Baltimore County, MD Planning Board, 13 Nov 2020

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From YouTube: Environment Focus Group Meeting Arbutus Area November 13, 2020

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A

Good evening, everyone.: this is josephine selvakumar, with the department of planning,.

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And the western sector planner. we are here today for the environment, focus group meeting for arbutus sustainable community area.

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Today is november 12 and the time now was 7:35 pm.

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I welcome you all to the meeting.

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I know many of you were at the previous meeting for.

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Quality of life focus group meeting and I know we are all tired.

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I will make it fast and we are here to hear more from you.

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First, I would like to welcome everyone, the planning staff,, the panelist,, the community members, county representatives,.

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And the advisory committee members..

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Thank you all for joining us today.. I will then walk you through the focus group meetings which we had and which we are going to have and give.

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You an overview of what we are going to talk about for the environment. Sustainable group focus meeting,.

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And then give you a project, kickoff feedback and talk about the survey results which we'll restate,.

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Especially for the environment, and then open up for question and answers for you to give us.

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Your feedback catered towards environment for the arbutus sustainable community, area.

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Moving on,, these are the number of meetings..

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We had transportation and economy last week,.

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And we received very good feedback from the focus group meetings.

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Prior to the environment focus group meeting,, we had the quality of life meeting.

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next week on the 18th,.

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We have housing and local government support, focus group meeting.

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What are we going to talk about in environment?.

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This is project mainly involving the natural environment,.

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Natural resources, and relationships to the natural environment.

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Quality of land, watershed, maintenance and preservation,.

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Tree canopies and green spaces,, small trees or something.. You have talked about in the survey results.

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Storm water, management,, sewer,.

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And water, capacity, recycling, pet waste, and organic waste programs,.

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And environmental, hazards, and parks and recreation.

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From the project kickoff,, we didn't hear a lot on environment,.

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But we did hear some about more trees than green spaces.

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Strengths and weakness from this survey results,.

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What we gathered is that the strengths of the proximity closer to umbc,.

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Catonsville, ellicott city elkridge, and the highways,.

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So that becomes workable to many areas which are close by and the quaint neighborhood,.

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The charm town neighborhood,, which the people like about. they have also talked about how many years they have been in the community,.

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And what they all like, about.

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all these strengths in the community.

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weaknesses, were mainly focused on the business types,.

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What is lacking, and what they are trying to look,.

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Especially to mimic some of the businesses, then from the catonsville downtown,.

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Elkridge main street, to have higher end stores and restaurants,.

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Something similar to [inaudible] trader joe's,.

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818 market and few other restaurants.

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And cafes and stores were pointed out to have more of those things.

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There were also mentions of vacant stores, how to address it,, what are the vacant stores and how to attract more businesses.

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Lack of green space was brought about, in other focus group meetings, also,.

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And also in the service. crime and prevention,, we talked about it in the previous focus group meeting.

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That was also noted in the survey and flooding issues.

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With the environment, there were.

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37 response, as for the surveys and close to 32-33 for each focus, group,.

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The numbers didn't really match., that's what we got for environment, too., mainly focusing on the environment,.

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Many have talked about more trees and greenery,, especially along the east drive and southwestern boulevard,.

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And to maintain the existing trees and community garden,.

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To have community gardens with open space.

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There were mentions at the end of the west land boulevard and linden avenues,.

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I guess that's owned by umbc,.

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They want that space being utilized,.

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To have it as a great open space, not to have more developments and to have more open, space.

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Herbert run was something which was brought up towards.

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The end of the previous meeting for quality of life,.

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So with the environment. community has talked about maintaining the herbert run watershed and how.

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To add more native plants and to get rid of invasive species,.

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And to have some community space along the watershed.

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To have some nice open space and also to maintain the watershed.

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John porter infrastructure management was also.

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Mentioned and also to maintain the shellbourne park.

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How to get rid of the rats were also couple of comments from the survey.

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Again,, no more developments,, more green spaces, and more open spaces.

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how to keep the area clean free of debris.

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From what we discussed, earlier,.

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Majority of the comments were to have more green spaces,.

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And to preserve the existing open, space.

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Storm water management streams and environmental impacts.

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Herbert run was mentioned over and over again.

