Comments are by Councilmembers Llatetra Brown Esters and Susan Whitney and are not approved or sanctioned by the City of College Park.

Click here to watch the video of the City of College Park Mayor & Council Meeting held on September 10, 2024. By going to this link, you can watch the discussion of specific agenda items you are interested in. If you have questions about Council actions and discussions, please email us at lbesters@collegeparkmd.gov and swhitney@collegeparkmd.gov.

CITY MANAGER’S REPORT 

Mr. Young congratulated the City and University of Maryland for College Park receiving LEED Gold Certification for City Hall. The city recently hired new staff members including Bilingual Communications Coordinator, Katie Garcia and a new Code Enforcement Manager, David Spaulding. Mr. Spaulding was already on and worked evenings and weekends. A new Code Officer, Justin Gilber, will start on September 23. The City Manager has hired a new assistant, Gina Asmati, who speaks five languages.  To date, the City has received 273 applications for the student housing subsidy.  

The Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development will offer Business Boost Micro Grants to small businesses, and applications will open on September 23. For more information contact Michael Williams.  

College Park Day will be October 5 from noon – 6pm at the College Park Aviation Museum. Signature events will be promoted over the next few weeks. The event will include bands, food, inflatables, insect petting zoo, big wheel races and more.  

On Thursday, September 12, the city hosted 26 young South Asian leaders seeking opportunities to build relationships and enhance their professional development.   

The Acoustic tile work and ramp at the Old Parish House have been completed, and the Duvall Field RFP has been issued. 

The City has received a Safe Street and Roads Grant.  

In Old Town and Calvert Hills, WSSC contractor will install crosswalks. Once striping is completed, traffic calming devices will be re-installed.

Mayor Pro Tem Mitchell gave a shout out to Code Enforcement. There were four parties in District 4 over the past weekend. Officers Spaulding and Davies responded from 9 pm -3 am. She also thanked the City’s Contract Officers for their assistance. Mr. Young said he would share her comments with staff. 

Mayor Kabir asked about the Stop Sign program the City started as a pilot. Mr. Young explained that we currently have three cameras posted, and they are taking information about traffic patterns in particular neighborhoods. The mobile cameras will be moved around the city. Information will be sent to Council members and presented online. He said no tickets will be given during this period. 

PROCLAMATIONS AND AWARDS 

A. Suicide Prevention Month 

B. Hispanic Heritage Month (Sept. 15 through Oct. 15) 

AMENDMENTS TO AND APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA 

Councilmember Adams made a motion to move Worksession item A, the report from blighted and vacant properties prior to Action Items.  Mayor Pro Tem Mitchell seconded, then moved to pass the agenda as amended, with a second by Councilmember Whitney.

PUBLIC COMMENT ON CONSENT AGENDA AND NON-AGENDA ITEMS 

None.

PRESENTATION: College Park Here & Now Newspaper (Streetcar Suburbs Publishing) on their new strategic plan – Marta McLellan Ross, SSP Board President

The College Park Here & Now is representative of local media. Ms. Ross expressed thanks to College Park for helping to keep residents informed. She said their objective during the meeting was to speak about their strategic plan. She introduced Nora Edelman as a board member and Kit Slack as the new Executive Director.  

Kit Slack spoke of the Four Priorities for College Park, Hyattsville, and Laurel

• Provide in-depth journalism
• Deepen community connections
• Grow financial stability to invest in staff and local journalism
• Invest in people across all levels of the organization. 

According to Ms. Slack, they are gearing up for the expansion of their paper. 

Sharon O’Malley, Managing Editor for the College Park Here & Now, introduced three journalists from the paper. She thanked members of the Council and City staff for taking phone calls and video meetings. She appreciates the courtesy shown to them. She has been with College Park Here & Now for 8 months. Her goal is to focus on items of interest in College Park and making the articles shorter. She said she is working closely with the Phillip Merrill School of Journalism at UMD to recruit writers. She attends Council meetings every Tuesday via zoom and says Council keeps her job interesting.  

Mayor Kabir spoke of the former paper for the city, The Gazette, which stopped publishing about 10 years ago.  

