Our environment deserves a dedicated dept.
Annapolis’ forward-thinking positions on the environmentwere evident this past year when Annapolis passed the strongest policies in the state for managing our stormwater and conserving our forests.
I’ve been happy to have Mayor Gavin Buckley as a strong partner in those efforts. Unfortunately, with the introduction of his budget, he risks taking the city backward and stymying our environmental efforts for many administrations to come by proposing to completely gut and dissolve our Office of Environmental Policy.
This move would not save the city any money, but it would potentially cost taxpayers, and local nonprofits, much more in environmental cleanup and restoration costs.
The mayor’s proposal does not “elevate” the position of director of environmental policy as he claims. It would diminish the position by giving it only an advisory responsibility with no regulatory authority, no budget, no staff, and no ability to implement policy.
The mayor is moving forward with this despite opposition from his own Waterways Cabinet, our Environmental Commission, and from a coalition of nearly a dozen environmental groups.
Rather than dismantling our environmental programs, we have a clear need to create an organizational structure that supports and strengthens them.
Currently, responsibility for our core environmental programs — stormwater and forests — are split between our Office of Environmental Policy, Public Works, and Planning and Zoning, with all of the regulatory authority in the latter two departments. While those departments do excellent work with competent employees on their primary responsibilities, the environmental programs are overshadowed and need more focus.
This has resulted in a number of implementation issues. Our new “no net loss of forests” policy was improperly implemented, which resulted in one developer claiming no reforestation was required for 30 acres removed.
Another example is our stormwater management program, where our current regulationswere not being applied to require developers treat more than the minimum stormwater when faced with downstream water quality concerns. The council had to pass a resolution pushing the department to use its discretion.
Both scenarios could have been avoided if we had a Department of the Environment with regulatory authority over these programs.
My research into other jurisdictions revealed that you need three things for an effective program: staff and resources, a team with a dedicated mindset focused on the environment, and regulatory authority. This was the case years ago, when we had the Department of Neighborhood & Environmental Programs. We worked well as a team, with innovation, creativity, and teamwork; thoughwewere admittedly held back by bad leadership.
With our current Office ofEnvironmental Policy Director in charge, Jackie Guild, we would nolonger have to fear poor leadership as she is an incredibly capable environmental attorney who brings a collaborative approach to the city’s environmental efforts. She is an enormous asset and I thank the Mayor for bringing her on, but his proposal would risk losing her.
Aldermen Ross Arnett, Marc Rodriguez, and I want to keep moving Annapolis forward, working with the community. Our proposed Department of the Environment would be a “one-stop shop” for environmental permits, so our nonprofit community partners can do their much-needed work to restore ourwaterways.
Please join us in supporting creation of a full Department of the Environment.