March 19, 2024
Annapolis, US 35 F

Pilot Program For City Dock Views

Annapolis Mayor Joshua J. Cohen announces a partnership benefiting City businesses, residents, visitors and the Market House vendors by creating a pedestrian-friendly space for the public to spend time and enjoy the remarkable beauty of Annapolis’ City Dock.

On a trial basis and as a pilot project, a portion of Market Space will be used for outdoor tables and seating during the Boat Shows. The seating will be available to the public between October 5 and October 17 from 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. These hours will allow for normal business deliveries in the morning and the space will revert to parking in the evenings.

The nine parking spaces adjacent to Hopkins Plaza (approximately 80′ x 20′ area) will be used for additional seating for customers and pedestrians. Ten 4′ x 4′ square tables with four chairs each will be set up in this area. The tables will be delineated from the parking lot by large flower-filled planters provided by Homestead Gardens.

“The City is committed to trying new ideas to enhance the vitality of downtown,” Mayor Cohen said. “This is something simple that we can try out and evaluate without costing a lot of money.”

The City Dock Advisory Committee, appointed by Mayor Cohen in late 2010, recommended in its July 2011 Phase One report the visions and guiding principles for improvements to the City Dock area.

In concert with Phase Two, which is creation of a Master Plan, the committee recommended pursuing two initiatives:

  • The first is to partner with the Department of Public Works (DPW) on improvements to Market House, with the goal of ensuring that improvements being made to the Market House and adjacent area are in conformance with improvements being planned for the larger City Dock area.
  • The second initiative is to pursue a series of “cheap and experimental” projects to test ideas that could potentially be incorporated into the Master Plan.

This seating experiment is a component of both initiatives in that it is a low-cost, short term, experimental project that will provide feedback and direction as the redesign of Hopkins Plaza and Market Space gets underway.

This pilot project is supported by the City Dock Advisory Committee and by a partnership of the Market House vendors, the Market House management team and the City of Annapolis. The vendors received a Special Events Permit and Historic Preservation Office administrative approval.

Source: Annapolis City
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