City looks to bright future
The City of Annapolis is moving into the future with the rebuild of Hillman Garage and an electric mobility plan.
Construction on the garage is currently set to begin in March but the groundbreaking timeline remains in flux due to final contract issues, City Council approval and, of course, unpredictable winter weather.
Throughout the rebuild, downtown Annapolis will remain open for business.
I want to acknowledge the hours and heart our community has put into getting us to this point. We have known since 2013 that the garage was at the end of its service life. And while engineers recommended replacement nearly nine years ago, arriving at consensus proved insurmountable.
In this time of political division, I want to acknowledge and thank all the folks who came together. The new garage is going to be an amazing asset with more parking plus new features and conveniences.
In case you haven’t heard, the City Dock Action Committee, convened in 2019 with nearly 100 community stakeholders and experts, came together to solve this seemingly unsolvable problem.
By early 2020, the committee had a plan to not only rebuild Hillman through a unique concession agreement, but to re-imagine City Dock. These infrastructure projects are unique in two ways: first, they are the largest municipal projects in our city’s history and second, they are being paid for through a public-private partnership that will not put the onus on city taxpayers.
For decades, the Annapolis harbor waterfront has faced flooding challenges. The inundations are typically from “sunny day” flooding, when water pushes up through the Chesapeake Bay, into storm drains and out into the street. Our 2010 bulkhead replacement prevents water from overtopping the bulkhead, and our backflow preventer and pump design from 2019 works until the water hits more than 3 feet above mean high tide. Neither is a long-term solution for the challenges of sea level rise.
The new plan will not only raise City Dock and protect our historic buildings, it will create a new downtown waterfront experience. There will be flood gates to keep the water out. There will also be a programmable public space, a spray park/fountain that families will enjoy as well as a new harbor master office, new pump house and more. The city is about to acquire Burtis House, which the National Park Service will be looking at as a hub for its Chesapeake Gateway experience. All will be tied to the work of the United States Naval Academy and our flood mitigation efforts on Compromise Street.
We recognize these aren’t the only places regularly inundated during flood events. I believe that saying we aren’t fixing every place that floods all at once allows the naysayers to prevent progress on this issue. We must move our city forward.
With these two projects, we have an opportunity to shift Annapolis to a mobility plan for the next generation.
We often hear that Annapolis has a parking problem. In fact, there are more than 3,500 parking spaces in garages and lots between Spa Circle and Dock Street. Add Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium to the mix and there are more than 7,000 (mostly unoccupied) spaces on any given day.
We can put Annapolis on the map for not only envisioning a greener future, but working to enact it.
While Hillman is offline, we will make parking at Park Place available. We will spiff up our Circulator bus and double its frequency. We will add an electric trolley (eightseater “golf carts”) for a close-in loop from Cathedral Street to State Circle/Maryland Avenue, Market Space, Main Street, Church Circle and Inner West Street.
We have a plan to introduce the nation’s first electric ferry that will tie back to bicycle and pedestrian movements from the Eastport peninsula across Spa Creek into downtown.
We want to reawaken Annapolis to the outdoors and make it a four-season location, expanding sidewalk and outdoor dining, not just to stay two steps ahead of the next COVID variant, but because it is a fun way to enjoy a meal with friends and family.
We acknowledge that the changes these infrastructure projects will bring will mean that we have to be flexible in our expectations. We want to incentivize residents and visitors to park and take the Circulator. Park and take the electric trolley. Take in our beautiful downtown and shop, dine and stay at the unique offerings of locally-owned businesses.
Annapolis is open for business.