1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:10,520 Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to our development review streamlining workgroup meeting. This is, I believe, our fourth meeting. 2 00:00:11,280 --> 00:00:15,980 Thank you for your attendance and your indulgence on getting this meeting started. 3 00:00:17,400 --> 00:00:29,720 Wanted to start off with attendance, which we have about, as I may have mentioned before, recording started about 10 of our members here. 4 00:00:30,740 --> 00:00:36,780 Today, we're going to discuss an update on the Development Review Sharet that was provided 5 00:00:37,760 --> 00:00:45,660 to developers back in February, to be exact, February 24, 2026. 6 00:00:46,320 --> 00:00:54,440 And I am prepared to put the presentation in the chat for those who still do not have 7 00:00:54,440 --> 00:00:55,560 their copy of it. 8 00:00:55,560 --> 00:01:05,420 If I may, I'd like to turn over the meeting to one of your work members, which is Mr. Marcus Monroe. 9 00:01:06,520 --> 00:01:07,140 Thank you. 10 00:01:09,300 --> 00:01:10,480 Good afternoon, everyone. 11 00:01:11,640 --> 00:01:13,540 And thank you, Ms. Hightower for the introduction. 12 00:01:14,660 --> 00:01:17,700 And so just the level set and didn't have it as a formal presentation. 13 00:01:18,040 --> 00:01:19,060 It was just really talking points. 14 00:01:19,360 --> 00:01:23,900 And I'll just sort of clarify where we are in the process and then just open it up for dialogue. 15 00:01:24,500 --> 00:01:31,160 So, Ms. Rafferty, I only had about maybe like five to 10 minutes to talking points and then we can let you drive us from there. 16 00:01:31,540 --> 00:01:32,020 Does that sound good? 17 00:01:32,260 --> 00:01:33,460 That is fine with me. 18 00:01:33,580 --> 00:01:39,040 This is going to be more of a little bit more informal meeting. 19 00:01:39,520 --> 00:01:45,980 We'll talk about the recommendations or the status of the development community charrette. 20 00:01:45,980 --> 00:01:57,960 And then start formulating some solid recommendations during this meeting if that's okay with everyone for the work group. 21 00:02:00,460 --> 00:02:00,820 Okay. 22 00:02:02,120 --> 00:02:15,640 So just to back us up to a few months ago, so we had brought on four graduate students in January of this year from the University of Maryland's master of community planning and some of them also minored in real estate development. 23 00:02:15,640 --> 00:02:20,520 And so they were starting to already look at the development review process as they've 24 00:02:20,520 --> 00:02:21,220 submitted a project. 25 00:02:21,960 --> 00:02:30,200 And then concurrently, there was a push by the chairman and then the county's act to 26 00:02:30,200 --> 00:02:35,540 do a development charrette that took place on, I believe, February 25th. 27 00:02:35,960 --> 00:02:39,820 So those two things would have culminated around the same time. 28 00:02:39,960 --> 00:02:43,920 And then what we asked the grassy instance to do is take the feedback that they received 29 00:02:43,920 --> 00:02:50,900 during that session and then also subsequently have follow-up with some 30 00:02:50,900 --> 00:02:54,800 folks even on this call. If there is any questions, maybe some things that they 31 00:02:54,800 --> 00:02:59,840 didn't quite understand. And so what we ended up getting was over 200 lines of 32 00:02:59,840 --> 00:03:04,640 individual. Once you once recollected all the comments from the meeting, emails, 33 00:03:05,540 --> 00:03:10,320 everything put together, it culminated into about over 200 individual lines of 34 00:03:10,320 --> 00:03:11,940 to excel like lines of comments. 35 00:03:12,840 --> 00:03:14,580 So at that point, that was a lot of information 36 00:03:15,160 --> 00:03:18,960 and then they even got feedback from our staff 37 00:03:18,960 --> 00:03:20,860 on sort of how to understand it and translate it. 38 00:03:21,540 --> 00:03:23,540 And so ultimately what they ended up doing was 39 00:03:24,080 --> 00:03:26,280 they actually just wrapped up about a week and a half ago 40 00:03:26,280 --> 00:03:27,120 before graduation. 41 00:03:27,800 --> 00:03:30,600 And then where we are in the process is that 42 00:03:30,600 --> 00:03:32,320 we were packaging that as a presentation 43 00:03:32,320 --> 00:03:34,520 to follow to the county executives team 44 00:03:35,020 --> 00:03:36,300 where requested a briefing. 45 00:03:36,300 --> 00:03:41,660 And so that is in the middle of being scheduled with Calvin Hawkins. 46 00:03:41,920 --> 00:03:45,380 So we would, you know, like, timeline-wise, we would try to do that early next week. 47 00:03:45,800 --> 00:03:55,020 And then I believe that, as I understand it, then we would put the information out to the community once we've had a chance to brief the count executives team. 48 00:03:55,360 --> 00:04:01,160 So first and foremost, I just wanted to sort of share where we are in the process and what and how it all came together. 49 00:04:02,620 --> 00:04:05,200 So the effort was pretty straightforward. 50 00:04:05,520 --> 00:04:06,980 We asked them to look at the current development 51 00:04:06,980 --> 00:04:10,160 review process, right, and everything they heard 52 00:04:11,100 --> 00:04:12,960 around supporting annual housing instruction, 53 00:04:13,160 --> 00:04:14,860 economic development, small business growth. 54 00:04:14,960 --> 00:04:17,880 There are a lot of wants and interests from the comments. 55 00:04:18,680 --> 00:04:20,100 But at the end of the day, it just 56 00:04:20,100 --> 00:04:23,500 wanted to frame the current system as basically lengthy. 