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Those were the main comments for.

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The environment that we looked into from the surveys which you took.

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From the pointers discussed in the previous slide,.

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We would just like to know areas that require more trees and where you would like.

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To maintain the trees and also to elaborate on watershed, maintenance and storm water, management.

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Herbert run was mentioned in most of the comments,, but if you have more to add to that.

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These are some of the questions which we have,.

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You can elaborate on.

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if you haven't mentioned anything in the previous meetings or in the survey, and.

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If you want to talk something about the environment,.

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Focused on strengths,, weaknesses,, challenges, and opportunities,. Now is the time to talk.

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We have come to the [inaudible], take questions.

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We are also here to take your feedback.

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Like I've been repeating in all the meetings,, please punch your name on the chat box, and we have staff members to assist and navigate us,.

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Reading your questions and we will take it from there.

A

That's all I got to say., so I can now open up for the questions.

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Just type in your name- and I can leave this here for you to add more.

A

Thank you.. I will open up for questions and answers.

B

Thanks, josephine., we have a comment from tracy leaser.

B

I will unmute tracy.

C

Hi, thanks.: this is tracy.

C

I don't think I made this comment in the survey,.

C

But we have a canopy initiative ongoing and.

C

Received a flyer about trees that were available to us.

C

I noticed that all of the trees that.

C

Were candidates for our yards were very large trees.

C

I feel that with the hills that we have in some of.

C

The areas of arbutus in health, work.

C

It might've been a good idea to offer some small trees.

C

For example,, like a redbud or a dogwood, or something [noise],.

C

That would be able to fit in a sloped area.

C

So I just wanted to suggest for that first question,.

C

There are areas that require more trees,, a small tree initiative like this large tree initiative. That's ongoing now.

C

I think more takers might go for a smaller tree and not one that's going to grow 60,.

C

80, 100 feet tall on a very hilly front yard for example.

C

That was my suggestion about the areas that require more trees. was that clear?.

C

Thanks, tracy. yes,, that was clear.

A

I'm just going to stop sharing my screen so that I can see the chat box and.

A

See who's talking and, if maybe be, I can put the slides, again.

A

Yes, that was clear. thanks, tracy.

A

I'm going to unmute sarah hansen, who I think agrees on those previous comments.

B

Hi,, I'm sarah hansen and I'm sorry for some reason. My video isn't working tonight.

D

I'm a staff member at umbc and I'm also the chair of the landscape stewardship committee at umbc,.

D

So this is an issue that I really care. About..

D

One thing that I wanted to bring up is that, at umbc,.

D

We've been able to certify the campus.

D

As a wildlife habitat with the national wildlife federation,.

D

And even if arbutus isn't necessarily interested in going through the certification, process,.

D

Which really is not very onerous at all.

D

It could at least provide maybe a guide of some ideas of ways to make sure.

D

That the green spaces,, because it sounds like there's a really high demand for green space from the community, which I think is great,.

D

And to make those green spaces more wildlife, friendly by using native plantings,.

D

Making sure that there's places for wildlife to raise young and have food and water.

D

Maybe a bird house project or.

D

Even just different plants that provide berries and things like that.

D

Just something to think about, as folks are planning various green spaces,.

D

Which sounds really exciting to me.. I'm also really glad to hear that the herbert run has come up a lot, because I.

D

Was just in professional staff senate meeting today at umbc,.

D

And somebody also brought that up, that in this meeting tonight, should definitely be a topic.

D

Their understanding was that it had actually been concreted over in some areas.

D

I don't know what kind of.

D

Work, it would take to reveal that again or if that's even possible,,.

D

But that could be an opportunity for creating.

D

Both green spaces for people and also for animals.

D

Thanks sarah,, thanks for your comment.

A

I have experts from rec & park and.

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Environment sustainability and the county representatives.

A

Feel free to jump in whenever you see fit,.

A

And add more to the their points or answer their points. thank you.

A

I think steve is talking something I can't hear.

E

[Overlapping] I had a comment as well.

B

Do you want me to unmute you?.

B

F

I was just reading pat macdougall's comment.

F

We've been looking at a lot of areas for community gardens.

F

I see pat's comment that gailes park could be potentially a candidate.

