March 2026 Community Meeting Recap
Note: Any changes to the minutes should be directed to secretary@upperfellspoint.org.
Hybrid Meeting
Welcome
Leadership introductions
Guest Speakers
Stephen (UFPIA Streets Chair), Sarah Haddad, Shamir Cole-Butler and Eric (Baltimore City RPP) and Kate Simms (Fells Point Residents’ Association)
Stephen gave a recap of the options for parking: (1) more parking/ make better use of parking; (2) restrict parking (Residential Permit Parking or RPP); (3) use other transport/ fewer cars. The Committee recently provided a flyer of transit options. Ideally a combination of the three options is needed and all need consistent enforcement of illegal parking by the City (call 311).
There are 2,400 residents in UFP (75% drive); 1,400 housing units (85% occupied), 1,300 parking spaces (more than 80% occupied all day, usually 95%+), almost entirely unrestricted parking. Most of the surrounding neighborhoods all participate in RPP.
RPP program questions were solicited in advance and sent to the City ahead of the meeting.
Sarah stated that RPP will not guarantee you a space in front of your home. It’s designed to keep non-residents out of your neighborhood - normally used for public schools, businesses, universities, churches, etc.
49 RPP programs are managed across the city - largest in Fells, smallest is Poppleton.
Biggest part of the creation process is understanding what you need.
Three hours limit is not working well in Little Italy, may go down to one hour (People are abusing it - moving out of the area and coming back which reduces the time it takes to enforce your area.
City testing license plate recognition software - reduces the time on foot. Able to reduce all of Federal Hill (6 RPP zones) from 6 hours to 4.5 hours to cover the entire area.
Parking authority and parking enforcement are two different entities. Enforcement is handled by DOT Safety Division; Authority handles entirely different things but both have to work together. There are some transition issues between standard and virtual areas - some started as standard stickers, then went to virtual permits and there were some enforcement issues with confusion.
DOT enforcement has traffic officers and enforcement officers as separate categories. First offense is $52; second offense is $72; third offense is $102. Fourth offense, your car is towed and impounded, you cannot have your car released until fees are paid. Even if your fees are paid, on your fourth offense your car will still be towed.
Every business in the area receives a permit the same as the residents (in Little Italy they wrote that into their agreement). Decide what works for your community. You can write how many each business gets. The school can get as many as the community allows. Discourage giving businesses too many permits as it adds a lot of cars.
Petition process: issue a petition for every block face - could be 30 petitions if every block decides to do it. 120 days to bring the petition back. 60% of residents in all block faces must agree to it AND answer the phone when the City calls to verify your signature. Only the legal residences are placed on the petition. No flexibility on petitioning - must be a ‘wet signature,’ no digital signatures allowed - it’s what City code requires.
Once petitions received: public meeting scheduled, including a two-block radius around the community. Make them all aware you’re getting RPP. Once done, it goes through administrative review for 30 days. Signage posted in the City’s office to allow for anyone contesting, director then signs off, then move to signage. DOT does signage - can take a few months to get signs in (if you want it done, get your Councilmember to pressure).
Once signs go up, permits are available. Standard price is $20 annually. It is not a calendar annual year - it is an annual year from the month your program starts. For example, Area 16 permits expire every February no matter what. There is a fee for shipping physical stickers or you can pick up physical stickers or the community can choose virtual. There is no hybrid option, it cannot be enforced.
Residents with VA/out of state plates - If you are a student you do not have to have a MD license but must show student status proof to the office; then get a non-resident permit (decal on windshield) for temporary purposes and validate their permit. Student, active-duty Military, temporary assignment are not required to change their information. Otherwise, an out-of-state tag cannot have a permit.
Permits are non-transferable.
A parking study also is required
The City conducts the study after the petition is filed: team will conduct inventory studies (total count of spots) and utilization studies (demand - meeting 80% occupancy) in the neighborhood. Data collected over several days at various times. Requirements:
80% or greater occupancy on the street. 1-2 spaces available on any given time. Streets are averaged on occupancy, may need to account for that in determining what streets need to be covered.
