Announcement

**ronaultmtd** · 01-24-2021, 07:31 AM

Sure makes me glad I do not live in Anne Arundel county! Selfishness in a human trait, but not a good trait! Public access to our waters is one of the benefits of living in Maryland. Restrictions on access affects our quality of life.

**Mark** · 01-24-2021, 09:15 AM

Originally posted by ronaultmtd View Post

Sure makes me glad I do not live in Anne Arundel county! Selfishness in a human trait, but not a good trait! Public access to our waters is one of the benefits of living in Maryland. Restrictions on access affects our quality of life.

Actually Ron, we're very fortunate in Anne Arundel County thanks to the hard work of folks like Lisa and previous County Executives to already have about 20 designated areas to launch. The issue is that there is so much water, (533 miles of shoreline in our county) and so many areas of publicly owned property on that water, that there are wonderful access points going to waste.

One example is Weinberg Park that Lisa has listed above. That is a great location on the Patapsco where you can easily reach Rock Creek, the White Rocks in the Patapsco and other areas superior for white perch and striper fishing. Plus there is a small pond on the property. The problem is that parking is restricted and the path to the water is long. At the water's edge you have to negotiate downed trees, uneven topography and concrete debris. No attempt has been made to provide decent safe access the water. It's rustic at best and going underutilized as a result.

Another issue is that some waterfront communities have never wanted or accepted public water access in their communities. In some cases they have the ear of our present County Executive and Council members to either thwart plans for new access or reduce the access we have. Beverly Triton Beach and Spriggs Farm are examples of that.

So, Lisa, as always is doing us a good service -- not only by her continued advocacy behind the scenes on our behalf but by alerting us how we can participate in a process to make our voices known.

**Lisa** · 01-24-2021, 04:41 PM

Thanks, Mark.

Everyone, please register for a Budget Town Hall and get your "water" friends and family to do the same.

Also, one more issue. When are the Beverly Triton swimming beach improvements going to be done. That project seems to have mysteriously stalled . . .

Lisa

**Lisa** · 01-25-2021, 02:52 PM

Hello all, especially the all who are District 5 people and who use Spriggs,

The District 5 Budget Town Hall is TONIGHT January 25 2021 from 6:00 to 7:30 pm. You can attend any Budget Town Hall.

The good news is we don't have to drive to a school somewhere. The other news is that *you have to preregister to speak* or even watch. It's bizarre.

REGISTER HERE: ----> https://aacounty.zoom.us/webinar/reg...STueTPLB_r1Vaw

Below are suggested talking points, pick and choose. I recommend an emphasis on 1 through 4. Spriggs is in District 5. Sandy Point State Park is also in District 5. Councilwoman Amanda Fielder is sharp and knows that creating more public beaches elsewhere takes the pressure off Sandy Point. She's also attentive to misuse of public money.

1) Please stop and redo the plan for Spriggs Farm Park. The park and the public deserve a better. An erosion control project that causes erosion and blocks public use is terrible.

2) Why isn't the swimming beach at Beverly Triton finished? It was supposed to be done this spring. It would give people a long overdue place to swim and take pressure off Sandy Point State Park. It's terrible that the county still rents a county owned marina with 17 boat slips, a boat ramp and a parking lot to Beverly Beach community for $1000 a year and still hasn't created a public swimming beach at Beverly Triton.

3) Stop the secret reservation system for Mayo Beach Park. Park obstructionists are secretly trying to get the county to make you use a smartphone app to enter Mayo Beach Park. That's an unnecessary barrier to entry. Manage demand by opening Mayo Beach Park 7 days a week, using social media to let people know when the parking lot is full and create a waiting parking lot at nearby Mayo Beach Elementary for people to pause until a parking spot opens up in the park. Manage capacity by creating more county public swimming beaches.

4) Open Mayo Beach Park 7 days a week all year round like the rest of the county parks. Opening it 7 days a week would spread out demand and take pressure off of Sandy Point State Park. . Mayo Beach Park is a public park and everyone deserves to use it every day of the week, including essential workers who work weekends, grandparents who are taking care of grandchildren on weekdays during the pandemic and people who are homeschooling their children.