F

We've been with rec, & parks has taken the lead on trying to develop.

F

Some community garden opportunities in the southwest.

F

Just noting pat's comment about that.

F

I think this does provide next tier,.

F

Next opportunity for us to really engage the community and creating some community garden opportunities.

G

Yeah, I just headed back over to the chat.

G

The comment that I had with steve because rec & parks has been.

G

Working with mr. lafferty on a number of community gardens.

G

A number of them are on the west side and some other communities.

G

But it looks to me and just sort of looking around at the number of.

G

The parks that are within the sustainable community area.

G

Gailes park,, it's kind of a quiet, little park,.

G

A lot of folks don't know about it,, but it's directly across from arbutus middle school recreation, center.

G

Looks like it actually has some space that would be sufficient for something like a community garden.

G

I did notice that in one of the earlier comments in the presentation there.

G

That's always a possibility.

G

B

I received a private comment from tracy leaser about storm water, management.

B

So tracy, I can unmute you. great, thanks.

C

Yes. I just spoke about the small trees,. That's me, again.

C

That was an interesting comment about herbert run, possibly being concreted over.

C

Because that was what I wanted to bring up.

C

I think it would be very interesting to study and.

C

Map all of those underground waterways in the area.

C

In arbutus., I walk along sulphur spring road,.

C

That stretch between the post office and downtown,.

C

And there is a stream there that is partly out,, not culverted..

C

Then it goes into a culvert.

C

It would be really nice to try to undo.

C

Some of those culverts if there are more around the neighborhood.

C

If it's possible to allow for the stream banks to naturally vegetate.

C

I think it is better for the possibility of.

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Flooding, if you have the natural stream bank and not the culverted system.

C

That was interesting that it came up, because I was thinking about.

C

That to go around and study all of these streams.

C

I think it's not named sulphur spring road for nothing.

C

I think we have a lot of springs around in the area and I think.

C

Some of those water bodies that come from the springs, have,.

C

Again, been forced into culverts.

C

Just knowing where they are, I think, would be good for the storm water management,.

C

But also for the environment,, I think, studying, undoing some of those culverts and allowing the stream banks to.

C

Vegetate, naturally, would be something that would be worth looking. Into.

C

Thank you for listening.. This is sarah again.

D

Not only is it more beautiful,.

D

It also creates habitat and filters the water.

D

You all are probably aware, if there's baltimore county government folks on this call,.

D

I'm not sure who all is on the call,, but I live in catonsville over by the trolley trail.

D

And we just had.

D

A recent stream restoration project happening there. That was really exciting.

D

There is sort of a model in place for creating native stream buffers and healthy streams.

B

Hi josephine,, we have a comment from cheryl rydall.

B

So I'll unmute you,, cheryl. yes.

H

I'm really glad this has been brought up. This evening.

H

In looking over the whole area,, I've been looking at that because of this new planned development. That's up on maple road at the good shepherd property up, there.

H

It's come to light, a lot of talk about herbert run and the runoff towards patapsco river,.

H

We're in those two watersheds and that all affects all this water, that's everywhere,.

H

And of course,, this seems to be a buzzword, you'll hear anymore in the environment,.

H

Is joining this runoff. I'd like to point out that, in relay,.

H

If you look at the latest development that was put in there about highgate,.

H

I really feel that that's an example of a development that I.

H

Feel was done very well where they put a lot of buffer zones.

H

When you drive down into that development, there's a lot of buffer zones that has more of the bushes, the viburnums,.

H

And things that would get smaller wildlife like rabbits,.

H

Squirrels, and help for butterflies, birds,.

H

That type of thing,, instead of just planting canopy trees.,.

H

I think that that is a commercial development that was done very well.

H

When you're talking about herbert run and all these places,.

H

I just think if they could go back and put some of this barrier type of growth, in,.

H

And I guess it's a two-edged sword because then you're having to maintain some of it.

H

But I really think that this would help with the runoff and it would.

H

Also help the vegetation and the wildlife in the area.

H

I'm concerned when all this is going to happen, up on maple avenue,.

H

Where there's already problems on ridge, road and all those areas,.

H

That how is that going to affect even down on.

