Mayor Randy McClement and members of the Board of Aldermen joined Governor Martin O’Malley on Wednesday, August 29th at the North Pointe development located in historic, downtown Frederick, Maryland.
CONTACT: Susan Harding, Public Information Officer, 301-600-1385
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Thursday, August 30, 2012
Governor Martin O’Malley Visited the North Pointe Community
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Frederick, MD -- Mayor Randy McClement and members of the Board of Aldermen joined Governor Martin O’Malley on Wednesday, August 29th at the North Pointe development located in historic, downtown Frederick, Maryland. The visit took place at Noon, an energy friendly, trendy, revived Nexus Homes community located on North Bentz Street.
Mayor Randy McClement said, “We believe The City of Frederick’s environmental responsibility lies in neighborhoods that implement compact designs, easily accessible to existing community services and places of employment. The North Pointe Development is a case study of a successful infill, environmentally oriented infill redevelopment project in a historic district.”
Nexus Homes are known for applying innovative, renewable resources and energy production elements to create a new standard for GeoSolar, energy efficient home building and green home management. Nexus Energy Homes are carbon-neutral, attractive, and affordable and have multiple locations throughout the Mid-Atlantic.
“The North Pointe Community is a state-of- the –art community and it is very exciting to have the Builder of the Year located in the City and we are fortunate that the private sector and the market support innovative green construction projects.” said McClement.
In an effort to continue the momentum of the successful preservation of the City’s 40 block historic district, the Mayor and Board of Aldermen provided additional relief to property owners in the Historic District through a revised Historic Preservation Tax Credit program creating an incentive to continue to restore, preserve and make their houses more energy efficient.
The 60th Administration has also moved forward with sustainable design and planning practices that helps create a more sustainable tomorrow:
• The City of Frederick’s Bicycle Committee helped launch the Seventh Street bicycle lane project that connects the neighborhoods in Downtown and along East Street to the eventual rails-to-trails bicycle lane that will run from downtown to points north. The Seventh Street bike lane expands upon the “complete streets” concept of accommodating motorized and non-motorized users when possible.
• In Winter 2013, the City will begin construction of Phase II of the Carroll Creek Linear Park Shared-Use Path. This multi-million dollar transportation, economic revitalization generator and park improvement project will connect the existing path that currently terminates at the Delaplaine Center to East Patrick Street, allowing cyclist and pedestrians to safely travel from Baker Park and neighborhoods in East Frederick to our multi-modal transportation hub: The MARC rail, TransIT bus and Greyhound station.
• The 60th Administration Fiscal Year 2013 budget has set aside $200,000 to fund the initial start-up cost for a bicycle/pedestrian tunnel to allow user’s safe access to Frederick’s West-End and Downtown Frederick, linking Baker Park to Waterford and Rock Creek Parks.
• Frederick is one of seven communities awarded funds from the Maryland Department of Transportation to begin the process of creating a bike-share pilot program.
• Frederick has been named a Bronze Bicycle Friendly Community by the League of American Bicyclist.
On July 19, 2012, the Mayor and Board of Aldermen approved a new Historic Preservation Property Tax Credit. Tax paying property owners may apply for a tax credit equal to 10% (ten percent) of the properly documented expenditures incurred for exterior work that contributes to the restoration or preservation of a structure designated by the City of Frederick as a Historic Preservation Overlay zone. This includes all properties in the Frederick Town Historic District and any other individual site. Information on the Historic Property Tax Credit information can be found by visiting http://www.cityoffrederick.com/index.aspx?NID=226 or calling 301.600.1499.
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