URGENT!
Following on the decision by the Planning Board to send the MNCPPC Manual on
compatible zoning around general aviation airports to the County Council last
Thursday, the City of Bowie will be holding a public hearing on Monday, June
4, in the Council Chambers at City Hall, 2614 Kenhill Drive, Bowie, beginning
at 8 pm.
The purpose of the meeting is to provide public views to the Bowie City Council,
which will formulate a recommendation on the proposed manual to send to the
County Council. If you wish to speak at the public hearing, you must sign the
speaker's list before the meeting starts, or you can call in your request to
be on the speaker's list prior to the hearing. A maximum of three minutes is
provided for oral testimony, and additional material may be submitted in writing.
The number to call is 301-809-3047, Jim Meinert, the Assistant Planning Director.
This is the first time that the Bowie City Council has formally looked at this
issue; they will be having a separate hearing in the future specifically on
the Rouse Turf Farm. Our objective for the June 4th meeting should be (1) to
ensure that the City Council endorses the manual's zoning recommendations; and
(2) get a statement from them to the County Council about the public benefits
of the airports (training, economic development, recreation, open space, etc),
which should be preserved.
We urgently need people to attend the City Council meeting and endorse the recommendations/promote
the airport. If you've testified before, you can re-cycle and update your past
testimony, as this is a new audience and they haven't heard any of the comments
made at previous meetings. There were at least 15 of you who spoke very convincingly
on the value of the airport back in February, and several have testified to
the County Planning Board on the manual. Annette Esterheld, the Bowie Blade
News Reporter whom Ben Conner took over the Turf Farm, will be attending the
meeting and writing a story about the regulations for the following Thursday's
edition. She was shocked by the proximity of the planned homes and the flight
path and feels quite strongly about it. She will likely approach those who attend
the meeting for good quotes. I will be away on a business trip on June 4, but
will submit written testimony. Can we get a count of people who are willing
to testify or write letters? Bowie residents plus any users of Freeway Airport
should all feel qualified to speak! You can also re-package your testimony as
a letter to the editor of the local papers. Also, is there a volunteer to take
notes at the June 4th meeting for the benefit of those who can't come?
I have an electronic version of the manual and will forward it to anyone who
needs a copy (it is a 2MB file, so I didn't want to forward it unless requested).
Paper copies are still available at the desk at Freeway Airport, I believe.
For those who wish to contact the Bowie City Council, the following can be reached
at City Hall, 2614 Kenhill Drive, Bowie, MD 20715
G. Frederick Robinson, Mayor
Douglas J.J. Peters, Mayor Pro Tem
William A. Aleshire
Dennis Brady
Paul D. Ellington
Leo E. Green, Jr.
Jack D. Jenkins
If any of you know these individuals personally and care to invite them to fly
over the Turf Farm, I'm sure it would help, as it did for Ms. Esterheld.
There's been a terrific response from Freeway users so far! Let's keep up the
pressure!!
Martha
From: "Martha Ainsworth" <mainsworth@starpower.net>
Subject: New Land Use Regs around airports delayed by the Planning Board
Date: Sat, 12 May 2001 09:26:56 -0400
X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.00.2314.1300
Below is an update on the situation--a summary of the draft regulations and
a report on the May 10th Planning Board Meeting. To cut to the chase, the regulations
have been stalled, and will be reconsidered in two weeks, Thursday, May 24th,
after all the landowners affected by the zoning are notified. If the regulations
are not acted upon by the Planning Board on the 24th, they will not reach the
County Council before they recess for the summer. Your written or spoken input
to the Planning Board on Thursday the 24th is critical.
Summary of the draft Manual
The draft Manual of Regulations for Land use around General Aviation Airports
in Prince George's County (dated May 3) is very well researched and is consistent
with our recommendations to the county planning office. (Copies should be available
at the Freeway office as of Saturday May 12th.) To summarize, it recommends:
--> In APAs 1 and 2, no new residential construction on lots of any size
, with two exceptions: (1) a home can be constructed on a lot of less than 5
acres in APA 2 if it was recorded prior to enactment of the legislation, on
a Site Plan basis; and (2) the back yard of a residence in an adjoining APA
can extend into APA2. The only uses approved in APA 2 (unless a dwelling is
already there) are one-story commercial or industrial structures and low-intensity
recreational use (golf course, riding stable, passive park), both on a Site
Plan basis, and open space.
-->In APAs 3 and 4, new single family detached dwellings are allowed on a
Site Plan basis on lots 5 acres or greater, or on a lot of less than 5 acres
in a subdivision designed in accordance with APA guidelines for lot location,
density and open space, or on a lot of less than 5 acres recorded prior to enacting
the regulations. Commercial or industrial structures of any height and structure
parking are allowed on a SP basis in these zones as well.