H

Sulphur spring road or coming down into arbutus and herbert run.

H

I think this is a very good time to be looking at that type of thing.

H

As far as having gardens and parks,.

H

When you go up on elm road,, there's a wonderful open space that is up there,.

H

And then the park that you're talking about is up by arbutus middle school.

H

But I've noticed that there really isn't much playground equipment.

H

I also feel that you could have some of.

H

This buffer zone plantings that could be put in those areas to encourage wildlife.

H

Also, at the halethorpe elementary school,.

H

It seems like there's a lot of room to put some type of buffer zones up there.

H

Also,, maybe some more playground equipment to give a place for.

H

Families to take their children up in that area. Too. thank you.

H

Thanks, cheryl.

A

Those were some valuable suggestions. thank you.

B

We have a couple more comments in the chat box,.

B

But I was thinking, maybe we should offer the panelists the time to speak,.

B

If they would like to add anything at this point?.

B

Hi,, I'm haley and I.

I

Work for the department of environmental protection in the watershed management, section,.

I

And I just want to say to everyone: that's talking about stream buffers and opening up culverts,.

I

Those are really great.. Opening up culverts are more involved,, but stream. Buffers is a really great way to increase the flow and increase.

I

The filtration of the stream water into streams to help filter out those pollutants and help herbert run.

I

So it's really great to hear all that being said.

I

I also want to tell people about the lower patapsco small watershed action plan that was.

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Created in 2012 and is due to be revised, soon.

I

That goes over a lot of the things that you guys are talking. About.

I

It looks at things like impervious surface, and where things are planted and where they're, not, and recommendations.

I

I can put that link in the chat for everyone to checkout.

I

Thanks, haley., that's helpful.,.

A

I just know from being in some recent community meetings in halethorpe.

H

That this runoff is an extreme issue with the people that live over there.

H

This herbert run just keeps being brought up over and over again,.

H

So I wasn't even aware, and I'm sure they weren't either,, that there is an action plan,. So that would be very much appreciated.

H

A

Any more questions?.

B

We have some more questions in the chat box,, so we can go to those now.. I believe sarah hansen had another comment. go ahead, sarah. [overlapping].

D

I was just responding to the conversation as it was going.

D

Someone mentioned it's maintenance when you are doing buffers,.

D

And I just wanted to point out that if [inaudible] need of plants,.

D

Once they get going,, it shouldn't take a whole lot of maintenance,.

D

Unless you want a really manicured look., but if you're willing to have a more natural look,.

D

Then it shouldn't be that much maintenance..

D

Then someone was talking about playground equipment,, which I think is a great idea to get more families out in green spaces..

D

I also really like those fitness trails where it's a walkway.

D

With different small pieces of equipment for people to just go.

D

For a walk, and maybe do some chin ups or whatever along the way,.

D

If you know what I'm talking about., I'm sorry, if I'm talking way too much., I'm not sure [laughter]. If that's appropriate.,.

J

I'm just a member of the community trying to get some input, and this is something that I really care. About.

A

That's nice to hear, all excited input. thank you.

A

well,. I just want to say that I am an old hippie from.

H

Way back in the '70s, and I was in horticulture, and agriculture,.

H

And farming back when it wasn't that great,.

H

And I just get so much pleasure when I hear young people talking.

H

About this, because I've just been waiting, my whole life.

H

To have the younger generation really want to get involved in this.

H

So just keep on talking, dear. we're here and we want to make it happen.

K

So, however, we can work. Together,, that's awesome.

A

You can keep on talking until 8:30 pm.

A

Do you have any more questions in your chat, box,, joe?.

A

There's nothing specific,.

B

But tina mentioned pollinators.

B

I'll, let tina, talk about that.

L

I don't know, when I start typing in, I get to a certain point, and I look down, and that's all that's left to send..

L

I was talking about rain gardens to try to mitigate some rain runoff.

L

Because, as you go down towards tom day, boulevard between carville and oregon,,.

L

We have those steep slope there from 95.

L

I'm not sure who owns the land, but in those little pockets right, there,.

L

They would be the perfect place to have a rain garden.

L

To increase the natives, to do a pollinator garden.

L

It's just that the property that goes along with 95,.

