Be Part of the Conversation
Gerald Winegrad hit the nail on the head with his recent column (The Capital, July 23). I am appalled by the fact that developers, many of whom don’t even live here, continue to run our town and influence our laws. For many years we have seen the city continue to annex land from the county read on >
Month: July 2016
The Capital: “City’s new development rules differ from county”
By: E.B. Fergurson III, Capital Gazette reporter The city’s new school enrollment rules for developers allow more students per school than the county regulations they are modeled after, but are more restrictive elsewhere. While the new rules, counting the number of students a project will generate against school enrollment capacity, do not seem to threaten read on >
The Capital: “City passes school capacity bill”
By: E.B. Fergurson III, Capital Gazette reporter The Annapolis City Council on Monday passed the city’s first school capacity test in order for developments to be approved. The legislation is designed to reduce residential development, or at least delay it, near crowded schools in the city, including the overcrowded Tyler Heights Elementary School. The city read on >
Save Our Schools: Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance Essentially Meaningless After Amendments
For decades the city has thumbed its nose at the county and allowed new residential development to add more students to overcapacity schools. Developers have blocked all attempts to pass a law parallel to the county’s that would prevent such developments from being approved for six years or until the school overcrowding is resolved. The read on >
Capital Editorial: “Passage of city school bill important, overdue”
By: Capital Gazette Editorial Board The city hasn’t been in any rush to extend the concept of adequate public facilities to school capacity. Indeed, it has been moving so slowly you could accuse it of standing still. The bill the City Council is expected to approve Monday won’t provide any quick relief for some of read on >
Capital Op-Ed: “Development strangles city quality of life”
By: Gerald Winegrad, Stop Crystal Spring Traffic, school overcrowding, and environmental degradation linked to city annexations of land from the county and other developments make most residents suffer, especially on the Annapolis Neck Peninsula. Developers, land speculators and their attorneys exert an undue influence over city elected officials to the detriment of the common good, read on >
The Capital: “Bill to slow development near crowded Annapolis schools up for vote”
By: Chase Cook, Capital Gazette reporter The Annapolis City Council will vote Monday to reduce residential development near crowded schools, most notably Tyler Heights Elementary. The Adequate Public Facilities bill would lock residential development when nearby schools hit capacity. Developers would have to pay for improvements or wait up to six years for the school read on >
New Report Shows Major Intersections on Forest Drive Already Over Capacity Without New Development
As if we needed more evidence that Forest Drive is already beyond capacity, a new county traffic report shows that two of the major intersections along the roadway are currently operating at a “D” level of service on an A-F scale during peak hours. A previous analysis prepared for the City of Annapolis in 2014 read on >
Capital LTE: “City should not put development ahead of basic rights of local citizens”
I am writing regarding recent stories about school overcrowding, traffic gridlock and new land development here on Annapolis Neck. As president of the Oyster Harbor Community, I am closely connected to these situations. Currently, at Hillsmere Elementary School, two more trailers have been added to the four already used by our students. Other schools, such read on >
The Capital: “Annapolis City Council to hold public hearing on Forest Conservation Law”
By: Chase Cook, Capital Gazette reporter Get ready for a slew of public hearings in Annapolis on Monday. The City Council returns from the Fourth of July holiday to hold public hearings on annexed properties, legislation to protect forests and an attempt to increase how often the city requires traffic analysis for developers. The council read on >