Bad news on Homeport and the AA county public boat ramp budget

[Lisa]

Hello all,

Summary: Bad news on Homeport and the county public boat ramp budget. Please submit written testimony ASAP and/or sign up to speak at the two Council budget hearing. Instructions at the end of this post.

Per the Rec & Parks presentation to the County Council on Thursday 5/5/22, the "paddling boathouse" for the rowers is still a go. The county is going to spend millions of dollars in boat ramp money for a rowing boathouse for 200 people instead of a new public boat ramp for the 14,000 trailered boats and thousands of kayakers in the county. Rec & Parks is fast tracking the rowing boathouse with design and construction money in FY23 with location "to be determined". TBD is hard to believe for a project that's going to be sent out for construction bids before the end of June 2023.

What can you do? Submit written testimony to the Council and/or sign up to speak for 2 minutes at one of the two Council budget hearings (5/9/22 and 5/18/22). Instructions at the end of this post.

This puts your opposition on the official record for the Council and the County Auditor. The Auditor reviews public input and the budget and recommends budget cuts on June 1, 2022. If we rally enough opposition the Council and the Auditor will pay attention.

Instructions on written and in person testimony below. It's easy once you find the instructions but hoo boy did they make finding HOW to testify HARD.

Points to consider:

1) Don't turn over Homeport to the rowers for their boathouse. This handover would privatize a public park and close the only usable public water access point on the South River.
2) Don't spend millions of dollars in boat ramp money for a rowing boathouse for 200 people. Spend public boat ramp money on a new public boat ramp for the county's 14,000 trailered boats and thousand of kayakers like the county did at Solley Cove.

Sooner is better, folks. This scheme is greased. If you sent an email earlier take it and submit it as online testimony so it's official and the Auditor can see it.

Also, if you don't sign up in advance to testify in person you can do so during the "Invitation to Audience" during the meetings. What that means is the Council Chair asks if anyone else wants to speak and people go up and speak then. If you go to the Annapolis budget hearing THIS Monday 5/9/22 and park in the Clay Street garage across from the Arundel Center, the security guard at the Arundel Center will validate your parking.

Thanks - again, sooner is better. How to testify in person and in writing below.

Lisa

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The instructions for how to participate in the two in person Council budget hearings (5/9/22 and 5/18/22) and submit online testimony are hard to find. We did the digging so you don't have to:

Overview: https://www.aacounty.org/departments...get/index.html

PAGE DOWN and DOWN for the links to sign up to testify in person and submit written testimony online.

Sign up to testify IN PERSON for 2 minutes at the Monday 5/9/22 budget hearing in the Council Chambers in Annapolis OR the Wednesday 5/18/22 budget hearing at North County County High School in Glen Burnie: https://www.aacounty.org/departments...orm/index.html

AND / OR

Submit WRITTEN testimony HERE: https://www.aacounty.org/departments...ony/index.html

Note that you can attach documents if typing into that little square isn't your thing.

IF you don't sign up in advance to testify in person you can do so during the "Invitation to Audience" during the meetings. What that means is the Council Chair asks if anyone else wants to speak and people go up and speak then. If you go to the Annapolis budget hearing THIS Monday 5/9/22 and park in the Clay Street garage across from the Arundel Center, the security guard at the Arundel Center will validate your parking.

[Lisa]

Hello all, Rec & Parks now says the boat ramp money will be spent for a "paddling boathouse", location to be determined, with the project to go out to bid before the end of FY23 ie June 2023. That doesn't pass the straight face test. Rec & Parks has been trying to get playground equipment for the new Deale Park for 3+ years and they're going to get a "paddling boathouse" at an undetermined location out to bid in 13 months? It's a lousy rainy weekend. If you haven't already, please submit written testimony online to the County Council HERE: https://www.aacounty.org/departments...ony/index.html Again, you can attach a document if you don't want to type in that little square. If you sent an opposition email already please dust it off and submit it as written testimony to get it on the official public record. Also, please tell others, especially people who have trailered boats. The county is going to spend millions of public boat ramp dollars on a rowing compound for 200 people instead of a new public boat ramp for the 14,000 trailered boats in Anne Arundel County. Finally, if you are on Facebook, AKA the greatest time sink ever invented by humankind, The Public Water Access Committee created a Stop the Sneak Facebook Event for opposing the rowing compound in Homeport and spending public boat ramp money on a rowing compound for 200 people: https://www.facebook.com/events/373929528003504 Please share it around. Thanks Lisa

[J.A. Veil]

Spurred on by Lisa's posts, I submitted online comments on this issue. This evening, I received a reply from Lisa Rodvien, a member of the County Council. Here is the text of her email:

"Thank you for your testimony regarding Homeport Farm Park. Because there has been misinformation circulating about what is and what is not planned for Homeport Farm Park, I have asked the Director of Recreation and Parks for clarification. She offered the following statement to share with constituents:
"First and foremost, there is no plan to build a private boathouse or clubhouse at Homeport Farm Park. Similarly, there is no funding in the FY23 budget request specifically related to Homeport Farm Park, except to evaluate for electronic gate access to be more accessible for people with disabilities.

We also want to share a little bit of information about the Department’s process for capital improvements or new amenities for our parks.
The Department of Recreations and Parks identifies needs for our communities and user groups and works over time to address those needs and propose solutions. Before we move forward on new projects, we review options and determine what is viable, usually through a consultant study. Even when a study is undertaken, that does not mean that a project will move forward. Sometimes the result of a study helps determine what is not possible or appropriate so that the Department can move on to other locations or options.
The Department is currently studying three locations to possibly expand water access, including boat ramps, vessel launches, and to address the needs of the paddling and rowing community.

