Minutes October 29, 2009

Minutes from the Fall 2009 meeting have been posted.

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Minutes from the Fall 2009

Forest Greens/Perryman Community Association Meeting

The Forest Greens-Perryman Community Association held the fall meeting on Thursday, October 29, 2009 at 7:00pm at Clorox. There were 65 people in attendance.

Harry Webster introduced the officers and Board of Directors:

The following guests and local representatives were in attendance.

• Pete Gutwald - Harford County Director of Planning and Zoning
• Paul Magness, Harford County Parks & Recreation
• Sepehr Baharlou, BayLand Associates

Harry welcomed everyone to the meetings and thanked Clorox for the use of the meeting room again this year. Harry also recognized and thanks all the FGPCA committee members who give much of their time throughout the year.

A moment of silence was held for Keith Ford and Fred Stemler who passed away this year. Both were members for many years and contributed their time to the community.

Harry read FGPCA mission to enforce that we are an association who fights for Community health which is made up of a balance of business, growth, infrastructure, environmental issues and a development of a planned community.

Debbie Diering gave the election report to fill two board member positions. Heather Cisar’s 3 year term was up and a new board position created during last year’s meeting was to be filled this year. The election committee recommended Heather Cisar to renew her term and Mike Gilbert to fill the new board position. Andy Powell made a motion to approve the committees’ recommendation and Bob Kuzma seconded the motion. The membership approved the election as stated.

Bush River Dredging

Paul Magness from Harford County Parks and Recreation and Sepehr Baharlou from Bayland Associates were present to provide an update on the Bush River dredging project. Ray Nornes of Berlin, MD was awarded the contract on September 24, 2009.

The dredging of the two main channels on the Upper Bush River and Otter Creek started the week of October 19. Channels were originally submitted in 2005 and included 3 main channels.  Plans were altered and the approved permit now only provides for two channels (see map). There are currently no plans to dredge the third channel on the original plan due to concerns about the effect on sub aquatic vegetation.  

Dredging work on the Bush River can only be performed each year between October 15 and February 15 due to seasonal fish spawning.  Paul said the contractor expects to complete most of the dredging this season but if not they will come back next October to complete any of the spur channels.

All dredged material will be pumped into the Dredged Material Placement (DMP) site located at the end of Fords Lane. Channel widths will vary from 30 to 50 feet wide. Depths of the channels will range from 3.5 to 5 feet deep at Mean low water (MLW). Officials estimate 19,650 cubic yards of material will be removed from the main channels.  There are 42 spur channels requested by residents that would remove an additional 30, 558 cubic yards of material, however these private spurs are not included in the current contract and remain unapproved. 

The “A” channel which had two sections: one from the Amtrak bridge down Park Beach Drive and another section that wrapped around Church Point. The first section was removed from the permit due to negative comments from community and the second section had a lot of support but could not get it through permits so it was dropped from the plan. Sepehr suggested that the best option that may get approved would be for the community to request a channel to the community pier. He suggested that the community build support and request the permit.

Fred Silva asked what the cost of the dredging project and Paul said the cost was $975,000.

Brownie Pearce voiced disappointed the community lost the recreation facility of the park to put in the dredging pond. Paul said that when Bob Geddes planned the DMP site he envisioned using the parking area and paved area for walking. He thought maybe one day lookout type piers could be built to look over the river.

An attendee asked how likely the Church Point channel will get dredged. Sepehr’s opinion was less than 5% chance to get permit into cove, but perhaps a spur to community pier would be possible and the community should put in the permit request now.

An attendee asked if channel markers would be placed in the river. Paul said there would be no markers.

Heather Cisar asked if soil tests were done. Sepehr said many soil samples were taken through the last several years for the channels being drilled. There was nothing unordinary from the tests.

Trail Committee

Harry introduced the idea of creating a trail committee to work on a possible trail connecting the Forest Green Lake trail to the Perryman Park on Fords lane. Chuck Mezan showed an aerial view of the parks and asked that anyone interested in helping with the project to sign up or send an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

Paul Tracy gave the treasurers report for 2009. The annual report was from November 2008 to October 2009. The total income for the year was $654.97 and total expenses were $933.17. The expenses included administration fee, community cleanup picnic, donations, web site hosting and parish hall rental. The balance as of 9/11/2009 was $4896.29.

Mike Carr began the discussion on the development in our area.

Low Impact Development (LID)

Heather Cisar gave a presentation on Low Impact Development (LID). LID is an innovative stormwater management approach with a basic principle that is modeled after nature: manage rainfall at the source using uniformly distributed decentralized micro-scale controls. The presentation showed how past development in our area has not used the LID principals and showed how the development committee is working with potential developers to ensure their designs incorporate LID.

