Show Transcript
Disclaimer: The following transcript was auto-generated and may contain spelling or contextual errors.
you're watching open Agenda here's our
host Joe
White welcome to open Agenda I'm your
host Joe White in the studio with me
today is our director and editor Mark
Carroll thanks for coming out thanks for
having me so uh middle of December M and
uh we have a lot to cover um now we've
gotten rid of uh Dr janosa right he's
off doing exams right is that where he
is that's what he says he is um I think
the question is do we miss a much we're
about to find out yeah I I I do miss so
he's he's out giving exams to students
probably making them sweat it out right
at the end to get a good grade but yeah
but uh thanks for coming in yeah so
absolutely it wasn't a very long walk so
no no just from the other side of the
camera right so uh so yeah we do have a
lot to cover but I also think we have
some pretty exciting news in your world
um tell us a little bit about what uh
what happened this past Saturday oh I
was Ed uh as one of the commissioners of
sharptown okay congratulations thank you
sharptown has five Commissioners and and
I am now one of them so well and how
long have you been the director of parks
and wreck that volunteer position there
uh about five years okay so do you what
do you what do you think some of the
challenges are sharp town I mean not bad
necessarily but what do you what do you
hope to get accomplished next few years
um I really thought of it yeah I bet I
bet you do a lot of listening first
though won't you yeah absolutely uh I
already go to a lot of the Town meetings
anyway just to make sure that the parks
and rec information is being passed
along so um just really looking forward
to you know whatever issues coming up
being on that side of the table and
being able to you know help I hope the
town as much as I can I think you'll be
a great addition uh you know politics
aside for a minute I think uh your
ability to to to level with people um
without big words without without um
being misin formed yourself I think
you'll do really well I appreciate that
thank you so uh let's talk about you
know information we're going to start
today with Salsbury city council uh it
probably seems like maybe that's very
one-sided uh but this is actually going
to affect everybody in the in the W
Comico County and we're we're going to
talk a little bit about that in the
first segment okay uh so back in
November the Planning and Zoning had a
hearing a very long hearing uh and and
the the videos are still on pack
14 this hearing was to increase the
property density in the central business
district from 40 units an acre to 80
units but is that so is that what what
downtown is the central business
district yes and it's outlined if you go
into the government office building
there are maps there I'm sure if you go
over to the headquarters uh the city of
Salsbury hasard Maps there but basically
what we considered downtown yeah that um
they're discussing increasing it is that
what they wanted well so so here's where
we're at a year ago they they the
developer uh Brad Gillis U they they
want to put in a lot of Apartments their
same Market level Apartments Luxury
Apartments Downtown where the parking
lots are now sure they went to get an
exception and were turned down and they
actually appealed that exception to
judge Jackson and he he also threw it
out and at the time they wanted to go to
77 units okay so the different route is
they actually went this year to get a
text Amendment change to the Planning
and Zoning code yeah and this code is
shared by both the county and the city
we only have one Planning and Zoning
commission for the whole every for both
governments on that commission you have
uh city council president uh Deshawn
dowy W Comico County councilman Joe
Holloway and then you have five other
members so and many of those members are
also members of the greater Salsbury
committee greater Salsbury committee did
some research and they wrote a white
paper in favor of it MH the city staff
report came out against it so in this
long meeting the city staff report was
read uh you know a lot of testimony was
given by both people for it and against
it I think most people were actually
against it the developer was obviously
for it and a lot of their Associates um
this is interesting I I have some
questions actually um uh not very many
people know that I I lived downtown for
about 3 years and um Back Then There
Were Logistics issues and I'm curious if
any of these come up in these meetings
um for for starters when I lived
Downtown parking was a problem and this
was 20 years ago it it was a problem
then uh the other issue was it something
you would never think of but it was
trash removal uh and I think they have
solved it but when I lived downtown we
we didn't have waste disposal so we
would have to collect all of our trash
in in plastic Walmart bags and then dump
them on the Plaza and then get yelled at
by city employees but we we didn't have
anywhere else to take our trash and I I
think there's something they worked
something out with that where there's
like dumpsters residents can take trash
to but in in this plan uh here did they
say anything about building their own
parking or having their own so so there
was a traffic study done several years
ago but it was done by the developer oh
and a lot of questions have been raised
about that about the validity of that
