Town of Brookeville
Semi-Annual Town Meeting Minutes
January 11, 2016
7:00pm
Commissioner:
Present: Katherine Farquhar, Buck Bartley, and Sue Daley
Absent: none
Quorum present? Yes
Present during all or portions of the meeting:
Academy Manager Andrea Scanlon, Treasurer Susan Johnson, and Town Clerk Cate McDonald.
Town Residents: David Yinger, Janet, Don Moore, Bill Gaskill, Bob & Dee Heritage, Sandy & Duane Heiler, Micole Haris, Harry & Karen Montgomery, Teresa Meeks, Fred Teal, Marti Andress, Dan & Kim Heyman, Michael Acierno, Miche Booz, Bruce Evans, Barbara Ray, Stefan Syski, William Kiniry, Garrett Anderson, Mark Davis, Debbie Wagner, Mike Oestreich, Chris Scanlon, Andy & MaryKay Spagnolo
Others: Leszek Syszki
SHA: Barbara Solberg, Cornelius Barmer, and Aimee Zhang
Kiewit: Donnie Arant
CPH: Josh Bryant
Proceedings:
Meeting called to order at 7:00 p.m. by Commissioner President Farquhar.
Katherine gave a brief overview of the agenda:
SHA ByPass Briefing for 1 ½ hours
Josh Bryant – update on Town Roads
Updates from BPC and BBTF
Q&A Session
Meeting will end promptly at 9:00pm
Introduction of Town Staff, BPC, and Beyond the Bypass Taskforce.
Town Residents and Guests gave self-introductions.
Barbara Solberg, Division Chief, gave a brief overview of the ByPass.
Commissioner Bartley gave praise for the SHA team and said they are a hardworking group of individuals.
Aimee Zhang, Project Manager, gave a presentation regarding the ByPass: .72 miles, 2 lane road with a bike path, 2 roundabouts, 2 bridges over streams, a noise barrier, and storm water management.
Recently, the SHA has been talking with key stakeholders in the project to remove a section of Brookeville Road to reduce the storm water impact. The idea would be to remove one artery and to possibly replace the traffic circle at the northern end of the ByPass with a T intersection. This would take out the option to exit onto Market Street.
So far, there has been very positive feedback from the stakeholders.
SHA would like the Town Residents’ input and will be scheduling a public meeting sometime in the spring to reveal the alternative plan.
SHA has selected a contractor: Kiewit Infrastructure Co., who is represented here tonight by Don Arant, the construction manager.
DBB = Design, Bid, Build
Kiewit is contracted during the design phase to provide Construction Manager at Risk (CMAR)
Cornelius Barmer advised the ByPass is fully funded. The design phase is 65% complete. Just recently soil boring started. The preliminary noise wall alignment has been set. The permitting process is underway. The estimated start date is summer 2016.
Questions:
Has EMS been consulted about the design change? Cornelius Barmer responded that yes, SHA has talked with the Board of Education, Fire, and Police. Currently, Laytonsville FD has a 10 minute response time to Brookeville. If they respond with the new design, the response time is estimated to be 11 ½ minutes. There was a discussion regarding the 2 big fires the Town has had, and the design change would not materially affect the timing or coverage in the FD response.
Is one of stakeholders contacted MHT? No yet but they will consult with Maryland Historic Trust (MHT) since Brookeville is a Historic District.
Sandy Heiler stated that changing the design of the ByPass and closing the end of Brookeville Road will affect the historic character of the Town.
Chris Scanlon wants to know about pedestrian access to Oakley Cabin: SHA is considering a proposal to put a pedestrian bridge across Meadow Branch.
Debbie Wagner feels that doing away with the spur is a good idea because of the cross traffic and flooding that will be corrected at the intersection of Market St. and Brookeville Rd.
The BPC will support the new design change as it will force traffic to take Bordly Drive.
Karen Montgomery: Road funds come from MoCo and the State – will they decrease if we close off the Brookeville Road spur? There was a discussion about who may or may not be trying to persuade stakeholders to scrap the ByPass.
SHA will still own the ROW until they transfer the ROW to another entity and as of right now they do not have another entity.
Karen expressed a concern: High and Market Street would be used by local people – any way to enforce that is it only to be used by locals?
Commissioner Bartley shared that 2000 cars come from Brookeville Road thru the Town daily.
Garrett Anderson expressed support for the new, proposed design
Sandy Heiler: closing of Brookeville Road will change the historic character. The Brookeville Road was designed between 2 Post Roads. If closed, the west end of Town is a dead end, losing that character and the character of Brookeville Road is significant.
Don Moore: The Town is no longer a commercial center so it is a moot point. Bordley Drive carries a lot of traffic. Did the SHA do a pro / con list of closing the spur?
SHA – there is not a formal pro / con list. The pros (less environmental impact, cost savings, etc..) are significant. They are now hearing some cons.
SHA has a historian on staff, currently on vacation, that they will consult and they will consult MHT.
The pros outweigh the cons.
SHA will hold another public meeting regarding the design change.
William Kiniry: lives in the Valley House and see the pro would be mitigating the flooding from the drainage issue at the culvert.
Fred Teal: regarding the historic character – Brookeville was once a walkable place. Historic Brookeville had no cars. Traffic has destroyed Brookeville.
Bruce Evans: in favor of elimination of the spur. Would SHA remove the existing pavement? Any risk the design change would require another study, delaying construction?