Some of the ideas are:

• Ensure businesses are concentrated in a commercial district or community center area
• Allow for a community activity center and/or elementary school, and, if appropriate, a middle school
• Provide a marina for the entire community (existing and proposed) built in conjunction with development and located on the southeast side of the Amtrak bridge.
• Provide buffer zones around existing residences and churches

Pete Gutwald said the County got a mandate through the Maryland Department of the Environment’s storm water management regulations, to require developers (and the County) to integrate LID principles into design and implementation. Starting May 2010, Harford County will ask developers who are not using LID principals to go through a list of things to show it is not practical to use the storm water management techniques.

Heather asked if any development coming here would then have to do these techniques. Pete said yes, unless some type of grandfather clause.

Constellation Energy Expansion Project

Mike Carr said the Constellation Energy expansion has been put on hold since last years meeting. They are planning to still apply for approval for the development of the new plants but no progress since last year. The development committee will continue to monitor the project.

Perryman Station

Mike reported on the three story, 80 unit apartment building for the elderly. The property is 7.9 acres located at 1220 Perryman Road.

They are preserving the old house on the property for a recreation facility.

Perryman Woods/River Walk Development Phase II

The Perryman Woods project has been in the works since 2004. The land on Mitchell Drive and Forest Greens Road is now being discussed as going from R1 to R2. This request falls under a zoning law to allow an upgrade in zoning in turn for development in a condensed area to preserve more land. The developers plan shows 54 townhouse lots on 32.2 acres of land. There are a host of issues that concern the residents about this project. The developer, William Green, was responsible for the housing along Mitchell Drive which had many violations during development.

REVISED: Pete said the County Council introduced bill 09-31 to not allow townhouses in a R1 district under the NRD. Pete said that the bill will be introduced and available for public input on November 17.

Comprehensive Rezoning Review

Mike Carr discussed the 2 properties that requested zoning changes as part of the 2009 comprehensive rezoning review. The first was the Mitchell property which was withdrawn during the rezoning process. The second was 88 acres of property that runs from route 40 to Perryman Road. The property owner, Robert Webster Wright, requested the property be rezoned from R3 to R4. The zoning request was approved by the council.

A community member, Ms. Lewis said a group of citizens met with Mary Ann Lisanti concerning the 88 acre rezoning and the council allowed the up-zoning because of the reputation of the developer. Mary Ann negotiated with Wright to look for a developer and met with Clark Turner. Ms. Lewis said the group and Council agreed because of the type development. She said it will be a low impact development with mixed use. Without R4, Clark Turner was not going to work on project. The agreement was verbal so there was much concern within the community until a written agreement is made. Ms. Lewis asked for the community to work together to ensure the plans proceed as was told.

Mike Carr discussed several transportation projects on the peninsula. Mike informed the community about the County’s 2009 Draft Transportation Element Plan. This plan was released in September and citizens were allowed to comment on the plan until October 30.

The County is continuing the design work on the new road from Route 40 into the Mitchell property at Ford’s Lane. The County is taking the project through design and permitting phases however the funds to construct this road are not available considering the budget situation. With the designs and permits completed a developer could move forward in building the road if the Mitchell Property was developed. This would be a four lane road with a separate hiker/biker path and will include a traffic signal at US40.

Mike stated the “APG border road” is currently a "dead" issue.  It remains on the County’s transportation plan so a developer would be required to build it, however, APG does not desire the connection to MD715.

The State Highway Administration is still working on the design of a roundabout at the intersection of Perryman Road and Route 7. They determined that the most feasible roundabout option at this time would be a one-lane roundabout with free right turn lanes. The State is expected to take this road through the design phase and then await funding. Information on the project can be found at http://www.sha.state.md.us/WebProjectLifeCycle/ProjectInformation.asp?projectno=HA2052112.

Neighborhood Watch

Andy Powell gave a report on the neighborhood watch program. In the spring Andy went out into the community to try to get more members into the neighborhood watch program. The neighborhood watch program also had the annual picnic in September.

Fred Silva inquired about getting a sheriff sub-station in Perryman. Andy said there was nothing planned in the near term but the community suggested a station in the community development plan.

Cleanup Spring

The community spring cleanup was held on April 18, 2009. The group cleaned up the Forest Greens area and then had a community picnic. Trash bags if you want them. Need help.

Harry informed the Association that Sandy Tracy is working on some history of the Perryman Peninsula which will be posted to our web site. The history was obtained by a book found called “The Women of St. Georges Parish”.

Brownie Pearce heard some people from our community speak at the zoning meeting in Aberdeen and the people that stood up and spoke were impressive.

Bob Seaman asked if there has been any progress on a boat ramp on this side of the river. Harry said there has been nothing discussed recently but the association continues to look for opportunities to have something provided.

8:50pm – Meeting adjourned.