L

But it's right next to the community, and that would be perfect place to fill in,.

L

See where 95 is, it crosses [inaudible] 95.

L

Then, where it turns white right, there,, the smaller white section,.

L

That's where it goes over carville and oregon.

L

The elevation is quite high., you have a lot of hilly area, there.

L

You can see there's a lot of vegetation next to it,.

L

But we if we were to have clean that out a little bit and make a nice rain garden.

L

You're over southwestern boulevard, right, now.

A

L

If you look, you're over southwestern boulevard, right to the left of that, is two more white patches.

L

That's where I'm talking about.

F

This is steve lafferty., that's, probably state-owned land..

F

The state has a right of way over all that area,.

F

So you need to work with state highway administration or we.

F

Would have to work with state highway administration just to get what's possible.

F

Rain gardens probably aren't viable,.

F

Especially on area, that's got steeper. [Inaudible], wouldn't capture enough of the water,.

F

Although there may be some other strategies to be used.,.

F

Let me ask,: is there flooding in that area coming off of the roads or nearby?.

F

L

Especially on the,, I guess,.

L

It would be the north side of 95,.

L

That's the side, I see all the time.

L

I'm sorry, nothing on our side. yeah,. I guess it is.

L

On the side that is, [inaudible] arbutus, not halethorpe.,.

L

That's where on the halethorpe side, because that's.

L

Pretty much the line too, between arbutus and halethorpe right, there,.

L

95 is for the most part.

L

right. on the halethorpe side,.

L

I can't speak to that as much as I can.

L

on the arbutus side,, because I go that way. A lot and I see the arbutus side of it.

L

Is there flooding there on normal [overlapping] or with just to heavy [overlapping].

L

With heavy rain,, the ground gets really soggy.

L

We're fortunate in arbutus that people cut beyond their grass,.

L

And they they maintain it so that it doesn't get out of control,.

L

But if we create an environment there, that would be good for the environment and then take some work off of the neighbors,.

L

That maybe they could find other community things to do.

L

I've spied that spot for about five years and thought,.

L

"Man,, what could we plant there?? How could we do something that was better there?".

L

They probably shouldn't be cutting there, because.

F

You like the grasses grow, rather than cut it. Down,.

F

It can absorb more, but nonetheless.

F

all right. just didn't know if there is any flooding in that specific area that needs to be addressed..

F

L

I would say it's soppy.

A

I was trying to do a street view,.

A

But it's not moving to show you the street view.

A

I will give up on the street view.

A

We have another comment in the chat box.

B

This one's from carolyn a.

B

she says that some neighborhood folks wonder what plans there.

B

Might be for the green space by umbc.

B

That is on the corner of linden and shelbourne,.

B

And if there are opportunities for shared usage, like community garden,,.

B

Food crop, health and wellness classes on the lawn,, etc.

B

Or if these can become things that happen on the green space of elm or [inaudible] park.

A

I remember seeing this comment of the survey results.. I believe that partial zone by umbc,.

A

If anyone from umbc is here to take the question,.

A

You can answer that.

A

I'm from the umbc,.

D

Although that's not formally, my role.

D

I'm trying to imagine exactly where you're talking about.

D

Can you pull it up on the map. yeah.? If I read it right,, it says [inaudible].

D

A

I thought they were shutting. My screen.

A

hold on a second.

A

This is the shelbourne road.. I think she was talking about the intersection of linden and shelbourne,. Is that right?.

A

Yes,, that's right.

B

But tina said it's a place where everyone used to park..

B

A

It's where everybody used to park.

L

It's the corner right there that when you come out of umbc on poplar,.

L

You're heading towards arbutus, you're, coming out poplar,.

L

It's to the right. that whole strip of land., this one, where my hand is?

L

yes,, see where you have the drive.

L

Yeah, you just had it. right in there.

A

Yeah,, this is the poplar avenue where you'll come out of here.

A

[Overlapping] yeah,, it's right there.

D

Yeah. [overlapping], I don't know if there's specific plans for that area,.

D

But that's certainly something that I can take back.

D

I work with the grounds folks and the facilities management folks.

D

I know that umbc is trying to do a lot to create.

D

More no-mow zones and more pollinator areas and things like that.

