Your 10/12/26 Council Agenda
Happy Sunday, Ward One
And, officially, happy fall! The autumnal equinox was two days after my last newsletter. We went camping yesterday at Rocky Gap state park, as you can see above.
Tomorrow is both Indigenous People’s Day and a full city council meeting, although it’s more public hearings than final votes.
Here are the top 3 things you need to know in Annapolis:
The council will vote on final passage of legislation that rewrites our charter preamble, allows long-term room rentals, and expands the Board of Elections from 3 to 5.
Thursday is the final vote before the Planning Commission related to the redevelopment of the abandoned gas station on West Street into 9 town homes.
The Saturday after next is Murray Hill Porchfest with free concerts throughout the neighborhood!
Updates from Harry
Tomorrow is Indigenous People’s Day, formerly known as Columbus Day. While city offices will be open, I want to encourage you to take some time to reflect on
Maryland does not currently have federally-recognized tribes, but the state does recognize the Piscataway Conoy Tribe, Piscataway Indian Nation and Tayac Territory, and the Accohannock Indian Tribe. Historically the area around Annapolis was home to Algonquian-speaking peoples. Many of those around Annapolis were particularly reliant on the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries for food and other supplies—not to mention recreation, just like we are today.
In many ways, the struggle for recognition continues today. You may have seen recently that a group of tribes withdrew from talks with the Chesapeake Bay Program about joining the inter-state Chesapeake Bay Agreement after having been disappointed by the response from the program’s leaders.
I’ve had a few really important learning opportunities this past year about the native people of the Americas.
The first was the book Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer, an indigenous botanist. She so beautifully describes her tribe’s perspective on humans’ relationship with nature and duty to care for it.
For a look at the history of tribes’ legal status and relationship to the US government, check out the series Indian Country 101. I went through this a couple months ago, and I’ll warn you it’s not for the faint of heart.
This one might be a little less achievable than a book or web series, but I had the opportunity as part of a work retreat this year to visit the Flathead Reservation and hear firsthand about their stewardship of everything from pine trees affected by a new fungus to the second largest wild buffalo herd to tribal members’ housing needs. The Bison Range is open to the public and has a great museum.
Whether one of these or something else, I encourage you to take a moment tomorrow to learn more about some of these cultures that came before the US and which still survive today. It may engender a new way of looking at the plants around you or spark a new idea for better governance. And I hope it’s a reminder of the importance of treating all our fellow humans with respect and love.
One other thing before I close: I understand that historically—and still to some—Columbus Day was an opportunity to celebrate the contributions of Italian Americans to our country. That’s a valuable reason for a holiday, much like St. Patrick’s Day for our Irish neighbors, and I’d be fully supportive of the federal government declaring such a holiday. But considering that priests in his own time were accusing Columbus of originating the horrific treatment of native people, surely we can find a better icon for that day.
This week and every week, I’m grateful for the honor of representing you and our whole community. Never hesitate to contact me at harry@harrymhuntley.com.
City council agenda
Call To Order
Mayor Littmann
Moment of Silence
Pledge of Allegiance
Mayor Littmann
Roll Call
City Clerk Watkins-Eldridge
Approval of Agenda
Ceremonial Items
Update from the Mayor
Mayor Littmann
Reports by Committees
Comments by the General Public
Remember, you can come to any city council meeting to tell us about what’s important to you and your neighborhood! Register here or just show up.
Presentation to Council
The Director of Planning and Zoning will provide an interim briefing on the short-term rental moratorium.
Public Hearings
CA-4-26 Designating the City Attorney as the Resident Agent for the City of Annapolis
Very straightforward change designates the city attorney in the charter as the “resident agent,” which basically means that he or she will be the person to receive any lawsuits. Right now, the resident agent has to be designated by resolution. I support this.
O-25-26 Mobile Food Service Vendors - Historic District Special Events
Right now, “mobile food service vendors”—better known as “food trucks”—are only allowed in the historic district during city-designated “special events”. At the request of some of our businesses, this expands that allowance to include events organized by a business association within the city. So, it would allow food trucks at something like the Chocolate Binge Festival. I think this strikes a good balance.
O-26-26 Special Residential Parking Districts - District Lettering
This ordinance changes the names of our residential parking districts from numbers to letters. So, “Residential Parking District 1” becomes “Residential Parking District A”. I’ve heard so many people get confused between their ward and their parking district that this is a no-brainer to me. The one thing I hesitate on is the cost of updating signage; the fiscal impact note says zero, but I’m skeptical of that. Also, this is the kind of ordinance being introduced by another alder but with direct impacts on our ward that I might normally have a town hall on, but since it’s doing no more than changing from 1 to A, feel free to share any thoughts you have with me by email.