now there will be another traffic study
done but if this passes uh and and
that's where we're at with this work
session this is actually the city
council still has to pass it MH uh but
if this passes there there will be
another traffic study done the city of
Salisbury has a one lot that is
designated for a parking garage now this
parking garage is not bonded so there's
it's not guaranteed that it's going to
be built but we had Randy Taylor on last
week and he actually spoke about the
maintenance cost per year year just to
have the parking garage in the
neighborhood of 400,000 to 500,000 a
year not counting building the garage so
this is a new garage that's going to
supposed to service this building is
that correct well part of it uh so this
new garage would have about 450 spaces
all of which would would be um used
by per current permit holders and uh the
new residents of this development so
there's not a not a holistic parking or
traffic plan done and Randy Taylor
actually spoke in detail about how this
will put some strain on Services now he
talked about absolutely education and he
talked about fire service but you know
you talk about trash service I that that
was not brought up in the planning
zoning committee so I don't know yeah
the uh this garage that that may be may
be built um is it adjacent to the
property or is it is it close by yeah
it's pretty close by um but it's gonna
if you're a County resident and you're
on jury duty MH or you want to go down
and pull a permit or pay your your
property tax bill your your parking is
going to be impacted by a decision that
is going to be made by the Salsbury city
council I see starting this Monday so
it's the first reading there'll be a
second reading in January Now by by the
rhetoric we've heard from the work
sessions this is almost guaranteed to
pass it's either going to pass three to
two or 4 to one but the thing is if it
passes 3 to2 then it will or if it
passes either way it has to go to Randy
Taylor's office for for for signing or
veto at a 3 to2 passing this
theoretically could go to Randy Taylor's
office be vetoed and 3 to2 is not enough
to override The veto so this is
definitely one of those situations where
even the slightest input from the public
whether you're a city resident or a
County resident could swing this one way
or another I yeah um so on the on the
low end before they do the the D
increase um is there a plan for how many
units would be in there if they didn't
get the the larger so there are two
other examples uh one is a another
parking lot that's already set to be
developed and that and that development
is set at the 40 units per acre
allotment uh they're high-end units uh
that developer actually spoke at the
planning and zoning committee meeting um
they're you know I think they would love
to have had added more but they're going
to proceed with the plan they have
interest ly uh over near the hospital
there's another parcel that is in this
same area and it has been approved above
capacity but through the exception they
went to planning zoning here's the key
they have their own parking yes so that
was that was really where the rubber met
the road for the planing zoning
initially and planing zoning is
different from the you know from the
committee that that gives out exceptions
it was the parking is this lot you're
talking about is it on the other side of
Carol Street like on the hospital side
of Carol Street so the one that has the
expanded density is on the other side
okay towards the hospital the one that's
that's already you know it's going to
have the lower density is is is on like
Circle average sure well um well that
makes sense being outside of Caroll
because being you know downtown living
there and working there uh for a number
of years I have seen the traffic
patterns and if something is to be built
on the outside it wouldn't impact the
downtown traffic as much as something
built where they would like to build it
I've seen traffic backed up down Market
Street all the way back up Carol just
trying to get through the light on Mill
Street so yeah no one's going to the
hospital walking all the way across the
river to go to jury duty but the parking
lots you're using right now near Unity
Square are not going to be available
they're going to be that's going to be
the area that's developed so okay so if
you'll stick around we I want to go over
some of the County Council uh agenda
items that's for very next day the the
Tuesday there's quite a bit of important
information on there absolutely yeah
I'll so stay with us when we come back
we're going to do a rundown of the
agenda from the County council meeting
on Tuesday December 17th and give you an
update on just a few of those votes as
well stay with us we'll be right
back welcome back to open Agenda in the
studio with me still is Mark Carroll
Town commissioner from the town of
yes I guess so well I haven't been sworn
in yet but okay maybe by the time this
air about town commissioner elect yes
that's right I think that's the official
that's a lot of hens so it is it is
that's my favorite bumper by the way
that we just played before this segment
oh really yeah so uh I want to talk a
little bit about the actual the the
legislative session for the County
Council now there the the Salsbury city
council we we covered earlier is on
Monday December 16th at 6 o00 the county
council's the next day it's a 10: a.m.