57 00:04:23,840 --> 00:04:25,280 The feedback we were hearing that is lengthy, 58 00:04:25,460 --> 00:04:27,240 is complex, is unpredictable, and is costly. 59 00:04:29,480 --> 00:04:42,240 And in order to do that and understand where to make improvements, we actually want to do research, look at the code, ask questions where they needed to, and then translate that into sort of buckets, right? 60 00:04:42,520 --> 00:04:55,180 And they looked at zoning, basically all the comments aligned pretty much with zoning subdivision site plans, final plans and permitting, and we had to give them some guardrails so they didn't look at master planning and they didn't look at enforcement. 61 00:04:55,180 --> 00:04:58,900 So that's another level set to say that we did have to give them some guardrails a short 62 00:04:58,900 --> 00:04:59,580 amount of time. 63 00:05:00,380 --> 00:05:04,280 And what they ended up doing was mapping it across sort of state, regional, county, municipal, 64 00:05:05,260 --> 00:05:12,740 all the quasi-government entities and just trying to see what the information they were 65 00:05:12,740 --> 00:05:15,800 seeking then was telling them as far as the story, right? 66 00:05:16,020 --> 00:05:20,300 And the biggest high-level finding was that the current development review process 67 00:05:20,300 --> 00:05:26,900 process was sort of burdened by six reoccurring problems and their view for their hearing is 68 00:05:26,900 --> 00:05:33,300 that the process was complex, it was lengthy timelines, poor intra and intra-agency coordination, 69 00:05:34,180 --> 00:05:40,080 manual workflows in some instances and a complicated and evolving regulatory environment 70 00:05:40,660 --> 00:05:47,740 and downstream effect has, you know, basically the downstream effect on that is sort of 71 00:05:47,740 --> 00:05:49,540 slowing how we can do housing and development. 72 00:05:51,800 --> 00:05:53,700 I want to pause there and just sort of, 73 00:05:53,700 --> 00:05:55,780 so I'm not just blabbing a bunch of words, everybody. 74 00:05:56,220 --> 00:05:58,020 Besides, sorry, I'll pause to see if that, 75 00:05:58,820 --> 00:06:00,260 any initial questions so far 76 00:06:00,260 --> 00:06:03,120 and everybody's tracking may not be the story. 77 00:06:05,810 --> 00:06:05,970 Okay. 78 00:06:06,270 --> 00:06:08,610 Thank you for that, Mr. Monroe. 79 00:06:09,270 --> 00:06:14,890 Are there any questions based on what Mr. Monroe 80 00:06:14,890 --> 00:06:18,390 was mentioning, questions, comments? 81 00:06:18,990 --> 00:06:19,430 I 82 00:06:24,620 --> 00:06:28,900 see Mr. Smith has his hand raised. Go ahead, Mr. Smith. Thank you. 83 00:06:36,930 --> 00:06:38,550 Mr. Smith, you're still on mute. 84 00:06:44,440 --> 00:06:45,280 Sorry about that. 85 00:06:45,660 --> 00:06:46,400 That's okay. 86 00:06:46,820 --> 00:06:52,200 So I assume you want to see me sitting out here, bacon in the sun. 87 00:06:53,560 --> 00:07:01,060 So before that February 25th, there was a council retreat where there was a large panel of folks from the development community, 88 00:07:02,820 --> 00:07:09,300 Chairman Barnes, then Chairman Barnes, I think Jim Hunt and some other leaders from the planning department. 89 00:07:11,000 --> 00:07:18,500 You know, again, another opportunity to talk about how the process of burdensome and problematic and yadda, yadda, yadda. 90 00:07:18,500 --> 00:07:19,380 when you just pay money. 91 00:07:21,460 --> 00:07:27,780 No, no spots on that panel at all. And no panel at all for civic 92 00:07:27,780 --> 00:07:34,420 or environmental or public health advocates to represent their concerns, suggestions about 93 00:07:34,420 --> 00:07:42,040 how the process will work better. We did have a chance to meet for a couple minutes 94 00:07:42,040 --> 00:07:46,220 because we pushed for it, but not as part of the panel. 95 00:07:47,120 --> 00:07:47,900 And then the charrette. 96 00:07:48,220 --> 00:07:53,240 So who was the genesis of the call 97 00:07:53,240 --> 00:07:56,760 for the February 25th charrette and who was invited? 98 00:07:58,160 --> 00:08:00,360 And what's the work product that we can see? 99 00:08:02,610 --> 00:08:03,790 So that's one piece. 100 00:08:04,050 --> 00:08:07,130 And then what's the work product that we can see now 101 00:08:07,950 --> 00:08:10,550 from this collaboration with the students 102 00:08:10,550 --> 00:08:11,410 at the university? 103 00:08:12,650 --> 00:08:18,550 We should see that sooner rather than later if we're going to be expected to participate 104 00:08:18,550 --> 00:08:19,470 in this process. 105 00:08:20,390 --> 00:08:26,350 And I see that I'm the only environmental advocate on this group, not that I assume others 106 00:08:26,350 --> 00:08:30,730 don't care about the environment, but that's my little label at the table, environmental 107 00:08:30,730 --> 00:08:35,250 activists, and we have one civic activist channel since she's able to be here. 108 00:08:35,250 --> 00:08:41,330 So we need to see this work product sooner rather than later. 109 00:08:41,650 --> 00:08:45,210 Not after it's been presented to the executive and then repacked, it's for public consumption. 110 00:08:47,130 --> 00:08:53,370 So back to my first question. What was the genesis of the charrette? Who was invited? 111 00:08:53,630 --> 00:08:55,270 What's the work product that we can see? 112 00:08:56,210 --> 00:09:01,190 Same deal. What was the scoping for the students at the university? What was the goal? 113 00:09:01,190 --> 00:09:06,170 And what's the work product that we can see now, or at least soon? 114 00:09:07,450 --> 00:09:12,310 We're supposed to – we're talking about substantive recommendations. 