MINUTES

WALKERSVILLE BURGESS & COMMISSIONERS TOWN MEETING

August 22, 2007

The Town meeting of the Walkersville Burgess & Commissioners was called to order on Wednesday, August 22, 2007, at 7:30 p.m. Those in attendance included Burgess Ralph Whitmore, Commissioners Sam Eyler, Jim Reid, Donald Schildt, Chad Weddle, and Debbie Zimmerman, Town Manager Gloria Long Rollins, Planning and Zoning Administrator Susan Hauver, Public Works Director Bob DePaola, Public Works Supervisor Dennis Miller, 13 citizens, and 1 press, Gina Gallucci of the Frederick News Post.

The meeting was called to order with the Pledge of Allegiance.

1. MINUTES

2. PUBLIC HEARING ON ORDINANCE 2007-05, ORDINANCE 2007-06, ORDINANCE 2007-07, ORDINANCE 2007-08, ORDINANCE 2007-09, AND ORDINANCE 2007-10

Ms. Hauver noted that the Planning Commission recommended approval of the following ordinances: Ordinance 2007-05 Fees for Review of Site Plans, Subdivision Plans and Improvement Plans, Ordinance 2007-06 Zoning Certificate Fees, Ordinance 2007-07 Board of Appeals Fees, Ordinance 2007-08 Zoning Map Amendment, Zoning Text Amendment, and Annexation Fees, Ordinance 2007-09 Fees for Review of Text Amendment applications, and Ordinance 2007-10 Fees for Review of Text Amendment applications.

There were no public comments offered.

3. PUBLIC HEARING ON ORDINANCE 2007-12 INSTITUTIONAL ZONING DISTRICT

Ms. Hauver reviewed the ordinance introducing an Institutional Zoning District with changes incorporated by the Planning Commission. There were no public comments.

Commissioner Weddle passed out an amendment to the original proposed ordinance deleting the following from the Agricultural District: public and private educational facilities, places of worship, community services, public utilities and other public facilities, private clubs, and antique shops. Commissioner Weddle noted that adoption of this amendment would require the ordinance to go back to the Planning Commission.

Commissioner Zimmerman asked if anyone with a working farm wanted to do something with their land other than agriculture, would they have to come in and request a zoning change to institutional? Commissioner Weddle said they would request whatever zoning they needed with the exception of the permitted uses that he read. His amendment deletes some of the special exception uses.

David Moxley commented that the ordinance was not made available prior to the meeting. Ms. Hauver notified commissioners that the amendment would go to the Planning Commission and be subject to the process of public hearing and that copies would be made available to the public.

4. CITIZENS’ QUESTIONS AND CONCERNS

None.

5. VERIZON LEASE FOR CRUM ROAD WATER TOWER - DISCUSSION

Ms. Rollins directed commissioners to the email in their packets and the change proposed to the wording of our standard lease agreement from "temporary" to permanent generator. Verizon has been granted First Responder status under the Stafford Act. Commissioners directed that we should find out the size of the generator and make sure that it is quiet before a decision is made to allow a permanent generator.

6. SENIOR CITIZENS THURSDAY MEAL PLAN

Cozy Restaurant will continue to deliver 35 meals every Tuesday for the Senior Citizens. Twenty-two meals @$5.00 each will be provided by Trouts Restaurant on Thursdays.

7. ACCOUNTS PAYABLE

Commissioner Don Schildt made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Sam Eyler, to pay the attached bills. The motion passed by a vote of 4-1, with Commissioner Jim Reid opposed.

8. COMMISSIONERS’ CONCERNS

Commissioner Schildt announced the first committee meeting to organize mailings to active Walkersville-related military will be held Wednesday, September 5, 2007 at 7:30 p.m. in the small meeting room at Town Hall.

9. CITIZENS’ QUESTIONS AND CONCERNS

The new owner of 1 and 3 West Frederick Street, Robert Club of Clubhouse Properties in Mt. Airy, introduced himself. He noted that they are looking for activities for kids such as dance or karate studios.

Discussion ensued regarding the wireless telecommunications providers located on the Crum Road water tower. A citizen asked that the town consider installing their own generator for use by the providers on the tower, AT&T, Sprint, Cellular One, T-Mobile in process, and Verizon in process. Burgess Whitmore noted the cost of the generator installed at town hall at $40,000, and felt it was cost prohibitive to the town to install a generator.

George Rudy, of 11 Crum Road, stated that the town is way over power on the Crum Tower and he will be proving that over the next year. He stated that the Stafford Act and the Red Cross as the alternate national emergency center and the cellular companies creates a very interesting situation developing. He declines to file with the Board of Appeals process (Kangaroo Court) and has elected to take other approaches. He will be inquiring on information, discovery, and states he will be going to court on this whole situation. Commissioner Zimmerman asked Mr. Rudy what he meant by "over powered on the Tower." Mr. Rudy stated that fraudulent reports have been put in on this whole process. He stated that characterization of the whole area and the Town consultant have backed the program with claims that the nearest houses are outside of 200 feet. He stated there are rigorous rules about energy densities. He will be putting up an RF shield on his house that will be instrumented and he will bring in an RF shielding expert who was his neighbor at one time. He stated that he will bring in the appropriate regulatory agencies where he will be presenting this information. He stated that in 1989 he hung up the engineering license because there were other people who did the grunt work. He stated that the Town forced him, because we read him the riot act on September 27, to go back and get his engineering license reinstated as of June. He stated that it is obvious that the Town does not want to work on this and has blindsided everybody on the whole thing. He stated he has no problem when something is correct, but a big problem when something is wrong, and one of us is wrong, and we are going to find out who. He stated we’ll do a professional, with detailed analyses, by discovery of materials brought in from what these people really have, and there will be infield measurements.

Pat Yoingco, of 303 Glade Blvd., expressed concern regarding the meeting with the Ahmadiyya Community held this past Monday night. She stated that the concern with everyone she has talked to is there are no amenities here in Walkersville to support a large gathering of people. She is concerned for the restaurants and the roads and the fact that they say they want to come here for the amenities and there are no amenities here for 5-10 thousand people and she hopes that whatever boards are involved will consider all that. Burgess Whitmore assured her that there will be ample public hearings on this and she will be able to express her opinion.

Alex Renko, of 304 Kenwood Court, expressed his concern that the gentleman from the Ahmadiyya Community had mentioned hotels and he noted we have no hotel space here. His stated that his concern is that the group is not looking for a property in the middle of nowhere, they want to build in a town to establish a community with shopping center and residential areas where people can move in to. He feels there are trying to establish a "center" for their community and get a "foot hold". He doesn’t believe they would purchase this large property for just a few dozen people to utilize on weekends. He has learned over the past year or two that Walkersville people like the status quo and this kind of a change will alter the town and will make it a different town within 5 years. He commended the commissioners for trying to keep to the status quo.

Burgess Whitmore stated that the Burgess and Commissioners cannot make statements at this time and will not prejudge this situation. He noted that nothing has officially been presented or requested from the town at this time. They have not presented a plan.

As there were no further comments for the good of the community, the meeting adjourned at

8:20 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Gloria Long Rollins

Town Manager