Resilience in Annapolis — Creating a Cultural Resource Hazard Mitigation PlanBy Lisa Craig

“This historic Maryland seaport, with its distinctive colonial storefronts, beautiful and elegant State House, and large collection of 18th century brick homes, offers an unrivalled glimpse into the nation’s past. That is why we at the National Trust named Annapolis one of our National Treasures in 2014. It is a City with deep national and historic significance – and one that, due to the rising sea levels…is now under threat.” – Stephanie Meeks, President and CEO, National Trust for Historic Preservation; Foreword to Weather It Together: A Cultural Resource Hazard Mitigation Plan

Lisa Craig currently works as Director of Resilience with Michael Baker International, previously serving as Chief of Historic Preservation for the City of Annapolis. She is also a NAPC CAMP trainer

on community engagement and hazard mitigation planning for historic communities.

While recognition of Annapolis’ historic importance is welcome – including designation as a National Historic Landmark and a National Treasure – visitors uploading digital images of the beautiful City Dock with its symbolic domes and steeples, is preferable to photographs of tidal flood waters circling the feet of Alex Haley at the Kunta Kinte Memorial. Mr. Haley’s statue has become the high-water mark for flooding in the city – representing an increasingly urgent call to action.

In response, the City of Annapolis Historic Pres-ervation Division launched a landmark planning initiative, Weather It Together: Protect Our Historic Seaport (Weather It Together). This process took an unconventional approach, using as its primary guide the city’s natural hazard mitigation plan (HMP), instead of the city’s comprehensive plan or the State of Maryland’s preservation plan. Hazard mitigation planning as defined by the Federal Emer-gency Management Agency engages communities

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“to identify risks and vulnerabilities associated with natural disasters, and develop long-term strategies for protecting people and property from future hazard events.”i

Annapolis – A Capital City When Annapolis was platted in 1695, the high-est points were chosen for the State House and St. Anne’s Church. One of the first planned cities in colonial America, Annapolis was designed in the baroque style by Governor Francis Nicholson.ii From the public circle surrounding the State House and the smaller circle set aside for the Anglican church, a system of radial streets extended outward toward the harbor and the edges of the city.iii With few modifications, Annapolis developed in harmony with this original plan. Main Street, Maryland Avenue and the City Dock were

Kunta Kinte Memorial during tidal flooding at Annapolis City Dock.

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established as the economic heart of the city by the early 18th century.iv

Annapolis’ location as an historic colonial port and a major governmental and institutional center resulted in a city that today is the state capital, the commercial center for Anne Arundel County, the home of St. John’s College and the U.S. Naval Academy (USNA), and the regional boating center for the Chesapeake Bay.v

The Threat According to the National Oceanic and Atmo-spheric Administration (NOAA) National Climate Data Center database, from 1950–2011 Anne Arundel County experienced 60 flood events, 2 hurricanes, 3 tropical storms, 19 tornadoes, 41 thunderstorm and high wind events, 41 lightning events, and 56 hailstorms. Many of these events caused property damage, injuries, and deaths. Between 1957–1963, Annapolis saw 3.8 days

i Federal Emergency Management Agency, Local Mitigation Planning Handbook ii Jane Wilson McWilliams, Annapolis: City on the Severn (Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2011) p. 19iii Maryland National Register Properties, Colonial Annapolis Historic District, Inventory No: AA137

iv City of Annapolis Ward One Sector Plan, January 1993, p. 17. v City of Annapolis Ward One Sector Plan, January 1993, p. 17.

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on average of nuisance flooding (occasional minor coastal flooding experienced during high tide); between 2007–2013, Annapolis had on average 39.3 days of nuisance flooding. In a report by the Union of Concerned Scientists, Annapolis is forecast to experience daily tidal flooding by 2065.

The downtown flood risk area rapidly rises away from the shoreline toward the hills occupied by the State House and St. Anne’s Church; leaving a sometimes narrow coastal plain. This waterfront area incorporates the original harbor area as shown on early plans of the city, which has been modified over the years through fill and bulkhead construction. Many people living in Annapolis have vivid memo-ries of flooding in this area from Hurricane Isabel (2003), which rose to 6.4 feet. At 6.4 feet, 60 out of 140 properties with known elevations in the study area would flood. If an Isabel-equivalent storm surge happens in 2050 84% of the historic properties would flood.

