By Kelsey Ward
Stuart Adams was elected to represent District 3 on the College Park City Council on Nov. 10. He is replacing Robert Day, who served on the council for 10 years. District 3 had the second-highest voter turnout in the election, with 478 total votes cast in person and by mail. Adams garnered 275 of the votes.
Adams has been active in the community since he moved here in 2015. He has served as the vice president, president and secretary of the Calvert Hill Civic Association. His home is next to the tree that serves as the neighborhood’s official Christmas tree each year, and he offers up his garage as the studio for pictures with Santa.
Adams grew up in Mississippi. He has an undergraduate degree in civil engineering and a master’s in structural engineering from Louisiana State University. From there, he went to MIT for a diversity and research program before deciding to settle in D.C.
“I’ve always been drawn to university towns. I like the activity and being able to meet younger folks,” he said.
Adams, who specializes in floodplain management, sustainability and construction, works at Santec, an engineering services company in Laurel. He manages technical support provided to a number of local entities, including City of Annapolis, Maryland State Highway Administration, Maryland Department of Transportation, Amtrak, GSA, HUD and FEMA and is particularly focused on helping communities prepare for and recover from natural disasters.
“That’s been my passion for a while, community resilience. I know what it’s like when your family loses your home and your community gets completely uprooted,” said Adams, whose family lost their home in Hurricane Katrina. He plans to use his expertise to tackle the stormwater management issues in District 3.
Adams lives in Calvert Hills with his wife and dog. They love to walk or bike on the trolley trail, go to Lake Artemesia and walk around the university’s campus when it isn’t busy. Callie, Adams’ Lab/German Shepard mix, is famous around the neighborhood. Indeed, some of the kids in the neighborhood call the Adams’ yard Callie’s Corner.
“There were a lot of kids who couldn’t see their friends during the pandemic, so they would come hang out with my dog. She’s partially named after Calvert Hills,” he said.