115 00:09:13,730 --> 00:09:20,330 I think we still need to have substantive conversations about which problems are significant and what they're driven by. 116 00:09:21,290 --> 00:09:25,290 And then be able to have conversations about potential recommendations. 117 00:09:25,290 --> 00:09:30,010 But as far as I know, we're pretty well closing in on the 60-day deadline by which we're supposed 118 00:09:30,010 --> 00:09:36,410 to present recommendations to the Court of Counselor or the Counselor. 119 00:09:36,730 --> 00:09:43,210 The markets, can you fill us in on the details around the charrette and then the work with 120 00:09:43,210 --> 00:09:43,570 the students? 121 00:09:48,590 --> 00:09:48,990 Sure. 122 00:09:49,530 --> 00:09:49,790 Sure. 123 00:09:49,990 --> 00:09:54,970 I can only speak to what I know, so I can't speak to, so you'll be lyric a couple 124 00:09:54,970 --> 00:09:55,470 things together. 125 00:09:55,470 --> 00:09:59,210 So I'm going to hit them in the way my brain works in the timeline. 126 00:10:00,110 --> 00:10:08,950 You referenced the earlier development community, the panel that happened at the retreat for 127 00:10:08,950 --> 00:10:09,610 the county council. 128 00:10:09,910 --> 00:10:14,450 Just make sure I caught it accurately as a point in time. 129 00:10:15,250 --> 00:10:16,410 I can't speak to that. 130 00:10:16,670 --> 00:10:22,110 And I can't speak to why there were not a sufficient amount in your view environmentals. 131 00:10:22,110 --> 00:10:35,710 So I don't want to be on that point but other than to say that I hear you and I receive that and I think that can be a recommendation for the broader committee if you want continued engagement around that specific topic to happen for the community. 132 00:10:36,230 --> 00:10:42,430 I think that's where that's got to live as far as a recommendation from this body. I just want to speak to that part. 133 00:10:42,430 --> 00:10:47,350 As far as the push for then, the second thing in the timeline was the charrette. 134 00:10:48,090 --> 00:10:50,910 That was the previous Chairman Barnes push. 135 00:10:51,770 --> 00:10:56,570 I can't speak to when he had the first dialogue with the county of Zeg, but it was an event 136 00:10:56,570 --> 00:11:01,550 that was held in partnership with the Pies leadership was at the event, the DCAO, I 137 00:11:01,550 --> 00:11:06,270 believe the county of Zeg, our planning director and Chairman Barnes, they were 138 00:11:06,270 --> 00:11:06,630 at it. 139 00:11:07,090 --> 00:11:10,710 The communication did go out, I believe, through constant contact. 140 00:11:10,710 --> 00:11:13,790 I will have to validate how far and wide it went, but it was open. 141 00:11:14,390 --> 00:11:19,650 Once it was at capacity, they closed it, and then those that could tend could. 142 00:11:20,150 --> 00:11:24,890 And then that subsequent communication went out saying, please email your comments. 143 00:11:25,310 --> 00:11:30,530 Right? I say all of this is that I believe what you're speaking to is a broader coordination 144 00:11:31,030 --> 00:11:35,690 question, which I can't answer, unfortunately, but that could be an additional recommendation, 145 00:11:35,850 --> 00:11:38,630 which I think at a heart of this is how are we communicating, 146 00:11:39,490 --> 00:11:44,970 coordinating all these various efforts towards a streamlined development, 147 00:11:46,790 --> 00:11:48,290 comprehensive comments from the broader community. 148 00:11:48,410 --> 00:11:50,090 Like I can't speak to that part, right? 149 00:11:50,330 --> 00:11:51,850 Because I think you layered a lot in that. 150 00:11:52,230 --> 00:11:55,170 So I'm trying to just make sure I speak to all your questions there, and I get it. 151 00:11:55,410 --> 00:11:59,190 But I can only speak to the part that I was responsible for, 152 00:11:59,610 --> 00:12:04,790 which were for graduate assistants working from January to May 153 00:12:04,790 --> 00:12:12,410 to research and understand the streamlining development process and help us collect comments, 154 00:12:12,990 --> 00:12:19,350 but that was not ever going to be the full story for the county. It was only one product. 155 00:12:20,150 --> 00:12:25,110 The product, to answer your last video question, is in the form of a PowerPoint and white paper. 156 00:12:25,690 --> 00:12:31,730 I just need to make sure that, again, agreed upon back then was that we would present the follow-up information 157 00:12:31,730 --> 00:12:36,750 to the county executives team, which we are coordinating with Calvin Hawkins to do, but 158 00:12:36,750 --> 00:12:41,090 I will take your question to Planning Director Hunt to see if that information can be previewed 159 00:12:41,090 --> 00:12:47,750 to this body prior to that meeting, sooner rather than later. So I'm just, I'm going to make sure, 160 00:12:47,890 --> 00:12:52,010 I think if you keep me there, Ms. Hyatt, I'm going to answer all of the questions for Mr. Smith. 161 00:12:52,470 --> 00:12:57,790 Yes, thank you so much. We have an additional question from Ms. Victoria Barastola. 162 00:12:58,530 --> 00:13:05,810 I was just going to ask Marcus what the next steps are, but it sounds like there's coordination 163 00:13:05,810 --> 00:13:08,210 happening with the county executive's office. 164 00:13:08,810 --> 00:13:13,630 I think to the extent that you can share what those buckets are that were identified, 165 00:13:13,630 --> 00:13:18,270 that can help to inform where this group needs to focus their recommendations. 166 00:13:18,850 --> 00:13:21,670 Because I know there was a lot of substantive feedback. 