The Planning Board meeting
Planning Board members present included Chairwoman Elizabeth Hewlett, and Commissioners
Lowe, Brown, and Ely. Craig Rovelstad and Wendy Irminger gave an excellent presentation
to the Planning Board that included the history of the project, the rationale
for their recommendations, and evidence that they had already researched which
landowners would be impacted and in which cases mitigation measures would be
possible. They were smattered with questions throughout, but it was during the
last part that Commissioner Lowe compared the draft manual with creating a new
type of 'wetlands' that would affect development potential of landowners. He
asked whether they had contacted or notified each and every landowner potentially
impacted of the final recommendations. Rovelstad and Irminger had contacted
everyone within a 1-mile radius of the airports for the public meetings on the
consultant report and had had conversations with specific landowners, but since
the draft manual was issued on May 3rd there was no notification of the May
10th meeting or of the contents of the regulations.
At that point, Chairwoman Elizabeth Hewlett suggested that the Planning Board
agree to hear the rest of the presentation and the comments of those who had
come to testify, but put a hold on a decision on the regulations until those
affected could each be notified. Concern was expressed that this delay could
effectively prevent the County Council from taking up this issue before the
end of the summer. It was then decided that this notification could occur in
the next week and the regulations could again be considered by the Planning
Board at the May 24th meeting. Further delays beyond this date would eliminate
chances it is taken up this summer.
There were four speakers, in favor. Stanley Rodenhauser spoke forcefully on
two issues -- first, he told the Planning Board that the airport is not going
to close, he is not selling the land, and he intends for his land to remain
an airport as long as he's around and into the next generation. This was in
response to a suggestion made by a firefighter at the Bowie stakeholder meeting
on the Rouse Phase II preliminary sketch plan that the airport could go out
of business or be sold to developers. (Stanley could not attend that meeting.)
Second, he noted his family's roots in the county, the contribution of the airport
to the local economy and said that he is willing to work with the Planning Board
for amicable solutions. He also pointed out that this legislation was decades
too late -- it should have been under discussion in the 1960s, before development
crept out to the airports.
Since the Planning Board had previously received my letter with detailed comments
on the consultant report, I made only one additional point: in enacting the
land use regulations, the Planning Board would be reducing the number of accidents
in the future. For an accident to occur, a plane must be damaged and/or people
severely or fatally injured. Off-airport landings that do not result in damage
or injury are not reported as accidents. The more obstructions there are at
the end of the runway, the greater the likelihood that an off-airport landing
will become an accident. One of the reasons why Freeway Airport, with a (corrected)
accident rate of 0.85 per 100,000 operations is the lowest in the county is
because there are so few obstructions, particularly over the turf farm. Even
so, of the six accidents on the Turf Farm since 1965, four involved collisions
with trees -- the only obstructions! If we were to go back to 1965 and had Levitt
put another section of Bowie in what is now the Turf Farm, re-living all of
the takeoffs and landings of those 35 years with no other changes, there would
have been many more accidents. The regulations will not only protect people
on the ground and in the aircraft, they will actually prevent accidents from
happening.
David Wartofsky, owner of Potomac Airfield, echoed the sentiment that the legislation
is long overdue and that the longer we wait, the more difficult it gets. He
also reiterated the point about the relation between obstructions-- both trees
and structures -- and the accident rate. Harry Moore, pilot at College Park
and one of the three members of the citizen advisory committee, spoke last in
support of the measures, noting that general aviation airports are disappearing
at the rate of one per week in the US, and he's seen three close recently in
Maryland because of encroachment issues. The other two advisory committee members
--Derrick Davis and Daryll Kelly -- could not attend and sent letters, which
we're trying to get copies of. Catherine Fairchild, a Freeway pilot from Mitchellville,
also attended but had to leave before the testimony. There were no speakers
in opposition. The Rouse lawyer, Ed Gibbs, was present in the back of the room
for part of the deliberations, but did not speak. Al Edwards, development director
for Rouse was also spotted in the building but wasn't in the hearing room. (However,
there is room in another part of the building where one can listen to the deliberations
without being seen.)
ALL OF THE AFFECTED LANDOWNERS AT THE END OF THE RUNWAYS AT THE FOUR AIRPORTS
WILL RECEIVE NOTICES OF THE MAY 24TH MEETING AND MANY CAN BE EXPECTED TO SHOW
UP OR WRITE IN OPPOSITION.
According to discussions with others at the Planning Board meeting, this is
not the standard approach -- usually this type of public hearing of people in
favor or opposed occurs after the Planning Board sends it to the County Council.
They are trying to cover themselves on this. With respect to the next meeting,
the goal should be adoption of the proposal --- a further delay will be very
detrimental. WE URGENTLY NEED AS MANY OF YOU AS POSSIBLE TO ATTEND THE MAY 24TH
MEETING AND SPEAK IN FAVOR OR, IF YOU CAN'T COME, TO WRITE TO CHMN. HEWLETT
IN FAVOR OF THE REGULATIONS.
COPIES OF THE REGULATIONS ARE IN THE FREEWAY AIRPORT OFFICE AND ALSO IN THE
BOWIE LIBRARY. The hearing will be on Thursday, May 24, beginning at 9 am at
the County Administration Building, 14741 Gov. Oden Bowie Drive, Upper Marlboro,
MD 20772. The discussion of the regulations probably will not start until around
10. It could take most of the morning. The address for Hon. Elizabeth Hewlett,
Chairman of the Prince George's County Planning Board, is the same.