It is not a Ferris Wheel or a Bike Path on Main Street, but the currently proposed City Dock Plan may prove to be a greater folly, potentially foreclosing for a generation the City’s opportunity to improve the life of its residents and address pressing needs for infrastructure updates, crime prevention, park and other City improvements and citizen security for housing.
The City Dock Plan started out optimistically to combat downtown flooding and improve the city dock area, but the plan is now forecasted to cost over $91 million, and that number will probably rise. Despite claiming to have had over 90 meetings over the last six years, most of which allowed no public testimony, City officials have deflected key facts, including information on where exactly the money is coming from to pay for the entire plan and what other City needs -planned or urgent -will be deferred to accomplish this project. How has this critical initiative to address resiliency-the essence of preservation in a historic city-failed to clearly identify a coherent and doable plan to serve genuine public need?
Common sense input is being rejected for one thing. One example is the push for the Maritime Welcome Center (MWC) to include a kayak/paddle board launch to promote “water access” even though the Harbor Master and the Maritime Commission have recommended against this amenity at this location for safety reasons. There are many incongruencies of this nature in the City Dock Plan. There are many statements from City officials and consultants that “resiliency is the top priority” but also confusing statements that the park and its amenities would be built first in 2025. It is a guess when resiliency action will occur.
Worse than the questioned adequacy and unexplained delay of the resiliency plan, City officials and consultants are selling an oversized building at the water’s edge that looks like a fancy private yacht club, including an exclusive boater’s lounge for those who can afford to visit Annapolis in their boats. The unnecessary Maritime Welcome Center is politically linked to urgent resiliency needs so it could be approved “fast.” Mayor Buckley claims that he wants to deliver “spa quality” bathrooms but the building will have a subterranean basement for the public restrooms that needs special safeguards from flooding because it is four feet below grade. Its underwater challenges will be a unique spa experience, no doubt. The plan has a conference center for City officials to entertain dignitaries, a very posh and royal objective for a colonial town.
The consultants working on the project candidly acknowledged at a recent HPC Work Session that the MWC has significant space with no designated purpose yet. Mayor Buckley says no worries, the City will put in an oyster bar and other commercial enterprises. In other words, there is no public need or purpose for this misconceived outsized building. It is just too big for any public need and in the wrong location. The City’s authority and judgment to use public funds to create commercial opportunities for unknown private parties is highly questionable.
The resiliency flood plan is supposed to cost $32 million paid for by a grant from FEMA that is not yet awarded and may not be available until 2025 or later and may have significant conditions. But seriously, why would FEMA give the City of Annapolis $32 million when its elected officials mock the very concept of resiliency by building below grade at the water’s edge in a treacherous flood-prone area. Just saying…it looks nice but really makes no sense on many levels.
The non-resiliency feature of the plan also includes the park, which is a good idea, but it’s proposed with a hodge-podge of amenities such as a band stand, corn hole, ping pong, nice chairs, two pergolas, and a “world class” water fountain to run and splash in, and a pocket park near the Choptank restaurant parking area. Yes, a nice park is much better than a parking lot and no doubt doable at a sensible cost. What does this all cost and then what is the cost for the yearly maintenance for all these extra amenities? No one seems to know. Incredibly, for all the project expense, unsightly utility wires in this area will not be buried. So much for once in a generation change.
And, we cannot rely on the public commissions to do their job of asking hard questions and bringing common sense independence to their review. Several experienced members of the Historic Preservation Commission (HPC) have been inexplicably replaced by the Mayor with less experienced members at the exact time such talent and expertise is critically needed. According to a media report, the Mayor appointed these less experienced individuals so the plan could move “fast.”
As the City re-imagines part of the City Dock for staggering sums of money, recent crime data identified in a New York Times article sadly shows that Annapolis is rated high for homicide gun violence in contrast to other nearby towns and cities. If so much public money is sucked up for the City Dock Plan to cater to visitors what will be left to address more pressing City issues in the coming years for the residents that live here?
There are actual negative consequences when elected City officials take shortsighted action on big projects that impact future revenue and priorities. The City Dock Plan -if it goes forward as currently planned-will diminish and impoverish this City’s future in many predictable but avoidable ways. Just imagine what could be done for all of Annapolis and its residents if its elected leaders took a more sensible path.
A few architectural renderings may fool some, but common sense tells us that the City Dock Plan is on the wrong track and needs to be “re-imagined” for a more sensible scaled down plan that puts resiliency first and uses public funds in a more responsible way for necessary government functions. Until that happens, the City Council should withhold any public funding for the non-resiliency components and show leadership to get resiliency planning on track as a critical City-wide priority.
Katie McDermott, Annapolis resident.