Councilmember Whitney mentioned formerly working for The Gazette and leaving the paper prior to its financial failing. She asked how College Park Here & Now will be able to sustain itself. Ms. Slack said that is a major goal of their strategic plan; they work with businesses and are seeking grants while also doing fundraising.  

Mayor Kabir recognized former Councilmembers Stephane Stullich and Maxine Gross, who are currently on the board. 

Mayor Pro Tem Mitchell thanked College Park Here & Now for filling a void.  She asked about filling the gap for Spanish-speaking residents. Ms. Slack said they are eager to do so. Ms. Slack is a Spanish speaker and said they need to build out their community connections. She does not believe the Spanish speaking community is currently reading their paper for the news. They would like to collaborate with the schools’ community liaisons. She asked for people to reach out with ideas for building community and mentioned College Park’s strategic goal of engagement. Ms. Slack said there are three ways to get something in the newspaper: speaking with the City’s Communications Department; contacting Sharon O’Malley; and advertisement. There is also their emailed newsletter, which is currently sent every two weeks.  

Councilmember Rigg asked if the paper makes it to every address in College Park. Ms. Slack said it is sent to all, but not to on-campus housing. The standard is to send it to individual apartments. Stacks are delivered to residence halls.  There are 20,000 papers delivered each month.  

CONSENT AGENDA 

24-G-118 Approval of a contract with TVM Productions and Consulting, LLC to provide audio-visual services for City Council meetings, Worksession and other meetings designated by the City –Kenneth Young, City Manager and Stephanie Anderson, City Attorney

24-G-119 Support of proposed Land Use Authority Legislation – Bill Gardiner, Assistant City Manager

24-G-122 Approval of a letter to the Prince George’s County Department of Public Works and Transportation requesting installation of a concrete safety median or re-installation of the temporary flex posts on Cherry Hill Road at the College Park Marketplace to prevent certain left turn movements on to Cherry Hill Road –Steve Halpern, City Engineer 

24-G-120 Approval of August 7, 2024 minutes of Mayor and Council meeting.

Moved by Councilmember Hernandez and seconded by Councilmember Whitney. Passed unanimously.

PUBLIC HEARING AND POSSIBLE ACTION: 

24-O-04: An Ordinance of the Mayor and Council of the City of College Park, Amending City Code Chapter 110-1 “Fees and Interest”/Chapter 151 “Permit Parking”, by reenacting the Monthly Permit Parking Program in the Downtown Parking Garage – Reduced Rate Commuter Parking for Downtown Business/Merchant Employees; and to authorize the City Manager discretionary powers to oversee and manage these programs – Kenneth Young, City Manager and Stephanie Anderson, City Attorney

Mr. Miller said it was a program that formerly existed prior to the new City Hall and said the City wants to meet the demand for parking created by the growth of city businesses. The change would allow the City Manager to make decisions regarding the programs without Mayor & Council approval going forward. 

Moved by Councilmember Rigg, seconded by Mayor Pro Tem Mitchell. Unanimously approved.

A. Report from Vacant and Blighted Property Tax Committee – Miriam Bader, Director of Planning; Nathaniel Forman, City Contract Attorney, Bob Catlin, Chair of VBPTC; Darrin Sharp, Co-Chair of VBPTC.

Introduced Carlos Nunez as the newest hire to the Planning Department. He played a role in the VBPTC. 

Mr. Catlin, chair, presented the report. He introduced the committee and referenced the number of meetings held to produce the report. He mentioned discussion regarding a requirement for owners to register vacant and blighted properties, saying the intent of registering would be to enable contact with the owner. He said it was felt that people who did not want to be contacted would not register.  

Councilmember Adams thanked the committee for their work. He said that Council talked about a vacant/blighted tax as a tool. He thinks we should strongly consider a registry, addingother municipalities, such as Frederick, have implemented registration fine and taxes.  

Mr. Catlin said the City must consider how much it wants to take the lead on this matter or rely upon the county. The two cities that have implemented a tax, Mt. Rainier and Upper Marlboro, simply send the county a list of properties that should be taxed at the higher rate, but this does not enable pinpointing the rate to say, a vacant commercial unit within a property that is taxed as part of a single property tax account. If the City wanted to do that, it might need enabling legislation, and it would have to send the tax bills itself, rather than the county.  

