The Singerly Fire Hall is located at 300 Newark Avenue, Elkton, MD. near the intersection of Routes 213 and 279. From I-95 take exit # 109 (Route 279) interchange toward Elkton, approximately 3 miles on the right.

Admission is $3.00 per person ($2.00 with this ad) — children under 12 admitted free of charge. For additional information contact ayersj@zoominternet.net or call 410-398-7735 or 410-398-7300 during show hours.

Free Antique appraisals will be the featured program at the annual meeting of the Friends of the Cecil County Public Library, Wednesday, November 9, 6 p.m., at the Perryville Branch Library in Perryville, MD.

The Friends, who support key reading programs for children such as the CCPL Summer Reading Program and are advocates for reading and our county library system, will hold their annual meeting beginning at 6:30 p.m.

Directly following a short business meeting, Carl York, will talk about
antique glassware.  Mr. York and his daughter, Carla York, will offer free appraisals following his discussion. For antique appraisals, numbers will be assigned beginning at 6 p.m. Antiques should be portable.

The Friends will also host a silent auction of select antique items.  Light refreshments will be
served.

Here’s the Elkton video recording of the public hearing, which runs for a little over an hour.  It starts at the 5 minute mark on the recording.

I wanted to clarify a few issues surrounding the Artesian Contract with Cecil County. First, the County Commissioners did not initiate the termination of the wastewater contract with the county, it was Artesian. The Commissioners were shocked by this revelation because this was after the Courts affirmed that Cecil County Government could sell their assets even if they were still in public use, after the Commissioners sent their letter of support to the PSC regarding phase 2 of the Elkton West Franchise, and after the Commissioners voted to move forward on refinancing the bond for Artesian to purchase the assets. While all the Commissioners agreed to ask Artesian if they would be willing to discuss the 10 items of concern in the contract, Artesian declined. It seemed Artesian was on
a path for closing a very lucrative deal with the County and many are still
bewildered as to why they took this course of action now. If it really was due
to the “political environment“, wouldn’t Artesian have also canceled the water
contract?

Commissioner Diana Broomell

by By Daniel Menefee

Local elected officials in Maryland and members of boards of education will soon be subject to more stringent conflict-of-interest and financial-disclosure requirements. A law passed unanimously in both chambers of the General Assembly last year (SB315)  requires county and municipal governments to amend their ethics ordinances to meet or exceed disclosure laws that have been in effect for state officials for 30 years.  “The biggest change coming with the new law…lies in the financial reporting requirements,” says Easton Town Council President John Ford.

article continues on the Chestertown Spy

The Singerly Fire Hall is located at 300 Newark Avenue Elkton, MD, near the intersection of Routes 213 and 279. From I-95 take Exit# 109 (Rt. 279 Newark, DE/ Elkton, MD) interchange toward Elkton approx. 3 miles on right.  Admission is $3.00 per person – children under 12 admitted free of charge. Lunch and refreshments will be available for sale by the Singerly Fire Company Ladies Auxiliary. For additional information contact ayers.we@hotmail.com or call 410 398 7735 (During show hours 410-398-7300).

Historic districts are a form of zoning overlay with particular rights and restrictions and the commission, a quasi-judicial body, is similar to a planning board, he explained. As a result there are certain things you have to do in a certain way to protect you and your citizens and assure due process in protecting property rights and the legislative rights of government.  In this realm, the commission makes determinations on “alterations to the exterior of buildings, not interiors.”   On that point Commissioner Givens sought clarification,
“in the interior you can do whatever you want?”   The authority is limited to the exterior, Cory assured him.

It is my understanding that the discussion of design guidelines is where the topic got complicated, Cory remarked as he displayed a map showing Elkton’s large inventory of historic structures.  Design guidelines are used for the review, so
it’s not a matter of personal taste.”  It’s a tool that ensures a board is making consistent, reasonable decisions, not rendering opinions based on personal preference.   So they use these as guidelines, not strict enforcement tools, Commissioner Hicks inquired. “The federal standards are broad and there are ten of them. . . To the home owner, getting this short list doesn’t make a whole lot of sense so commissions typically adopt the illustrated guidelines to help owners.”   Cory remarked as he displayed examples from Bel
Air, Cumberland, Snow Hill and other places.

“They come in all shapes and sizes and almost all have lots of pictures,” he noted while pointing to examples of how they provide guidance to the building owner.  The guidelines “serve to let homeowners know what the expectations are and give something the commissioner use in order to make decisions.  The philosophy that underlay the standards gets translated into real world examples.  These are not regulations, but guidelines that serve as policy decision aids.”

“All we want is to protect the historic value and keep the small town façade or feel,” Commissioner Hicks remarked.  “We want to protect that.  New buildings come and suddenly Elkton is no longer that quaint small town with history.
It goes away just like that.” Responding to the Commissioner’s closing observation Cory added that he once told the mayor of Salisbury that “no one ever came to Salisbury to see their strip malls.  In terms of small town feel and appearance, the quality of architecture does definitely make a difference.”

You owe it to yourself to have some realistic and justifiable rationale and guidelines so you don’t end up being the pretty committee,” the state
preservation official emphasized.  When asked how common historic districts were in Maryland, he noted that most town’s Elkton’s size and most that are participating in the Main Street program have historic districts.

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That proved to be challenging he wrote.  One downtown regular and a trustee of the Historic Elk Landing Foundation, Jon Carpenter, when interviewed, described Elkton’s policy that contributes to the “current historic district dilemma” as one of “benign neglect.” 

The confusion, frustration and genuine regret over lost opportunities, “might support suggestions by some members of the town’s Historic and Architectural Review Committee that it continuation may not be worthwhile,” Okonowicz said.  “Unfortunately for some time, it appears preservation efforts were ineffectual and not forward thinking.  Efforts by county and Elkton agencies to entice travelers to view the city’s heritage face a steep uphill challenge because very little structural history survives.  Perhaps Elkton’s poor historic preservation legacy should serve as an example of what over community should not do and proves that in some cases, the present may be too late to salvage what’s left of a proud community’s rapidly vanishing past,” the columnist concludes.

Click here to see the full story in the Cecil Whig