167 00:13:21,850 --> 00:13:25,970 I was in attendance at the design charrette and there were tons of citizens that were 168 00:13:25,970 --> 00:13:31,510 attendance and small business owners in addition to representatives from the development community 169 00:13:31,510 --> 00:13:36,850 including consultants. So I'm sure that there's good nuggets from a lot of different angles that 170 00:13:36,850 --> 00:13:42,890 are included in that document. I just, yeah, I think getting that answer of when can this group 171 00:13:42,890 --> 00:13:44,930 see that information would be really helpful. 172 00:13:48,650 --> 00:13:51,430 Sure, and I'll run back today and ask the 173 00:13:51,430 --> 00:13:55,490 director, you know, like can I provide any information to you right now as a prelude 174 00:13:55,490 --> 00:13:59,410 before I meet with the consecutive team, 100 percent. 175 00:13:59,610 --> 00:14:01,450 I'm just going to go back and just say, in a moment, 176 00:14:01,650 --> 00:14:03,930 I don't have an immediate answer for you all. 177 00:14:07,190 --> 00:14:08,830 Liz, hi, Tower. I got my hand back up. 178 00:14:09,250 --> 00:14:10,450 Yes, go ahead. 179 00:14:11,530 --> 00:14:16,590 So circling back here, when Mark just mentioned the DCAO 180 00:14:16,590 --> 00:14:18,870 with respect to the charrette, did you mean Mr. Hawkins? 181 00:14:20,510 --> 00:14:22,950 No, I don't want to speak in air. 182 00:14:22,950 --> 00:14:28,550 I think that was DCA or Boswell, that was up there on the dais, but I'd have to go back 183 00:14:28,550 --> 00:14:31,710 and look at the notes, just to know which I can make sure I don't get that wrong for 184 00:14:31,710 --> 00:14:32,130 record sake. 185 00:14:32,910 --> 00:14:33,210 Okay. 186 00:14:33,590 --> 00:14:39,150 So does this PowerPoint, so the PowerPoint and the white paper you just referred to, 187 00:14:39,250 --> 00:14:44,450 they're being produced by the, I guess you said, the four graduate assistants? 188 00:14:46,130 --> 00:14:47,250 Is it their work product? 189 00:14:47,990 --> 00:14:48,390 Yes. 190 00:14:48,390 --> 00:14:51,430 So it's a research product. 191 00:14:52,310 --> 00:14:56,430 The PowerPoint was distilling the white paper into an easily, you know, 192 00:14:56,570 --> 00:14:59,970 you can follow the current challenges, the quick wins and everything else. 193 00:15:00,960 --> 00:15:04,980 And I should also say there's a third product, which is just all of the comments they ever 194 00:15:04,980 --> 00:15:08,820 received. So really technically, it's three things. The Excel document, all the comments, 195 00:15:09,520 --> 00:15:13,920 a white paper, and then a PowerPoint to make it easier to follow along. And so I'll ask 196 00:15:13,920 --> 00:15:17,580 to see what I can just go ahead and provide out to everybody ahead of time. 197 00:15:18,220 --> 00:15:22,160 And these have been produced and even provided to planning? 198 00:15:22,340 --> 00:15:22,660 But yeah. 199 00:15:22,660 --> 00:15:34,190 So, by the nature, yes, because they were graduate assistants here, and they've seen the product in that sense of that, which I mean. 200 00:15:35,710 --> 00:15:36,930 Okay. Yeah, I think. 201 00:15:37,370 --> 00:15:41,590 It hasn't been sent to the broader planning department, just to clarify. 202 00:15:42,310 --> 00:15:42,870 Sure. 203 00:15:43,770 --> 00:15:54,030 sooner rather than later would be great. I don't think that there's anything in the Public Information Act that says we have to wait for the to be developed to be delivered to and discussed by the county. 204 00:15:54,190 --> 00:15:54,670 Thanks. 205 00:15:59,420 --> 00:16:15,100 Mr. Smith, if I may ask just trying to come up with some ideas. Where do you think I would I would assume in the first part what stage or how would you how would you recommend that environmental civic. 206 00:16:15,100 --> 00:16:27,020 partners could be more engaged. Where would you, is it at the pre-meeting, what would be a recommendation you would have? 207 00:16:27,560 --> 00:16:29,420 I'm sorry, do you mean going forward? 208 00:16:30,300 --> 00:16:30,900 Yes. 209 00:16:31,840 --> 00:16:33,080 Yes, going forward. 210 00:16:33,080 --> 00:16:47,660 You know, I think part of the issue here is this presumption that there's a lot more delay or undue delay in Prince George's County compared to other jurisdictions without a lot of evidence. 211 00:16:48,240 --> 00:16:58,460 I mean, we've, when we've met and we've had presentations from Miss Connor, I'm sorry, I'm forgetting the name of the council staffer who gave a comparative analysis. 212 00:16:59,800 --> 00:17:02,460 Mr. Campbell, Mr. Campbell, no worries. 213 00:17:02,460 --> 00:17:04,360 Right. Sorry about that, Mr. Campbell. 214 00:17:05,680 --> 00:17:12,900 We asked a number of questions, like it would be useful to know, for instance, what the staffing levels are at these agencies. 215 00:17:13,180 --> 00:17:20,540 It seemed maybe perhaps to be moving project along at certain stages a bit more efficiently and expeditiously. 216 00:17:20,920 --> 00:17:23,900 Faster isn't always better. It isn't always more efficient. 217 00:17:24,540 --> 00:17:35,980 And if we wanted to have conversation about what's good or bad or could be fixed in our development review process, that should be a balanced conversation. 218 00:17:37,220 --> 00:17:40,840 What are the impediments to meaningful public input? 219 00:17:42,400 --> 00:17:43,120 What are ways? 220 00:17:46,250 --> 00:17:47,130 What is our goal? 221 00:17:47,350 --> 00:17:49,210 Is it better decisions or just faster decisions? 222 00:17:50,890 --> 00:17:55,990 I'm not sitting in the seats of some of my committee colleagues here. You have different role and different perspective. 