Dear Neighbors:
Here’s a link to the agenda for this week’s City Council meeting: https://takomaparkmd.gov/meeting_agendas/city-council-meeting-agenda-wednesday-january-22-2020/. The key agenda item is a major staff presentation of a proposed resolution setting out the terms for our Sustainability and Climate Action Plan, which aims at putting Takoma Park on a path toward net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2035. Since implementation of this proposal would have a significant impact on our community in the coming years, I urge residents to take a close look at the background information on this agenda item and to provide input on the plan, either at this week or next week’s Council meeting, the public hearing on February 5, or by reaching out directly to me.
We’ll also have votes on a resolution upholding the City’s commitment to human rights and inclusivity, and on installing bus shelters at the busier bus stops within our borders. In addition, there will be an important discussion on the Public Space Management Plan, a vote on several appointments to resident committees, and a proclamation honoring Erwin Mack for his many years of involvement in Takoma Park business and civic affairs. Prior to the start of the regular meeting, the Council will meet in a closed Administrative Function session to discuss the City Manager’s evaluation. One other schedule item: on Saturday, January 25 the Council will hold its annual priorities-setting retreat, which is open to the public.
UPDATES & ANNOUNCEMENTS
LEDs in Old Town Decorative Streetlights. https://documents.takomaparkmd.gov/government/city-council/agendas/2020/council-20200115-1.pdf. Last week the Council had a lengthy discussion on the planned installation of LEDs on the decorative streetlights in the Old Town area, and ultimately voted to continue with the installation work. While, as noted below, I had some objections to the timing of the vote, I am pleased that we will now have brighter lighting in the area. It’s a plus that the new lights are adjustable in terms of wattage and the angle at which they shine, and the resolution we adopted last week includes a commitment to a public process for considering appropriate lighting levels.
With many decorative lights in Old Town having been inoperative, I’ve been pushing for better lighting in the area to improve safety for pedestrians and store owners. A couple of years ago the Council had backed the idea of installing LEDs in these fixtures, but other repairs were required first, especially replacing the non-functioning sensors. That task was completed recently and several new LEDs were installed along the commercial strip on Laurel Avenue last Monday.
I personally felt they looked fine, but I did think it was reasonable to give residents a little more time to see what the new lights would look like when several were in place all in a row in a more heavily traveled commercial area. The sample LED decorative lights installed a couple of years ago at the intersection of Columbia and Carroll Avenues were in a less busy commercial spot. Because of that concern, I voted for Councilmember Kostiuk’s motion to delay the vote until this week’s Council meeting. I would note that it’s expected to take 6 - 8 weeks for the LED order to be filled, so I didn’t think a one-week delay would have been particularly problematic.
When that motion failed, I then joined all my colleagues in voting to go forward immediately with the new LEDs (subject to the 6 - 8 week ordering time frame). As noted, we amended the resolution to include language (suggested by Councilmember Dyballa) requiring a public process once the LEDs are installed to consider lighting levels. This process would include input from businesses and residents. Since the new lights have 10 different wattage settings, we should be able to effectively calibrate the brightness based on where the lights are located.
Council Priorities Retreat -- Saturday, January 25, 11:00 - 5:00 PM, Hydrangea Room
At the beginning of every year the City Council convenes a “retreat” (open to the public) to discuss our priorities for the coming year. That process is aimed at updating the previous year’s priorities list. You can see the 2019 document here: https://documents.takomaparkmd.gov/government/city-council/resolutions/2019/resolution-2019-14.pdf. As can be seen, it’s a lengthy document, and many of its components are long-term efforts that won’t be “completed” in the near future. Some didn’t see much action in the previous year because of budget or staff limits. Others may be removed from the list because the relevant work is now done or because they are no longer identified as priorities for the Council.
Once we develop the 2020 list, it will serve as a vital guide to our actions for the coming year. I don’t expect we’ll spend significant time on issues not on the list, though there’s the possibility an unanticipated matter may arise to which we will have to devote time and effort (as happened for example with the small cell tower ordinance). In any case, I encourage residents to let me know if there are topics you’d like to see us add to the list for this year.
For my part, I’d like to see the Council focus on continued work related to key initiatives that are already underway rather than taking on lots of new projects. To be more specific, it’s my sense that determining how best to move forward on implementing the Housing and Economic Development Strategic Plan; the Sustainability and Climate Action Plan (see below for further discussion); the Public Space Management Plan (also see below); and our work on the Tree Ordinance and tree canopy/forest policies will absorb quite a bit of the Council’s time.
One of the challenges in making progress on those four efforts is that they are to a significant degree inter-connected, each contributing in certain ways to the other. So we need to be mindful of those connections as we delve into them. I would add that some of our less comprehensive efforts also mesh with those four larger initiatives, including for example the work of the Parking Management Task Force and the bus shelter project, which is outlined below.
Beyond the major initiatives mentioned above, we have several large projects at various stages, all of which will also require substantial Council involvement: the Library renovation, the Takoma Junction project, the re-development of the New Hampshire Avenue recreation center, and the Montgomery College Math-Science Building in North Takoma.
