I hope you were able to get out and enjoy the St. Patrick’s Day parade yesterday.

To the seniors out there, we now have a special Golden pass parking program that you may be interested in, that seeks to make it easier for you to park downtown. More details are at the end of this message.

Our Monday meeting starts at 5:45PM with a closed session (i.e. public cannot attend) dealing with union contract negotiations, as well as something having to do with potential or existing lawsuits related to our City Dock project. The regular (open to the public) meeting will start at the normal time at 7pm. We have one item up for a public hearing: O-3-26 – “Annapolis harbor lines at Hawkins Cove”.  After this public hearing we will take a final vote on the short term rental moratorium (please see my full comments below under the legislation header)

Speaking of City Dock, you may have seen the big news that FEMA has finally released the $33M in promised grant funding for the City Dock resilience project. A big thank you to our State and Federal partners that have helped us get to this point.

Stay healthy and safe,

Rob

Next Council meeting – 3/9/26 (agenda)

This meeting starts at 7pm and will be televised on local cable, YouTube, Facebook, and the City website.  You can submit public testimony at http://www.annapolis.gov/testimony. This will be an in-person meeting.

Public Hearings

• O-3-26 - Annapolis Harbor Lines at Hawkins Cove. The purpose of this legislation is to change the City of Annapolis harbor line on Hawkins Cove to allow for the implementation of the Hawkins Cove Restoration project.

Legislation being introduced on first reader

• CA-1-2 - Updating Requirements for Publication of the Charter and Code of the City of Annapolis – This legislation would remove the requirement that the City has to keep and update a physical copy of the Charter and City Code in the law office, and generally modernizes our code. I support modernization, but I will be amending this to ensure we have some kind of physical copy of the code located at City Hall, perhaps updated on an annual basis. I don’t want to get into a situation where we are hacked or have some kind of technological challenges and can no longer access a copy of our actual laws. All that said, I am inclined to support this on First Reader.
• O-5-26 - Reallocation of Unexpended Bond Proceeds – Unless I’m mistaken, this was an effort to slightly adjust our scheduled bond funding in order to adapt in the scenario where we did not get the FEMA money. Since we did get that money, I believe this legislation will be removed from the agenda.
• R-5-26 - Designating Northwest Street as an Honorary Street in Memory of DeLorma “Dee” Goodwyn – My understanding is that there will be a motion to suspend the rules to adopt this in one evening since the family will be in attendance.
• R-6-26 - Authorizing Itinerant Merchant Sales Within the Annapolis Historic District for Approved Special Events During Calendar Year 2026.

Legislation up for Second Reader (i.e final vote)

• O-40-25 - Establishing a 12-Month Moratorium on New Short-Term Rental Licenses – This moratorium would only apply to non-owner occupied Short-Term Rentals (STRs). As I’ve indicated previously, I am not inclined to support this effort, as I feel we did considerable work on this issue only 6 months ago and need to give that time to work. Furthermore, proposing a moratorium is a drastic measure that is impactful to both businesses and property owners. Such a proposal also is built on a weak foundation of complaints about STRs that we have already addressed. For instance, many people testified about parking and noise impacts, or blocks that have over 10% density of STRs, when the fact of the matter is we have already passed legislation to address all of those issues by creating paths to achieve resolution. If such impacts are an issue they need to report them to the City. As of now we have received no official complaints about these issues related to STRs, per our code enforcement division. Plus, the 10% density issue was just addressed this past October, and that legislation will fully kick in with a lottery in about 20 months or so. Furthermore, such a moratorium imposes a policy outcome (i.e. banning non-owner occupied STRs) before the democratic process (i.e. the legislative process) even starts. In my opinion, if the sponsors want to propose a particular policy they should just draft the legislation and introduce it and not waste our time or the public’s time and impact property rights with an absolutely unnecessary moratorium. For example, if they want to ban non-owner occupied STRs, just propose it, and we’ll debate it and evaluate it during the legislative process. All that said, a number of us, including the Economic Matters Committee, have introduced amendments to make changes to this in an effort to find compromise. I hope my colleagues will embrace that effort instead of trying to force something through again in such a divisive manner. My amendments seek to simplify the proof of residency requirement for determining owner occupancy, to tone down the language of the moratorium so it doesn’t assume all STRs have negative impacts before the actual study takes place, makes it clear this would only apply to non-owner occupied STRs, and seeks to reduce the moratorium from 12-months to 6-months. If these amendments pass, in the spirit of compromise I will likely support this moratorium, pending input from you.
• O-1-26 - Property Tax - Child Care Centers, Family Child Care Homes, and Large Family Child Care Homes – The sponsor has an amendment to reduce the child care tax credit from $10,000 per business to $4,000. This will make it much more manageable for the City’s budget, and will hopefully still be enough to help some of these businesses. I intend to support both, pending any input from you.
• R-3-26 - Water Service Agreement with North Point Property LLC – This simply grants permission to a single residential structure (currently used for offices by Chesapeake Harbour) to connect to our water services subject to an appropriate fee. Pending input from you, I am inclined to support this legislation.

