The image of the Historic District Commission in Annapolis may be one of sweet, old ladies politely debating building codes while sipping tea, but it is a panel of tough, powerful negotiators capable of bending even the mayor and City Council to its will.
At no time has the commission's power been more evident than in the past few weeks. The five-member panel forced the city administration to scrap plans for a $5 million reconstruction project on Main Street and submit something more to the commission's taste.
The panel's victory on the Main Street project has some Annapolis residents wondering whether this unelected committee, which must approve all construction in the city's historic district, runs the whole town.
And, some City Council members say, increasingly the answer is yes.
"The administration should have held fast to its position, but it didn't," said Ward 5 Alderman Carl O. Snowden.
"Instead, the administration blinked. This is really a caving-in to the Historic District Commission."
Mr. Snowden and others argue that Annapolis is being held hostage by the narrow interests of a few historic district dwellers who rule according to what they'd like to see in their own neighborhood, not according to what's best for the town as a whole.
Commission members counter that their panel guards Annapolis from overzealous politicians looking for quick ways to cash in on the city's historic character. The commission may win, they say, but it wins for a reason.
"The city did a lot more compromising," said Donna M. Ware, commission chair. "But I think it's merited. I think the final plan is the best plan yet."
HDC members are appointed by the mayor for three-year terms. The only criterion for their nomination is that they show a &L; "demonstrated interest" in history and historic preservation. The law creating the commission requires only one member to be a professional historic preservationist.
Both sides in the Main Street debate agree that the street is aging and needs repairs.
The surface is riddled with potholes and gaps from the City Dock to Church Circle.
The original plan called for paving the street with new bricks and burying utility lines. But last spring, the city administration unveiled a much more ambitious proposal that included wider sidewalks and large pedestrian gathering areas at certain corners, a blueprint some city officials called more friendly to window shoppers and visitors.
The historic preservation board even liked the concept at first, but residents soon began complaining that wider walkways would invite sidewalk cafes and give the street a touristy feel. The commission ordered city planners to spruce up the street, but leave its style essentially unchanged.
Mayor Alfred A. Hopkins became frustrated with the commission and accused it of picking the plan apart, wasting time and costing the city money. He considered appointing additional members to the panel, a move criticized as an attempt to stack the commission in his favor.
But in the end, it was the mayor, not the preservationists, who made the big changes.
Now Mr. Hopkins says he's just glad something, anything, got approved. "Main Street is in dire need of reconstruction, and thank God the commission approved it," he said. "The ultimate concern of mine is that it get rebuilt. It isn't a question of whether you like it or not."
But he hasn't dropped his plans to re-examine the commission's power, either. He said the city should be able to appeal HDC decisions without going to court.
"It's time for everybody to look at the commission very closely and ask, is there too much power there?" he said. "The commission doesn't recommend, it tells the City Council and the people, 'This is what you will do.' This should be reviewed."
At least one alderman is so angry about the plan the commission approved, she wants to appeal the decision in court and delay the project a year.
"We would be better off taking time to go through the legal process and do it right," said Ward 7 Alderman M. Theresa DeGraff, a critic of the commission. "We want to have sidewalks that are proper and hold pedestrians and don't make people walk single file on Main Street."
And she questioned whether the commission members are qualified to wield so much power.
"I have no evidence these commission members are basing their decisions in historic fact," Ms. DeGraff said. "I think we're dealing with personal opinions here, and we have to find a way to combat that."
In the aftermath of the Main Street battle, preservationists say they feel threatened by the bitter feelings it generated.
"The city needs to keep its hands off the HDC," said Orlando Ridout V, an architectural historian with the Maryland Historical Trust. "Politicizing it will only rob it of its expertise. This commission must set precedents in its rulings. It cannot get buried in day-to-day political arguments."