SHA: No new study would be needed; just a new public meeting with the new design. The elimination of the spur would make permitting easier
SHA would need to decide what to do with the road if the spur is eliminated. SHA would need to work with MHT. If they remove the pavement, they would re-stabilize the area in consultation with Park & Planning.
Stefan Syski: Sound barrier question – is SHA only having the sound barrier on the other side? His back yard is adjacent to the ByPass. SHA plans for one sound barrier. Will SHA create a berm or have tree plantings? Yes – but there are no final planting plans.
Karen Montgomery: is there a design for eastern Market Street to have a median strip with trees planted down the middle? Was this taken under consideration? She has seen a picture with a median to the bottom of the hill
Harry Montgomery: there are rules to follow when making a topographical map. How much does this lower the level of water? Will this increase flooding anywhere?
SHA: trying not to change the hydrological impact; water will be managed
When will the project start? Projected to be August 2016
What would prevent this from being the start date? Many environmental aspects; lots of permits: 4-5 months for permits, if there are no delays. All stakeholders are present at the SHA meetings to mitigate delays.
There have been great strides forward. There are a lot of resources at these meetings. Having a T intersection will lessen the environmental impact of the project.
Dave Yinger: over the years, there has been more water coming into the valley.
8:00pm – end of SHA segment. Break.
8:05pm: Meeting called back to order
Commissioner Bartley introduced Josh Bryant, the Town’s contractor for topological survey.
Josh Bryant: his company, CPH Corp., is conducting a survey of eastern Market, North, South, and Water Streets. What they hope to determine is an acceptable surface for the Town maintained roads and how to mitigate the water drainage issues.
The scope of the project:
Analyze current drainage issues
Identify problem areas and what needs to be done to correct the problem
Topographical survey is taking place now
Pavement options: soil borings will tell what type of foundation we have.
Next step: take all the information, analyze, and advise the Town.
The Town is having eastern Market surveyed for future design
Soil boring: samples are taken from soil to 5 feet down.
Sandy Heiler: what is the goal? To recommend what the surface should be used or what should go underneath.
Since a rural location, probably not have curbs, gutters, or storm drains on Town streets.
Fred Teal: will you removal layers of gravel? The topographic survey will show what needs to be done.
Harry Montgomery: at the end of the survey, will you use a cut & fill strategy? Will you show the Town your findings? Josh Bryant said his company is not a construction contractor – they will come up with a construction plan the Town can use to solicit bids. He would be happy to come back, if invited, to discussion the finding with the Town Residents.
Karen Montgomery: can the State and MoCo help with funds? Commissioner Bartley said there might be some grants; Commissioner Farquhar said they will research funding
Teresa Meeks: do not raise taxes without allowing Town Residents to vote
Timeline: Survey should be complete in 2 weeks; after data collected, should take 6 weeks to analyze so report should be ready sometime in the spring.
Project is being done in 3 phases.
Barbara Ray: will you come back to the Town with the findings? Yes, he would come back with the findings.
Michael Acierno: topological threshold and current weather patterns have changed. How will you deal with that? The shape of the land will be the factor. Gravity will take care of water no matter how hard it rains.
Dan Heyman: What are the option materials for road surface? That will be determined by the Town and the HPC will narrow the options.
Josh Bryant will report to the Town Commissioners at a Commissioners Meeting and Residents will be updated via the newsletter.
8:30pm
Chris Scanlon, BPC Chair, gave a brief update on what the BPC has accomplished during 2015: very few permits issued (Pollock garage, Valley House addition, ground source heat pump, hardscaping)
The challenge the BPC faces this year will be the update of the Comprehensive Plan, which is due to the State in October 2016. The update to Comprehensive Plan is important because of the ByPass. The Comprehensive Plan will set the vision for the Town. The BPC and BBTF will work together to carve that vision but they will need more people to be involved.
Don Moore, BBTF Chair, gave an overview of his taskforce. The BBTF will solicit input from the Town to assist the BPC. Survey Monkey results were reviewed.
• The BBTF communicate via Google Groups.
• Entrance signs: Sandy Heiler has obtained grant money to update the Town’s entrance signs.
• Schoolhouse: repairs are being made, working with Heritage Montgomery to clean up the property and determine a use. BBTF will gave the options to the Commissioners to take under advisement.
• Walkability
• Sustainability
Leszek Syszki wrote a report on walkability and gave a brief presentation. The BBTF wants the BPC to incorporate the walkability report into the Comprehensive Plan.
4 areas of concern:
1 – walk from one end of Town to the other. There was a discussion of Back St that is overgrown.
2 – loop walks
3 – Longwood to Oakley Cabin
4 – networks of other paths
He is still researching and is asking for input from Residents.
There was a discussion about the Walking Map for Town of Brookeville from 1994.
Open Discussion
Debbie Wagner: the Mill Race needs to be cleaned up especially around the WSSC pumping station where there remains debris from the transformer explosion/treefall in summer 2015.
There was a discussion about Power’s Wood and the sign Mr. Powers erected in dedication to his wife. She feels we need to talk as a town about what to do. Is maintaining the sign the responsibility of Park and Planning or the Pollock’s? Park and Planning needs to clean up the Mill Race.
Bruce Evans: he is working on a date to have SSFS students do a cleanup on the eastern portion of Market Street.
Andrea Scanlon: reminder the Family Movie night is January 30 – all are invited.
The meeting adjourned at 9:00p.m.
Cate McDonald
Town Clerk