Councilmember Esters thanked the committee for its work. She agreed the City should consider a registry while acknowledging the concern of placing more burden on those who cannot afford to address issues with their property. She asked Mr. Catlin to discuss the reason for combining the definition of vacant and blighted, rather than defining them separately. Mr. Catlin said vacant and blighted properties were the ones people found most concerning. The committee thought the old standalone buildings with rundown conditions are the ones best targeted by the commercial property tax.

Councilmember Mackie asked about blighted properties with people living in them. Mr. Catlin said such issues should be addressed by Code Enforcement. Ms. Bader said the grid developed by the committee was done to identify the most onerous issues, which are vacant and blighted properties. All vacant properties would be on the registry.  

Mayor Pro Tem Mitchell asked for clarification on the first phase of such a program. Ms. Bader said the first phase would be the registry. Thereafter, the fines and appeals process will be determined. Mayor Pro Tem Mitchell referenced information from DC and asked if the committee researched information from the county. She asked if we proceeded with the registry, who would handle it? Ms. Bader said Code Enforcement would cover it.  

Councilmember Hew said he agreed we need to create a registry. He asked that the City lean toward a solution that is not easily written off. Attorney Nate Forman said there are important differences between what can be a tax versus a fine. Councilmember Hew asked about bank-owned property that is vacant. Ms. Bader said the registry would help with such properties.  

Councilmember Whitney thanked the committee for its work.  She said she did not see an exception for the death of an owner and an exception for those whose home suffered damage from natural disaster.  She asked to confirm that the program would not initially be a tool for commercial properties to fill vacancies, saying addressing long-standing commercial vacancies like those for the former Bobby’s Burger Palace were a key goal of Council in pursuing the tax. Mr. Catlin said we would need to take that on separately, and he believes it would require state legislation. Councilmember Whitney asked if we could consider rental properties that are occupied and blighted. Mr. Catlin said Code should handle that. She asked if the committee had seen economic harm from vacant properties that are well-maintained. Ms. Bader said the registry would be the first step in showing that owners are paying attention. 

Councilmember Riggs said he is interested in identifying tools to deal with the issues.  He said he found that the report illuminated the situation and was helpful.  

Councilmember Adams said that larger developments with multiple units should not be ignored and said it may call for legislation. He asked about properties that were once improved, but the improvements have been torn down. Mr. Catlin mentioned how the city was in bad shape years ago because vacant commercial properties paid no taxes. He said the committee should consider that scenario.  

Mayor Pro Tem Mitchell asked Mr. Catlin and Ms. Bader about next steps. Ms. Bader said the committee went with the initial charge they received. Given the discussion, they will need to discuss phase 2 and share another report. Mr. Catlin said they would come back to the Council in early 2025, prior to budget discussions. 

ACTION ITEMS

24-O-05 Introduction of an Ordinance to amend City Code Chapter 119-9 Fees and waivers, to conform the City Code with operational practice regarding when the payment of the refuse collection fee for a rental property must be paid – Tracey Clayton, Finance Office Manager and Stephanie Anderson, City Attorney (Public Hearing on September 24).

Ms. Anderson said a new software application changed billing practices such that Use & Occupancy Taxes are being billed at the same time as refuse collection fees, which conflicts with current code. The Ordinance would bring code in alignment with billing.

Motion made by Councilmember Whitney, seconded by Councilmember Esters. The Public Hearing will be held on September 24.

24-O-06 Additional discussion of remaining Lost Revenue Recovery funds and ARPA funding and Introduction of an Ordinance to amend the Fiscal Year 2025 Budget (Public Hearing to be held on September 24.)

Mr. Fields said the information and details were provided in the staff report. He said he took ideas from Council on how the funding might be allocated. Mr. Young and Mr. Fields wanted to use the monies toward staff employee salary and benefits, not because the current City budget could not cover these areas, but to ensure the Lost Revenue funds are fully utilized for approved spending by the deadline. The approach also simplifies record keeping, allowing the budgeted monies for employee salary and benefits to be used elsewhere.  

