MINUTES

WALKERSVILLE BURGESS & COMMISSIONERS TOWN MEETING

September 26, 2007

The Town meeting of the Walkersville Burgess & Commissioners was called to order on Wednesday, September 26, 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, TFC Jim Ardinger, approximately 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. VICTORIA PARK – MULTI-YEAR WATER TAP AGREEMENT, PARTIAL ASSIGNMENT OF WATER TAPS, COVENANTS REGARDING AGE RESTRICTIONS

Ms. Hauver went over legal documents for commissioners’ approval. A water tap agreement was never executed in 1986 for the water taps purchased by Jay Silberman (2^nd Walkers Village LLC). 39 of Mr. Silberman’s taps remain, and the Multi-Year Tap Agreement documents this ancient purchase. Secondly, 28 of the taps will be assigned to Victoria Park with a Partial Assignment of Water Taps document. Lastly, covenants restricting the age of tenants of the property, required by the APFO, need to be executed. Commissioners discussed some of the sections of the age restriction covenants and decided discuss with legal counsel in closed session following the regular town meeting business.

3. RESOLUTION 2007-05 – MARYLAND EMPLOYEES RETIREMENT AND PENSION SYSTEM

Ms. Rollins discussed the Maryland State Retirement pick-up program whereby employees contribute to the retirement plan on a federal pre-tax basis. Previously, municipalities were required to obtain a private letter ruling from the IRS in order to participate. Maryland is now allowing municipalities to participate by adopting the attached resolution.

4. CITIZENS’ QUESTIONS AND CONCERNS

Ed Marino, of 268 Providence Circle, referred to his 4-page email sent to the town’s mail box and asked for assurance that the commissioners received it. He would like his comments regarding the Ahmadiyya Community to be considered by the Board of Appeals. He stated that he believes that they are putting us in a fog regarding the details of what they are planning for the Nicodemus Farm. He stated that all the plans seem "fuzzy". He asks that the environmental, security, and safety issues for the community be given serious consideration, because if not, we will be unable to recover from the consequences.

5. ACCOUNTS PAYABLE

6. COMMISSIONERS’ CONCERNS

Commissioner Don Schildt asked for information on how to get on a waiting list for Victoria Park.

Commissioner Don Schildt announced a meeting for the military gifts committee to be held Thursday, September 27 at Town Hall.

Commissioner Chad Weddle went to the podium to address the citizens and press regarding the sequence of events leading to the ordinance to remove certain institutional uses from the agricultural zoning as follows:

• January 2007 – Burgess & Commissioners reviewed Planning & Zoning projects to be addressed for the year. Development of an Institutional zoning district to correspond with institutional land use category on 2003 Comprehensive Plan is on the list of projects.
• No proposals for any uses for any properties in process in January.
• Began working on Institutional zone – wrote ordinance
• Ordinance was introduced by Burgess & Commissioners, went to Planning Commission for comment, and back to B&C for adoption. Intention was to make sure institutional uses were deleted from sections where they no longer belonged, such as Open Space and Agricultural.
• Commissioner Weddle notes that he is a poor ordinance writer and neglected the deletion of the uses from Agricultural in the 2007-12 ordinance.
• August 22, 2007- Proposed amendment to 2007-12 ordinance, then introduced correction as Ordinance 2007-17.

Commissioner Weddle noted that throughout his tenure on the board he has given advice to people on where to locate certain entities in town. When the Board of Appeals approved the Banner School location on agricultural property with a special exception, they were stymied by Frederick County because they could not get a sewer connection. All large developments or building has been required to connect to town water and Frederick County sewer because of our fragile water aquifer, our Wellhead Protection ordinance. The town is against well and septic because of the problems with our aquifer and problems we have seen with sewer contamination. He stated that an accusation of his ordinance being discriminatory, in light of the above history, bothers him greatly. He stated that he would think individuals wanting to build in agricultural districts would be in favor of this because it allows them a better chance to receive a sewer allocation from Frederick County, when they are required to hook up to sewer by the town. He stated this ordinance was introduced in order to allow things to be built that had been approved by the town such as the Banner School. He noted that certain special exceptions were not deleted because they were agriculture related such as auction sales of animals, greenhouses and nurseries, farm equipment sales and services, animal hospitals or veterinary clinics, and recreational facilities. He said that if anyone can prove to him that public and private schools, places of worship, community services, private clubs, or antique shops are agricultural, then he would change his opinion. The Burgess & Commissioners and the Planning Commission, in 2003, said that agricultural land should remain undeveloped, that well and septic development should be discouraged in agriculture areas, and we should not interfere with agriculturally zoned properties. He stated that calling this ordinance discriminatory or characterizing it, as done by some members of the press, as a means to prevent certain groups from coming to the town is completely inaccurate. He stated that in fact, if you look at the ordinance, entities wanting to come to the town to build and hook up to the sewer should proceed in a different manner.

Commissioner Jim Reid noted that he will take into account all emails and phone calls he has received.

TFC Jim Ardinger presented the summary of police calls for the month of August 2007, including a juvenile complaint, 2 police information calls, 1 assist sick or injured, 3 thefts, 2 thefts from vehicles (please lock your vehicles), 2 burglaries, 1 stolen motorcycle, 1 domestic assault, 1 second degree assault, 1 assist other police department involving a high speed chase on Rts. 194 and 15, 23 citations, 89 warnings, 4 repair orders, approximately 100 traffic stops, 4 accident reports, 3 field observation reports.

9. CITIZENS’ QUESTIONS AND CONCERNS

Charles Combs, 82 Sherwood Drive, announced that he has opened a craft shop next to the barber shop on Frederick Street. He invited the Burgess & Commissioners to attend a ribbon cutting ceremony on October 8 at 10:00 a.m. He announced that he has all hand made stuff, not resale, and is open Monday – Sunday 10-5.

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

8:00 p.m. The Burgess and Commissioners went in to closed session to consult with counsel and reopened the meeting 9:50 p.m. at which point the following motion was made:

The meeting re-adjourned at 9:52 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Gloria Long Rollins

Town Manager