meeting they're both in room 301 same
same room okay I guess you can stay
overnight if you if you bring a pillow
how are the accommodations not very good
I don't think it's either really hot or
really cold in there I feel like um but
there's a there's a few very important
public hearings uh one and we've heard
we've heard this come back up several
times this is this is a public hearing
for legislative Bill
2024-25 to the W Comico county code
title County vehicles or Vehicles County
actually I think that's the way it's
it's titled uh this actually came up
first a year ago uh this was in a work
session with the county executive the
director of administration uh bunkey L
llin and the entire County Council and
the and the the issue there was that
there was uh not not a high stand or not
an even standard for vehicle usage
throughout the county even even things
like logos sure um you I think it's oh
so there wasn't any consistency across
the like you you'd have some County
vehicles with no branding and then
others with maybe one small logo and
then others with two so there's just no
it wasn't uniform right no brand
consistency not at all and and and not
maybe and and also too just even how you
budget for the the lease uh agreement so
right now the leases are just done as a
line item and so they don't know what
department is using what not right now
now I'm sure the county executiv office
has a list of the vehicles and they know
what department is but from a budget
control standpoint you you have no
control okay uh or all the parks and W
Vehicles all of a sudden in another
department we don't actually know um not
saying there's anything wrong but you
know just to standardize it is that just
for leased vehicles is that right is
that well yeah it's you know even
assigned Vehicles now are are known by
their by their department but the least
the least set is it's just done as a as
over all budget number the also
standardizing who's allowed to use them
and when under what circumstances this
is the public hearing they've had work
sessions um they going to still be more
discussion and I think if this is
something that you feel strongly about
you should come there's a public hearing
about the FFA Le or FAA lease for the
old terminal building um it's probably a
pretty standard thing with the with the
with the airport but then there's also a
public hearing and I think you and I can
speak speak to this from our experience
as Youth Sports directors uh letter of
support for a class B athletic and
Advent facility license in W coma County
um there's really only one facility
right now that comes to mind that this
would fit and that's Crown sports and in
Fruitland um the the letter support is
because in order to get any type of
changes done to the liquor bills they
have to be done in Annapolis so this is
a letter of support
supporting our delegation to to take
this to Annapolis to get this is this is
one of three bills that are going to be
introduced this winter on the behalf of
iico County that involve liquor
licenses wait did this is so that they
can serve alcohol at a sports facility
like a children's Sports facility yes
where
uh I'm sorry that just caught me off
like I how is this a good idea well
let's just speak from the ref standpoint
I mean we're having we've both done
we've both been officials we've both
been certified to be officials and been
officials we've done that and it can be
challenging I can't imagine uh I can't
imagine doing that if the parents are
even a little bit intoxicated they're
already sometimes yeah well one of the
most nerve-wracking things for me
sometimes is when different parent
groups aren't getting along MH um
because I mean at the end of the day we
all showed up for the kids right
absolutely I mean we're if we're going
to go to a party we're going to do it
later or another day but for that moment
we're supposed to be there for the Youth
Sports um this does not seem like this
these two things should mix right no and
and and you and I we have been we've
been coaches uh we have been program
coordinators and you know we've been
officials as I mentioned and I I go back
to the very first thing that when we
went through our officials training was
what is your number one priority safety
player safety yeah player safety 100%
yeah and you know also you and I spend a
lot of our time um with our volunteers
building them up you know at the end of
the day uh a coach for one of our
division 2 teams which is uh seven or
second and third graders they're usually
a parent who knows a little bit about
the sport but more importantly it's just
willing to show up absolutely can you
imagine if they have to deal with an
angry parent whether it's from their own
team or the other team who's maybe had a
few I mean this is this would be a
dynamic shift in the wrong direction are
we
100% in like this is actually what this
is there's not we're not misreading this
like this is what it is no there there's
always been a little murkiness to these
even last year when they passed the
first liquor bill to uh dissolve the
Monopoly for the W Comico County
dispensary it initially went to the
County Council not as a bill but as a
legislative resolution M it was brought
brought up that they were there was
concerns about there being changes made
once they got to Annapolis mhm
uh than there was yeah now they they
were able to curb this back uh so the
bill that got introduced was the one
that just said just Chang it from Sha to
May from buying from the from the
dispensary and allowed you know private
Distributors to come in and sell the the
restaurants I actually think that's a
great deal but when they had the July
1st press conference uh our former
delegate Carl anderton and our current