D

Is there a certain use you would like to see for.

D

That area that I could be advocating for?, I thought the neighbors along there were upset because umbcs people were.

H

Parking there and I thought that land belonged to the arbutus methodist church.

H

There's a fence: I think that goes along there now to try to.

H

Keep the parking from happening there.

H

It was something involved with the arbutus methodist church that they got.

H

Involved in it because the neighbors all along shelbourne there in that section,.

H

Didn't like those cars., so they may be the ones that need to be contacted.

H

You need to find out who really owns that strip of land,.

H

But I think some type of a garden there would be really nice.

B

Josephine,, I got a private message from ryan kmetz.

B

He's the sustainability director at umbc., [overlapping], hi, ryan., I didn't know you were on this call.

D

I feel like I should've, let you just do a lot of this talking.

A

Just a second. ryan, go ahead.

A

I was just trying to see from the gis,.

A

But I can't open both screens at the same time..

A

It's freezing on me to see who owns that., but if ryan is there,, let me allow him to talk., hey everybody,, I'm ryan kmetz.

M

I'm the assistant director of sustainability at umbc.

M

That strip of grass parcel,.

M

Whatever you want to call it, was,, I guess, purchased by umbc..

M

It pre-dates me,, I think., but we did get it from the church across the street.

M

The fence was installed to help mitigate,.

M

For lack of a better term, illegal parking., currently, umbc is exploring different options for how to utilize.

M

The space in our facilities master plan, which is on our website.

M

If you go to fm.umbc.edu,.

M

The entire plan's there.

M

it looks like a potential future use might be some sort of.

M

Storm water feature if umbc were to continue expanding the land.

M

Nothing is set in stone.. A master plan is simply a 30,000 foot.

M

View and us trying to look into a crystal ball 10 years, out.

M

But as of right, now,, there's no plans to develop anything on that parcel.

M

I think any formal requests from the community to use stuff,.

M

We'd be more than happy to entertain it and put it through.

M

The proper channels and stakeholders at the university.

M

Thanks, ryan. thank you.

A

Joe, we have some questions from joe b taylor.

G

Okay. joe b is unmuted.

N

Hi,, this is joe b. I'm at umbc as well,.

N

At their striver section., just a comment really first to.

N

Say that how much I've enjoyed seeing members of the community walking in.

N

The campus loop and I love anything we can do to create crossover, connections.

N

Particular thing I was mentioning was,.

N

I know arbutus memorial park is a very large green area in this zone.

N

As someone that lives in the city,, I know there are a lot of historic african-american connections between the city and county there.

N

So I'm just wondering if there are both green space as well.

N

As cultural and community connections that might be opportunities.

N

I know that those kind of.

N

Spaces can be places that people walk and connect.

N

Also, I know from just neighbors that make the drive.

N

To arbutus, because they have loved ones that they remember there.

N

But just seems like a very large green space that could.

N

Have potential for engagement of larger community in the area.

A

Thank you., joe,.

A

Do you have any more questions?? Do you have anybody else?, not right, now.,.

B

I guess if panelists have any thing to add, now might be a good time.

B

Can I ask the person, that's spoke about the smaller trees.

I

What program was that, through that? You said there were only large trees on the list?.

A

Joe,, if you could unmute them. [noise].

A

That was tracy who made that comment. Earlier.

F

Yeah. [overlapping] my screen is frozen. Too.

B

A

I can unmute myself actually.

C

Okay. great., I'm sorry that I don't remember.

C

But we could certainly get with michael from the homeowners' group,.

C

And one of our members coordinated that.

C

Again,, I'm sorry, but I could get back to you with that.

C

Halethorpe improvement, association.

H

Has a newsletter that you can access on the internet.

H

I think they have information on there about who coordinated.

H

The program and how they did it, so that might be a way you could get to that quicker.

H

Yeah,, I think michael [inaudible].

A

Michael [inaudible].

A

yeah., he is the association lead, he might be able to.

H

Yeah. they have a wonderful newsletter.

H

yeah,. They do. [overlapping].

H

She had,. I can't remember the girl's name,.

H

But it's actually her boyfriend that works for the county, government,.

H

And he spearheaded that effort over in halethorpe and.

