Leaf season is a festive time at Public Works. Residents often praise the annual curbside collection, and can be seen greeting the vacuum trucks and crews as they make their way through the city. Typically, leaves are collected within 10 feet of the curb, from piles raked in front of residential properties.

This year, the Department of Public works is piloting a program to encourage residents to consider using the leaves on their property, rather than have them all removed by the city.

Fallen leaves are a great source of nutrients for gardens and lawns. They can be ground and left on the lawn or piled up and composted to be used in a garden bed. If you have started a garden or are mulching leaves in an area that may be subject to leaf collection, signs will be available to alert the collection crews that you intend to
leave these leaves in place. Leaves on sidewalks, near storm drains, or those likely to encroach on these areas will be collected by the crews.

“I’m a Leaf Saver” signs will be available for residents to pick up at the Public Works office between 8:30 and 5 p.m., Monday-Friday. Signs may only be placed in front of your own property. Please place one sign at each end of the area where you do not want leaves to be collected; corner properties may request additional signs. Signs should remain in place from the first day of collection, November 15, through December 31 and can be reused the following year.

Leaf piles up to a few inches thick provide valuable habitat to overwintering bugs, worms, and insects—as well as benefits for
soil and plant health as they decompose. Un-mowed leaves may be more beneficial to insects, but are also more likely to blow or drift away. Consider decorative garden fencing to contain the leaves.

If you choose to leave your leaves to protect overwintering invertebrates and wish to remove them as part of spring clean-up,
it is a safe bet that by the time the grass is ready to be mowed for the first time (after Tax Day), the invertebrates no longer require the protection. The city does not offer a vacuum leaf collection in the spring; however, the city’s Monday yard waste collection program—which occurs yearround— can be an opportunity dispose of those leaves.

More information about leaf collection and “I’m a Leaf Saver” program can be found on the City Yard Waste & Fall Leaf Collection webpage.

This article appeared in the October Edition of the Takoma Park Newsletter. Check out this article and more on the City webpage.

Please Note: With regret, there was a typographical error showing the date from the 2022 Elections on the Printed Version of the October Newsletter. The correct date for the 2024 elections is Tuesday, November 5, 2024, and has been corrected in the digital version on the City Newsletter webpage.

Two Separate Elections on Tuesday, November 5, 2024

•  Presidential General Election
•  City of Takoma Park Election

The Takoma Park Election for mayor and city council is separate from the Maryland presidential election process. Remember to vote in BOTH elections if you are eligible.

Takoma Park Vote by Mail

The Takoma Park Board of Elections is sending a vote-by-mail City Election ballot to every active registered voter. Voters can return the ballot by mail in the enclosed prepaid envelope or drop the ballot in an offi cial Takoma Park Ballot Drop Box at one of two locations:

• Takoma Park Community Center (7500 Maple Ave. lower level parking lot)
• Takoma Park Recreation Center (7315 New Hampshire Ave.) Ballots will be mailed the week of October 14. Check out the City website to find out how to track your ballot with Ballottrax.

Absentee Ballots

If you expect to be out of town through election day and want your ballot sent to a different address, request an absentee ballot here!

Election Day Voting

The Community Center will be open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on election day for residents to vote in person and for residents not yet registered. Remember that only the Takoma Park Election for mayor and city council will take place at the Community Center. To vote in the state/county election on November 5, you will go to your regular precinct polling place.

Need Assistance with City Voting, Voter Registration or City Election Questions?

In-person voter assistance for the Takoma Park Election will be available at the City Clerk’s Office in the Takoma Park Community Center, 7500 Maple Ave., from October 21 through November 4, Monday–Friday, 11 a.m.–4 p.m. Other times are available by appointment. If language assistance is needed, contact Irma Nalvarte at 301-891-7214 or irman@takomaparkmd.gov.

Voter Registration for the Takoma Park City Election—Up to and Including Election Day

If you are already registered at an addressin the City, you need not register again.

If you are not registered, you may register to vote in Takoma Park elections if you

• are a resident of the City of Takoma Park;
• will be at least 16 years old on Election Day;
• do not claim the right to vote elsewhere in the United States;
• have not been convicted of buying or selling votes;
• are not under guardianship for mental disability or, if you are, you have not been found by a court to be unable to communicate a desire to vote.