223 00:17:57,090 --> 00:18:10,150 I know that there are times, as I said before, more than once some of the cases I've been involved with every bit of the so-called delay was caused by either the applicant or the planning department or the planning board or the 224 00:18:10,150 --> 00:18:19,110 council, either ignoring or violating or failing to enforce the law, and that otherwise the delays 225 00:18:19,110 --> 00:18:26,250 wouldn't have happened. And I'm saying that as somebody who considers himself pretty much of a 226 00:18:26,250 --> 00:18:31,950 somewhat informed layperson, but somebody who first engaged on land use in Prince orders 227 00:18:31,950 --> 00:18:37,270 County beginning in 2018, and seeing these problems from the very beginning and raising 228 00:18:37,270 --> 00:18:44,670 some of them from the very beginning and often being ignored when we were raising points of basic procedural law. 229 00:18:46,090 --> 00:18:53,170 So when the applicant of the planning board chose to ignore our concerns and move forward, 230 00:18:53,630 --> 00:19:02,390 and the case was rightly remanded by the district council on a clear procedural error, that delay was not caused by the law itself. 231 00:19:02,390 --> 00:19:06,170 The law was clear, it was ignored or not enforced. 232 00:19:07,090 --> 00:19:15,030 But I think, you know, there needs to be a more balanced discussion about what leads to better decisions and better outcomes and a fairer process. 233 00:19:17,930 --> 00:19:33,210 And again, there's certain information that some of us have asked for from sort of the beginning here, like we really want to understand how do our resources in some cases stack up against the resources of sister or brother agencies and other jurisdictions. 234 00:19:33,950 --> 00:19:42,470 And I'm not saying this critically. It's just we also don't have, we still don't have the information in front of us. So that's a couple of observations there. 235 00:19:44,190 --> 00:19:57,770 And honestly, I think it would have been fairer and wiser at the council's retreat to also have had a panel about what works or doesn't work in the development review process when it comes to 236 00:19:59,390 --> 00:20:05,390 Values held by the community, public health, that sort of thing, and that conversation wasn't had, unfortunately. 237 00:20:06,470 --> 00:20:15,170 Instead, we got a shred to figure out how we could streamline the fast track and we have this community to do the same on a fast track timeline. 238 00:20:18,130 --> 00:20:18,650 Okay. 239 00:20:19,850 --> 00:20:22,350 Thank you. Thank you for that. 240 00:20:24,550 --> 00:20:27,330 I have Mr. Monroe's hand raised. 241 00:20:28,930 --> 00:20:32,630 Maybe on that point, I'm just going to put my hat back on as a committee member here 242 00:20:32,630 --> 00:20:34,190 or workforce members. 243 00:20:35,290 --> 00:20:39,670 So what was the agreed upon next step from the council retreat? 244 00:20:40,250 --> 00:20:45,610 Because I didn't – I was only there for one part of it, so I don't know – and 245 00:20:45,610 --> 00:20:47,470 maybe Greg, you were – Mrs. Smith, you were there longer. 246 00:20:47,710 --> 00:20:52,470 What was the next step that was set out loud, I guess, at the retreat as far as this 247 00:20:52,470 --> 00:20:52,790 topic? 248 00:20:52,790 --> 00:20:52,930 Great. 249 00:20:55,770 --> 00:20:58,130 A great bond by whom? 250 00:20:58,410 --> 00:21:07,190 What I recall is there was a panel that was basically a developer's channel, plus then 251 00:21:07,190 --> 00:21:12,190 Chairman Barnes and Mr. Hunt and named some others in planning, and most seats at that 252 00:21:12,190 --> 00:21:15,830 table for the civic or environmental public health, et cetera, et cetera. 253 00:21:15,990 --> 00:21:19,150 We raised concerns about that. 254 00:21:19,930 --> 00:21:24,450 But the panel was large to begin with and expanded right before the retreat. 255 00:21:25,270 --> 00:21:30,310 We just got, you know, when we raised concerns about that, we got a chance to stand up and speak for a few minutes. 256 00:21:30,750 --> 00:21:38,150 And I remember, I think very clearly, Mr. Barnes standing up and saying, well, we're going to have this charrette on February 25th. 257 00:21:38,150 --> 00:21:44,370 How that was accreted upon by whom and for what purpose I don't know that I remember chairman barn standing up and saying 258 00:21:45,390 --> 00:21:48,670 Planting water planning or planning any second. We're gonna have that charrette 259 00:21:50,770 --> 00:21:51,870 Well, no, no, I'm sorry 260 00:21:53,390 --> 00:21:58,090 Conversations or decisions are good. I'm just showing up and seeing what seeing what's had in front of us 261 00:21:58,090 --> 00:22:03,690 No, I'm sorry. I meant specifically about the retreat adding of the county council had said something 262 00:22:03,690 --> 00:22:08,750 specifically that people wanted to follow up on from their retreat. I'm sorry, I was speaking more to that part. 263 00:22:12,040 --> 00:22:15,860 I don't know if there was any agreement for further engagement on that. 264 00:22:16,440 --> 00:22:18,060 Oh, I understood. Got you. 265 00:22:21,340 --> 00:22:28,040 Okay. Thank you. Thank you both. I don't think anyone else had any additional questions. 266 00:22:29,180 --> 00:22:33,860 If I may call upon Mr. Benton. 267 00:22:38,160 --> 00:22:41,460 Regarding this subject, did you have any questions? 268 00:22:42,200 --> 00:22:50,420 Because I know that there may have been some additional questions from NBIA's perspective on the charrette. 269 00:22:50,800 --> 00:22:56,520 Or were you just looking for just the follow-up that Mr. Monroe provided a few minutes ago? 270 00:23:02,050 --> 00:23:08,570 Griffin dropped in the chat that he's having an audio issue, but he doesn't have further comments or questions. 