H

She had mentioned the other night that they were going to do that over in arbutus.

H

They called it larger specimen trees that were eight feet tall trees that they brought.

H

They were more or less,, they wanted them to grow, to canopy trees.

H

But there may be another program: that's available.!

H

I just shared the link to their website,.

A

But their newsletters are pretty good.

A

Let me put the e-mail id here in the chat box,.

A

So you could [overlapping].

I

I was just curious, because, as we were talking, I was looking at the guidelines that we use in the forestry section,.

I

And it seems like they have redbuds listed on there.

I

I guess this could be for a particular program.

I

I know we had a big trees program., but I was wondering if you were going through a non-profit,, but it sounds like it's through the county, government.

I

yeah,. It was the county government.

K

Okay, thank you.

G

This is pat mcdougal with recreation, &, parks.

G

I was looking at gis, we're going along and it's comment were made by various citizens.

G

One of the areas that I think is a little interesting here, is,.

G

There are five individual floodplain properties.

G

Owned by the county and assigned to rec & parks.

G

along herbert run, on leeds avenue, between [inaudible] road and elm ridge, avenue.

G

The college [inaudible] have shows that some of those are actually mowed.

G

Which may not be the best thing to do to mr. lafferty's point.

G

A lot of times when you are that close to a stream,.

G

It's better to not mow., but sometimes spaces like that are used by the community for different activities.

G

I know similar circumstance up in woodlawn,.

G

Where the edge of the road that's a nice wide grassy area is used for things like yard sales and things of that nature.

G

Wondering if anybody that is on this call is familiar with those spaces and.

G

Whether you have any thoughts as to what you would like to see there.

G

Would you like to see that planted with trees??

G

Would you like to see that considered for pollinator gardens?.

G

Rec & park could certainly work with [inaudible] who haley works, with,.

G

And with mr. lafferty,, with sustainability office on.

G

Maybe reinvigorating those or somebody just changing their use, overall.

G

If I may interrupt here.

H

To me, the absolute authority on herbert's run in that whole area is michael mckayla.

H

With his halethorpe improvement association., he walks that area from the beginning to the end with his friend, and he is.

H

Of the mind that he always tries to get any type of trash and everything off from there.

H

I think in a lot of his sense, a lot of these people don't know.

H

That type of grasses or vegetation that could be planted there.

H

I think he would be very open to someone talking to him,.

H

He knows that area like the back of his hand.

H

So he would be the person to get in touch with.

H

I'm surprised he's not in this meeting.

A

I heard that he has covid.

H

So I don't know., I'm sorry to hear that.

A

Josephine I'm going to unmute tracy leaser.

B

She had a comment.

C

Yes. thanks., I did have one more idea.

C

I'm sorry if you've already discussed it,.

C

But in the median on carville avenue,.

C

I think it would be great to have someone walk that.

C

And look for any holes in the trees there.

C

There's a tree planted in the very middle of the median.

C

I think there's a few spaces where there may not be trees.

C

That would be a good candidate,, especially even if you're talking about wanting to put in some of.

C

The larger trees, because of being in the median there.

C

So that's one idea,, but also it would be nice to consider.

C

Something else there along the median besides the grass.

C

Possibly some [inaudible] native grasses.

C

I would like to see some shrubs that might attract birds or larvae.

C

I think that the shrubs can be a security concern.

C

But I think some short native grasses would be very nice there. Instead of the grass.

C

So that was my other idea on the canopy. thanks.

A

Thank you,, I guess bettina had a comment.

B

Yes, bettina, you are unmuted. thank you.

L

I just wanted to speak to the strip that she's talking.

L

About because the greater arbutus business association.

L

Has been maintaining that grass [laughter] as part of our.

L

It's a gray area.

L

It used to be a right of way for the rail car that ran down there back in the '50s.

L

Usually, the folks ride along that strip on either side,.

L

They start the saplings over there..

L

They raise the trees.

L

It's like a community thing.

L

if they have one that dies, they get together and they remove it..

L

That's a nice section.

L

Of course, herbert run runs between the back of their house and southwest boulevard.

L

So that's a very good key, targeted area to get.

L

The environmentally conscious folks involved because they're.

