TOWN OF HAH H 0 GAFTONSVILNE 1892 Meeting Minutes of Town Council on March 4, 2025 As reviewed, approved, and accepted by the Town Council on April 1, 2025 There being a quorum, Mayor Charles Hendricks called the regular meeting of the Town Council to order at 7:32 p.m. The meeting was held using video conferencing. Council Members Charles Bradsher, Tom Burke, Amy Koval, and Christina Pellegrino were present. Town Treasurer Angela Hoffman, Town Clerk Mary Burke, Assistant Clerks Joy Jackson and James Schneider, Planning Commission Chair Brendan Deyo, Historic District Commission Chair Jennifer Sizemore, and approximately three residents or guests were also present. Minutes: The minutes of the Town Council meeting held February 4, 2025, were approved as submitted. Treasurer's Report Treasurer Hoffman reported that the town's total fund balances and assets at the end of. January 2025 were $4,103,771. From the January Profit & Loss Sheet, she reported a total net income of negative $47,853. Income for January 2025 totaled $27,545, with the largest amounts coming from income taxes and highway income. The town's expenses for January 2025 were $75,398, with the largest charge, $44,195, coming from snow removal. Mayor Hendricks stated that some bills for January snow removal have yet to be received. Council Member Koval asked what the dates were for the snow removal bills, as they seem very large for not being completely up to date. Mayor Hendricks replied that on January 6th there was a big snowfall, after which they were clearing snow on the 6th, 7th, and gth of. January. Sidewalks are more expensive to clear than the streets. Council Member Koval stated that maybe we need to rethink what needs to be cleared repeatedly. Council Member Burke stated that this is the first sizable snow that we have had in recent years. We do have more roads and sidewalks than we had years ago. Mayor Hendricks stated we budgeted $80,000 for snow removal. The town's income has been exceeding what we had anticipated in our annual budget, SO our total income is still likely to be substantially larger than our expenses, Council Member Burke stated that it would be interesting to go back 5 to 10 years and average out the snow removal costs. Assistant Clerk Jackson stated that this historical look at snow removal had been done a few years ago, and Laytonsville Grove has the only large expanse of neew sidewalks. www.laytonsvill-mdus Post Office Box 5158 e Laytonsville, Maryland 20882 e Office 301-869-0042 1 Town Hall e 21607 Laytonsville Road e Laytonsville, Maryland Mayor Hendricks stated that he has an Excel spread sheet showing snow removal costs since he has been mayor, and the amount we have paid this year already slightly exceeds the total of last year's expenses. Mr. Brian Kline, who heads the firm that provides the town's S snow removal services, stated that he is seeing charges for later in the months of. January and February 2025 with a total of over $48,000 still to be paid. Council Member Koval made a motion to accept the Treasurer's Report subject to audit for the month of. fJanuary 2025. Council Member Bradsher seconded the motion. Unanimously approved. Historic District Commission Report Jennifer Sizemore, Historic District Commission (HDC) Chair, stated that property owners can apply for a county tax credit after completing exterior work on properties within the Historic District. She is following up with Montgomery County to find out if our HDC can accept applications for this credit and submit them to the Montgomery County Department of Finance for processing. She also reported that the HDC conducted a public hearing and approved a black metal fence for the property at 7401 White House Lane. She reminded everyone that the HDC is looking for a fifth member. Council Member Burke asked about possible county support for renovation work for Town Hall. Chair Sizemore said she could look into whether any county grants were available to tax-exempt municipalities for renovation of their historic buildings. Mayor Hendricks pointed out that the tax credit applies to work even when no HDC work permit is required, such as repainting a historic building to keep it looking good. Chair Sizemore stated that the tax credit is for 25 percent and can carry over for five years, but it is not transferable to new owners. The work needs to be done by a licensed contractor. Mayor Hendricks stated that Montgomery County allows local municipalities to oversee the tax- credit submissions in their historic districts. Planning Commission Report Brendan Deyo, Planning Commission Chair, reported that Wallace Montgomery's work on the Community Survey report had put the Planning Commission behind schedule. He and Mayor Hendricks will meet with Wallace Montgomery this Friday to talk about progress and budgets. The Planning Commission will be meeting tomorrow to discuss the contractor's community survey report. Mayor Hendricks stated that a visioning session is scheduled for March 19, 2025, on Zoom. In response to questions from Planning Commission Member Brian Kline, Chair Deyo and Mayor Hendricks