The design phase begins a multi-year process for a two-phase project along City Dock to reduce and prevent nuisance flooding. This flooding, primarily due to rising sea levels, is what causes City Dock to sometimes feel partially underwater as water bubbles up through storm drains and overtakes parking along Dock Street and other downtown areas.
Annapolis has an average of about 39 nuisance flooding days a year, according to data between 2007 and 2013 collected by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
These floods can hurt businesses, some of which suffer lower customer counts or have to close their shops on flooding days.
"The mission is to stop the nuisance flooding," said David Jarrell, city public works director. "It should reduce almost all of the nuisance flooding."
The Department of Public Works has contracted with AECOM, a Los Angeles-based engineering company. It is tasked with designing multiple concepts that will then be shared with city groups, businesses and the public. That input will go into selecting and finalizing a design.
Officials estimated the total construction of the project will cost about $10 million. The $1 million for the design phase was awarded to Annapolis in Gov. Larry Hogan's budget last year after Mayor Michael Pantelides requested it.
The city has applied for a $3 million Federal Emergency Management Agency grant that would pay for a large chunk of the $10 million construction cost. The FEMA grant required data from local businesses about the losses that occur when flooding pushes away customers or closes doors.
Pantelides spoke of that grant request during his State of the City address on April 4.
"Recently, I walked door to door talking to each business along Dock Street to request data that is needed to submit a FEMA Grant that we applied for," he said during the speech. "The submission package amounted to 157 pages and included 16 appendices, in addition to a 40 slide PowerPoint presentation."
Officials also plan to ask the state for more money for the construction of the project, hoping a finalized design and a federal grant boost the state's confidence in investing in the city's plan.
Once funding is secured, construction will take place over two phases. The first of which aims to reduce flooding at the storm drains by implementing pumping stations and re-aligning the storm drains downtown, Jarrell said. About 98 percent of nuisance flooding is caused by high tide backing up the storm drains as the water doesn't have anywhere else to go, Jarrell said.
The scope and number of pump stations won't be decided until the project's design is completed.
The second phase will focus increasing the height of certain sections of City Dock and areas at risk of flooding from water going over the wall. The water along City Dock is rising and eventually high tides will cause water to spillover the top of the walls rather than rise up from storm drains.
"Whether it is man made or caused by nature, it has definitely happened," Jarrell said. "The high tides are much higher than they were were before."
Alderman Joe Budge, D-Ward 1, said the flood mitigation project was needed, but raised concerns that above ground structures and raising the elevation of certain sections of City Dock could change the character of portions of downtown.
It's also a project that is going to be disruptive for businesses and residents in the area, so it's important to take that into consideration when planning, he said.
"You've got to put something there, where you put it and how you build it, those are the questions," Budge said.
Alderman candidate Elly Tierney, Democratic candidate for Ward 1, said she also approved of the project.
Tierney is president of the Ward One Residents Association, a group that has been active downtown in discussing construction needs and improvements to City Dock.
"We need to take care of the infrastructure," she said. "This is the real deal."
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