¼ or more of vehicle traffic non-residential: will come and go for hours, tracking plates to see turnover, contact the MVA for data. People not in the neighborhood staying for long times - point of the program is to reserve parking for your neighborhood. Non-residents include anyone commuting in from other areas, including surrounding neighborhoods, allowing for two blocks in each direction.
Process: a lot of steps where the onus is on the neighborhood vs. the City as to who has access to park in the neighborhood. Neighborhood’s responsibility is on the borders, and location for the public meeting in the neighborhood.
Petition process is onerous: are there programs that fail at the non-resident stage? Every neighborhood created since 2015 fell into the stadium complex - they already knew the problem and don’t need the non-resident study. It’s been a long time since RPP areas have been created in this way; all other ways have been through ordinance via a Council member that bypasses this.
Ordinance: a few of the original areas (Article 31 Subtitle 10) are codified - they are the originals. 60% created by petition, 40% created by legislation. Have to have a VERY responsive Council member - they are solely responsible for creating this for you. Parking Authority does not come into play until the end of the process when signs go up. It’s about the same amount of time (write bill, must go through three reads to get it approved, agencies have to comment). Parking Authority will support UFP if that’s what UFP wants to do. Parking Authority is funded from revenue, they are a quasi-independent agency. Permit fees generally do not go back into neighborhoods.
Kate (President, Fells Point Residents’ Association) mentioned that they have had RPP since the 1980’s.
Having RPP is life-altering for quality of life. It doesn’t guarantee you a spot - can still drive around for 20-30 min, but not driving around for 2 hours.
Biggest issue is enforcement which is on DOT. Always encouraged to report to 311.
Dealing with Parking Authority is great - they’re helpful and responsive. Renewing permits is easy (they use paper and do not want to switch to virtual).
If a building has five or more units they are not eligible for RPP, have to provide another means of parking for your tenants.
They have four permits per unit and one visitor pass.
Discussion/Vote
Proposed additional text to the Financial and Disclosure Policy section:
Financial Oversight Committee: To ensure the Association operates in a manner consistent with its charitable purposes and to verify that financial activities reflect reasonable payments that do not result in inurement or impermissible private benefit.
Formation: The President shall appoint an annual Financial Oversight Committee consisting of the Vice President, Secretary, and the Parliamentarian.
Duties: The Committee shall conduct an annual review of the Treasurer’s records, including bank transactions, receipts, and expenditures, to ensure accuracy for the Association.
Reporting: The Committee shall present a summary of their findings to the members at a properly called Association meeting following the close of the fiscal year.
Motion: To add the above verbiage to the Financial and Disclosure Policy section; motion seconded and passed unanimously.
Officer Reports
Treasurer’s summary report was not given due to time constraints.
Committee Reports
Beautification
Mallory Kuehn - beautification@upperfellspoint.org
Since the last meeting, we’ve had three events - tree pruning, dumpster day, tree planting (last of the two big trees) - two smaller Japanese maples in pots, shrubs, one crepe myrtle available for outside someone’s house. More events coming up: cleanup 3/10 at 6pm and planting on 3/15 (1931 E Pratt).
COMMUNITY GARDEN
Jan Mooney - communitygarden@upperfellspoint.org
Soil work day completed and will be planting soon.
Plant swap on 4/26 with Beautification which includes a bicycle tour to see local green spaces and other gems.
EDUCATION
Eliza Poffenberger - education@upperfellspoint.org
Held February committee meeting
Wolfe St Academy’s Wolfest is coming (date TBA)
Food security fundraiser: fall funding has lasted until now - $900/ month for fresh produce boxes which are valuable to families - $200-300 shortage for this month and no funding to cover the coming months. Donate at https://gofund.me/b06603aea
Ongoing school donations tinyurl.com/DonateWSA
Next meeting on 3/26.
