6 days ago
Mayoral challenger says city needs to plan, not react
For Ron Beattie, running for Frederick mayor is about planning ahead, especially during what he described as a current 'inflection point' in the city's history.
Beattie is running as a Democrat, challenging incumbent Democratic Mayor Michael O'Connor, who is seeking a third four-year term.
Beattie is a consultant on alternative energy.
'I don't think we've been planning. We react,' said Beattie, a former planning commissioner of five years, who resigned before his term ended in July to run for mayor.
Whether its large projects like the West Side Regional Park or city fees designed to fund affordable housing projects, Beattie said the city needs to get ahead of major developments.
'The best example of that, I think, would be Brickworks,' he said.
The 64-acre property was vacant for over a decade, but in recent years, plans to develop it with housing and commercial businesses have been submitted.
Although the property received approval for a master plan of development in 2023, the project is still being reviewed by the Frederick Planning Commission.
'We should have had a plan for Brickworks 10 years before somebody actually came in with a proposal for it,' he said. 'We should have been seeking those people out.'
Similarly, Beattie said, the city should have proactively worked to find a space for a West Side community center.
The city is set to hire someone to start the design phase of the community center this year, though the then-Board of Aldermen originally put funds toward it in 2023.
Beattie said the city could have explored using the old Frederick Towne Mall on West Patrick Street as a city building to house the community center, saving on construction costs.
Beattie said he wants to streamline the planning process, especially for developers constructing affordable housing, or as he described it, 'attainable' housing.
He wants to develop a prioritization system, which he said could cut years off the planning process for affordable housing.
'If a developer comes and says, 'I want to put a 100% affordable housing project in Frederick,' they go to the front of the line,' Beattie said. 'You cut two to three years out of their development process, and then it cuts their cost so that they can build something that's affordable.'
He said the city's planning department should report directly to the mayor, rather than the current system, in which the deputy director of planning is under the director of public works.
'Do we think so little of planning that we're going to bury it in some bureaucracy?' he asked.
Currently, the city requires that all new housing developments include a certain percentage of affordable housing. However, developers may pay a fee in lieu of following through with this requirement.
'In terms of affordability and attainable housing, we have to stop de-incentivizing things,' Beattie said of the option for developers to pay the fee.
City code mandates the money raised by the fund be put toward an affordable housing fund. However, the council did not have an immediate plan of what to do with the funds raised by the fee, Beattie said.
'That's government malpractice 101,' he said.
Similarly, the city collects a fee to issue rental licenses for landlords. None of that money had yet been spent as of early May, city spokesperson Allen Etzler said.
The ordinance also mandates that city code officials inspect rental housing units according to the city's health and safety standards.
The council passed the ordinance requiring the license fee in 2022.
Of 802 initial random inspections the city conducted in 2024, around 280, or 35%, resulted in a violation, according to a report provided to a City Council committee in February.
Just two violations were found that resulted in tenants being forced to temporarily relocate, and both instances were caused by the tenant, Code Enforcement Manager Brittany Parks said in February.
'So why did we take all this money out of the economy to fix a problem that doesn't exist?' Beattie asked.
Beattie also raised issues with the city's Department of Housing and Human Services.
'HHS is a great example of what we don't know about, what's going on in city government,' he said. 'It's opaque.'
He described the director position in the department as a 'revolving door.'
The city recently hired former state of Maryland official Stuart Campbell to take over the role, which was held by Ramenta Cottrell from 2020 to 2024.
He said the department must work on more permanent solutions to aid those who living paycheck-to-paycheck.
'We feed people and we give people an occasional bed, but what are the programs of bringing people out of the situation that they're in and becoming more productive members of society?' he asked. 'I don't see us doing that.'
He described the impending effects of federal funding cuts under the administration of President Donald Trump as 'dark clouds.'
He said the city should look to partner more closely with the state to help work through the effects of federal funding cuts.
'Fortunately, we have a very good governor, who, I think, has been doing an outstanding job dealing with the cuts that have already been made,' Beattie said. 'And I think partnering with the state, especially a state that has a strong governor, is going to help us.'
The city's primary election is set for Sept. 9. The general election is set for Nov. 4.
No other candidates had filed to run for mayor as of Thursday. The filing deadline is July 1.