When we add in the work needed to ensure that synchronizing our elections with the County, State and Federal elections this fall goes smoothly, and a few other priority issues like pedestrian safety, community policing and public safety, finding better ways of controlling utilities operating within our borders, our ongoing efforts to improve communication with residents and of course continuing to make progress on racial equity, there really won’t be a lot of additional time available for new projects and programs. That said, I don’t want to close off suggestions or recommendations for additions to the priorities list. So, again, residents should feel free to be in touch with priority ideas they’d like to see the Council consider in 2020.
VOTING SESSION
Human Rights and Inclusivity Resolution: https://takomaparkmd.gov/meeting_agendas/city-council-meeting-agenda-wednesday-january-22-2020/. Respect for human rights and promoting inclusiveness in our community have long been hallmarks of Takoma Park. I’ll be voting for this resolution reaffirming our commitment to those principles. That commitment was shown most recently by the huge crowd that participated in the rally against anti-semitism at the Gazebo on January 5, and I’m very pleased we’ll be taking this step to underline our community’s emphasis on tolerance and repudiation of bigotry.
Bus Shelter Resolution: https://documents.takomaparkmd.gov/government/city-council/agendas/2020/council-20200122-2.pdf. Last week the Council discussed a plan to install bus shelters at no cost at the more heavily used bus stops in Takoma Park that don’t currently have shelters. The average number of daily boardings at City bus stops is 30, and the proposal we discussed would focus on stops with 40 - 50 or more boardings, with the potential to add others at less busy stops in the future. I’ll be voting in favor of going forward with this plan. It will not only increase convenience and safety for bus riders in the City, it should also contribute to our efforts to address climate change by promoting more use of public transportation. For those who are interested, City staff have developed an interactive map showing where all our stops are located, their boarding levels and whether they currently have shelters: https://www.arcgis.com/home/webmap/viewer.html?webmap=5d66c84145144a09a21f88491beb8d33&extent=-77.0188,38.9679,-76.9554,38.9965
CONSENT AGENDA (a single vote on both agenda items; I’ll be voting in yes)
COLTA Appointments: https://documents.takomaparkmd.gov/government/city-council/agendas/2020/council-20200122-3a.pdf
Nuclear Free Committee Appointment: https://documents.takomaparkmd.gov/government/city-council/agendas/2020/council-20200122-3b.pdf
WORK SESSION
Public Space Management Plan: https://documents.takomaparkmd.gov/government/city-council/agendas/2020/council-20200122-4.pdf. There’s a range of public space types in the City including parks, City-owned land, properties controlled by the County Parks Department and the County School System, public rights of way, etc. But we don’t have an overall approach for maintaining, using and potentially expanding these areas. The Council will be discussing how to ensure that the Public Space Management Plan can help create a more comprehensive approach to managing public land resources, especially those controlled directly by the City. As noted, this plan will be a natural complement to our work on the Sustainability and Climate Action Plan, along with our efforts on urban forest policies and tree canopy goals.
Sustainability and Climate Action Plan: https://documents.takomaparkmd.gov/government/city-council/agendas/2020/council-20200122-5.pdf. I was a strong proponent of the Council’s climate emergency declaration last year. That resolution included a call for a 100 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in Takoma Park City-wide by 2035, which matches the target established by Montgomery County. The declaration also required City staff to develop recommendations for achieving that goal, and we’ll have our first presentation of those recommendations at this week’s meeting. As I mentioned, this is a far-reaching plan. But it’s important to also keep in mind that the plan is a series of goals that cover the next 15 years and beyond, with most of the specifics to be worked out in the coming years. These initial discussions will be followed by detailed consideration of the various components going forward with ongoing public engagement and input. In addition to this week’s discussion and a tentative vote on the overall plan and goals next month, there will be a public hearing on the plan at our February 5 Council meeting.
The plan is focused on the reality that the major contributors to greenhouse gas emissions in Takoma Park are transportation and buildings. Addressing the climate change impact of buildings is a costly undertaking. It’s not clear to me whether -- if we endorse the building recommendations -- it would make more sense to implement them, say, as part of a larger County or State plan, rather than on our own. Most other communities in the U.S. that have begun moving in this direction are much larger than Takoma Park, and that gives them certain advantages in pursuing costly, ambitious goals of this sort on their own.
A key consideration in any efforts to address climate change is the impact on lower income residents: the effects of climate change are likely to be felt more acutely by residents of lower income areas, which are often also communities that have faced racial and ethnic discrimination. And it goes without saying that those who are less well-off are less able to cope with the financial costs of climate change mitigation. So any steps we take to address climate change along the lines of the staff recommendations must include an emphasis on racial equity. Of course there could be financial challenges connected to this plan for all residents, and as we weigh the costs it’s also important to keep in mind that, in considering possible responses to climate change (at all levels of government and society), it’s best to think about higher short term costs in comparison to the much larger (and ever increasing) future costs if climate change is unchecked.
None of this is to say that there should simply be an up or down vote on the staff recommendations. It’s a draft and we can certainly add to or modify the recommendations. I’m still reviewing them, but one (probably less impactful, but still significant) change I’d like to see is a faster phasing out of fossil fuel-based lawn care equipment operating in the city. And, again, I’d like to see us include language in the resolution to clarify that some of the necessary changes may be done in collaboration with the County or other levels of government.
As always, please feel free to be in touch with questions or comments about any of these issues.
Peter Kovar, Takoma Park City Council, Ward One
240-319-6281; www.councilmemberkovar.com
(He, Him, His)
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