It’s the morning after a rainstorm in early December. Adam Genn is trying to decide if the puddles at the Inner Harbor amphitheater are from rain or flooding.

“I think it's a combination of both,” he speculates. “So standing here at the lower section of the Inner Harbor amphitheater, this area used to be where all the water taxis with dock right, so when I was a kid coming down here, the water was much lower, and there was actually enough space for a boat to dock here disembark folks, they now have to go over there by the Constellation to do that.”

It’s a small but tangible way sea level rise has changed the harbor. Genn is the vice-president of MCB Real Estate, the company embarking on the half-billion dollar Harborplace redevelopment project, so water is always on his mind.

It’s 10:30 AM, about 20 minutes before peak low tide.

“You can see we have about a foot and a half before we come up over top of this lower section of the promenade at high tide today, this will have water on top of it, it has water on top of it almost every high tide,” he says, gesturing to the promenade.

Researchers from the University of Maryland estimate that the mean high tides at the Inner Harbor could be nearly a foot and a half higher in 2050 than they were in 2000. That’s due to melting polar ice caps caused by rising global temperatures. Beyond that, depending on global greenhouse gas emissions, sea levels could rise another foot by 2100.

The new designs for Harborplace include two residential towers (for which the city council is already considering legislation to change its code ), an amphitheater dubbed ‘The Sail’, floating wetlands, and according to the company, there will also be more green space. The project is slated to cost around $500 million in private funds but rebuilding promenades and supporting public infrastructure will likely come at a cost of $400 million to the taxpayers.

Nuisance flooding, especially after rain storms, is already a problem. Storms are predicted to grow worse and more unpredictable as the climate changes. The harbor is also in a basin, meaning that heavy rain, high tides, rising waters and stormwater run-off from other parts of the city, both via the streets and pipes that empty into the harbor, all equal out to lots, and lots of water in one place.

So, what does that mean for Harborplace? And will future generations be able to experience it?

Well, for one, it needs to be built up higher. Besides the amphitheater, the harbor is built to be seven feet above Mean High Tide; MCB proposes to build it another three-feet higher to avoid regular flooding.

Additionally, the plans include building two promenades; one that actually floats on the water and a more traditional one built on the shore.

“Looking down towards the science center to the south, we would have the floating promenade typology, where you could walk down an ADA accessible ramp to the floating section of the pier that rests directly on the water and rises and falls with the tide,” explains Genn.

The floating promenade, made of wood as a nod to the wooden city Baltimore used to be before the Great Fire of 1904, is designed to flood during severe storm events and the highest monthly tides.

Everything built needs to be adaptable, says Bruna Attila, an environmental scientist and co-founder of B&D consulting in Baltimore.

“In case the projections that we have right now are not correct, or if sea level rises faster than expected, there's a way to increase the height of those structures without having to rebuild everything,” said Attila.

Attila, who formerly worked as the city floodplain manager, notes that Baltimore does have a more stringent floodplain code for buildings than is required by state or federal law.

In Baltimore, she said the code does account for some sea level rise “to try and make constructions in the floodplain a little more resilient against those climate change hazards that are hard to foresee.”

Alice Volpitta, is the waterkeeper of Bluewater Baltimore. She says there are two things that can especially make the area more resilient: better sewer infrastructure and impervious surfaces.

“It all comes back to our underground pipes. And we need to maintain those and create spongier greener cities around those drain inlets so that we can capture and treat stormwater before it ever even goes underground,” she said.

She acknowledges the importance of development in a vibrant city. But the health of the water and the people around it will be harmed if updates to sewer management aren’t included. She’s heard some critics of the project describe it as a “facelift”, a metaphor she agrees with if certain things aren’t done first.

“It made me think, Okay, well, a facelift might make you look good. But if your arteries are clogged or you have a broken bone, those are the things you can't see, but they still make you sick,” she said.

Part of the new plans do include park and greenspace with native plants that MCB hopes will fight flooding.

But, at the end of the day, all of the experts agreed that people love being at the water, sea-level rise or not.

“By nature humans enjoy being near water. And that's been the case throughout history. And I don't see I don't see that changing,” said Attila.

And Genn at MCB knows that despite the best-laid plans, the Harbor will still flood.

“Truthfully, we don't know what the future holds. And so the best that we can do is with the available information.” 

A third-party report from SCAPE Landscape Architecture, a climate resiliency firm, commissioned by the city on sea-level rise is expected to come any day.