ECA Town Hall Held June 18 on Annapolis Comprehensive Plan

At ECA’s Town Hall session June 18, Alderman Ross Arnett presented key details of the Annapolis Ahead Comprehensive Plan 2040. Eric Leshinsky, Chief of Comprehensive Planning, was on hand to help field questions. (The City Council approved the plan soon after, on July 8.)

The plan, a land-use document required by the state, must be updated every 10 years, but the current draft was delayed by the COVID epidemic, Ross explained. During four years of work, the plan grew to 474 pages plus appendices. Key recommendations from Ward 8 and ECA were incorporated, such as listing action plans for each topic and including public water access, bike and pedestrian connectivity, environmental sustainability, public housing revitalization, and small business development. Once approved, the plan is advisory, but provides guidance for next steps.

Ross’s presentation focused mainly on land use, housing, growth, and adequate public facilities (police, fire and emergency services, transportation, and public works such as utilities, stormwater, and shoreline restoration). The 70+ attendees raised good questions about:

• Ensuring that an infrastructure budget is in place ahead of growth
• How to address current traffic and parking problems
• The challenges of redevelopment, given that the city’s built environment was developed decades, and even centuries ago
• The proposed change to form-based zoning, which requires structures to be consistent in form with others in the same neighborhood instead of designating land areas as residential or commercial
• Whether growth outside of Ward 8 will adversely impact Eastport’s “small town” feel
• Sufficiency of transportation plans

Among areas of the plan that Ross did not have time to cover, but which he believes Ward 8 will see favorably, involve arts and culture, historic preservation, environment, and water resources. It’s a good plan overall, he noted, and deals with important issues, such as how to provide adequate housing for middle-income workers, such as teachers and police, who are priced out of the current market in Annapolis.

You can review the plan here (2040-Comprehensive-Plan). Download the slides presented at the meeting here.