Salisbury City Council votes to override Mayor’s veto of density increase
SALISBURY, Md. – Salisbury Mayor Randy Taylor and City Council President D’Shawn Doughty went back and forth Monday night in a heated exchange after council voted to override the Mayor’s veto of an ordinance to increase density downtown without allowing him to speak prior to their vote.
Not allowing him the opportunity to speak, Mayor Taylor took to the public comment podium to make his voice heard and air his concerns to council.
“I don’t think it’s appropriate for any one of us here to be voting in favor of this if you’ve done your homework, and I don’t think you have,” Mayor Taylor said. “And, I say that respectfully.”
At the heart of concern, and the reason behind the Mayor’s decision to veto, is the issue of parking. Councilmembers who support the ordinance say there will be enough parking and that the increase in density is the future of downtown to spur economic development and support local businesses.
Mayor Taylor maintains that if the density is increased and development moves forward, there will not be enough parking downtown.
“Within a couple projects, we’re going to be a couple hundred spots short over the normal modeling, and that’s with discounting the existing load,” Mayor Taylor emphasized.
The Mayor then spoke to Councilman Doughty directly, taking issue with his decision now to allow him to speak prior to council’s vote.
“As this is a veto conversation, I would think it would be appropriate for the Mayor to speak on behalf of his veto, which is sort of a basic civics idea, right?,” Mayor Taylor asked. “But, apparently, that’s not the way it works with you. I’ve always tried to be respectful to you, always, even when you make me angry, I’ve been respectful to you.”
Council President Doughty shot back at that notion, saying he saw the Mayor’s intention to present to council on the news and that he reached out to Mayor Taylor to add it to the agenda, but never got a response.
“I’m seeing here no response,” Councilman Doughty said. “So, then on the 21st, I then asked you, I said ‘again, seeing no response, I want to make sure that I don’t have any surprises,’ and then you sent that you would send a memo with one or two associated exhibits by this Friday, that was on Wednesday, we’re now on Monday the 27th. I, again, have not received a memo.”
Mayor Taylor told council that he sent the memo this morning. Now that Council has chosen to override the Mayor’s veto, the ordinance has finally been adopted, paving the way for multiple development projects to move forward.
Council approved the decision to override the Mayor’s veto 4 to 1 with every councilmember voting in support of the ordinance except Councilwoman Sharon Dashiell.
