Big plans to redevelop City Dock get last OK
Historic Preservation Commission greenlights $71M project; fall start set
The City Dock Park and flood resiliency project cleared its final hurdle last week when the Annapolis Historic Preservation Commission unanimously approved the site plan for the $71 million proposal.
The approval came March 28, more than a month after the Annapolis Planning Commission approved the site plan at the beginning of February. Construction on the project is expected to begin in November but is contingent upon the awarding of $32 million in grant funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, city officials told the City Council in a work session last month.
The massive redevelopment includes turning the pay-to-park area from Craig Street to Susan Campbell Park into a raised earthen berm meant to hold back water. The park will feature a fountain, a pergola and a stage, among other amenities.
Electrical work was supposed to start this spring and take seven months but now has been “resequenced” to start in October along with other construction that is scheduled to start around the same time, according to Eileen Fogarty, manager for the city dock project.
The electrical work was pushed back because of a “change in location of electrical panels due to a utility conflict on Prince George Street,” Public Works Director Burr Vogel said.
Fogarty was part of a group that presented the project to the Historic Preservation Commission at a March 28 virtual meeting. Other presenters included Chris Haley, nephew of Alex Haley and director of study of the legacy of slavery in Maryland for the Maryland Archives; James Sink, senior associate at Mahan Rykiel, a landscape architecture and
urban design firm; Derek Piper, senior vice president at engineering and design firm WSP; Brice Turner the lead architect from BCT Design Group; and Kin Daileader, director of technical preservation at EHD Traceries, a historical preservation consulting firm.
The city is still waiting on the FEMA grant that will help fund the project. However, when it receives the money, the city will still be “a little short” on funding, Vogel said during a City Council work session March 21. City officials have not said when the federal agency might release the funds.
“[We are] working through the process with FEMA,” Vogel said.
During the park’s construction, the Harbormaster’s
office will be demolished and temporarily relocated. When asked where the temporary quarters will be, Eileen Fogarty, a project manager, said in February that she “did not know with which properties [the city] is negotiating” but they have “identified the funding” in the city’s upcoming budget. The city still does not know where the temporary quarters will be.
The project will also include a small green space, Donner Park, on Compromise Street. Dock Street will be engineered to accommodate public transportation and parking.
In February, the Fleet Reserve Club confirmed it would be working with the city to extend the raised bulkhead in front of its property. These plans are part of a separate phase that would extend the wall past the Choptank to 100 Compromise St. That portion will cost $14 million, according to Vogel. Last year, the cost of this project was estimated at $31 million, according to the city’s fiscal 2024 capital improvements plan.
“It’s complicated,” Vogel said of why the cost was reduced. “There was a better way to achieve the desired resilience [and] performance to handle stormwater for about a third [of ] the cost.”
A third phase would include the construction of a Maritime Welcome Center, which is estimated to cost upwards of $7 million. All three phases would cost an estimated $92 million.
Now that the Historic Preservation Commission has approved the site plan, the city must pursue a grading permit and revisions to the site plan for utilities, Vogel said.
“There is nothing to preserve without resiliency,” Kevin Smith, vice chair of the Historic Preservation Commission, said at the pre-application hearing on March 12. A pre-application is an accommodation made to assist property owners and representatives in “developing their application,” Smith said. The pre-application hearing occurred two weeks before the commission held a public hearing and deliberated on the project on March 28.
Like the Planning Commission’s meeting, residents and stakeholders who testified mostly supported the project. Among the Annapolis organizations to testify in support were the Chesapeake Conservancy, Blacks of the Chesapeake, Historic Annapolis, Caucus of African American Leaders and elected officials, including former Maryland Gov. Parris Glendening.
“I do tell my Johns Hopkins class that I teach to business majors about resiliency, climate change and equity that this is how you do climate resiliency,” said Glendening, who served from 1995 to 2003. “It’s a major step forward [that has], I think, long-term implications for the city and puts the city increasingly as a model for the country.”
Erik Evans, the executive director of the Downtown Annapolis Business Partnership, reminded the commission of the historic flood in January that caused most of the businesses to close due to water damage.
“Time is of the essence,” he said.
Some residents questioned why the public hearing was held virtually.
“I certainly agree that effective flood protection is very important … but a meeting of this significance [should be] conducted live at City Hall,” John Richards, an Annapolis resident, said at the public hearing. “The national COVID emergency ended almost a year ago, and there’s no basis [for a] hearing of this nature to be held online.”
Annapolis resident Sharon Kennedy asked the commission to extend the public comment period, just as the Planning Commission did in January, and hold an in-person hearing.
Commissioner Kimberly Golder defended the choice to hold the public hearing virtually, saying that whether it was in-person or not, “[the commission is] still entertaining public comment.” The meeting on March 12 was held in-person in the council chambers, but the public was not allowed to speak.