L

Already actively participating in it and they're directly next to herbert run.

L

So I just wanted to speak to that section of property.

A

Thanks, bettina., I was trying to pull that,.

A

But my screen is not cooperating,, I'm sorry.

L

It's the same spot where we were talking: about, 95, gallon [overlapping].,.

L

Right., it's the same exact spot., so that's nice.! You have to be careful in that area,.

L

Mindful also that that's also our parade route.

L

A lot of people utilize the shade, trees and.

L

That hill, it's covered with families for the parades, too.

L

So we have to be conscious of that activity. Also.

L

A

Anymore, questions?, pat,, steve,.

A

And haley,, if you want to add anything more,, please do.

A

Any new comments that weren't discussed at the feedback survey?.

A

Did you get feedback on the items that were in your powerpoint,.

E

The slides with the questions?.

A

A

I know we talked a lot about herbert run, trees,, more trees,.

A

Maintaining trees, and then the storm water, management., [noise].

A

I can add in something about storm water, management.,.

I

I was looking at our gis data..

I

We usually do an analysis for the sustainable community applications,.

I

Where we have looked at how much storm water treatment is in.

I

An area and how much impervious is treated by storm water, management.

I

That helps with filtering water and water quality in herbert run.

I

I didn't do this extremely detailed,, so don't quote me.

I

But from the data that I looked at, that I usually look at for applications,, it looks like only about 18 percent of the arbutus area.

I

That the department of cleaning has outlined is treated by storm water,.

I

And you have a total of 34 percent impervious areas throughout the whole area.

I

Then only 21 percent of the whole impervious area is actually treated by storm water.

I

So, that's probably why you're seeing a lot of flooding issues that you're.

I

Seeing and that's a serious concern for water quality.

I

So you guys are all right on point with talking about greening everything. Up.

I

That's going to help a lot and it makes total sense for what you guys are seeing,.

I

The numbers that I'm looking at. we're going to incorporate that all into the application like we.

I

Normally do., thanks for your comments.

I

A

Josephine, we had a comment in the chat box from sarah asking,.

B

"What are the next steps for this work??

B

Will there be opportunities to further provide input on proposed specific projects?".

A

We are collecting feedback now through these individual focus group meetings, and you already gave input through the surveys.

A

We have a couple of more focus group meetings. Next week.

A

So we will put together all these results.

A

So we'd report on the hub,.

A

Where you could see the input for different focus groups for environment,.

A

To quality of life, and everything that we discussed., you could access to see what it is, and the next step is.

A

That we collect all these data and we work.

A

With different county agencies to get their input from.

A

What we heard so far and then put together and submit the applications to the state,.

A

So that you get the designation and get access to.

A

All these funding to do all the wonderful things you are talking, about.

A

Just to reiterate what josephine said,.

E

Once we collect all this baseline information.

E

That we're getting from the advisory committees,, these all small groups, that we're meeting with now,.

E

We're going to use that to put a rough draft together of what we've heard.

E

Then we will ask for input again on that.

E

Whether it's through meetings, or through some additional online survey, tools,.

E

Or online mapping tools. it could be a mix of things,, but there will be additional opportunities to provide input.

K

Great. thank you.

A

You're welcome. you'll be notified through the hubs.

A

As we move on, as we post anything,, we'll keep you in the loop so that you know what's the next step.

A

I think that's it for comments, josephine.

A

Yeah., I just have a couple of more minutes,, so if anything, else,.

A

Now's, the time, or else, I'll wrap up the meeting.. It's almost 8:30.. I don't see anymore comments in the chat box,.

A

So, let's wrap up., thank you all for being here and giving your valuable feedback.

A

It's really helpful. the next meetings,, the two more focus groups that's left is housing and local government support,.

A

Which is number 18 and I will send out the registration link tomorrow.

A

It'll all be posted in the hub and the previous meetings were posted today.

A

Today's meetings will also be posted soon.

A

The survey report will also be posted soon so that you get an idea.

A

Of the entire focus groups and the inputs and feedback.

A

We'll keep you all posted on the next step through our hub and e-mails.

A

Thank you, all. thanks for your time. bye.

A

Bye-Bye. bye-bye.

K

Bye. [noise]em.