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Annapolis committee endorses using $500,000 from city-dock mitigation fees for watershed restoration grants
Summary
The Finance Committee gave a favorable recommendation for SA-2425 to allocate $500,000 from a fee-in-lieu reforestation account toward a watershed restoration grant program administered with Chesapeake Bay Trust; committee members discussed tree canopy goals and eligibility of for-profit contractors.
The Finance Committee on Jan. 22, 2025 gave a favorable recommendation for SA-2425, which directs $500,000 from a fee-in-lieu reforestation account—funds the city received as mitigation from the City Dock project—into the city’s existing watershed restoration grant program.
Mr. Adams, representing the Department of Public Works, said the City Dock project was required to mitigate impacts in the critical area but was unable to meet mitigation requirements onsite. The city received a fee-in-lieu of about $1.8 million; those funds were placed in the reforestation account and are intended for projects in the critical area. Adams said the critical area commission encouraged the city to partner with a local grant-making organization to get the money into local implementation projects rather than letting it sit unspent.
Adams described an existing five-year partnership between the Department of Public Works and the Chesapeake Bay Trust that runs a watershed restoration grant program focused on water-quality and stormwater projects. He said the SA-2425 proposal would dedicate $500,000 in the first year to implementation grants under that program; projects would be reviewed by Public Works and Planning and Zoning and would focus on outcomes such as reductions in sediment, nitrogen and phosphorus, plus climate resiliency work like impervious-surface conversion, plantings and living shoreline projects.
Committee members asked whether the grant program accepts applications from for-profit firms and whether grant awards ultimately fund local businesses. Adams said the current RFP emphasizes nonprofit or faith-based entities, but implementation commonly flows to local contractors; he said the city and county partnership and the county’s renewal of the program contract next year could be venues to expand eligibility to qualified for-profit restoration firms. Several members said they want some of the funds reserved explicitly for tree canopy and urban forestry initiatives, and Adams said he planned to conserve a portion of the $1.8 million for canopy projects while using the $500,000 as a start for the watershed grant awards.
Aldermen moved and seconded a motion for a favorable recommendation of SA-2425; the committee approved the recommendation by voice vote. Adams said the item will go to the full City Council on Jan. 27, 2025.
