.

8:29 p.m.: A developer is only required to mitigate their own impact, for example, a developer will not be required to ensure an already failing intersection passes, Small said.

8:28 p.m.: The town requires peak hour observations and if a development is near a school, a study must be done while school is in session.

8:26 p.m.: "There is no recoupment under the traffic portion," Small said.

8:24 p.m.: Small explained these amendments take into account traffic issues. A project where the number of peak hour trips exceeds 25 and daily trips 249 requires traffic impact analysis.

8:23 p.m.: A development regulation amendment public hearing began.

8:22 p.m.: Carey asked Small if Jones' comments are new. Small said no, they are issues he had heard and considered.

8:22 p.m.: I just think you ought to table it, study it, Jones said.

8:20 p.m.: I really think that what you probably ought to consider is hire a consultant to do an impact fee study," Jones said. Jones said he doesn't know how the town is going to separate the issues that come over the years and issues that come directly from a project.

8:20 p.m.: "Theoretically any property that has come through since 1980 has gone through the review," Jones said.

8:19 p.m.: "There's a question in my mind about how many times a property can go through this," Jones said.

8:18 p.m.: If you know you have more than one property is benefiting, you have to split it between the two properties to be fair, Jones said. He said the $100,000 limit does not account for that.

8:16 p.m.: The amount of $100,000 was determined by past use in the county, Small explained to Jones.

8:15 p.m.: If we're talking about benefiting properties, Jones says there are only about a dozen and the town is talking largely then of updating old facilities. "I don't know how benefit is defined," Jones said.

8:14 p.m.: Jones said one feasible problem is the engineering issue, that the town and the developer may end up with conflicting opinions.

8:13 p.m.: "I'm not sure this is really going to be worth the effort once it's all done," Jones said. He said "adequate" is only used twice in the county documents and this document does not define adequacy.

8:12 p.m.: Mike Jones said he generally agrees with the ordinance. "I think right now we're more along the lines of, 'what happened with the water and sewer,'" Jones said.

8:11 p.m.: Commissioner David Carey said commissioners have gone over this ordinance at lenth and he has no additional questions at this time.

8:11 p.m.: Town staff recommends approval of the ordinance, Small said.

8:08 p.m.: The amendments also require terms and conditions must be met before the building permit is issued, Small said.

8:05 p.m.: It's the responsability of the applicant to provide all the information for the town to review. In earlier versions of the code, part of the burden fell on the town, according to Small.

8:03 p.m.: Under the amendment, the town will not allow sanitary connection without necessary improvement in place when engineery analysis indicates potential overload of the system during wet conditions and causes a sanitary overflow downstream, Small said.

7:59 p.m.: An applicant has to make improvements at his or her sole expense. They could also recoup the cost from other benefiting properties if the improvement cost is more than $100,000 or more than 10 percent of the estimated construction cost, Small said.

7:57 p.m.: Any applicant changing a use is also included in the necessary improvement to maintain needed capacity. For example, if a property changes from a store to a restaurant with additional water usage, the property could be subject to capacity and design improvements, Small explained.

7:54 p.m.: According to the new language, a benefiting property is a parcel of land is not developed or less than 50 percent of it is available.

7:52 p.m.: The name of the ordinance will be changed from impact fees, which involves a fee per unit that does not take into account whether the development influences capacity. The new title, adequate public facilities, takes additional things into account.

7:51 p.m.: "Roadways are a different animal from water and sewer and storm drains," Small said. Roadways are considered in a different section of the town code and removed from this section.

7:50 p.m.: "What we want to do is that if a developer comes into town they will know exactly what they need to do by looking up the code," Small said.

7:49 p.m.: Adequate public facilities means if raods are too congested, classrooms too crowded and water system cannot provide water then a community cannot grow. It is not designed to curb growth, Small said.

7:49 p.m.: "This ordinances is currently on the books," Small said.

7:47 p.m.: The town worked with the county, developers and neighboring towns to make changes to clarify the intent of the code, Director of Town Planning explained.

7:46 p.m.: A public hearing on amendments to the impact fees part of the town code, to become adequate public facilities section.

7:45 p.m.: Minutes from Dec. 5 meeting were approved unanimously.

7:42 p.m.: Commissioner Robert Reier recognized Erin Bourn, fifth-grader from Homestead-Wakefield School. She volunteers at the Humane Society, makes honor roll and contributes part of her allowance to Hurricane Katrina victims.

7:41 p.m.: "It is a pleasure to work with everyone here," Blum said.

7:39 p.m.: "It's been my honor," Blum said of his involvement with the parades. Blum said everyone loved the parade with the exception of the chief's horse, who left his comments in the street.

7:39 p.m.: "It's folks like you who make our job as commissioners so much easier," Hopkins said.

7:38 p.m.: Hopkins invited Mike Blum to the podium to recognize him for his hard work with the Christmas parade.

7:36 p.m.: "Chip’s the kind of guy who you could put the phone up to the car engine and he would know what was wrong with it," Matrangola said.

7:34 p.m.: In recognition of 38 years of excellent police service, Chief Leo Matrangola awarded Carter with a certificate of recognition. Matrangola said he has known Carter since they were young when Matrangola was lifeguarding in the complex where Carter lived. "He just always looked out for someone," Carter said.

7:32 p.m.: Carter has held his rank since the 1970s. He is a Bel Air High School graduate and helped initiate the explorer post program. "Chip is going to be remembered as a mentor to a lot of people still working in the department," Hopkins said. Hopkins and Carter worked together both in law enforcement and the fire company.

7:31 p.m.: "Be kind," Carter said, joking.

7:30 p.m.: Mayor Hopkins invites Sgt. Chip Cater to meet him at the podium to recognize him.

7:29 p.m.: Meeting is called to order

7:28 p.m.: The Bel Air Commissioners take their seats at the dais.