271 00:23:08,570 --> 00:23:19,590 Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. We're trying to thank you, Mr. Smith as well. We're trying to come up with tangible items. 272 00:23:20,270 --> 00:23:32,830 I know that one of the discussions we had was more collaboration and a more stream possibly combining application types. 273 00:23:32,830 --> 00:23:42,710 I think that Mr. Tedesco submitted, I'm looking through my papers, I apologize, Mr. Tedesco 274 00:23:42,710 --> 00:23:49,810 submitted information that said we could combine the, I believe, the subdivision application 275 00:23:49,810 --> 00:23:53,310 with an additional application. 276 00:23:53,990 --> 00:24:00,630 Do you all, as a group, want to agree upon that or have you had the opportunity to 277 00:24:00,630 --> 00:24:07,790 to see or Mr. Dadespo, if you wanted to provide additional detail on your recommendation. 278 00:24:08,470 --> 00:24:12,510 I think it'd be helpful if we all, I mean, if we're getting to the point of discussing 279 00:24:12,510 --> 00:24:18,710 and deliberating and instead of, you know, I'm sure folks haven't seen everything that's 280 00:24:18,710 --> 00:24:21,390 been submitted or put on the Excel spreadsheet. 281 00:24:21,750 --> 00:24:26,970 I think what would be beneficial to the group, Reina, is if we had a comprehensive list 282 00:24:26,970 --> 00:24:30,570 of anything and everything that has been provided. 283 00:24:30,830 --> 00:24:32,670 I think the white paper from Park and Planning 284 00:24:32,670 --> 00:24:36,750 would be helpful in helping frame that as well. 285 00:24:36,890 --> 00:24:40,390 And then as a group, we could go through that list 286 00:24:40,390 --> 00:24:44,950 and vet those, but yeah, I simply provided 287 00:24:44,950 --> 00:24:47,110 the same information that I provided in response 288 00:24:47,110 --> 00:24:49,690 to the charrette as potential items 289 00:24:49,690 --> 00:24:50,690 for the group to discuss. 290 00:24:51,950 --> 00:24:52,770 Thank you. 291 00:24:52,990 --> 00:24:55,810 We have Mr. Smith and then Mr. Monroe, 292 00:24:56,730 --> 00:25:05,250 Yeah, with respect, I don't think that now is the time for us to be asked to give a thumbs up or thumbs down on specific recommendations. 293 00:25:06,130 --> 00:25:12,770 When we haven't had a time at all. I mean, I haven't been looking at that spreadsheet all along. It's not person foremost in my mind. 294 00:25:13,190 --> 00:25:24,070 Sorry to say that, but and I have my concerns. I'll just put it on a record is, yeah, this is a fast track process to figure out how to fast track projects. 295 00:25:24,070 --> 00:25:40,870 And I think it can suffer from the same kind of defects that we saw with the data center task force where the timeline was too short and there was insufficient balance in the representation in the committee or the task force. 296 00:25:41,250 --> 00:25:46,070 And we end up with I think a flawed project on product unnecessarily. 297 00:25:47,830 --> 00:25:55,790 So the 60-day timeline has never felt realistic to me, especially with no real way to engage 298 00:25:55,790 --> 00:26:01,910 the environmental, civic, public health, other parts of the community, except for me, I guess. 299 00:26:03,990 --> 00:26:11,070 So I'm just putting my concern on the record, and it's never been, I think, place before 300 00:26:11,070 --> 00:26:17,630 for us that on June 3rd we'd be asked to be voting on specific recommendations. 301 00:26:18,890 --> 00:26:23,830 Today's agenda was to get, I think, a review of the charrette. 302 00:26:24,290 --> 00:26:31,750 What we've gotten is a very broad review without the work product that supposedly came out of the charrette, 303 00:26:31,770 --> 00:26:33,310 including the student's work product. 304 00:26:36,410 --> 00:26:42,990 Mr. Monroe, first of all, Mr. Monroe, before you speak, did I understand you correctly that 305 00:26:42,990 --> 00:26:46,150 you all are still working on the work product? 306 00:26:47,990 --> 00:26:51,790 So we have the share, and I was just actually, I was on the call of Director Hunt just to 307 00:26:51,790 --> 00:26:52,870 kind of confirm in real time. 308 00:26:53,310 --> 00:26:57,130 So he said he's fine with everything, you know, just going out, just with an awareness 309 00:26:57,130 --> 00:26:59,390 that we still are in the process of presenting it, right? 310 00:26:59,390 --> 00:27:04,470 So, two or three things that level set for a moment. 311 00:27:04,650 --> 00:27:09,930 One is, this was a quick turnaround for NAS to present, this level set on that. 312 00:27:10,590 --> 00:27:17,650 The second part is that I agree with you that this was always a tight turnaround. 313 00:27:18,290 --> 00:27:23,090 And that's, you know, a personal level how I felt, and I don't think Director Hunter, 314 00:27:23,230 --> 00:27:24,530 the planning department, would disagree with that. 315 00:27:25,050 --> 00:27:27,990 So, I always saw this as being very short and probably not an ability 316 00:27:27,990 --> 00:27:29,750 to get everything comprehensively. 317 00:27:30,410 --> 00:27:32,970 The third point I will say is I will work with Ms. 318 00:27:33,070 --> 00:27:34,870 Sightar, because I just talked to Director Hunt, 319 00:27:35,650 --> 00:27:38,310 is I hope we would have another chance maybe 320 00:27:38,310 --> 00:27:40,590 to just combine all the information 321 00:27:40,590 --> 00:27:44,230 that there is an existing Excel document 322 00:27:44,230 --> 00:27:46,850 that the chairwoman provided. 323 00:27:47,790 --> 00:27:51,010 There's also an Excel document that I will work with her 324 00:27:51,010 --> 00:27:52,650 to get out to you all on the white paper 325 00:27:52,650 --> 00:27:54,970 that has a series of all the comments from the Shurek. 