Public Hearing

The Anne Arundel County Charter Revision Commission will hold a second public hearing on redistricting Monday, July 25 at 7 p.m. in the County Council chambers at the Arundel Center, Calvert and Northwest streets, inAnnapolis. The commission is considering changes to the boundaries of the county council districts to reflect the 2010 census figures. County Council District 4, which includes Laurel, and District 1 have noted significant changes in population size since the previous census.

The Baltimore County Board of Education will hold a public hearing on Tuesday, Feb. 12, regarding the proposed closing of Eastwood Center Elementary Magnet School. The hearing will begin at 6 p.m., at Dundalk High School, 1901 Delvale Ave., Dundalk. Last month Superintendent Dallas S. Dance proposed the closure of Eastwood as part of a plan to reorganize Eastwood, Norwood Elementary School and Holabird Middle School. The board is expected to vote on this proposal at its March 5 meeting, and school officials have created an information sheet on the overall proposal.

Board holds public hearing on superintendent search The Howard County Board of Education will hold an initial public hearing on the search for a new superintendent for county schools at its next meeting Tuesday, June 21. The hearing will take place in the evening session of the meeting, which begins at 7:30 p.m. Individuals who wish to testify at the hearing are asked to limit their presentations to three minutes, and provide 15 copies...

The state has reversed the Baltimore County school board's decision to build a 700-student elementary school at Mays Chapel Park because it did not give proper notice of a public hearing. In a legal opinion released this week, the state school board said local officials must schedule a new hearing and properly publicize it to correct the mistake. "We find that the local board violated the notice requirements of [state law] because it failed to publish notice of the March 19, 2012 site selection hearing at least once in a newspaper of general circulation in Baltimore County," the state board wrote.

Residents of Prince George's County can find out about the county's preliminary redistricting plan at a public hearing in Upper Marlboro this weekend. The Prince George's County Redistricting Commission will unveil the county's preliminary plan on Saturday, Aug. 13, from 10 a.m. to noon in the county council hearing room on the first floor of the County Administration Building, 14741 Governor Oden Bowie Drive. The hearing provides an opportunity for county residents to express their views before the plan is submitted to the County Council Sept.

On Tuesday evening the state's utility regulator will hold the final public hearing on Baltimore Gas and Electric Co.'s performance in the aftermath of Hurricane Irene. The meeting will take place at 7 p.m. in the Wohlman Assembly Hall of the War Memorial building at 101 N. Gay St. The Maryland Public Service Commission — which is reviewing the storm response of BGE and other state utilities — is gathering feedback from residents about BGE's power-restoration efforts after Irene left 756,000 customers without power.

Baltimore's Board of Estimates will hold a public hearing at 9 a.m. Wednesday on a proposed 9 percent increase to water and sewer rates. The board meets in room 215 at City Hall, 100 Holliday Street. The latest cost increase would raise the average family of four's annual bill from $1,170 to $1,276, public works officials said. The city has increased water and sewer rates by 9 percent or more all but two years since 2000 to pay for repairs to the aging system. A decade ago, the average family paid $517 annually for city water.

A city councilman called on Wednesday for a public hearing next week to question why Verizon is not rolling out its next-generation, high-speed broadband Internet network in Baltimore, even as surrounding counties are getting it. Councilman William H. Cole IV said he has been fielding complaints from residents who erroneously believe the city has blocked the move or made it difficult for Verizon to build the network, called FiOS, in Baltimore....

Carroll County's state legislative delegation will hold a public hearing Saturday morning to discuss bills for the 2002 General Assembly session. Members will discuss the first three weeks of the session and will take questions and comments from residents. The meeting will be held at 9 a.m. in Room 003 of the county office building in Westminster.

The Carroll County Board of Education will have a public hearing at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow in Room 271 at its offices, 55 N. Court St., Westminster.The hearing will review and approve the proposed fiscal 1996 state and local capital improvement program budget requests.The fiscal capital improvement budget submission will reflect a six-year plan for school construction and renovation from the Facilities Master Plan for public schools.The budget also includes requests for other local capital improvement projects.

The proposal for a bike route through Towson will be the subject of a public hearing scheduled Monday, Dec. 17, 7 p.m., in the Historic Court House, Room 118, 400 Washington Ave., Towson. The county's Department of Public Works will on on hand to discuss the proposed route, which has been dubbed the Bike Beltway. The route is designed to circle central Towson and help provide bicycle access to Towson University, Goucher College, the downtown business district and the government center.

