OCNA Meeting
July 11, 2011
Members Present: Allison Baird, Jack Benzing, Andy & Jane Bowie, Andrea Camp, Robert Croom, Lisa Goodwin, Jim Himel, Kevin Mercer, Dorothy Noble, Susanne Ogaitis-Jones, Kirby Spencer, Meg Tipper, M. Thomas, Christine Wells.
A. Review Last Month’s Minutes: The meeting was held at Jim Himel and Meg Tipper’s house. Dorothy Noble, President, asked if everyone had received the minutes from the last meeting (5-9-11). The minutes were then approved.
B. Treasurer’s Report: Robert Croom said we have about $1500 in our checking account, and there will be a deposit soon of about $2000. He said he has a check for Dave of the Wine Bin, from our volunteer reception this Spring. He also said he has a check for Maureen Sweeney-Smith for assistance with the Rails-to-Trails Trolley Trail maintenance.
C. Directory
& Cover Art Contest: Allison
said that she received only two entries for the neighborhood youth contest to
create some art for the cover/s of our new directory, so “they both won.” Dorothy said that there have not been a lot
of new contributions to the directory update, and many homes are still
unaccounted for. She said that there will
be a drawing at the picnic of names
of folks who have updated their records, and the four winners will receive
prizes. Some of the local youth will be
asked to put the directory update forms in residents’ mailboxes, in a last
ditch effort to publish as many residents as possible, and for this, the youth
will receive service hours.
D. Catonsville Chamber of Commerce Membership: Allison said she stopped by the COC to enroll OCNA and the staff recommended that Kirby be the OCNA representative. Kirby said she needs to get the OCNA tax identification number to complete the form. Dorothy said she could get this from Robert (who was not yet in attendance).
E. Catonsville Development/s: As a follow up discussion from last meeting, the Board said they could take a position on local development projects, but they would not be representing the whole of OCNA. If there is a project directly affecting OCNA, then the residents of OCNA could take a vote on it and state the majority position. Dorothy said that the Board will continue to act as a funnel for information to OCNA, and as OCNA president, she would continue to attend as many meetings regarding local developments as possible (which have recently included Thistle Landing and the YMCA expansion), and report to the membership on them.
Regarding the specific proposed development, Thistle Landing, Dorothy reported that County Councilman Tom Quirk’s historic request, followed by an unanimous Council supporting vote, to rescind its’ PUD approval was just overturned at the County Council’s most recent meeting. She indicated that this means that the Thistle Landing Development, which is 10 townhomes on Frederick Road near (and owned by) Dimitris, would now be up for PUD approval. She said that the last public meeting before the Council’s abortive vote had many residents on both sides of the issue. She reinforced that any OCNA residents who felt strongly about the development should attend the upcoming PUD hearings. Jim Himel then relayed a conversation he had just had with Councilman Quirk who, though upset about the reversal of his PUD overturn, was pleased that the recent Council vote also laid out more restrictive PUD requirements for developers and Councilmen, and also gave the public more input. Kirby said that many developers were upset by the initial decline by the County Council, but that the new review process pushed through some very good and needed changes to the PUD process.
F. Beechwood Avenue Repairs: Dorothy mentioned that the scheduled re-curbing of Beechwood Avenue is delayed by at least a year due to the replacement of gas lines by BGE. Jack Benzing asked if there would be any speed bumps installed as part of these repairs. Dorothy said she would maintain contact with the county and let Beechwood residents know as soon as possible about the updates to the road.
G. Traffic Issues in OCNA: As part of the answer to Jack’s question, Dorothy said that the county has honored our request to reassess traffic on Beechwood Avenue, and performed testing for several days in early June. Unfortunately the testing was faulty: (1)it was only on the unit block of Beechwood, though it was requested for all four blocks of Beechwood/Beaumont, (2) it was done on extreme heat days when schools closed early and residents were asked to remain indoors, and ( 3) there was only one strip placed near where a “no parking” sign had recently been removed so drivers had to maneuver around two rows of parked cars before they could pick up speed. The unit block of Beechwood, while reaching 100 cars/hour at peak times, did not pass the excessive speed factor of >32 mph on average.