326 00:27:55,670 --> 00:27:57,550 And I know for me personally as a work member 327 00:27:57,550 --> 00:28:01,310 I would prefer an opportunity to sort of talk with you all a little bit more about all the 328 00:28:01,310 --> 00:28:07,490 various comments and then see where we can find alignment as far as a product that we 329 00:28:07,490 --> 00:28:13,870 would all feel comfortable with with the recognition that this is still a very tight 330 00:28:13,870 --> 00:28:14,390 turnaround. 331 00:28:14,750 --> 00:28:19,350 I don't know how else to explain it other than to say that this would never, given 332 00:28:19,350 --> 00:28:22,930 the timeline, this was never going to be a comprehensive process, at least in my view. 333 00:28:23,410 --> 00:28:29,930 always saw it as part of a, maybe a part of a journey that to me requires regular 334 00:28:29,930 --> 00:28:35,030 annual engagement, but to me there was never a, I didn't have it in my mind that 335 00:28:35,030 --> 00:28:39,310 she's going to be the end-all BL for streamlining development review topic in 336 00:28:39,310 --> 00:28:40,210 the county personally. 337 00:28:43,160 --> 00:28:46,160 Mr. Monroe, I want to say thank you for, for that 338 00:28:46,160 --> 00:28:51,360 explanation. And I want to put a little bit of context on this. 339 00:28:53,960 --> 00:28:56,540 We, this is, this is, 340 00:28:56,540 --> 00:29:03,260 this is a short legislative year. And we were trying to, I believe the chair, and I don't want 341 00:29:03,260 --> 00:29:09,160 to speak for the chair, but I, from a staff perspective, I'll say, this is a staff, 342 00:29:09,400 --> 00:29:14,900 this is a short legislative year. And there are sort of legislative deadlines 343 00:29:14,900 --> 00:29:20,980 that occur in a county council legislative year. So we were trying to get a 344 00:29:20,980 --> 00:29:28,240 few fixes to the development review process with having a continued discussion 345 00:29:28,240 --> 00:29:36,020 beyond this possibly that will be up to the council to to create another work 346 00:29:36,020 --> 00:29:43,360 group or to extend at that time. But there are legislative deadlines and 347 00:29:43,360 --> 00:29:50,680 And that is sort of why you all have heard me mention recommendations, because we want 348 00:29:50,680 --> 00:29:59,920 to have the public involved, but we want to also have something that 349 00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:11,720 That maybe can be proposed legislatively. If that makes sense to everyone? Mr. Smith, did 350 00:30:11,720 --> 00:30:15,320 you have your hand raised? Yeah, to the extent I understand the words 351 00:30:15,320 --> 00:30:22,480 that you said that they made sense, but this expedited process does not make sense to me. 352 00:30:23,220 --> 00:30:29,500 It never has. We'll work with what as best we can, but if I recall correctly, the 353 00:30:29,500 --> 00:30:35,640 initiating council resolution gives us 60 days from the date of our first meeting to 354 00:30:35,640 --> 00:30:42,840 deliver these comprehensive recommendations to the clerk of the council. That's an incredibly 355 00:30:42,840 --> 00:30:52,120 short past March. And I have a question. Did that 60-day calendar initiate with our 356 00:30:52,120 --> 00:30:58,160 first April meeting or did it initiate with our first May meeting, which seemed to be 357 00:30:58,160 --> 00:31:05,500 implied in a subsequent email. Where are we in terms of that 60 days? And it's also my 358 00:31:05,500 --> 00:31:15,860 understanding that the council can amend the resolution to extend the deadline. And Chair 359 00:31:15,860 --> 00:31:22,040 Oriana hinted as much, I think, in her comments at our first meeting. So just a question. 360 00:31:22,040 --> 00:31:28,940 Where are we with respect to the 60 days and, you know, comment is, again, 361 00:31:29,780 --> 00:31:38,190 fast march and serious lack of balance at the table and lack of information 362 00:31:38,190 --> 00:31:39,750 to make some informed comments. 363 00:31:42,190 --> 00:31:45,930 It is 60 days from the first meeting. 364 00:31:45,930 --> 00:32:04,010 And as the timeline that I had before me says that we would be making our final voting and making final recommendations around June the 24th, if that answers your question, Mr. Smith, at this point. 365 00:32:10,360 --> 00:32:13,180 Mr. Smith, you still have your hand raised. I don't know if you had. 366 00:32:13,560 --> 00:32:17,020 Yeah, I guess for once in my life, I'm speechless. Thanks. 367 00:32:17,020 --> 00:32:19,880 Thank you. 368 00:32:23,680 --> 00:32:37,860 Also, there were Mr. Villegas had a few comments that he's sent to everyone and he was 369 00:32:37,860 --> 00:32:43,040 explaining that from the consultant's perspective having worked across multiple jurisdictions, 370 00:32:43,960 --> 00:32:47,680 Prince George's County has one of the most complex and lengthy development 371 00:32:47,680 --> 00:32:55,860 review processes in the region and potentially in the nation. This assessment is informed 372 00:32:55,860 --> 00:33:01,440 not only by my direct experience, but also through discussions with industry professionals 373 00:33:01,440 --> 00:33:08,540 from across the country at ULI and similar conferences. To help address these challenges, 374 00:33:08,740 --> 00:33:14,580 I previously submitted a detailed list of recommendations. You did so, sir. And I should have mentioned 375 00:33:14,580 --> 00:33:21,720 though, that I should have asked that anyone have an opportunity to review them, but we will 376 00:33:21,720 --> 00:33:32,460 compile all of them in a list and we will have them for you for discussion for the next meeting, 377 00:33:32,460 --> 00:33:40,880 next Wednesday. Also, there's a new comment in here. Also, to help address these challenges, 378 00:33:40,880 --> 00:33:44,300 Okay, I said that you submitted a list. 379 00:33:44,980 --> 00:33:50,820 Okay, and you look forward to aligning with and prioritizing the suggestions of the group. 