U.S. citizenship is not a requirement for voting in City of Takoma Park elections.

Not everyone who registers to vote in city elections will be eligible to vote in county, state or national elections. Review the registration form carefully to understand the requirements for voting in the State of Maryland. For registration information, view takomaparkmd.gov/ elections, call 301-891-7252, or email elections@takomaparkmd.gov

This article appeared in the October Edition of the Takoma Park Newsletter. Check out this article and more on the City webpage.

To help spur investment and reinvestment in housing in Takoma Park, the city council is considering a proposal to offer tax credits for construction, preservation , and reinvestment in housing.

The program involves four separate tax credits—which still must be passed by the city council—that implement the city’s Housing and Economic Development Strategic Plan. The plan was passed in 2019 and aims to preserve the city’s existing affordable housing, produce new housing as well as provide new homeownership opportunities, and protect current residents from displacement.

The Housing and Economic Development Plan was adopted after more than three years of in-depth research, staff facilitation, community engagement, and council deliberation. The resolution is a comprehensive plan that outlines the Council’s strategic vision for guiding the city’s growth and development over the next decade.

“We did this work to get a housing and economic plan that sets the strategies from 2019 to 2030,” said Housing Manager Devin McNally . “Part of that was recognizing we need more housing of all kinds. This is aimed at implementing that high-level strategy by investing in our existing housing and preserving the housing for our most vulnerable residents. It’s trying to move the needle in three different directions, choice, stability , and quality.”

Rental Housing Tax Credit

The first of the four proposed tax credits is to encourage the creation of new rental housing. It will be a by-right 15-year tax credit for any property constructing 10 or more net new residential units. After a property is developed, it will have an increased tax assessment, and the credit would be for the additional value created by the project. For the first 10 years, the property would only pay the property tax they had been paying before they built the new housing. The property tax would then increase over fi ve years until the credit expires. There are currently 390 parcels in the city zoned for multi-family development.

In cases of redevelopment—in which the property owner adds additional units to a building—the tax credit would be scaled to only provide incentives for new units created. So if a 90-unit building is redeveloped into a 100-unit building, the adjustment would be the net number of new units (10) divided by the project size (100) for a credit that would be 10% of what it could be.

“Our multi-family buildings are all aging, and most are 50 years old,” said McNally. “We’re hoping for 200 additional rental homes in the city over the next 10 years. It takes time for these projects to get going, so we’re hoping people start looking at the city for new, high quality development.”

Missing Middle Housing Construction Credit

The second tax credit is a Missing Middle Housing Construction Credit, meant to incentivize smaller scale, multi-unit ownership opportunities.

These credits are for smaller units, like townhomes, duplexes , and cottage courts—typically five to 20 units around a common area.

“The idea is that we want to encourage things like duplexes, triplexes, townhomes,” McNally said. “Instead of building a McMansion, we’re encouraging smaller scale homeownership opportunities.”

Affordable Housing Preservation Credit

The third tax credit is an Affordable Housing Preservation Credit meant to safeguard the current provision of difficult-to-provide housing types, like those for extremely low-income, seniors, individuals with disability, and people who need transitional housing.

“This is for deed-restricted housing. These are houses that have a contract with the government for affordable housing,” said McNally. “These are mostly operated by nonprofits offering affordable housing. ”

Housing Reinvestment Credit

The final credit is a Housing Reinvestment Credit meant to encourage proactive investment and upgrades in multifamily buildings.

This will be a competitive credit for multifamily properties that invest at least $6,500 per unit in substantial upgrades and do not displace any residents. Allocations would be based on affordability level, proposed scope, and history of citations/ violations.

The city chose to propose tax credits for a number of reasons, including that they provide predictable financial support; the credit value is proportional with private investment; tax credits allow for higher subsidies than the city could provide with a grant or loan; and that Housing Reserve Fund and General Fund Dollars are limited and are required up front.

Helpful Links

• New Tax Credits for Housing Development Webpage
• Housing and Economic Development Strategic Plan Webpage
• Housing and Economic Development Strategic Plan (PDF) 

This article appeared in the September Edition of the Takoma Park Newsletter. Check out this article and more on the City webpage.