MEETING PREVIEW: A New Sports Bar, a New Road, and More

Due to Election Day, the bi-weekly College Park Mayor and Council voting meeting was pushed to 8 p.m. Wednesday.

The meeting will be held in the Council Chambers on the second floor of , 4500 Knox Road.

Anyone attending the meeting can get a parking pass at the customer service windows inside City Hall.

Below is a summary of the action items on which council will vote. The complete agenda can be found here.

Big Play Sports Grill

A new sports bar is set to open in the building previously occupied by Vito’s Pizzeria at 7313A and B, Baltimore Ave., and tonight the council will decide whether not to object to the licensee’s application for a beer, wine and liquor license. The property use agreement (PUA), if approved, will limit the Big Play Sports Grill from earning more than 50 percent of its sales from alcohol. For the first six months of operation, the establishment can only serve beer and wine, and not hard liquor. The PUA also outlines security requirements for the bar. Four security cameras inside the building will operate 24 hours a day throughout the week, and the owners must purchase an identification scanner to detect fake IDs. The full PUA is included in the meeting agenda, between pages 135 to 146.

A New Road

The council will also decide whether or not to request $150,000 through the county’s Department of Housing and Community Development block grant program, to finance the construction of a street to be called “Randolph Macon Avenue” in the Old Town neighborhood. The road would be within the 30-foot passage between Rhode Island and Dartmouth avenues. New housing will line the road and replace vacant buildings currently there. The project is estimated to cost $262,457 for design and construction. The city expects to be reimbursed for all expenditures upon sale of the vacant buildings.

Commercial Signs

A new state law grants municipalities more authority to reprimand those who post , and the council will vote to reflect the state guidelines into the city’s own code. Previously, the city could only fine violators who posted commercial signs, unapproved by the city, if they were placed along city streets. Now, violators will be charged $25 per sign posted along Baltimore Avenue or Greenbelt Road, and the funds will go to the city.

Filling Vacancies on Council

Sure, , which made for an unexciting election day for some districts. But it could have been outright disappointing if not enough candidates ran to fill the seats. Right now, there is no resolution in the city code to address a vacancy on the city council. Wednesday night, the council will decide whether or not to adopt a procedure to address this. Under the proposed plan, if no qualified candidate has applied to run for council, the deadline is extended by 10 days. If still no one throws a hat in the ring, the mayor and council will fill the position by a majority vote. Anyone wanting to be considered at that point must file an application and petition.