Annapolis Mayor Gavin Buckley leaves office next year. Here’s what’s left on his agenda.

With just over 1 1/2 years left in his second term in office, Annapolis Mayor Gavin Buckley is hoping to see through major projects begun in 2017, including the City Dock redevelopment, expanding the city’s bike accessibility and the acquisition of an electric ferry.

“The first term was about selling the dream and bringing people on board and building the relationship you need to get these things done,” Buckley said.  “I think this second term was about executing on what we said [and] delivering on those promises, and I feel we’re going to deliver on all the things that we’ve said.”

Some of Buckley’s projects already have come to fruition. In 2022, the city acquired Elktonia Beach with plans to turn it into a public park. A year later, as part of a preservation effort, the city purchased a cottage for $1.6 million that once belonged to Parlett L. Moore, an educator and former president of Coppin State University. Last year, the new Public Works building was named after former Public Works Director David Jarrell. Last June, the city opened the newly renovated Noah Hillman Garage. the City Dock project.”]

The West-East Express and the electric ferry also have received funding, but there are no set completion dates for the projects. Eric Leshinsky, chief comprehensive planner for the city, said construction on the Express would not start until later this year.

The landings for the electric ferry, which Buckley has been championing since his re-eelection in 2021, are still in the planning stages, and the city received a $2.9 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation for the ferry that will run between Annapolis City Dock and Fifth Street in Eastport.

Progress on the electric ferry is still in it’s preliminary stages, according to city officials.

City Dock redevelopment

Buckley identified the City Dock revitalization project as one that would define his legacy as mayor. Planning for the project began in 2019. Designs include a park, a flood resiliency gate system and a new maritime welcome center.

In March, the Annapolis Historic Preservation Commission approved the site plan for the City Dock Park and flood resiliency system, which are expected to cost a combined $71 million. The Maritime Welcome Center is estimated at $7 million.

The city also will be spending about $14 million to extend a raised bulkhead past the Choptank restaurant to 100 Compromise Street. The three projects are expected to cost $92 million with construction starting in November following the two boat shows in October.

John Hammond, a former county budget officer and Annapolis alderman, said it is important to keep the City Dock project moving. He still has reservations about the scale of what he described as commercial aspects, pointing to the Maritime Welcome Center’s proposed oyster bar as an example.

Hammond suggested that those parts can be handled by the private sector.

“Clearly we need a place for the harbormaster and place where visitors get their information,” Hammond said. “Why does the city feel the need to provide facilities for events and commercial activity when the private sector is perfectly capable of handling it?”

Another unanswered question is if the city will receive the $32 million Federal Emergency Management Agency grant it applied for last year to combat climate change.

“The people that are confused on the funding or confused on the plan, I believe are just using that as an excuse to sort of try to sow doubt in the project,” Buckley said. “This has been a very inclusive, thought-out process that has taken years.”

off on that money.”]

Buckley said that although the grant funds already have been allocated, construction on the City Dock cannot happen until FEMA signs off on the money. In the meantime, the city can shift their focus on other aspects of the approved portions of the project such the Compromise Street side and the green space, he said.

Reducing car usage

Broadly speaking, Annapolis is looking to create ways to encourage people to get out of their cars. In November, Buckley, along with City Council members Karma O’Neill of Ward 2, Brooks Schandelmeier of Ward 5, DaJuan Gay of Ward 6 and Rob Savidge of Ward 7 – all Democrats – took a trip to the Netherlands to learn about resilience infrastructure, flood defenses and alternative transportation methods that country already has developed.

One of the main takeaways from the trip was the emphasis on biking and other forms of micro transit. Following the trip, Gay has said that city needs to invest “priority and dollars” in the city’s bus transit system.

“It’s not realistic because this is not the Netherlands,” Gay said at a March meeting. “If the goal is to make transit more equitable and provide more opportunities for people to get out of their cars but still get to the things they need to get to, I don’t think it should be creating bike paths across the town. We need a legitimate bus system that people can count on [to arrive every 15 minutes].”

At the beginning of April, Buckley proposed a $187.9 million budget. In it, $4 million is requested for Connecting Communities, which seeks “to create a more cohesive on-street and off-street trail system,” according to the project’s description.

“We think the best thing that you can do for the planet, the best thing you can do to meet your climate goals is to encourage people to get out of their cars, walk, bike, get an electric bike, get on a bus, get on an electric ferry, move around the community in any other way other than driving your own single use vehicle,” said Buckley, an avid cyclist. “[W]e don’t expect them to do that until we build the infrastructure for them.”