Baltimore's long dormant Parkway Theatre on North Avenue, a fixture in the Station North Arts and Entertainment District, would be added to the city's landmark list, if public officials approve a plan now before the City Council. Baltimore's Commission on Historical and Architectural Preservation is holding a public hearing at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday to decide whether to designate the theater a city landmark. The theater was designed by Oliver B. Wight and opened in 1915 as a first-class movie house.

Baltimore's Board of Estimates will hold a public hearing at 9 a.m. Wednesday on a proposed 9 percent increase to water and sewer rates. The board meets in room 215 at City Hall, 100 Holliday Street. The latest cost increase would raise the average family of four's annual bill from $1,170 to $1,276, public works officials said. The city has increased water and sewer rates by 9 percent or more all but two years since 2000 to pay for repairs to the aging system. A decade ago, the average family paid $517 annually for city water.

Mayor Craig Moe has appointed three residents to the city's Census and Ward Boundary Review Ad Hoc Committee, which held its first meeting May 29. Former City Council member G. Rick Wilson was appointed to represent Ward 1, Rhonda Whitley was appointed to represent Ward 2 and Kimberly Elliott will be the at-large representative on the committee. Census and Ward Boundary Committee members will review the census figures for the city of Laurel and review the boundaries of Laurel's two wards.

Howard County residents are upset with County Executive Ken Ulman for ignoring their wishes regarding the County Council's redistricting plan ("Ulman rejects council's redistricting plan,' March 16). Instead he endorsed the plan of an appointed, bipartisan but Democratically controlled redistricting commission that held public hearings, then ignored the requests made by citizens who attended. They presented a plan that moved 25,000 voters around when there were alternate proposals from commission members that moved fewer than 10,000 people.

On Tuesday, Baltimore school communities went before the city school board to express concerns about the district's  recommendations that would either shut down or dismantle their schools at the end of the year. You can read a bit about their presentations, which the board embraced, here. We've covered the plight of Cherry Hill neighborhood, which has vowed to fight to keep its community high school Southside Academy from closing at the end of the year. The only school recommended to close this year, school officials said Southside was recommended because its achievement, enrollment and popularity in the school-choice process has continued to decline.  The Southside community came out 50 to 60 strong Tuesday to protest the process by which they were informed of the recommendation for closure (the news media)

The Annapolis City Council will hold a public hearing today at 7:30 p.m. on the city's proposed franchise renewal with TCI Cablevision of Annapolis.The city's agreement with TCI is set to expire April 19.The new agreement would expand cable service to areas currently not covered and improve cable technology.The agreement also would provide for greater public access on cable television.The City Council's Economic Matters Committee has been working on the renewal for more than a year, starting with a public hearing on cable television service in January 1993.

Under the threat of a lawsuit by the county, the Annapolis city council will have a public hearing tonight on a proposal by Bayhouse Partners to develop 11.3 acres at Bay Ridge and Edgewood roads.County Executive John G. Gary has warned Annapolis officials he will sue if they allow more homes to be built on the property annexed by the city than county zoning would have permitted.Development on the traffic-choked Annapolis Neck Peninsula has been a sore spot between city and county officials, who pledged to work together to find a solution to the traffic problem.

Faced with opposition from Mays Chapel residents, the Baltimore County school board postponed a final vote Tuesday night on whether to build an elementary school on 20 acres there to relieve overcrowding. The board, however, gave preliminary approval to the site and said it will hold a public hearing to further discuss the issue March 19. The board is scheduled to vote the next day. About 120 Mays Chapel residents attended the board meeting, brandishing small yellow sheets that said, "Save Mays Chapel Park.

The League of Women Voters of Howard County was severely disappointed by the announcement that the Howard County delegation has scheduled their public hearing on local bills and statewide legislation at the Delegation Room in Annapolis, breaking with a long tradition of holding such hearings within Howard County. We understand that our elected officials are busy people, but they are far from alone in that. If the delegation finds it difficult to make the trip from Annapolis to Howard County for the hearing, they must understand that such a trip is much more difficult for the Howard County citizens the delegation was elected to represent.