MEETING PREVIEW: East Campus Funds, Land Use, and Civil Rights Issues

Tonight could be the last time that a College Park Mayor and Council meeting begins at 8 p.m. Council will consider an amendment Tuesday evening that would change the meetings to 7:30 p.m.

Below is a summary of the rest of the agenda items, and the full document accompanies this post.

The meeting will be held in the Council Chambers of , 4500 Knox Road. If you're attending, you can pick up a parking pass at the customer service windows inside City Hall.

Approval of Letters

• The city will decide whether or not to approve a letter to the Maryland Department of Public Works and the General Assembly, supporting the release of $3.3 million in state funds for the East Campus project. These funds would specifically be used to clear the site for redevelopment and possibly to make improvements to infrastructure.
• All alcoholic beverage licenses in the City of College Park are due for renewal within the next few months. The council will consider sending a letter to the Board of License Commissioners, and for staff to testify before the board, stating that the city does not object to any of the renewals.
• At the urging of County Councilwoman Mary Lehman (Dist. 1), the mayor and council will consider sending a letter supporting legislation that would give the county the authority to charge a 5 cent tax on each plastic or paper bag used in grocery, retail or other stores. Washington reduced the total disposable bag usage by over 50 percent in the first year of its bag tax, according to City Councilman Patrick Wojahn (Dist. 1), who is making the motion.
• Council will consider a resolution to support a constitutional amendment to overturn the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. This case, decided in Jan. 2010, held that the First Amendment prevents any government in the U.S. from restricting the ability of corporations to spend “soft money” on campaigns, or to independently use their funds to influence an election.  For more, .
• Council will also consider sending a letter that supports the Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Protection Act, which if enacted into law, would expand civil marriage to same-sex couples in Maryland.

Support

• Council will decide whether or not to support county legislation that seeks to grant municipalities with populations of 20,000 or more people the authority to exercise powers of the Prince George’s County Planning Board, the Zoning Hearing Coordinator, or the County Council sitting as the District Council. The bill will allow the municipality to make land-use decisions relating to any land within a qualifying city using the existing zoning code.

Resolutions

• The council will vote on a resolution that would set the maximum grant available through the Homeownership Grant Program at $5,000. The resolution would also require that any applicant chosen to receive a grant must be in good standing with the city. Since the program was launched in fiscal year 2006 to encourage owner-occupied home ownership, $107,500 in grants have been distributed to people buying homes in College Park.