Date:
Source: , Robert C. Clark and Gavin Buckley
Historic Annapolis and the City of Annapolis invite you to join us from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Monday, at the Pip Moyer Recreation Center for a community-wide discussion about the future of City Dock.
Our desire for this effort is to create an implementation strategy for the crown jewel of the historic district, namely to reinvigorate City Dock as an authentic, historic place that is water accessible, pedestrian and family friendly, greener and more resilient.
We want to hear from you how we can make this community asset more enjoyable for all of Annapolis. We welcome you to be a part of the growing effort to make positive change at City Dock.
As you may know, the January Urban Land Institute Report on City Dock emphasized livability for adjacent residents, thriving local businesses and an inviting public green space where all Annapolitans can connect to the water.
Historic Annapolis and the City of Annapolis partnered to ensure that this vision becomes a reality. The volunteer City Dock Action Committee, and their nine working groups, which includes 90 of your neighbors, community leaders and subject experts, was created to implement solutions to the long-standing challenges that have kept City Dock from becoming the true center of our community.
We are fortunate to have a wealth of expertise in our City, and we are drawing heavily upon this talent to help lead this charge. We know that in order to be successful, our approach to improving City Dock must be holistic, interdisciplinary, and action-oriented.
Challenges the committee is working together to solve, include attracting people to use City Dock, making the downtown more resilient, ensuring that people have a relationship to the water, plus reducing the impact of the frequent flooding events, and bringing activities that the whole family can enjoy.
The goal is to ensure the character and scale of our historic district is protected while we make City Dock more vibrant, resilient, and sustainable.
Starting in late March, the City Dock Action Committee and its working groups have been reaching out to the community to identify the incredible opportunities that exist to create a special place everyone can enjoy and to address unanticipated issues that may arise.
Members of the committee have held a work session with the Ward One Residents Association, surveyed locals and visitors alike, met with downtown businesses and are scheduling upcoming meetings with community groups throughout the city.
The committee and its working groups will be identifying specific actions with a clear implementation strategy, planned for this fall, that will enable the city to move forward. The implementation plan must be inclusive, must embrace our cultural heritage, and must make City Dock a focal point that we can enjoy for years to come.
To ensure that the implementation strategy incorporates the many voices of Annapolis, we need to hear from you.
The community meeting will be facilitated by Eileen Fogarty, recognized nationally for her planning work in historic waterfront cities, and Bryce Turner, a nationally acclaimed architect who specializes in creating “livable places.”
At the meeting, you will be invited to participate in group discussions about issues that are of particular interest to you. We also invite you to take a look at our websites (annapolis.org/other/protect-city-dock and annapolis.gov/citydock) and our Facebook page (Annapolis City Dock Redevelopment Outreach).
This time of year we celebrate many of the wonderful things that define the downtown experience, such as the May Day basket competition and the William Paca Garden Mother’s Day Plant Sale. Great things are happening in the historic district, and we have our residents, local businesses and community leaders to thank for that.
This is your opportunity to join them by sharing your ideas to make the City Dock experience even more meaningful. Working together, we are confident that City Dock will become the ‘Gateway to the Bay’ and serve as the heart of our civic and cultural life.
Join us this Monday evening for an exciting opportunity to shape our City’s future!