Mabelle asked about the recent changes to Baltimore County’s traffic calming requirements which had become less linear and more inclusive of other factors such as schools, daycares, churches, etc, and how they impacted the study (both Mabelle and Dorothy testified at the hearing in Towson that enacted these changes). Dorothy said this would be one of the follow-up discussion points with Keith Link, the County’s traffic representative, but the fact that not one of the hours recorded indicated an excessive speed counted against Beechwood. Jack stated that currently because the ‘no parking’ sign at Frederick & Beechwood is gone more people are illegally parking there and that has the effect of slowing traffic in that section. Dorothy said she’d call the county about replacing that sign. Dorothy also said that the County says the stop signs on Beechwood and Beaumont are unwarranted given Federal traffic studies, and they might be taken down if Federal laws change. According to these studies, these stop signs are in place for pedestrian safety only, and actually lead to a false sense of safety since drivers quickly learn to ignore them. Without the signs, the main route would get the right-of-way, not the side street with less traffic. Any changes are not expected soon. However, Keith Link told Dorothy that the County would be willing to offer traffic calming on Beechwood and Beaumont in exchange for both streets removing their stop signs, even though Beechwood failed in its’ bid to obtain calming in June. An offer to remove the stop signs in order to increase the speed and thereby warrant traffic calming was also made to Dorothy in 2009. Out of fear of pedestrian safety, she turned it down and decided to request additional traffic studies with a new administration and new calming parameters. The current proposed traffic calming measures, with photographs, were handed out to all in attendance. The traffic calming photos are of speed tables—they are wider, flat-topped versions of speed bumps.
Mabelle asked if we got these could they paint crosswalk stripes on it to make a visible pedestrian crosswalk? Someone asked why ‘tables’ and not ‘bumps’ and the answer was they are easier on cars and easier for snow removal. Dorothy said that Keith had agreed to come to an upcoming OCNA meeting to discuss traffic calming issues with us. She suggested that the September meeting be dedicated to a meeting with him since it was so close to the picnic and the traffic issues affect the two large arteries of OCNA.
Lisa Goodwin asked if we could provide data on the number of kids who walk to school, especially those that cross Beechwood, and would that help us to get better traffic calming devices? Susanne offered to assess the number of pedestrians walking to/from school, after school starts back. Kirby said she is concerned about shrubbery blocking the sightlines of drivers and of walkers, even on sidewalks. Christine Wells said she sees drivers running the stop signs daily, especially early in the morning. She thinks the current stop signs give a false sense of security. She also said that if we get speed bumps, it will cause more noise to nearby homes. Jack asked why Beechwood Avenue South got speed bumps and North did not. Dorothy said that they are in the South Rolling Rd school district. Mabelle asked about other ways to limit traffic and speed, for instance, ‘No right turn from 7am-9am’ signs or a pedestrian crossing sign. Christine said in her old neighborhood it took years to get a sidewalk installed and residents had to pay for it and they have to remove snow from it.
Jim said that years before, the OCNA traffic committee had requested speed bumps and we were told ‘no,’ since the Federal guidelines had not been set on the shape of these. He recommended that OCNA move forward in requesting bumps or tables. Dorothy agreed, adding that we should think of all the things we want, and request them at the meeting with Keith as OCNA currently has the upper hand and OCNA could continue to request more traffic studies which could very well yield both current stop signs and traffic calming if the studies are done correctly. Jack said that we need a double yellow line for the downhill part of Beechwood to clarify which side cars should be on. Someone said the road is way too narrow for that. Someone suggested that we get a ‘no parking’ sign posted for near the fire hydrant on Summit by the Presbyterian Church’s wooded property, where the road narrows. Jim said he can get a sign. Susanne said she’d check old OCNA minutes for our earlier discussions on traffic( a later extensive check by Susanne revealed limited detail in the minutes on traffic issues affecting OCNA). . Christine said she’d check into a program called “Safe Rides to School” which provides grants to school-community groups. Dorothy said she’d start an email group for the OCNA folks who are interested in traffic issues.