O-27-26 Water Service Lines - Right of Entry
This sets up a process by which city staff would be able to enter your home to inspect and potentially replace lead and copper pipes. This is kind of a big power but also meant for a very good cause, so I’m inclined to support it but want to ensure we have appropriate guardrails.
O-28-26 Department of Transportation Fines and Allowing Fine Waivers
The city manager placed a moratorium on waiving parking fines earlier this year because we didn’t have a clear process for whose get waived and whose don’t. This would establish that process. You can read the exact language, but my summary of it is that you can only get tickets waived because of something outside of your control, which seems like a fair standard to me.
O-29-26 Outdoor Dining - Definitions, Administration, and Operational Standards Update
This legislation from Alderman Thorp does a lot to make our outdoor dining code more clear. It contains about three key substantive changes
1. It removes the silly prohibition on standing up while eating or drinking in privately-owned parking lot outdoor dining. There’s still no standing for outdoor dining in parking spaces or sidewalks, in the interest of keeping sidewalks navigable.
2. It shifts around who’s doing what, making the Planning and Zoning Department responsible for all permit approvals (previously Public Works did some) and making the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board responsible for violations of the alcohol rules, like standing and drinking in a parking space.
3. And I know folks are going to love this one: It includes some requirements for the barriers around parking space outdoor dining to be more aesthetically pleasing. I don’t like looking at these bright orange construction barriers, and I know you don’t either.
I would still like to go further to make outdoor dining easier, like removing the requirement to go before the Planning Commission and get a special exception, but what we have here is a good step forward.
Consent Calendar
One thing to call out here is that the council will be touring economic development projects in Cumberland, MD on November 13th. A majority of the council meeting together outside the city chambers requires us to approve it as a special meeting.
Business and Miscellaneous
Moving around some money to buy new snow plow blades.
Ordinance First Readers
O-30-26 Landlord and Tenant Relations - Eviction
This aligns our notice and other requirements for tenant evictions with those of other jurisdictions, in order to protect our residents at a most vulnerable time. For instance, one of the changes requires that property of evicted tenants not be thrown onto the city sidewalk. All these changes make sense to me, and, as I mentioned, I believe they’re borrowed from other jurisdictions, so I will likely support this legislation.
Resolution First Readers
R-37-26 Fiscal Year 2027 Fines Schedule - Eviction Notices and Property Disposal
Creates a fine to enforce the standards in the ordinance above.
R-39-26 Fee Waiver - 2026 Community Meet and Greet with Budweiser Clydesdale Horses
Clydesdales are coming back to Annapolis on December 27th! I’m sponsoring this resolution to waive the fees, so this can happen.
R-40-26 Itinerant Merchant Sales in the Historic District for a Flea Market
We need to have a resolution to do these kind of outdoor markets in the Historic District. Naptown Flea has previously brought lots of great vendors and customers, so I'm bringing forward this resolution for them to do another market on November 22.
R-45-26 Annapolis City Council Support for Draft Addendum II to Amendment 3 of the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic Menhaden
Menhaden are a funny little fish that feed rockfish, dolphins, ospreys, and other iconic Chesapeake Bay species. Their numbers seem to be decreasing, and evidence suggests it's the reason for a dramatic decline in osprey chick survival. I've been told that out of the 100 breeding pairs of ospreys in the Severn River, only six chicks survived this year. The mayor, the Environmental Matters Chair, and I are introducing a resolution supporting a proposal to cut the fishery's Bay harvest cap in half and spread that harvest more evenly across the season. The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission decides on November 9th, and we want Annapolis on the record in support of this change.
Charter Amendment Second Readers
CA-2-26 Expanding the Board of Supervisors of Elections Membership
The Board of Supervisors of Elections is a lot of work! Three dedicated volunteers have put countless hours into overseeing our elections, and they have come to the conclusion that they need more hands. This legislation increases the Board to 5 members, including by adding a seat for an independent or third-party voter, both of which I support. I do not support the substitute amendment from the Rules Committee, because—while it has some good parts—it would allow the council to appoint anyone to the Board solely based on their party registration, which I think could lead to hijinks. Right now, the Democratic and Republican members have to come from the party central committees, and keeping it that way is the most fair way to ensure the board’s partisan balance.
CA-3-26 Expanding the Preamble of The Charter of the City of Annapolis
This adds a new paragraph to the preamble of the city charter, something that was recommended by the Charter Revision Commission a few years ago. One part I’m especially excited about is the mention of our duty to steward the Chesapeake Bay. I support this amendment, along with the amendment from Alderman Thorp that specifically mentions our residents, history, maritime industry, and universities.
