Playing politics with water access in Anne Arundel? Behind the vote to delay two projects.

The final budget by Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman, which passed last week, includes raises for teachers, a security grant program for houses of worship and a minor cut to the property tax rate.

But it wasn’t quite everything the term-limited Democrat wanted.

In his weekly newsletter, Pittman said his “only disappointment” with the budget was a series of amendments approved by County Council that delayed two public water access projects by at least a year.

One of them, the park at Valentine Creek, has been debated since the county acquired the land eight years ago. The county has plans to add a small parking lot and a steep, roughly half-mile trail to the waterfront with a fishing pier. The other delayed project calls for a cartop boat launch and other small improvements at Beachwood Park in Pasadena.

Water access is a perennial and thorny issue in Anne Arundel where there are about 530 miles of shoreline in the county, but much of it is privately owned. Efforts to provide more access are often met with resistance from nearby residents.

Democratic Council Vice Chair Pete Smith introduced the amendment that delayed Valentine Creek by a year, though the park is not in his district. It passed with the support of the council’s three Republicans.

Smith said residents around Valentine Creek contacted all council members and asked them to visit, so he took them up on the offer. He walked the existing trail and took issue with some of the park plans.

He said he wanted to pause it before the county broke ground so he could “weigh in” on the design.

Smith is running in the Democratic primary to succeed Pittman. Smith said if he’s the next county executive, “I will 100% commit to completing the project, I just want that delay to make a design change.”

In his weekly newsletter, Pittman suggested the vote might have been politically motivated. He called it a “longstanding gripe” that “small groups of neighbors” can rally against park projects near where they live, even if there’s significant public benefit to be had.

“And then councilmembers who smell a few votes to be had, or owe favors to each other, whip votes to kill the projects,” Pittman wrote.

Smith responded that the council members and Pittman are “in the business of politics. Everything we do is politically motivated.”

Council members have four-year terms to get things done, Smith said, and sometimes “decisions will be close to elections, and they get tagged” as being political.

Residents of the neighborhoods surrounding Valentine Creek Park who opposed the development were in council chambers when Smith introduced the budget amendment.

Though council meetings are open to the public, it’s rare for constituents or resident groups to be at the budget amendment day.

Councilman Nathan Volke, a Republican from Pasadena, even said he’s “frankly, never seen anybody” from the public come to council chambers for budget amendments.

“So kudos to you,” Volke said.

The group cheered when Smith’s amendment passed.

Councilwoman Lisa Rodvien, a Democrat from Annapolis, said she was frustrated by the process. Her district includes Valentine Creek.

The current plan for the project is already a slimmed-down version of what officials first proposed when the land was purchased.

Smith “didn’t speak with me” before involving himself in the Valentine Creek project, Rodvien said.

Councilwoman Allison Pickard, a Glen Burnie Democrat who voted against slowing down the water access projects, was also frustrated by the budget amendments. Council members had worked for years with county staff and community members to come up with balanced plans at Valentine Creek and in Pasadena, she said.

“I don’t know why they felt the need to undercut all the work that has already gone into those two projects,” said Pickard, who’s also running for county executive.

Mike Lofton, a water access advocate and former county official, called the votes to delay Valentine Creek and Beachwood Park “a little pinpoint in a much larger drama.”

It’s illustrative of a concern he’s had for a long time, he said, which is that it doesn’t seem like water access advocates “have a seat at the table” much in recent years.

Anne Arundel has just 1 mile of public beach access for swimming. There are three county-run boat ramps and more than a dozen launches for cartop boats, such as kayaks and canoes.

Lisa Arrasmith, an avid kayaker and water access advocate, said she was blindsided by the budget amendments.

Nobody on the water access side of the issue was consulted, she said Wednesday at Beachwood Park as she took her kayak down the path to the waterfront.

The uneven trail, in some places steep and difficult to navigate with a larger kayak, is better than what existed before, thanks to a steady series of improvements that have made the park more accessible, she said. Trails were built and maintained, benches were installed and clearer signs were put up.

The park improvement plans that the council removed from the budget would expand parking, improve trails and make other minor improvements. There’s no plan, for example, for a boat ramp.

“It would only be an improvement on existing uses,” Arrasmith said.

She worries that the council’s decision foreshadows further delays.

“It’s never just a year,” she said.