Politics & Opinion

By Rochelle Karina

County Councilman Dick Ladd spoke at the January meeting of the Greater Severna Park Council (GSPC). Ladd offered a recap of 2011, and a look forward into plans for 2012.

The budget remained stable, with no major increases, and a slight increase in revenue has allowed for a Rainy Day Fund in case of a future shortfall. Binding Arbitration was passed, giving the County Council final fiscal authority, and Comprehensive Rezoning was completed, accomplishing most of what was requested.

The issue of 55+ housing was addressed; acknowledging there is a growing need for this type of housing. The item is still under review, with consideration for location and type of housing – stand alone, single family, all on one floor, etc. – as well as zoning. There are currently only two places in the county that are zoned R-5, Sunrise and McKinsey Park.

The Charter Review Commission is underway and considering a variety of items, including how to do a better job on the process of comprehensive rezoning. The Planning Advisory Board is looking at the issues.

Ladd quickly touched on County Council redistricting and on health care and other post-employment benefits before going on to cover storm water runoff. A bill has been sponsored to get funding to deal with runoff, and Ladd expressed this was an important issue.

“We have stood up and said we don’t want to raise taxes, but the problem is how to get the priority shifted inside the budget to start putting more funding into the storm water run-off area,” Ladd expressed. “There is absolutely nothing in the storm water run-off area that gets cheaper by doing nothing.”

Ladd expressed that he fields many calls on the issue, and the response to the bill has been overwhelmingly positive. The Challenge is to get more votes to deal with this. Ladd discussed the option of putting money out there in a lock-box that can be used only for one thing - moving dirt or asphalt that helps to take care of storm water run-off. The money would be spread around the County in proportion to the piece of the river water shed that is in the district.

Severna Park High School was, of course, on Ladd’s list.

Ladd indicated the school is coming along and is currently doing the two-year planning cycle. The one thing that he hears when talking to people is that we have got to get SPHS started. Ladd pointed out, the earliest we can get it started is in budget year 2014 which would be starting next year at the end of the school year. Ladd stated that Old Mill Elementary does need to be worked on as well, but felt they shouldn’t get their money until Severna Park High School is built and there may be some votes that we can get to keep Severna Park High on schedule.

“The problem that we face in the budget right now is that they want to build six elementary schools before they start Severna Park High,” Ladd said. “A major problem is that the Board of Education has asked for $150 million for building and $100 million has been put into the budget, but it isn’t sufficient.”

From Ladd’s point of view, the issue is that he will have to stand up publicly and say we can’t do Benfield Elementary and Rolling Knolls next year, because it is the piece that comes the year after that in 2014 which is the money that we need for Severna Park High, and we have got to get started since we need two years worth of funding if it is going to be built in two school years.

Ladd went on to cover a wide variety of upcoming legislation, including a new water master plan, updated code for building permits, adequate public facilities, traffic studies, smart meters from BG&E, charter review, Berrywood Community storm water, and the Shipley Choice dam restoration project.

The floor was opened for questions during which Ladd discussed the water master plan and runoff issues in more detail, as well as a discussion of real estate assessments and stewardship.

The February GSPC meeting was canceled due to the date falling on Valentine’s Day. The council will meet again in March.