Minutes September 29, 2011
DACCA General Membership Meeting
The meeting opened at 705PM with 40 people in attendance.
The guest speakers were welcomed by President JP Sherkus and he briefly announced the topics of their presentations. The first speaker would be Steve Waugh & his presentation would be on redistricting specifically in Calvert County. Second speaker would be Christine Finamore – from Calvert County Planning and Zoning and she would speak on the upcoming Comprehensive Review of Sign Regulations. Next Commissioner Evan Slaughenhoupt – Calvert County Commissioner would discuss PlanMaryland and also touch on the issue of Southern Memorial Gardens Cemetery. The last speaker would be Jay Lounsbury, and he would speak about Calvert County Redistricting.JP Sherkus then welcomed the DACCA members to the meeting and thanked any who had stopped by the DACCA table at the North Beach Harvestfest on September 10th.
He then highlighted the Governors Committee Redistricting Hearings where DACCA board members had made presentations: in Largo on July 25th and in LaPlata in August.
Treasurer John Aunchman then gave the treasurers report. (See Financial report page)
Steve Waugh discussed Legislative redistricting in Maryland specifically regarding Calvert County. He stated where we are in the timeline for the new maps for both congressional and legislative redistricting to be submitted to the governor. All 12 public hearings have been held and the Governors Committee will give the new maps to the State Legislature in October. The maps will probably pass but will end up in State Court in Annapolis. It all needs to be done by the primary date in April 2012. His overall take on all the hearings and meetings he has attended regarding redistricting is that everyone – no matter their political affiliation – is tired of the gerrymandering. People want compact and contiguous single seat districts. His advice is to write, call or email the governor and all our state delegates and tell them that you want fair redistricting and that we want to “Keep Calvert Whole”. He then took some questions from the members.
Christine Finamore from Calvert County Planning and Zoning spoke next on the upcoming Comprehensive Review of Sign Regulations. The county commissioners have asked Planning & Zoning to review all sign regulations in Calvert County and then propose amendments to the regulations based on the review. P & Z is putting together a committee of citizens from different agencies, committees and citizens organizations to participate. Linda Kelley has volunteered to be DACCA’s primary participant and Jennifer Armstrong volunteered to be the alternate. Once Planning and Zoning has the committee assembled, it will hold “brainstorming” sessions to prioritize concerns and generate ideas on the sign regulations. After the initial meeting, there will be regular meetings to review drafts of the regulations until there is a draft ready for presentation to the County Commissioners. She thought that it would be completed within the year. She then answered questions from the members.
Commissioner Evan Slaughenhoupt – Calvert County Commissioner began his presentation discussing PlanMaryland and then also touched on the issue of Southern Memorial Gardens Cemetery.
PlanMaryland is a comprehensive state plan (the new version of Smart Growth from the 1990’s) for sustainable growth & development which may have an impact on septic systems and require public water and sewer to be installed. Some of its policies may not be consistent with Calvert County’s Comprehensive Plan and could intrude on our county’s residential growth policies with stricter sewage guidelines. It appears to be a state plan to take over control of growth and development in the state and we should be concerned about the level of control the state will exert over land use policies and regulations that are usually within local authority. We don’t need the state telling us where we have to live, where to work and whether or not we can drive to get there. This is definitely something we should keep an eye on. You can read more about it atwww.plan.maryland.gov
In regards to the Southern Memorial Gardens Cemetery, the BOCC is working to arrange for mowing to be done while the legal problems are being settled.
He took questions from the members.
The last speaker of the evening was Jay Lounsbury and he talked about County Redistricting as well as the survey being done in the county on 1.-How many districts we should have in the County, 2.-How many commissioners we should elect, 3.-How we should elect them, and 4.-How the President of the Board of County Commissioners should be elected. So far he has received 527 completed surveys. He brought brochures, surveys and voter registration forms. He also took questions from members.
There were no other topics of discussion from the members, the meeting ended at 835PM.