Board Members Present: Wynn Engle-Pratt (Vice President), Michele Baskin (Secretary), April Welch
Staff member – Jennifer McKenzie, Amanda Rothschild
Total Attendees
~19 (Jones + 2 staff), ~ 10 Zoom
Start: 7:05
End: 7:55
Zoom Recording ; Passcode: jvuLF2Q@
Votes: NA
Agenda
- Shade Sail project updates
- Installation location is the park at 30th and Miles/Huntingdon by the Greenmount School to cover the playground equipment
- Waiting on stamped drawings from the contractor, then we can finalize various permits with the city, the structure is in production as we speak
- Posts and anchors to be built in early spring, and fully installed before summer heat
- Metal posts are sunshine yellow, fabric of the sail is grape purple, post pads are evergreen
- 26th and Howard intersection project updates
- GRIA won a grant from the State in the amount of $100,000 for intersection improvements focused on safety as the intersection is a major crossing from the neighborhood on the way to Margaret Brent school as well as a major bus stop.
- The plan is to create bus boarding islands on Howard to narrow crossing distance and prevent parking encroaching into the intersection, as well as add the 4th crosswalk
- Because this is the first grant of this kind won by a community association, there have been some challenges with city permitting as the standard processes set up are not designed with this in mind
- Grant requires us to spend the money by Dec 2025
- The plan is for concrete hardscape improvements as opposed to a combination of placemaking and flexposts
- GRIA is the first community association to get a grant for permanent installations
- Q – The planters in front of the former Charmington’s space along 26th have been removed, can we get them back? A – Seawall provided the planters and assumed new business wouldn’t want them, just ask for it back from them! GRIA just handled the permitting to hold the space, but Seawall provided the planters to define the space.
- Q – What kind of issues are happening with the state? Do we need to organize to apply pressure anywhere? A – Nothing really with the state, just city issues as this is the first time an association is doing hard, permanent installations. There is no process for this and that’s the issue, not opposition, just no process. Seawall is helping as they can with this part of the process and the project in general.
- Seawall 7-11 project updates
- Seawall indicates that their plan is to start construction in April, which is the same timeline as it has been, but they have indicated that they still have some heavy lifting to do and will update if those dates change
- The 7-11 franchisee has committed to stay until the construction start, but we (GRIA) do not know about the status of long term agreements for the new building
- Last set of drawings we were provided are on the front page of our website (slides 22 and 23 here)
- Q – Will the bus stop on Remington in front of the 7-11 stay or close? Or relocate? A – We will ask but it most likely will be moved during construction, but the plans for construction will reinstall an improved bus stop.
- The design calls for a multistory building with ground floor retail (space for 2), top floors as residential apartments, one of the retail spots is being offered to the 7-11 franchisee, the other spot will be oriented towards food/hospitality, part of the existing parking lot and the current green space will be expanded into a larger green space with most community amenities like a water splash park
- Big Jump Community Cleanup Sat 1/18 10 am
- Our regular cleanups continue to be the 3rd Sat EVERY month
- This month’s clean up will be a joint operation with the Reservoir Hill associations, allowing volunteers to cover the entire span of the Big Jump, from one end of the bridge to the other
- B Willow is this month’s sponsor with treats provided by Doppio!
- Land Use Report Out
- Late breaking BGE update
- BGE went to Public Service Commission and applied for an exemption to the rules and install overhead transmission lines from the south Remington substation off 23rd, across the Jones Falls and connect to the Salt dome by the DOT facility
- They currently have conduit underground to Bolton Hill, but they want to do overhead lines instead as the Frederick Douglas Tunnel project impacts the underground conduit
- Their plan is for 2 100 ft towers, 2 70 ft towers, 2 slightly smaller overhead towers. Seemingly by accident, the 2018 zoning update left off the ban to overhead lines in the city, so technically, they are allowed by law right now
- We have asked for BGE to come to a Community Meeting, GRIA has also asked for the ban to be added back into the Zoning update legislation at the Council from this past Monday but the window of opportunity is small
- Councilman Jones has a meeting with BGE concerning it tomorrow (Thurs), as he has indicated that some steps were skipped in this process
- New Land Use Committee members! – GRIA Board voted on the new members
- Scheduled to meet first Wednesday of each month if there are topics
- Late breaking BGE update
Community Announcements
- Volunteer call out for flyer volunteers! Please reach out to Jen at volunteers@griaonline.org to take a flyering route next month!
- Councilman Jones – Speaking on the Sisson Street Transfer Station – Seawall filed the RFP for a land swap to acquire the location of the current transfer station The proposal to move it to the Anderson lot has been quashed. The new proposal would instead adjust the other stations to make improvements that bring them up to the customer standards of the Sisson station instead of finding a new land spot which will continue to prove difficult.
- Wed Jan 22 4 pm – Council will perform a walkthrough in Remington letting people know about city services, smoke detectors, etc. (Jones and Council President)
- Barbara at Church of the Guardian Angel – Thrift shop, runs 1st & 2nd Sat of the month, 10am – 2 pm, bring donations during open hours, also seeking volunteers; Food Pantry, every Wednesday from 9 am – 10 am; “Soup er bowl” party 11 am – 1 pm Sat Feb 8, bring a crock pot of soup to share or come and join your neighbors in partaking of the soups offered