Today, I filed legislation with the County Council to simplify the recovery process for building owners of historic properties damaged in the July 30 Ellicott City flash flood.

This bill would allow certain minor alterations of historic buildings to proceed without a certificate of approval from the Howard County Historic Preservation Commission, as long as the alterations are in accordance with accepted design guidelines. The current process can take up to two months to obtain written approval. The proposed process will reduce this to approximately two weeks.

It's my hope the legislation will speed up the process of getting these businesses up and running faster, eliminating some of the red tape while at the same time respecting the historic designation of these buildings. The Commission will continue to approve significant alterations to structures within historic districts through the normal process.

I made several visits to Main Street this week and I continue to be amazed at the resiliency I see in and around Ellicott City.

This past Saturday, we reopened the Patapsco River bridge to allow traffic onto Maryland Avenue to St. Paul Street and also opened access to Main Street from Old Columbia Pike.  Building owners and merchants in Main Street's "limited access" zone are continuing to repair and rebuild while BGE is busy connecting its newly installed gas main to individual addresses. County contractors remain busy on a number of projects. They are installing curbs and sidewalks on Hamilton Street, performing stone work near Lot "F" and clearing out storm drains.

A variety of businesses have recently reopened, including Pure Wine Cafe, Su Casa, Pam Long Photography and Classic Interiors. By next weekend, La Palapa and Ellicott Mills Brewing Co. expect to open their doors.

Fresh off their come-from-behind victory over the Cleveland Browns Sunday, Baltimore Ravens John Urschel and Crocket Gillmore delivered pizza and a lot of excitement to firefighters and paramedics at the Ellicott City Station 2 on Monday.  John and Crocket were there to thank them for the great work they did following the flood as a way of "Paying it Forward."