Naval Academy begins Prince George Street flood-wall work as Annapolis advances City Dock project

Annapolis — Naval Support Activity Annapolis has awarded a contract for construction of a flood wall along Prince George Street and plans to begin mobilization this summer, officials said at an Annapolis City Council work session on July 17.

Zoe Johnson, a representative of Naval Support Activity Annapolis, told the council the contract is for about $2,600,000 and the work will likely begin “towards the end of the summer, early fall.” She said the wall is expected to be an 18-month effort once the contractor mobilizes and that the design was developed to integrate with the City Dock redevelopment.

The project matters because the Naval Academy’s Prince George Street flood wall is part of a chain of new and planned flood-protection measures for downtown Annapolis and is being coordinated in height and placement with the City Dock park, the maritime welcome center and a plan to elevate a historic structure called the Burdess House out of flood-prone areas.

Design and security details

Johnson and city staff described how the wall’s finished elevation and a separate security requirement relate to the park design: the wall was designed to be floodproof to roughly 9.7 feet (above a nautical datum referenced in the presentation) and includes an ornamental cap raising its visible height to about 9.92 feet. For security the Navy requires an 8-foot clearance above finished grade on the Academy side; Johnson said the wall was planned to meet both needs and to align with the elevated Prince George Street Park design.

"Any changes to our design could compromise the project or cost additional funds for redesign," Johnson said, adding that the wall was designed "to integrate in with the existing concept designs, of the CityDocs redevelopment." (Transcript punctuation and pauses retained from the meeting.)

City Dock schedule, phases and local impacts

City staff said construction on the City Dock project is already underway in places and described a phased schedule. Public works director Burr Vogel said phase 1 work is in progress and should wrap in spring 2027. He said work would pause for fall boat shows and that some early utility and staging work is planned for 2026 and 2027.

Contractor staging for the Naval Academy work will require a small number of parking spaces on Prince George Street at any one time. City and Navy presenters said they expect at no time to need more than five parking spaces simultaneously; how long each set of spaces will be out of service depends on the contractor’s lay-down schedule and progress.

Funding and contingency planning

City presenters described an overall funding plan for City Dock that the staff summarized as more than $86,000,000 from federal, state, county and city sources; city staff also said that figure does not include some anticipated private donations. The city is counting on a $33,000,000 FEMA grant that staff described as "in the final stages of approving" and likely, but not yet guaranteed.

Burr Vogel and other city staff said if the FEMA grant were not awarded the city could remove or reduce amenities (simpler electrical structures, fewer decorative elements, or a smaller stage or fountain) to reduce costs; however, they cautioned that producing an alternative concept and new cost estimate would require substantial time and money. Vogel said creating a new concept design at the scale required could cost “hundreds of thousands or close to a million dollars.”

Historic preservation, immediate stabilizing work and archaeology

Preservation Maryland is performing immediate stabilization work at the Burdess House (sometimes referred to in the discussion as the birdhouse) and plans to complete cribbing and first-floor shoring within two to four weeks; the organization will also remove debris on completion, staff said. City staff said they expect Maryland Historical Trust approval of the Burdess House details this month and Historic Preservation Commission approval in September.

City and consultant presenters also described environmental review and archaeological work tied to the FEMA grant. Staff said a draft environmental assessment and a programmatic agreement under the National Historic Preservation Act are out for public comment, and they expect a finding of no significant impact (FONSI) to be signed in early August. Under the programmatic agreement, a geophysical survey already done in spring will be followed by targeted archaeological excavation and on-site archaeological monitoring during construction where resources are identified.

What was asked at the meeting

Council members pressed staff on the length of construction, the schedule for the Navy’s mobilization (staff said the contractor would likely mobilize within the next 60 days), the potential loss of parking and how the city would scale back if grant funding failed. Staff said the City Dock garage revenues have outperformed early projections and continue to be an important revenue source for the project.

Next steps

City staff said they would circulate the presentation slides to council members and continue coordinating with the Naval Academy on design, parking outages and landscaping to maintain required security sightlines. Staff also said more detailed contractor schedules and updated funding numbers would follow as procurement and reimbursements progress.