Weather It Together: A Cultural Resource Hazard Mitigation Plan Hazard mitigation planning is a four-step process: 1) Organize the Planning Process and Resources; 2) Assess Risks; 3) Develop a Mitigation Strategy; and

4) Adopt and Implement the Plan. Each jurisdic-tion must have an HMP if it is to qualify for Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) post-disaster assistance. How cultural resources fit into this essential planning process is covered in another FEMA publication, Integrating Historic Property and Cultural Resource Considerations into Hazard Mitigation Planning: State and Local Mitigation Planning How-To Guide.vi Known as a Cultural

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vi Federal Emergency Management Agency, Integrating Historic property and Cultural Resource Considerations into Hazard Mitigation Planning: State and Local Mitigation Planning How-To Guide, FEMA 386-6 / May 2005

“By implementing Weather It Together:

A Cultural Resource Hazard Mitigation

Plan for the City of Annapolis, the

historic Chesapeake Bay community will

survive and thrive by building resilience

embracing sustainable development and

adapting to hazards and natural disasters

that threaten the Capital City’s cultural

and natural heritage.” – A vision statement for Annapolis from Weather It Together: A Cultural Resource

Hazard Mitigation Plan

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Resource Hazard Mitigation Plan (CRHMP), this planning process uses the same 4 steps, but consid-ers the special status of designated landmarks and how they may “complicate recovery efforts,” but more importantly how these historic places serve as assets and their protection creates multiple benefits for “citizens who love their communities and want to protect their historic and cultural assets.”vii

This FEMA guidance is specific to identifying the resources needed to incorporate historic property into hazard mitigation planning, determining which properties are at risk and prioritizing those most important to the community; evaluating hazard mitigation actions through benefit-cost analysis and other decision making tools; and developing and implementing a CRHMP. As FEMA states in its “how-to” guide,“ while there is no one right plan-ning process, there are several elements that are common to all successful planning endeavors, such

as engaging citizens, developing goals and objec-tives, and monitoring progress. Select the approach that works best in your community.”viii

Community Engagement Leads to Community ValueIt is critical to establish community value for historic properties and cultural resources. This requires a ranking process that corresponds to many variables (i.e. historic designation status, level of significance, degree of integrity, public sentiment and economic importance). Knowing the contributing or non-con-tributing status of historic resources in the community is a beginning. Planners and preservationists must engage the community to understand the “public sentiment” for historic places. “What may strike an outsider as an unimpressive artifact or piece of property may in fact be highly meaningful to the community.”ix

vii Ibid. pg. iii

viii Ibid.

ix Weather It Together: A Cultural Resource Hazard Mitigation Plan for Annapolis - Foreword .

Flood waters in historic downtown Annapolis.

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The strength of the Annapolis Weather It Together plan lies in this community-based approach to building a more resilient and sustainable historic downtown, one prepared for the near-term threats of tidal flooding and natural disasters, and for the longer-term inevitability of sea level rise. In working with stakeholder agencies, residents, business own-ers, property owners and the greater community, the Weather It Together initiative focused on those downtown historic places that mattered most to the larger community. The plan envisions protection of the natural heritage of the Chesapeake Bay, priori-tizes preservation of historic properties with signifi-cant community value, demonstrates the importance of partnerships with public agencies and private stakeholders to reduce the costs and impacts asso-ciated with flood protection and flooding hazards,

and promotes both short and long term strategies for flood protection.

Within the Weather It Together inventory are forty-five (45) properties with a “High Community Value Ranking.” This FEMA-required ranking was determined with professional evaluation and com-munity input through a series of online surveys, public meetings, workshops, and forums. The map shown identifies properties in the study area that were determined to be of high community value. As the map indicates, the consensus of these surveys was to rank the area around the head of the City Dock, the Market House and lower Main Street as the character defining visual heart of Annapolis. Included in this area are the views towards land-marks and views outside of the study area; the

High Risk / High Community Value Properties in Annapolis

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harbor, Severn River and Chesapeake Bay, East-port across Spa Creek, and the views and vistas of the Maryland State House on State Circle, St. Anne’s Church at the top of Main Street, the dome of the Naval Academy Chapel, and the chimneys and roofs of historic houses.

Sometimes referred to as the million dollar postcard view, the historic Annapolis cityscape draws 6.89 million annual visitors to Anne Arundel County and historic downtown Annapolis. Within this National Historic Landmark District, restaurants, retail shops, museums, the US Naval Academy, and recre-ational boating activities generated an estimated 1,458 jobs in downtown Annapolis. While the downtown represents only 10% of the city’s popula-tion, it generates close to 20% of the entire city’s assessed value and 31.4% of the city’s commercial base. The Annapolis Economic Development Office estimates that spending in the downtown area was at least $41.4 million in purchases. Much of that revenue is generated by the families and friends of midshipmen at the US Naval Academy (USNA) who come regularly to the city to visit their “mids” and enjoy all that Annapolis offers outside the Naval Academy gates.

