Revised D1 July updates

Happy July!

Summer is officially here and the weather is hot and the sun is beaming.

July is a great month to spend time with your family, friends and loved ones while enjoying your time outside in the sun.

Remember to stay hydrated and have fun :)

Any questions about things going on at the Council level or in your community? Don't hesitate to reach out via email to CouncilDistrict1@HowardCountyMD.gov or phone at (410) 313-2001.

Liz Walsh Council Member pic with sig.png

July Fun Fact

July 29th is National Lasagna Day.

Here a link to a easy and delicious lasagna recipe!

District 1 Restaurants

BBQ Chicken

EC Diner

Chosun Hwaro

Elli Mochi Donuts

Kelseys Restaurant & Spirits

Kimbap Nara

Manor Hill Tavern

Elkridge Furnace Inn

Rathskeller

Council Calendar

Upcoming Meetings:

Alcoholic Beverage Hearing Board: July 25th 6:30PM

Board of Appeals: BA 16-034C Glenelg County School Cont'd July 27th 6:30PM

County Council: Legislative Session July 31st 10:00AM

To view the calendar click here

Upcoming General plan meetings

Wednesday, July 26th, 6:30PM Agenda

Wednesday, Sept 6th, 9:30AM Agenda

Click here to access the live streams and recordings of previous meetings

Legislation

Climate Can’t Wait

During the July 5^th Legislative session, the Council, by a 2-3 vote, rejected our bill, CB30-2023. This bill, if passed, would have made four incremental changes to our existing forest conservation law. CB30 would have initiated the first steps toward bringing the County into compliance with SB 526 (Elfreth, et.al.) and HB 723 (Love, et.al.), which was signed into law by Governor Moore.

CB30-2023 would have:

• Increased the ratio for the watershed projects to 1:1. The reforestation ratio in watershed projects is currently ½:1.

• Stated that the purpose of the Forest Conservation Act is to increase forest areas (currently, it just maintains forests).

• Amended the definition of a forest to match new State law: area of 1 square acre and at least 120 feet in width (up from 10,000 square feet and at least 35 feet in width).

• Limit forest mitigation banking to only meet up to 50% of reforestation/afforestation obligations (currently there is no limit).

We will keep trying.

Stream Restoration

Our D1 office has been closely following the proposal to “restore” the Plumtree Branch Stream behind Dunloggin Middle School from the bottom of MacAlpine Dr. toward Columbia Rd. We are extremely concerned that this project is going forward despite the concerns of community members, ecologists and environmental advocacy organizations. In the name of “restoration”, the County plans to clear acres of land around the streams and disrupt and destroy the habitat it provides for the pollinators, birds and other woodland animals that live there. A small section at the bottom of MacAlpine that was cleared in the past few years is evidence of how destructive this project will be. Instead of looking upstream to implement storm water controls to reduce runoff during storms, the County is choosing to focus downstream, which doesn’t make a lot of sense. Let’s protect this habitat, not destroy it.

We are asking you to contact the MDE Waterway engineer who is overseeing the permitting and reviewing this project, Randah Kamel (Randah.kamel@Maryland.gov) as well as Tim Lattimer of the Office of Community Sustainability (tlattimer@howardcountymd.gov). Some other people you can include are Yosef Kebede (ykebede@howardcountymd.gov) Director of The Department of Public Works, Brian Shepter (bshepter@howardcountymd.gov) the Deputy Chief of Staff for the Executive, Senator Katie Hester (katiefry.hester@senate.state.md.us) and Delegate Courtney Watson ( Courtney.Watson@house.state.md.us ). Please cc: our office at CouncilDistrict1@howardcountymd.gov.

Some important points to mention when emailing about this stream restoration project is that it can risk increasing residential flooding, cause habitat destruction and have a negative impact on the vulnerable ecosystem. We need to ask them to reject this latest plan or at least “pause” it until we know more about the impact the relocation of DMS will have on the area.

Job Opportunities

School Crossing Guard

The Howard County Police Department is hiring crossing guards for the 2023-2024 school year.

D1 Schools:

Ducketts Lane Elementary

Elkridge Landing Middle

Elkridge Elementary

If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to Tracy Downard, crossing guard supervisor at tdownard@howardcountymd.gov.

If you are interested visit the HCPD Website

Temporary Employee Positions

Temporary Employee Positions at Veterans Elementary School. This psotition works under the daily supervision of the school administration and under the direction of a special education teather and/or a classroom teacher.

To apply, please email Robert Tencher at Rtencher@gmail.com to request an application packet. Please specify that you are interested in working at Veterans Elementary School.

Contact Keri Golibart at Keri_Golibart@hcpss.org when you have completed all parts of the application.