County Executive Julie gardano State
stated at the press conference that they
had just opened the door we might as
well walk through it I think this is us
walking through it because one of the
other bills is to expand liquor license
for for more more stores basically in W
Comico County I can't believe this is
this is a a positive th no no absolutely
not well the other thing too is that the
reason that we were taking um those
those classes for to get our officials
training is because there is a not just
here everywhere a nationwide shortage of
referees umpires officials for All
Sports and all Youth Sports there's a
huge shortage so we did this you and I
participated uh we had some of our more
mature um older players yes participate
in this as well so that they could get
uh service hours or or payment whichever
they chose but they would do the little
kids games point being we needed to look
outside of the the normal means to have
enough referees to run our programming
this does not seem like it's it's going
to encourage people to want to become a
Referee if they know that they might
have to officiate a game where alcohol
is being served well at this public
hearing there will be a chance for the
public to speak this is not public
comments necessarily this is a an you
know a different chance uh Richard Duval
who is the attorney for the liquor board
will be there I can tell you there's uh
politically there's a lot of politicians
who' like to see this P I think if we
pulled uh volunteers coaches parents I
don't I don't think there's a lot of
support but I can promise you if we
don't show up and we don't express our
dismay and maybe even our concern for
for this not just for one circumstance
but in the long term oh yeah I this
would have a huge negative impact on
Youth Sports in our area 100% what is
the date of that again so this is on
Tuesday December 17th it's a 10: a.m.
meeting 10 a.m. but I'm going to give
you one other way to get your voice
heard go to w Comico county.org
look up the County Council okay every
one of them has their email address and
phone number I will tell you I think
it's easier to send an email and you
don't have to just send it to your
County council person sure our County
Council represents all seven of them
represent the entire County yes you have
one in your district and yes there two
at
large but all of them do I would send
them if I'm a parent out there I I would
this would make me this will give me
chills oh absolutely giv me chills right
now yes 100% yeah yeah so then even
after this legislative session and
there's quite a bit end of the year
stuff going to go through there there's
quite a bit on the open work session and
uh if you could stick around one more
segment I'd like to to go through some
of that because these Works session uh
topics are going to be legislative
topics early in 2025 okay so when we
come back we're going to work through
the work session topics and talk a
little bit about what we can expect into
2025 thanks for sticking with us we'll
be right
back welcome back to open agenda I'm
your host Joe White still in studio with
me is Mark Carroll yes you didn't untie
my legs no no you're still you're you're
tethered so we we talked about the open
work session items and I think some of
these are important because they're
going to come back up in the budget
meetings that we going to see in April
and May uh the discussion with Randy
Taylor the mayor of Salsbury about the
Salsbury fire service you know this was
a this was a Hot Topic last year uh a
large increase but not even as much as
they felt like they should get um and I
I think this is this is going to be
important the proposed 2025 legislative
session uh you know the the priorities
and bunkey llin the director of
administration is going to speak about
that and then also the T the the
landfill 10-year comprehensive plan uh
you know we we know our landfill is is
getting to the end of its useful life
and uh uh you know In Our Lifetime that
is going to have to be addressed so if
anybody's interested in any of these
things they're going to break it down um
for people to get more information about
yeah if you want to find out exactly
what the County Council the county
Executives going to be talking about the
next 60 to 90 days the work sessions are
a good place to start if you really want
to get some of the background
information and get a feel for uh how
certain council members are going to
vote yeah so we were talking about the
density earlier yes um and and you know
the Salsbury city council meeting is
Monday December 16th at 6 o'clock uh I I
want to I want to go back to something
you were talking about earlier as
someone who lived downtown sure talk
about just just really what made your
decision and and you know where you ate
where you shopped how you lived your
life when you lived downtown um downtown
20 years ago was a was a completely
different landscape than it is now uh we
tried to stay downtown as much as
possible um it was difficult uh luckily
um when we lived down there it was when
the sushi restaurant opened up I often
tell people that I I moved because
otherwise I would have gone bankrupt
from having sushi every night every
night yeah yeah well what was some of
the you said it was difficult what were
some of the big challenges when you did
live downtown um well I mentioned the
trash service there was no trash service
at the time um parking could be an issue
you weren't always guaranteed to get a
um a permit at the lot near your
building um which can be a challenging
if they want you to park in the garage
and the garage is four or five blocks
away from where you live um
you know some people don't feel safe
