BERLIN– Municipal officials highlighted transportation concerns and plans for a community center in a meeting with the Eastern Shore Delegation this week.
Sen. Mary Beth Carozza, Del. Wayne Hartman and Del. Charles Otto met with Berlin’s elected officials Wednesday. Municipal leaders shared traffic concerns and other topics of interest with the delegation as they prepare for the 2023 legislative session.
“If there’s anything you believe the Town of Berlin should have on our radar as we get ready to move forward with the legislative session please let us know,” Mayor Zack Tyndall said. “We try to stay abreast of what’s going on and you all do a great job of keeping us informed but if you see something on the horizon we need to pay extra attention to please just let us know.”
Tyndall kicked off the discussion with traffic concerns, highlighting the aging condition of some town streets as well as the array of state highways in the area. He said that while the improvements to the Route 113 and Route 376 intersection had helped, the town was hoping to enhance safety in that area further by lining up the intersection of Flower Street and Decatur Street.
“That is a project that’s ready to go,” Councilman Dean Burrell said. “What we actually need is the funding.”
Council members brought up the idea of a crosswalk across Route 376 that would let pedestrians coming from Flower Street access the Dollar General in a safer manner. Hartman, pointing out that he was actually the owner of the property Dollar General occupied, said another option could be a raised sidewalk to slowdown traffic. Councilwoman Shaneka Nichols agreed some sort of improvement was needed to ensure people walking across the street remained safe and said she hoped the Maryland State Highway Administration (SHA) could explore the issue.
“I know they’ve been spending a lot of time there, hopefully they see what we see,” she said.
Tyndall said another change officials would like to see was the addition of a stoplight at the Route 818 intersection with Route 50. He added that SHA had advised him it wasn’t warranted but said he believed future development in the area could change that.
Carozza said SHA was typically very responsive to safety concerns.
“Sometimes before they approve another light there’s other options they want to try or propose,” she said, adding that it was important for jurisdictions to update them of any changes, such as potential development.
Tyndall told the delegation a major project the town would be seeking support for was construction of a community center on the site of the aging multi-purpose building on Flower Street.
“We do want to pick your brains a little bit about bonds and maybe the best way to position the Town of Berlin for that moving into the session,” he said.
He said the town was hoping to seek funding for professional services for planning and design of a new facility. Carozza suggested a summary of the proposed facility be drafted so it could be provided to relevant state agencies, such as the Department of Housing and Community Development. As far as potential bonds, she said she was already receiving requests for funding from all three counties so it was good for Berlin to express interest early.
“It’s good we’re flagging it now,” she said.
Tyndall said the third topic he wanted to discuss with the delegation was the town’s electric operation. He pointed out Berlin was one of only five municipalities in the state that had its own electric utility. In addition to facing challenges regarding renewable energy credits in recent years the utility also has diesel generators the town would like to see converted to natural gas.
Carozza pointed out that Maryland would have a new governor, administration and general assembly in 2023 which would bring challenges but also new opportunities.
“We tend to work together as an Eastern Shore delegation which is nine counties, 12 delegates and four state senators,” she said. “That’s how we leverage our strength.”
Other issues council members brought up included stormwater, casino revenue, residential façade funding, inflation and supply chain delays. Hartman acknowledged the latter two were major issues.
“We’re limited to what we can do because a lot of it is supply chain,” he said.
Councilwoman Shaneka Nichols, who works at Berlin Intermediate School, expressed concern about the safety of kids who walked and biked to the Berlin school. She said the school had 30 kids who rode bikes to school on a daily basis. Council members also expressed concern about pedestrian safety in front of Stephen Decatur Middle School.
Tyndall said at next week’s council meeting officials would be discussing the possibility of installing speed cameras in school zones.
“When you are down four officers it gets challenging on the enforcement side,” he said.
Hartman encouraged the town to look at other alternatives first.
“Usually the locals are the ones that complain the most when you do something like that because they’re the ones traveling the roads the most,” he said. “There’s other tools you can use.”