FUND-RAISING
Amy Zemanick and Wendy Bozel - fundraising@upperfellspoint.org
Bingo on 4/19 from 3-6pm at Tandav Indian Cuisine
Tandav donating space to UFPIA with a buffet
$20 for a ticket, kids $10
Cash bingo with prizes
Volunteers needed
Stoop party on 6/8 during the UFPIA monthly meeting
Need block captains, organize a casual stoop gathering at 6pm
Then a pizza party at Wolfe St. Academy for the monthly meeting
Aim: to gather new neighbors and new participants in the UFPIA
LADY DAY WAY
Beth Russo - ladydayway@upperfellspoint.org
Working on a welcome section on the north side on the street (looking into a black & white photo collage of Billie’s Baltimore)
Jazz vocalist Changamire in Billie’s Baltimore
3/14 events in Baltimore
3/15 - golden hour meetup at 8am on Lady Day Way, homemade biscuit sandwiches - purchase savory Blacksauce Kitchen to benefit the Jeremiah Program for single mothers
She recently released a vinyl record with Billie Holiday songs
LAND-USE
Mark Hoffmann - landuse@upperfellspoint.org
Next meeting on 4/6
Hearing with Sweet Carolina liquor store - they were fined $2,800 for repeated violations of their MOU
Sen. Ferguson & Del. Clippinger held a Zoom meeting for community leaders for a new liquor license category - for restaurants to serve on Sunday - would require an MOU with the neighborhood association. Concerns raised included enforcement capacity and ensuring law has strength to address chronic violators.
BMZA hearing scheduled 3/17 for 130 S Durham - denied a variance last year - it was a non-conforming property trying to enlarge. Land-Use opposed; district court hearing for this owner scheduled for April. Land-Use Committee voted to send an updated opposition letter.
1814 Bank: vacant property inspection requested, Little Donna’s is concerned about deterioration and requested it.
Safety (sub-committee)
Dan Harrison - safety@upperfellspoint.org
COP walk held 2/23 despite weather
Assisted with a few requests for cameras
Replaced many cafe lights due to the storm - gone into repair mode.
Extra dawn-to-dusk bulbs available tonight.
MEDIA
Jan Mooney - newsletter@upperfellspoint.org
Deadline for April newsletter is 3/29 at 5pm.
STREETS
Stephen Porter - trafficparking@upperfellspoint.org
A handicapped space was removed since the owner of the permit left the neighborhood; thanks to Shea in Councilman Glover’s office.
Traffic counting camera - looking for a host on mid-block of Wolfe St. if anyone is available. Advocacy & data gathering tool. Right now seeing 4-5 thousand vehicles passing through every day. Lower speeds than expected but it’s currently closer to a light where people are slowing, which is why mid-block is better.
New Business
Spa Adagio: members of UFPIA save on therapeutic massages and facials
Open House Sunday 4/12 11am-1pm
Couples massage classes are back and prenatal massage classes too
Classes also available on video
Follow on social media!
Request to keep streets clean for neighbors and other customers
Ride for the Feast
Fundraising bike ride to benefit Moveable Feast, their biggest event every year
Held on 5/9 on the Eastern Shore (25, 42, 66, or 101 miles - not a race, a ride)
All ages and abilities welcome
$500 fundraising minimum for first-time riders, $60 registration fee
In 2025 Moveable Feast delivered 427,731 meals to Baltimore City & surrounding area, meal prep is all done with volunteer support, almost 2,500 clients (generally suffering from chronic and life-threatening issues, this is a lifeline for them)
If you want to join Brian’s team (bmegali@gmail.com) - Team Wheel Powered by Constellation - company kicks in additional funds. Can raise $30,000 just with Brian’s team on an annual basis.
Sweet Carolina’s
At the next UFP meeting, they would like to talk about amending their MOU or terminating it.
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned.
To vote on issues at a meeting, you must have paid your current dues (based on calendar year beginning in January), attended 2 of the preceding 11 meetings, live in our boundaries and be age 18 and/or attended UFPIA sponsored events/activities per our Meeting & Voting Regulations.