Several years ago, the Department explored the possibility of a community boathouse at Quiet Water Park. When that plan was abandoned, the Department began looking for potential alternative locations for a community boathouse, to serve the rowing community and other paddling and watersports users. The Department requested a study for Homeport based on similar criteria of the Quiet Waters project.

Around the same time, an initial draft of the Department’s capital budget request was shared with the Planning Advisory Board that included references to Homeport Farm Park, but since that time, the preliminary findings on Homeport were prepared, and the Department’s budget request was updated to reflect those findings, hence removing any reference to a rowing amenity. We continue to look at alternative locations and are in conversations with the City of Annapolis to explore partnering on a water access project that could include a community boathouse. The Department is waiting to complete the two other water access studies while continuing the dialogue with the City before any decisions are made.

The Boat Ramp Development Project P567500 presented in the FY23 Capital Budget reflects the County’s intention to move at least one of the projects currently being studied forward. This could be the construction of a new launch/boat ramp, another study to support the paddling and rowing community, and/or to move forward with a partnership with the City of Annapolis. Once a project is identified, the park development process will include substantial public input and interaction.

The Department of Recreation and Parks remains committed to providing increased public water access for all residents. Park improvements are always compatible with deed restrictions and/or easements on the property. Furthermore, any new proposals will have ample opportunities for proper public input through the park development process.
If you have any additional questions, please reach out. Thank you!"

I hope this is helpful. Please let me know if you have any additional questions.

Sincerely,

Lisa Rodvien, Council Chair & District 6 Councilwoman"


Snaggedline members can draw their own conclusions on this matter.

[Woody]

Hi all,
Here is the response I recieved from the county executives office last week. It doesn't appear that the county could build a boat house if it wanted to at Homeport. The county violated the agreement with the horse barn property at Broadneck park about twenty years ago so vigilance is prudent...


Office of the County Executive Steuart Pittman FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Jeff Amoros, examor21@aacounty.org, 410-303-7676 County Executive Pittman Issues Statement on Homeport Farm Park Annapolis, MD (May 10, 2022) -

Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman issued the following statement on Homeport Farm Park: “Speculation about the future of Anne Arundel County’s Homeport Farm Park has reached a fevered pitch in recent weeks, and was elevated when the May edition of the Chesapeake Paddlers Association newsletter made the charge that there is a “Stealth project underway for Anne Arundel County to give Homeport Farm Park, the only usable public water access point on the South River, to the rowers for an ambitious rowing facility.”

None of that is true. Homeport Farm Park was deeded to the county in March 2004 for use as a public park with the following conditions: PROPERTY shall be held, sold, and conveyed subject to a perpetual restriction that the property shall be used only for parkland, nature preservation and restoration, open space and low-impact recreational uses including, but not limited to, nature study, bicycling, walking and running trails, fishing, crabbing, the storage, docking and launching of non-motorized watercraft, gardening, environmental research and conservation and similar uses and activities. The property shall not be developed or used for intensive recreational purposes including ball fields or basketball courts, equestrian activities, motorized recreation of any type, concerts and/or similar intensive or noise generating activities or uses. The property shall not be developed or used for commercial or industrial purposes. The Grantor, its successors and assigns, shall have standing to enforce the covenants contained herein, at law or in equity.

I and my administration respect and will adhere to the terms of this easement. In 2018 county taxpayers invested over a half million dollars to upgrade the park, constructing a locked gate, driveway, parking, kayak and canoe racks, and a gravel road to the water for small boat launching. I visited the park last summer for the first time. I arrived at the heavy metal gate, checked the padlock to find that it was in fact locked, read the instructions on a sign for how to get the combination, called the number and was thrilled to actually get a combination that worked to open the lock. I felt fortunate to be a tech savvy, able-bodied, English-speaking park user at that moment. Gates like this will soon be upgraded as part of our countywide Americans with Disabilities Act compliance plan, as they should. We don’t have enough public water access in our county, and I’ve taken a lot of political heat for investing in expanding it. Neighbors of public parks often oppose improvements that might increase park use, and park users who already enjoy access for their activity often fear that further improvements might bring in other users. The opposition by some kayakers to sharing existing parks like Homeport with rowers, undermines our public water access efforts.

The vicious attacks leveled against the Annapolis Rowing Club and Annapolis Junior Rowing in particular have poisoned the water access movement in this county in a way that will be difficult to overcome. Anne Arundel County’s parks are loved and well-used because the Recreation and Parks staff do the hard work of partnering with the leagues and clubs that use the parks. Kayak clubs have racks to store their kayaks at county parks, including Homeport, and I see no reason why similar arrangements should be denied to rowing clubs. It’s true that the rowers would someday like to raise funds and build a clubhouse on the water, but nobody has proposed doing that at Homeport. Mayor Gavin Buckley is planning a Paddle Park on Rowe Boulevard where such a facility might eventually be constructed, along with a new kayak launch and relaxing space on the water at the gateway to the city. I support that initiative.

If, however, a rowing club presents a proposal to the county for additional boat storage, either at Homeport or other county parks, we will share that proposal publicly and do our due diligence with respect to parking, traffic, and environmental impact. The deed would be honored, and I would meet at the site with neighbors and park users to discuss concerns. I, my office, and the Recreation and Parks staff meet regularly and discuss openly our water access agenda with the various groups who actually bring the public to the water, as well as neighbors of those sites. We will continue to do so, because that’s how we govern.”