explained that the town had encountered some difficulties in its relationship with Wallace Montgomery and they hoped that the meeting on Friday, which will include the town's attorney, would facilitate mutual understanding. New Business Discussion oft the Community Survey Report Mayor Hendricks observed that a majority ofthe Town Council heard Wallace Montgomery present its report on the Community Survey at the February 19 Planning Commission meeting, and all Town Council members have received the written report. Summarizing the survey results, 2 he concluded that people live in Laytonsville because they like the town. They appreciate its community character. They like its open setting and its housing selection. But they are concerned about having too much growth and about increased traffic. They appreciate the town's walkability and would like to see improvements in that area. They have an interest in a community center. To the extent they want more businesses, they especially want small establishments that provide food. They do not want large new businesses. Residents want new development to be single family homes on lots of one acre or more. They want to have public spaces maintained and the town kept looking beautiful. He asked Council members what they drew from the community survey. Council Member Koval commented that residents feel the shopping center needs to be revitalized. Council Member Pellegrino observed that people really want to protect Laytonsville. She was impressed that parks and trails were mentioned frequently and concluded that funding to keep and maintain them was important. She stated that residents need to partner with and use the businesses that they want to keep. She suggested that the Town Council tighten up the zoning in the town to preserve it but not kill it. Council Member Burke stated that people like Laytonsville the way it is and approve its community character. The two greatest concerns seemed to be traffic in town and interest in public sewer. He saw those considerations being somewhat contradictory to each other, because public sewer will bring in more business and more traffic, as well as more residential development. He found, more than anything, that people are satisfied with the character of the town as it is. Council Member Bradsher stated that traffic has been an issue for years, and we have made an effort to address that. Introduction of and Scheduling a Public Hearing on Draft Ordinance 01-25,a Zoning Text Amendment Mayor Hendricks introduced draft Ordinance 01-25, a zoning text amendment. He stated that Historic District Commission initiated this proposal, and most of their suggestions are incorporated into this amendment. Some references to Maryland law have been updated as well. One significant change has been for fence heights. Montgomery County requires a five-foot fence for swimming pools, but our zoning ordinance requires a special exception from the Board of Appeals for any fence above four feet tall in the R-3 zone. This amendment will set a five-foot height limit in all residential zones except in the historic district, where the Historic District Commission must already approve fence heights. When a motion for an ordinance is introduced, it should be given a second, and then we could discuss holding a public hearing on this, because that would be necessary before adopting the ordinance. Council Member Koval seconded the introduction ofthe ordinance. After some discussion, a public hearing was set for April 1, 2025. Town Parade Town Clerk Burke reported that the Laytonsville Community Parade this year will be held on May 17 at 11:00 a.m. The theme is "Celebrating Our Community Spirit," which is nice given the results of the Community Survey and how people feel about town. The information about the parade is posted on the town website. Ifyou know of someone who might be interested in participating, the link to sign up is at the parade posting on the website. 3 Council Member Pellegrino urged that residents of neighborhoods that might be affected by road closures, including Laytonsville Preserve, be given adequate advance notice of such closures. Mayor Hendricks assured the Council that affected residents would be provided advance warning oft the road closures the parade would entail. Resident's Forum Assistant Clerk Jackson suggested that the proposed zoning ordinance amendment authorize six- foot-high fences for non-Historic District properties. She also said that she was glad to see that the Council had taken note oft the substantial support for green space, parks, trails, and walkability shown in the Community Survey. She hoped the Council will use available funds to give real permanence to the town's trails. Mayor Hendricks announced that filing for election candidates starts this week. It will run from this Friday, March 7, to Friday, March 21, 2025. Adjournment Council Member Koval made a motion to adjourn at 9:17 p.m. Council Member Burke seconded the motion. The motion was approved unanimously, with Council Member Bradsher abstaining. Respectfully submitted, James Schneider, Assistant Clerk 4