Because of the close proximity of the Naval Acad-emy to the city, it was imperative that the USNA architect, facilities staff and faculty participate in the Weather It Together initiative. Early engage-ment of key USNA staff and faculty resulted in the significant contribution of data and science to the risk assessment process for the City of Annapolis. In return, the city’s historic preservation and public works heads were given seats on the USNA Sea Level Rise Advisory Council. This partnership was critical to the development of the Weather It To-gether plan as recognized by Vice-Admiral Walter E. “Ted” Carter, Jr., Superintendent of the US Naval Academy who stated in an October 2017 letter to then Mayor Mike Pantelides and the Annapolis City Council, “your planning efforts… have been impor-

tant to our own investigation. The partnership will continue…as the work on these issues evolve. The cultural landscape of our two National Landmarks are enduring and are worthy of the highest levels of concern and protection. Thank you for your unwav-ering support and leadership associated with sea level rise on the banks of the Severn.”

Establishing Goals & ObjectivesBeginning in November 2013, Weather It Together hosted nearly monthly Core Team stakeholder meet-ings, a town hall (250 people), a community forum (125 people), special lectures, and large public events such as the John Englander lecture and book signing at St. John’s College, which drew a crowd of more than 600. Members of the Weather It Together Planning Team have spoken at local and state government public meetings, civic and non-profit events, and state and national conferences, culminating with the second annual Keeping His-tory Above Water (KHAW) conference, co-hosted by the City of Annapolis and the Newport Restora-tion Foundation, which drew 280 attendees from 24 states and 3 nations to share case studies and best practices in the adaptation of historic coastal communities. Representatives from the Weather It Together stakeholder team continue to play a signifi-cant role in planning for future KHAW conferences.

Still, as the tides continue to rise there is work yet to do to engage and educate decision makers and community stakeholders in the hard choices and substantive actions that must be taken to protect culturally-rich and economically-vibrant historic seaports. Leading with solutions, the Weather It Together initiative is a proactive approach recom-mending forward-looking actions for implementa-tion by residents, property and business owners, agencies and elected officials to reduce or man-age flood rise, adapt to rising tides and flood waters, and protect and grow the city’s economic, environmental and social interests. To that end, the Weather It Together plan offers a vision to guide

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the next five years of adaptation strategies or goals with measurable objectives implemented through projects with specific actions.

The PlanWeather It Together adaptation measures are informed by a simple message - the necessity to act now. There is time to plan, to reduce risk, and to turn flood hazards into flood response and preven-tion opportunities for planners, preservationists, environmentalists, business owners, residents, and design and building industry professionals. Specific goals, objectives and actions for continued public awareness were crafted and prioritized using the FEMA promoted approach which includes an anal-ysis of the social, technical, administrative, policy, legal, economic and environmental consequences of proposed adaptation strategies.

The goals and objectives set for the city’s 5-year Weather it Together plan for reducing the impact of tidal flooding and sea level rise on historic Annapolis could be a model for other historic coast-al communities. The five key strategies include:1) Implement a public awareness and engagement program; 2) Lead building resilience efforts in flood adaptation and mitigation; 3) Develop a disaster response and recovery plan to build back better; 4) Align land use, economic development, environ-mental and regulatory activities to protect the city’s historic character and cultural and natural assets while promoting economic vitality; and 5) Fund public improvements and incentivize private invest-ment for flooding adaptation.

“Balancing the goals of flood safety and

the goals of historic preservation can be

very complicated. Our state’s historic

buildings form the heart of many com-

munities, and they often boost our econo-

mies – from small shops on Main Street

to unique sites that attract heritage tourism

dollars. But if preservationists are not part

of local planning and preparedness, we

will get left behind and risk losing the

special places that make our communities

“home.” Annapolis embraced this chal-

lenge head-on, and we, in turn, have

based our guidance to other communities

on the Annapolis model.”

– Elizabeth Hughes, Director, Maryland Historical Trust

For more information on the Weather It Together plan check out the Landmark at Risk: Protecting Our Historic Seaport storymap created in partnership with Michael Baker International at Annapolis.gov/WeatherItTogether.

For information: Amy Mercer, Program Administrator merceral@cofc.edu | go.cofc.edu/hpcp

843.953.3888

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