4) Create a kayak launch at South River Farm Park. It would cost less than $1000 and provide a sheltered launch for novice kayakers and standup paddleboarders. The county just spent $179,000 in public dollars on fixing the private community beach in Loch Haven, a very water privileged community next to South River Farm Park that has a private community beach, private community boat ramp and private marina. Spend some public money for water access in public South River Farm Park instead of on a private beach next door.

5) Create a kayak launch in Weinberg Park to provide access to a sheltered part of Rock Creek.

6) A kayak launch and fishing pier at Riverwalk on the Patuxent

7) A multisport public water access facility on Harness
Creek in Quiet Waters Park instead of a restricted access point
designed for a private rowing club.

8) A parking lot and trail at Valentine Creek Park

9) More public boat ramps. Anne Arundel County has
9,000 registered trailered boats and only two county
public boat ramps.

Thanks, and hope to see you online there

Lisa

**Lisa** · 01-27-2021, 06:47 AM

Hello all, we had a great turn out of water access advocates at the District 5 Budget Town Hall on Monday night. I hope to "see" some of you at the District 7 Budget Town Hall tonight.

Here's how it works. You register to attend the Zoom meeting here: https://aacounty.zoom.us/webinar/reg...QTCC03E1H8D9gQ

Registration requires name and email, no big deal. You'll get a confirmation email with a link to the Zoom meeting. You click through at 6 pm. There's a short dog and pony show about the county budget.

THEN they'll ask you to tap the little hand icon at the bottom of the screen if you want to have 2 minutes to speak. You tap the little hand icon, they let people speak in the order they "tapped" in. The good thing is that you're not on camera. I get so tired of looking at myself on Zoom meetings. You're only on audio. When they call your name you can unmute yourself and speak.

Please sign up and speak. We're in trouble again on Beverly Triton.

Lisa

**Lisa** · 01-27-2021, 09:32 AM

Originally posted by Lisa View Post

Hello all, we had a great turn out of water access advocates at the District 5 Budget Town Hall on Monday night. I hope to "see" some of you at the District 7 Budget Town Hall tonight.

Here's how it works. You register to attend the Zoom meeting here: https://aacounty.zoom.us/webinar/reg...QTCC03E1H8D9gQ
<snip>

Please sign up and speak. We're in trouble again on Beverly Triton.

Lisa

Here's why I think we're in trouble with Beverly Triton. This Council approved the beach project in its first budget in 2019. As of March 2020, the beach project was supposed to be started in Fall 2020 and complete in Summer 2021. The start of construction is now ostensibly Fall 2021.

Why am I suspicious? Seems DPW forgot to put the project out for bid. We can't find any permit applications.

I'm worried there's a scheme to stall construction past the approval of the new GDP (General Development Plan, state requirement every 10 years) this summer, then whoops! the Mayo Peninsula is an environmentally sensitive area, we have to re-do all the zoning before construction begins, whoops! we have to re-do the Beverly Triton plan again, and it's ten years down the road . . . . they've stalled this project since 1985, stalling is a winning strategy for them.

I raised the issue aggressively at the District 5 Budget Town Hall. The County Executive did not respond to it at all in his followup comments. Crickets.

Here are suggested Mayo points:
1) Why isn't the swimming beach at Beverly Triton done? The swimming beach construction was supposed to start Fall 2020 and be done by Summer 2021. It hasn't even started
2) Open Mayo Beach Park 7 days a week like the rest of the county parks so everyone can enjoy them - essential workers who work weekend, grandparents taking care of grandkids, people who are homeschooling children, people who prefer quieter days at the beach.
3) Cancel the secret reservation system planned in secret for Mayo Beach Park. You shouldn't need a smartphone, an app and pay for a reservation just to get into a county park. Manage capacity by creating a waiting parking lot at Mayo Elementary School and send people down to the park when a parking spot opens up. Increase capacity by opening Mayo Beach Park 7 days a week. If this reservation plan is so great why is it being planned in secret?
4) Put a kayak launch in South River Farm Park so kayakers, kayak anglers and standup paddleboarders have access to sheltered Selby Bay and Ramsey Lake. The county just spent $179,000 in public money to fix the private community beach at Loch Haven, a subdivision next to South River Farm Park, and hasn't spent a dime for public water access in South River Farm Park since the county bought it in 1985.

