Making the MOST of Annapolis
On any given day in Annapolis, you can hear the shoes of state legislators slap across the old brick roads of West Street, bump into sailors and Navy plebes, and ogle at rows of beautiful boats in the harbor. Like any idyllic bay-side town, buildings are painted in shades of blue and grey that pay tribute to the neighboring Chesapeake Bay and it is hard to walk more than 20 feet without seeing some sort of tribute to the blue crab, a Marylander’s pride and joy. With centuries of history tied deeply to the Chesapeake, it is easy to see why this special and historic town is a must see for visitors from around the world.
Being a popular tourist location, the Annapolis Visitor Center receives heavy traffic. Rather than maneuvering some tricky parallel parking on the narrow roads or using a garage, visitors can instead conveniently park in the Visitor Center Parking Court. Unfortunately, the parking court was a stormwater nightmare that no one noticed at first. As any good Annapolitan knows, “All Drains Lead to the Bay”, and the impervious (non-absorbent) pavement used to build the parking court allowed for polluted rainwater to slide right into our Bay. Having what was essentially a pollution slip-n-slide just a few blocks from the Harbor seemed like a bad idea, which is why the Municipal Online Stormwater Training Center (MOST) worked with the Maryland Department of the Environment, and government leaders, to come up with a stormwater friendly plan.
Photo courtesy of Annapolis Landscape Architects
Following the educational guidance of MOST and using funding provided by the city of Annapolis, the pavement was replaced with permeable pavers – which allowed for rain to soak down into the ground and be filtered instead of directly carrying contaminants, like motor oil, to stormdrains. A center piece rain garden was also built, centering the oblong parking court like an egg yolk. The city also included recycled curbs, solar-powered meters, and bike racks to encourage ecofriendly transportation. In 2015, this project won “Best Ultra Urban Design” from the Stormwater Network – giving Annapolitans one more thing to be proud of.
A large part of this success is owed to MOST, as this group of environmentalists and educators pulled together both the funding and resources to make it happen. No environmentalist complains about having a local government interested in funding projects, but if no one understands exactly how to apply funding to the issue, in this case stormwater, no effective change can happen. Education is key, and MOST offers free online lessons, toolkits, success stories, and more for anyone interested in a better understanding of what they can do for their community’s polluted runoff issues. They even created a map showing a wide range of other stormwater projects around Maryland called Stormwater Success Stories. Environmental passion, proper education tools, and supportive funders created the perfect storm to combat stormwater runoff in Annapolis – and perhaps soon in a city near you.
Photo courtesy of Annapolis Landscape Architects
Mary Katherine Sullivan is an intern with Choose Clean Water