Summary of
Annapolis Maritime Museum Proposal

by Mike Miron

On Monday, December 11, 2000, The Board of Directors of the Annapolis Maritime Museum requested the Annapolis City Council to pass a resolution in support of a state bond bill in the amount of $750,000. The bond bill will fund a capital project renovation of the McNasby building located at 723 Second Street in Eastport.

Delegate Mike Busch and Senator John Astle will introduce the legislation and lobby for its support and funding in the upcoming General Assembly if the community and the city council support the initiative.

The goal of this initiative is threefold:

• To provide the city a long-term solution to the under-utilized building as a seafood processing plant that the city once envisioned when it purchased the property in 1989; and
• To develop an adaptive reuse of the site as a city-based maritime museum that will ensure the continued protection and preservation of the maritime heritage of our city; and
• To develop a plan to place the 90-year old McNasby Oyster Co. building on the National Register of Historic Places

On Tuesday, December 11th the plan was presented to members of the congregation of Mt. Zion Church - Eastport residents that will be most affected by the expansion of the museum. They supported it unanimously. On Thursday, December 14th the Eastport Civic Association general membership also unanimously supported the proposal.

Elements of the Plan

• The proposal is constituency-based
• The museum use would occupy approximately 7000-sq. ft. of the building
• The current seafood use would occupy approximately 2000-sq. ft. of the building
• The seafood use will remain open year round
• The seafood use will continue to pay rent to the city
• Both uses will pay their fair share of the building maintenance cost
• The building will be renovated in keeping with the historic and low-scale character of Eastport
• The open space areas surrounding the museum will be expanded and landscaped for public use
• The museum's permanent exhibits will have three major themes:
  • Annapolis Maritime History
  • African-American contributions to that history
  • The history of sailing and yachting in our area
• The museum will have a research library and a museum store
• A new "non-grandfathered" parking configuration plan increases the number of available parking spaces at the site and meets the city code requirements for the uses
• The new parking configuration solves a fire access problem currently at the site
• The new parking configuration plan creates a plaza-like atmosphere which will further enhance the street-end park
• A new pedestrian-friendly sidewalk will be installed on the Second Street perimeter of the building that links the waterfront to the interior open spaces
• An innovative transportation plan incorporates public transit, a shuttle system and water taxi service as a way for people, not cars to visit the museum

We believe this proposal is good for the community. It is the best alternative for any uses that may be developed at the site and will have the least impact on the neighborhood in the future.

Volunteers with the museum have demonstrated their ability to keep the sensitive historic maritime character of Eastport intact. We hope to further that mission by providing a model museum for the collected maritime history of the Annapolis area.

Click here to see the schematic. The complete 50-page proposed plan and architectural rendering is available for review upon request. Please contact Mike Miron at 410 268-2689.