The Annapolis Historic Preservation Commission approved the site plan for the Maritime Welcome Center, a building that will replace the harbormaster’s office, marking the last set of city approvals needed for the multimillion-dollar City Dock Revitalization project.

Thursday night’s unanimous vote by the four-member commission came during an hours-long meeting that featured a presentation from the developers, public testimony and deliberations. Annapolis and Anne Arundel officials, including County Executive Steuart Pittman, County Council member Lisa Rodvien — who represents District 6, where the project will be built — several City Council members, and Mayor Gavin Buckley — all Democrats — were present in a show of support.

Much of the center’s design remains the same, including its reduced size. The first floor will include space for Visit Annapolis and Anne Arundel County — a nonprofit tourist organization — educational areas, water access, a waterman’s co-op for selling goods and a lounge for boaters. The second floor will house the new harbormaster’s office, which currently sits in the parking lot of Dock Street, and a viewing deck open to the public that overlooks Ego Alley and the mouth of Spa Creek.

Demolition of the harbormaster’s office is part of the flood resilience and park project that cleared the approval process late last year. However, work on the first phase has been paused since January due to a lawsuit filed by an anonymous plaintiff challenging several of the historic preservation commission’s approvals.

“We are making a public space for the next generation,” Buckley told the commission.

Other features of the project include a park in front of the Capt. William Burtis House, which Buckley wants to name after Vincent Leggett, who died last year. Buckley introduced the idea of the park in early February as a way to honor Leggett’s efforts to preserve the stories of African Americans and the Chesapeake Bay through his nonprofit, Blacks of the Chesapeake.

The historic waterman’s home, which Bryce Turner, lead architect from BCT Design Group, said Thursday will be “activat[ed]” by attaching the $8.6 million center “…to provide services to Burtis that will certainly make it be occupied.”

There is no federal funding tied to the welcome center or park, Mitchelle Stephenson, spokesperson for the city, said in an email. Instead, the project will be funded by the city’s Capital Improvement Plan using money from the city and Anne Arundel County. Rodvien — who represents the city at the county level — requested $2 million for the freshly approved site plan in the county’s upcoming fiscal 2026 budget.

“The time for improvement is now. There will never be a plan that we all can agree on. Nothing, nothing is perfect. But we have to begin now,” said Kimberly Golder, an HPC commissioner.

It is unclear when construction will start. While the anonymous lawsuit challenging the flood resiliency part of the project will not have an effect on the project’s timeline, Stephenson said that things such as installing underground utilities and receiving an additional approval from the Maryland Historical Trust, an agency focused on preserving Maryland’s past, for the Burtis House must happen before a construction date is finalized.

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