On August 7, 2024, Council talked about spending on various items that Council has supported in the past – Care Solace, Attick Towers, Food Service delivery.  Those allocations have minimal administrative burden on staff since they already exist.  

Previous allocations for lost revenue recovery would still be honored and completed, including $500,00 for restorative justice, and $780,000 for housing allocations.  

Councilmember Mackie said that we should consider maintaining some funding for Meals on Wheels.  She would like to consider giving them half of the funds originally allocated. Two residents in District 4 would like to see informative signs throughout the city.  Fields said this item will not qualify.  

Mayor Pro Tem Mitchell asked that we put money toward Meals on Wheels.  She asked if there should be a deadline for the use of the money.  Mr. Young said there should be an obligation to use the funds by November 1.  

After much discussion, Councilmember Rigg made the motion to introduce the ordinance for a budget amendment that follows staff’s recommendations for the Lost Revenue Funds and ARPA funds and employee salary and benefits as well as including amendments by Councilmembers Adams and Whitney to use money from FY24 extra fund balance for $150,000 for business attraction funds for the Flats, $130,000 for the Business Retention & Attraction fund, and $400,000 to assist Meals on Wheels in establishing a College Park location. It was seconded by Councilmember Hernandez. 

24-G-121 Authorization for the City manager to enter into an agreement with Rally House Stores (Sports Apparel), Inc. in an amount not to exceed $130,000 for business assistance to assist with the costs of buildout, fixtures, other capital related costs, signage, and façade improvements at 7501 Baltimore Avenue to fill the vacant storefront (formerly Target) location – Michael Williams, Director of Economic Development

Mr. Williams provided an overview of the applicant’s business and the request for a business attraction grant. Rally House, sports apparel vendor, is seeking to fill the Route 1 commercial space vacated by Target. The vendor operates over 250 locations throughout the county, including other Big Ten towns.  The performance of their stores varies between $1M annually to $3M annually. They are seeking $130,000 in grant money from the city to assist with buildout.  

Councilmember Esters asked the store representative why they are considering College Park and if they would proceed with their plans without the grant funding.  Mr. Daniel Zmijewski mentioned the Big ten and the connection to the University and area by the Liebert family.  He said the funds from the City will be helpful but was not sure if lack of receipt would preclude the development of the store.  

Councilmember Adams made the motion, seconded by Councilmember Rigg

Councilmember Esters made an amendment to decrease the amount of the grant to $100,000, which was seconded by Councilmember Whitney. The amendment failed. The motion passed 7-1 with a no vote by Councilmember Esters.

WORKSESSION DISCUSSIONS 

B. Listening Session in Districts – Bill Gardiner, Assistant City Manager

The council decided to table this discussion until the next Council meeting.  

MEETING ADJOURNED

Click here to see the full agenda for the City of College Park Mayor & Council Hybrid Meeting on September 17, 2024. Tune in, show up or share your thoughts/concerns about the following anticipated Consent Agenda and Action Items, and Workshop discussions proposed to be on the agenda that may interest District 2 residents. Please contact us as soon as possible if you need accommodations to participate in a meeting, including language translation:

CONSENT ITEMS:

• Approval to create and distribute a Request for Proposals (RFP) for three grants of up to $10,000 each for Adult Social Sports Programs for College Park Residents – Kiaisha Barber, Director of Youth, Family and Senior Services 
• Approval of Parameters/Guidelines for the City’s Business Retention and Attraction fund – Michael Williams, Director of Economic Development 
• Approval to Submit a Grant Application to the Environmental Protection Agency for the Upper Paint Branch Resilience Project, Requesting $20 Million Under the EPA Community Change Grant Program – Rakhmel Rafi, Grants Coordinator

ACTION ITEMS:

• Introduction of an Ordinance to amend City Code Chapter 179 to remove the City Forester position from the City Code/Tree and Landscape Board – Robert Marsili, Director of Public Works and Stephanie Anderson, City Attorney (Public Hearing scheduled for October 8) 
• Approval of the nomination selection Committee for the Business of the Year Award – Michael Williams, Director of Economic Development