Community & Political updates

Annapolis Community Grant portal now open

Expanded downtown circulator shuttle to support City Dock businesses

Congresswoman Elfreth & CE Pittman Town Hall

Congresswoman Sarah Elfreth and County Executive Steuart Pittman will be hosting a townhall on Tuesday, March 10^th from 6:30pm-8:00pm at St. John’s College, St. John's College, 60 College Ave, Annapolis, MD  21401, in the Francis Scott Key Auditorium located in Mellon Hall.

Introducing Golden Pass Parking

I am excited to announce that our brand-new Golden Pass Parking program begins on Monday, March 9! For just $20 from March 9 to April 6, seniors 62+ can enjoy up to two hours of parking per day on Main Street, Maryland Avenue, and at the Mills Hillman Garage.

This program is designed to make downtown Annapolis more accessible and enjoyable for our senior residents. Simply register your vehicle(s) through the online portal and submit payment. Once approved, your tag will be eligible for the daily two-hour parking benefit throughout the program period. No need to input a code or swipe a card. Drive up, do your downtown shopping and dining, and drive away. Tag readers will know your vehicle is enrolled in the program!

If you want to sign up for the program, you apply here or call (410) 216-5620.

Tickets Now on Sale for the Annapolis Film Festival on March 26-29

The Annapolis Film Festival is almost here! This year, the annual festival will be held from Thursday, March 26 to Sunday, March 29. Screenings and events will be held at venues throughout Annapolis, including Maryland Hall, St. John’s College, Asbury United Methodist Church, and across the Historic Arts District, with additional festival experiences such as industry panels, filmmaker Q&As, Coffee Talks at RamsHead OnStage, student programs, and late-night parties.

Tickets are on sale now! You can pick up yours here.

Vacancies on the Human Relations Commission

The City of Annapolis Human Relations Commission has several open positions. This volunteer commission accepts complaints relating to discrimination and refers them to appropriate authorities, arranges for public hearings as needed, and proposes legislation with regard to human relations practices and conditions. More information and the link to apply can be found here.

The Human Relations Commission is only one of many Boards and Commissions in Annapolis. If you've ever wanted to get involved in your community, I encourage you to apply for one of our Boards and Commissions volunteer positions. These bodies give Annapolis residents like you the ability to give back to your community and help ensure that City government runs smoothly. A full list of our Boards and Commissions, and the link to apply for each, can be found here. Get involved and make your voice heard in government!

Sustainable Annapolis March newsletter

Our Sustainable Annapolis program has release their latest newsletter, which contains information about our free tree program, our stormwater support program for communities with stormwater BMPs, upcoming earth day events, an update on our climate action plan, and energy efficiency program.