Ordinance Second Readers
O-11-26 Allowing Long-Term Room Rentals in Private Homes
I’ve been a co-sponsor of this legislation from the beginning, because I support fixing the broken status quo in which it’s illegal to long-term rent out a room in your house in most of the city. In trying to fix that, the first version of this bill made things too complicated. At the recommendation of the planning commission and others, the primary sponsor, Ald Schandelmeier, has developed an amendment to more straightforwardly allow this, which I will support
O-12-26 Removing Streets from Special Residential Parking District, Number 5
This removes the following street segments from Special Residential Parking District Number 5:
Forbes Street, between Monterey Avenue and Giddings Avenue; and
Monterey Avenue, between Forbes Street and Tucker Street
and leaves these still in the district:
Annapolis Street, between Taylor Avenue and Melvin Avenue; and
Giddings Avenue, between Forbes Street and Tucker Street
This is Alderwoman O’Neill’s legislation, it solely affects her ward, and I see no reason not to support it.
O-21-26 Resilience Authority of Annapolis and Anne Arundel County - Membership and Director Appointment Changes
These are good, commonsense changes to update the structure of the Resilience Authority that’s a joint project of the city and county. With an amendment to reinstitute the requirement that the board members appointed by the city must live in the city, I fully support it.
Resolution Second Readers
R-34-26 The Establishment of the Annapolis Main Street Advisory Task Force
The city is undertaking a reboot of its Main Street program, which began by bringing it in-house under our Economic Development Manager, Adam Strott. Adam has been working closely with me and with our businesses to create something that can be an advocate and a coordinating body for our downtown businesses. Ultimately, the goal is to spin out a new organization that will be independent. But in the meantime, we need an advisory body to stay compliant with state law. So, I’m sponsoring this resolution to create that Task Force. As amended, it will include business owners, landlords, and residents throughout the designated main street area (it’s more than just Main Street). Let me know if you’d like to be considered for this task force.
Adjournment
Other news you can use
The boat shows are going on this weekend and next! It’s a great opportunity to see the progress at city dock.
Boat show parking restrictions stay in place through Wednesday, October 21. Prince George Street is no-parking from Craig Street to the docks, and parts of Prince George, Randall, and East, plus all of Green, Newman, and St. Mary's, are limited to District 1 permit holders. Move-out continues until close of business Friday the 23rd.
Tomorrow from 5 to 7 pm (before the council meeting) is a celebration of Jesse Raudales’ 20th anniversary as an Olympic Artist at City Hall.
Tuesday, October 13 is the deadline to register to vote or update your address for the November 3 general election. Early voting runs October 22–29, 7 AM to 8 PM every day, and if you'd rather vote by mail, request your ballot by October 27.
This Thursday is a final hearing before the Planning Commission about the plan for the abandoned gas station at Monticello and West Street. The plan is to add 9 townhomes, somewhat similar to the ones currently next to the property. I am 99% supportive of this, but I want the planned green space to face West Street, rather than be hidden behind the building. This would require basically flipping the site design so 4 houses are on the West Street side and 5 behind rather than the other way around. I intend to submit testimony to that effect, and I encourage you to submit your own testimony if you have thoughts.
If you have energy left Saturday night after the Sailboat Show, Party in the 'Port at Eastport Yacht Club is open to the public, with the Slip Hippies opening and One Night Only closing.
DragonFest takes over lower Fourth Street in Eastport from noon to 4 PM on Saturday the 17th. It's free to walk in, and it raises money for the Annapolis Dragon Boat Club, which is a community for people affected by breast cancer and a boat club.
The Maryland Avenue Fall Festival closes the first two blocks of Maryland Avenue, from State Circle to Cumberland Court, from 10 AM to 5 PM on Sunday, October 18.
Ignite Annapolis #7 is Tuesday the 20th at Maryland Hall, where locals give five-minute talks starting at 6 PM, hosted by WYPR's Taylor Holbrooks.
Next Wednesday, October 21, is the last regular Dinner Under the Stars of the season.
Porchfest Annapolis brings bands to front porches in Murray Hill on October 24, from roughly 11 AM to 3 PM. It's acoustic or lightly amplified, so the kids and the dog are welcome. Just walk around the neighborhood to see lots of amazing local musicians for free! The rain date is Sunday, October 25.
Sunday the 25th at 3, the Naptown Philharmonic's Halloween Spooktacular is in Key Auditorium at St. John's College, with a costume contest for all ages.
Sunday is also the official beginning of the Scarecrow Stroll, with themed scarecrows along West Street, Maryland Avenue, and Main Street through November 2. Although, don’t be surprised if some start popping up earlier.
Please send me any events or other information you’d like advertised to your neighbors.
Have a great week, everyone!
Harry