380 00:33:51,600 --> 00:33:53,740 And thank you, Mr. Villegas. 381 00:33:54,040 --> 00:33:59,080 And I apologize if I'm not rolling and pronouncing your last name properly. 382 00:34:01,740 --> 00:34:04,340 So that was your comments. 383 00:34:04,600 --> 00:34:05,360 I thank you. 384 00:34:05,760 --> 00:34:06,520 Thank you for that. 385 00:34:08,800 --> 00:34:25,400 What I can say is that, as I just mentioned, we are going to put together staff, we'll put together a list and get it out to work group members to be able to look at and see what your thoughts are. 386 00:34:26,040 --> 00:34:28,580 We appreciate all of your time. 387 00:34:31,400 --> 00:34:32,500 We appreciate your time. 388 00:34:32,500 --> 00:34:38,900 Were there any additional questions or comments that anyone needed to make? 389 00:34:44,900 --> 00:34:49,000 Okay. It doesn't seem like anyone else has additional comments or questions. 390 00:34:50,720 --> 00:34:56,060 I don't want to hold anyone beyond the, oh, Miss Victoria. 391 00:34:56,920 --> 00:34:58,560 I apologize. No, no, no. 392 00:34:59,520 --> 00:35:02,140 So you, so we do have that Excel file. 393 00:35:02,140 --> 00:35:08,380 And I just pulled that up and I see that some folks have dropped comments in there. 394 00:35:09,220 --> 00:35:11,320 What are next steps for this group? 395 00:35:11,400 --> 00:35:16,300 Because I think we've done a good job of talking about the baseline process. 396 00:35:17,000 --> 00:35:24,280 We know that we have information forthcoming from Marcus and the design charrette. 397 00:35:24,280 --> 00:35:29,760 But in terms of next steps, the goal of this group is to streamline development review 398 00:35:30,560 --> 00:35:34,820 and to make recommendations that are in support of that objective. 399 00:35:35,740 --> 00:35:38,760 What are next steps for this group to be able to do that? 400 00:35:39,720 --> 00:35:46,480 Next steps for this group to be able to do that are, for us staff, myself, 401 00:35:46,680 --> 00:35:50,720 to submit a list to you on email, every workgroup member, 402 00:35:51,400 --> 00:35:56,200 a list of all of the recommendations that are in that spreadsheet, 403 00:35:57,220 --> 00:36:09,600 along with the recommendations that Mr. Villegas and Mr. Tedesco had in their documents and asking you all to react to them. 404 00:36:10,000 --> 00:36:13,720 Others have comments, too, because I had included comments after the first day. 405 00:36:14,840 --> 00:36:17,220 You sure did. And thank you for those. 406 00:36:23,340 --> 00:36:26,620 also, yeah, so that's what the next steps are. 407 00:36:27,980 --> 00:36:33,520 We were going to have a, well, I don't know if we, I need to check with Mr. Benton to 408 00:36:33,520 --> 00:36:37,500 see if MBIA wanted to still do a presentation. 409 00:36:38,360 --> 00:36:43,220 They were going to have some of their members possibly come and speak to the group. 410 00:36:43,420 --> 00:36:45,000 So those are the next steps. 411 00:36:45,000 --> 00:36:51,380 So I am the Prince George's County Chapter Chair for the Maryland Building Industry Association. 412 00:36:52,000 --> 00:36:58,640 Matt Tedesco is the Vice Chair. Alex Villegas is a tremendously active member. 413 00:36:59,280 --> 00:37:03,940 We've got Marva Joe Camp here, Malik Jordan, Brad Frome. 414 00:37:04,200 --> 00:37:10,020 So we've got MBIA representation. I don't want to speak on behalf of Griffin, 415 00:37:10,180 --> 00:37:13,600 so Griffin, write a nasty gram in the chat if otherwise. 416 00:37:13,600 --> 00:37:21,760 But I think that MBIA's recommendations have been fully represented between the comments 417 00:37:21,760 --> 00:37:28,040 that have been put into that Excel file, and then the extensive comments that have been 418 00:37:28,040 --> 00:37:34,240 submitted as a result of the publicly available design charrette. 419 00:37:34,300 --> 00:37:41,120 And so between getting the information consolidated from those two documents, we should be represented 420 00:37:41,120 --> 00:37:49,920 in terms of experiences from the consultants, developers, builders who are supporting these kinds of projects, 421 00:37:50,340 --> 00:37:55,200 and then how we can actually streamline development. 422 00:37:57,060 --> 00:38:00,700 That is excellent. So thank you for that. 423 00:38:00,700 --> 00:38:15,240 So therefore, our next steps again are to get you all the full list of recommendations and the additional documents that Mr. Monroe mentioned. 424 00:38:18,820 --> 00:38:26,200 With that being said, and to have you all vote on the combined recommendations. 425 00:38:26,200 --> 00:38:27,200 Are 426 00:38:30,690 --> 00:38:32,090 there any additional comments? 427 00:38:32,250 --> 00:38:38,350 I don't see any additional comments or questions at this time. 428 00:38:39,290 --> 00:38:42,270 With that being said, I want to say thank you to everyone. 429 00:38:44,850 --> 00:38:50,230 If there's nothing further so that we can get started combining that list 430 00:38:50,230 --> 00:38:56,410 and get to work and send it to you all to react to and vote on during our next meeting. 431 00:38:56,410 --> 00:38:59,670 I appreciate everyone that is on this call. 432 00:39:02,730 --> 00:39:05,350 Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you so much. 433 00:39:05,530 --> 00:39:05,790 Have a good one.