H. Picnic: the date for the OCNA picnic is Saturday, September 24. It will be held at the Meyer/Benzings’ house along with some activities at the Thomas’ and Nobles’ house. We will need chairs for this. Allison said that last year’s tug of war was great. Dorothy said she’d order a moon bounce again for her yard, and would get the tug of war rope again as well. Mabelle said the older kids can have their activities at her yard. Allison said she’s be in charge of kids’ activities beyond what was mentioned.
A. Neighbor changes: Kirby asked if there are any new neighbors, and reminded everyone (especially block reps) to send the names of new folks to Kitty Corbitt, our Welcoming Committee Chair. Allison said there was a new person on Wyndcrest.
B. Next Newsletter: The due date for contributions to the next issue is July 15, but this will be extended since articles aren’t ready.
C. OCNA & Melvin Avenue: Dorothy said that she has been asked by the president of the Melvin Avenue Neighborhood Association to consider having their group merge with OCNA. Jane Bowie asked if they joined us, would they need to be included in the historical designation. The answer was that they already are included. Someone asked how the association boundaries were set originally, and why they weren’t included before. The answer was that the (old) elementary and middle school boundaries were used. (Winters Lane has its own association). Dorothy said that when she emailed Board members their opinion on whether Melvin should join OCNA or not, she got a 50-50 split response. Mabelle asked if our bylaws gave any guidelines for this; Dorothy said if we did this we’d need to change the bylaws. Andrea asked if Melvin Avenue became part of OCNA would the churches on that road also be included. Dorothy said she’d find out (a later investigation revealed that the churches on Melvin currently play no role in the Melvin Association issues or activities).
After much heated discussion about how to handle this situation, Kevin agreed with Dorothy that we take a vote at our general election in November. Lisa Goodwin suggested that we perform a Survey Monkey (i.e., email survey) to gain an opinion from concerned residents. Dorothy agreed to look into it, and to use its findings at the General Meeting where the vote would be held. Dorothy asked if only dues-paying members vote, as she thinks it is not clearly stated in the bylaws. A brief discussion erupted from this while the bylaws were reviewed. Robert Croom and Kirby Spencer disagreed with Dorothy in how the bylaws are written, but a decision to ask Larry Wilt to review the bylaws was put into place. The general consensus was that only dues paying members should vote and that the bylaws should reflect this. A check revealed that paying dues is optional for voting, but everyone agreed it is needed. Jim recommended that we make a list of the pros and cons about the Melvin street inclusion and have it distributed for voting purposes, for instance a ‘con’ is that OCNA streets are linked, while Melvin Avenue is not linked.
D. 2012 Clean Up: The clean up is scheduled for May 19, 2012. Allison said that the dumpsters are reserved, and everyone in OCNA can participate regardless of paying dues. There was a discussion that if we add Melvin Avenue to OCNA we would fill up our dumpsters even sooner. Allison noted that we can’t get another free dumpster from the county unless we exceed 300 homes. Someone asked if this is 300 ‘homes’ or ‘families’ as we have some multi-family dwellings. We decided to use the family numbers. There was a discussion about how some participants expect to dump way too much, especially yard waste. Allison noted that we say, “we reserve the right to refuse…” and we can say in the future, “due to demand, we are limiting…” or set priorities, for instance just pick-ups for the elderly or disabled. Lisa noted that County’s curbside yard waste pick up will have started, so we can encourage use of that. Kirby recommended that we say “no leaf bags.”
Next Meeting: September 12th, about Beechwood/ Beaumont traffic calming. Location TBA.
Picnic – September 24th