AAC GDP Comments: CHAPTER ELEVEN – THE CONCURRENCY MANAGEMENT PLAN

(This chapter provided valuable details on integrated management and data modeling to our Broadneck Council Board)

The BCC recommends that:
• While Concurrency Management Reporting updates should be provided to the public at regular intervals, any changes to GDP policy resulting from integrated analyses should still be guided by the established framework of the Small Area Plan standards.

Public Roads –Level of Service Standard (p. 205)
The BCC recommends that:
• The GDP must include a plan to mitigate the unacceptable and dangerous traffic conditions on the Broadneck Peninsula that does not meet the LOS standard set by the SHA.

• In traffic analysis, the Level of Service the SHA recommends is LOS D or higher as a design standard for operation during peak hours. While the BCC understands that this is not always achievable, a continual LOS F rating on two major arterials, Ritchie Highway—(Rte #2 south) and John Hanson Highway-–(Rte #50 east/west–Broadneck area), are problematic and forecast to worsen during peak load traffic.
Rte #2 traffic merges with Rte #50 west into Annapolis and is highly congested during peak travel times. The John Hanson Highway with eastbound beach traffic operates at LOS F during weekends from June through September is projected to increase to 90K cars daily, twelve months of the year by 2012. As mentioned in the ‘Transportation Plan” Chapter 9, the BCC comments provide more detail on travel and safety problems encountered in the Rte #50 corridor. BRAC traffic will further exacerbate the LOS levels with no solutions offered in this GDP. This will lead to intolerable traffic conditions in the Broadneck area on both Rte #50 and the service roads.
With the availability of Stimulus Funding, the BCC is requesting that the required funds be dedicated to improving the LOS of both Rte #2 and Rte #50 through effective planning prior to 2015 when the effects of BRAC and increased east- west traffic become a reality.

Public Schools (p. 207)
The BCC recommends that:
• As Broadneck (and Severna Park )High School is at capacity, we recommend that the option enjoyed by developers –which allows them to hold land for six years and then develop properties without regard for the standard constraints of a overpopulated school district—be repealed.
The Fiscal Impact Reports were not provided in the Public Review Documents for the Broadneck Area. The Fiscal Impact Analysis, Phase 1 report is requested for review by the SAC and PAB and members of local citizens groups.

Fire and Emergency Service (p. 214)
The BCC recommends that:
• There must be an effective emergency evacuation plan for the Broadneck area as detailed in Chapter 6 – Quality Public Services.
While the Broadneck area enjoys a well planned network of fire stations with a high level of service (LOS) there is currently no emergency evacuation plan for this area. Funds should be allocated to complete this plan as this peninsula has three bridges on the east and southwest boundaries and the congested Ritchie Highway –Rte #2 on the north. An analysis of the LOS to evacuate critical government agencies, educational institutions, businesses and citizens located in the Annapolis area dictates that an evacuation plan be determined through immediate and careful planning.

Stormwater Management (p. 214)
The BCC recommends that:
• The highest LOS should be applied to this area due to the extensive critical area of the Broadneck peninsula (75 miles of shoreline/14% of the County’s 533 miles of shoreline). Funding must be planned and allocated to install systems that convey stormwater runoff to an appropriate system to further protect the waterways of this area from well defined pollutants.
The detail for this topic is covered in Chapter 5— Environmental Stewardship.

Revenue Strategies and Taxes
The BCC recommends that:
• Funding collected through the high taxes charged residents –especially waterfront owners—in the Broadneck area, should be applied to enhance the quality of life and the protection of the environment, much of which is located in the critical areas.
• Demand analysis should be aligned with the LOS standards that are satisfactory to County citizens under the comprehensive framework of the Concurrency Management Plan. As ongoing data analysis is performed throughout the period covered by this GDP, policies formulated as the result of concurrency analysis should be guided by the recommendations and standards as stated in this GDP. Changes outside the policies of this GDP should not be implemented without full public disclosure and public hearings.

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR A COMPREHENSIVE CONCURRENCY MANAGEMENT PLAN

It is important that demand analysis be aligned with the LOS standards that are satisfactory to County citizens under the comprehensive framework of the Concurrency Management Plan. As ongoing data analysis is performed throughout the period covered by this GDP, policies formulated as the result of concurrency analysis should be guided by the recommendations and standards as stated in this GDP. Changes outside the policies of this GDP should not be implemented without full public disclosure and public hearings.