walking around downtown after dark um
and then just there wasn't a lot of
places to do anything other than drink
and eat okay there weren't very many
shops again a problem that they have
since done a lot better with um just
going around downtown now you know
there's gift shops U the ice cream shop
and just a lot more to do downtown so if
you if you if you were still a resident
downtown and you heard about this text
amendment that is is going to be voted
on by the the city council to actually
double the density I mean how how would
you feel about that if you were already
down there I'd be very concerned because
what one of the the challenging things
to do downtown is to get out of downtown
um or or back in if you were out of it U
downtown is basically an island if you
you know get the branch of the W Comico
I think had 50 on the other side and
there's limited ways to get in and out
between the oneway streets and there's
always seems to be be a closure
somewhere um trying to figure out how
they would you know make all that work
with all that additional traffic and
people there um because yes there's you
know there's gift shops there's places
to eat places to have dinner drinks
things like that but you still have to
go to Walmart you still have to get you
know you still have to get out and get
your groceries and and do other things
you know normal Citizens need to do well
so you could speak about as a resident
you and I are both small business owners
I mean how do you how would you feel if
you were thinking about opening up a a
business
downtown if I
was my business is downtown but on the
outside yeah on the edge I'm on the edge
I'm on the edge um well you know it's
interesting I have a perspective now
that part of the reason that um I I kept
my business downtown I could have
downsized uh and moved somewhere else
but I kept it downtown uh because of the
other uh large residential building that
was put in place there and my reasoning
was that if people were searching for my
services they would find it uh the way
that Google ranks is they'll show you
the closest person um well I've been
downtown back downtown in my business
for four years now and I haven't had a
single uh client from any of those
buildings so oh yeah yeah so from the
outside it seems like oh this would be
great I'm so much closer to all these
people but as someone who is there now I
I don't for my for me and what I'm doing
I don't really U I don't really see the
benefit to it now the other maybe the
other places like the restaurants gift
shops and bars maybe it's more
beneficial to them well you and I were
talking at the break uh specifically
about the other uh plan development over
on the hospital side um and and and how
how that process happened because I mean
they they were they were granted an
exception MH uh and really it comes down
to the parking right so as a business
owner if you don't have enough parking I
mean how's that going to affect your
business that I recently moved my
business downtown I stayed in downtown
but I moved to a location that had its
own parking lot because parking was a
problem that's how important it was to
me I I moved my office to a building
that had its own lot U because there
were times I would I would just need to
run in my office quick you know between
calls answerers some emails or something
like that and I would pull up to the lot
next to my building it was full yeah and
so I wasn't getting the benefit of the
office because I couldn't I could never
get in there well if if a client was
going to drop off a computer exactly and
they don't have a place to park but
somebody does outside the central
business district I mean how what's the
chances they're just like you know what
I'm just not going to get DeMark
Carroll's computer office exactly and
then and I when you were talking about
the exception on on the outside you know
near the hospital that makes more sense
that's why the exception exists trying
to build a high Den
residential unit inside of the downtown
footprint is why the rule was there to
begin with the exception is there for
the places that could sustain it like oh
there's not anything near here there's
plenty of parking the infrastructure can
support it we have roads that can
support a building of this size that's
why the exception exists it doesn't
exist so that you know someone can come
up with this plan and then expect it to
go through because they develop other
things within the city or the county
yeah well and we were talking about the
traffic study earlier
uh there there's also study done by the
by the staff about water and sewer that
it just really depends on how you read
it but it it it definitely seems like
we're maxing out the capacity for
anything else down there so oh oh
absolutely this text Amendment did pass
six to one and uh the only person to
vote against that was Joe Holloway uh
the other members feel like hey you know
what let's build it and we'll figure it
out so thanks for coming in thanks than
have me I'd like to have you back maybe
after you've had some time to uh settle
in over there at the sharptown Town
Council sure I really want to hear about
uh some of the challenges that towns
like sharptown or Hein or Pittsville are
maybe facing as we enter this budget
deficit with the state level uh we are
anticipating major cuts to funding uh
possible tax hikes and I think as every
every
municipality County government goes
through through those processes let's
just see really how it would affect a
small town like sharptown right
absolutely howd you have you too all
right we have you back thanks for
watching this episode of open Agenda
we'll be back next week with another new
episode we think Mark Carroll is the
best editor ever