You only get two minutes to talk. Anyone can speak at this online Budget Town Hall. You do not have to live in District 7. You can speak at more than one Budget Town Hall.

Thanks

Lisa

**Lisa** · 02-04-2021, 03:54 PM

Hello all,

Tonight is the District 3 Budget Town Hall. Please register and attend: https://aacounty.zoom.us/webinar/reg...QruB3swszVpstw You can attend any budget town hall.

Suggested questions and projects, especially Beverly Triton, now mysteriously a year behind schedule:

1) Why isn't the public swimming beach at Beverly Triton done? Construction was supposed to start in Fall 2020 and it was supposed to be finished and OPEN in Summer 2021. What's going on? When will construction start? When will the public swimming beach open?

2) Create a kayak launch onto Rock Creek from Weinberg Park. It would be a sheltered launch, easy to use for casual kayakers, stand up paddleboarders and kayak anglers. It would take very little to create a drop off area for kayaks and mark some more grass parking spaces. We could have a new kayak launch there by March at very little cost, maybe $1,000.. A portapotty sure would be great too.

3) Create a kayak launch onto Selby Bay from South River Farm Park. It would give sheltered access, great for new paddlers, onto Selby Bay and Ramsey Lake. Again, it would be cheap and easy to do, maybe $1,000 and it could be done by March.

4) Open Mayo Beach Park 7 days a week all year round. It's a public county park, not the good china, and we should all get to use it every day.

I am not going to be at the District 3 meeting because I'll be over in the Spriggs meeting instead. Please speak up!

Once you register at the link above, you'll get an email with your own personal Zoom link. Click on the link at 6 pm. Click on the little hand symbol at the bottom of the page to "raise your hand" and let them know you want to speak. They'll call people in the order they clicked the little hand and you get only 2 minutes to speak. It goes fast. The mercy is that you're not on camera, only audio.

Let me know how it goes !

Thanks

Lisa

**Lisa** · 02-04-2021, 04:02 PM

Also, stop giving stormwater money and Waterway Improvement Fund money to private communities to fix their private community beaches. Spend that money on public water access, like the eroding beach at Weinberg.

The county gave $298,868 to Cape St. Claire to fix one of its private community beaches. (Cape St. Claire has two private community beaches, a private community fishing pier and a private community boat ramp. ) https://cscia.org/cape-st-claire/bea...ation-project/ Cape St. Claire also received $250,000 from the Waterway Improvement Fund (WIF) for "beach nourishment". The WIF comes from the 5% excise tax on boat sales and is meant for public boat ramps and other facilities supporting boating. https://news.maryland.gov/dnr/2020/0...3-5-million-2/

That's a total of $548,858 in public money to fix a private community beach. And every time we propose a beach project it's OOOHHHHHH there's no MONEY!

I got opinions.

Lisa

**Lisa** · 02-08-2021, 06:29 PM

Hello all, the last Budget Town Hall for the FY22 Anne Arundel County budget starts in about half an hour at 6 pm. There is still time to register and speak for 2 minutes.

Register here: https://aacounty.zoom.us/webinar/reg...QMyex_iP6x0dLA

You'll get an email with a Zoom link to click through at 6 pm. Once you're in the meeting click the little hand symbol ASAP to get in line to speak. (They've run out of time for everyone to speak at at least one budget town hall). Your name will be called in order of sign up. At that point you'll unmute and speak for 2 minutes. It's pretty easy. The good thing is speakers are not on camera so you don't have to look at yourself in the Zoom view.

Issues:

1) Beverly Triton Park - why won't the beach be done by Summer 2021 as promised? Why hasn't construction, set for Fall 2020, not even started? The Beverly Triton public swimming beach is 36 years overdue. Finish it now.

2) Create a kayak launch from South River Farm Park onto Selby Bay for $500 and volunteer labor.

3) Create a kayak launch from Weinberg Park onto Rock Creek for $1,000 and volunteer labor.

Remember, you don't have to live in District 6 to speak up at the Budget Town Hall tonight. Anyone can speak in any town hall.

Thanks!

Lisa

Announcement

Budget Town Halls and Beverly Triton, South River Farm, Mayo Beach, Carrs Wharf

Budget Town Halls and Beverly Triton, South River Farm, Mayo Beach, Carrs Wharf

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