$4.25 million contract to redo boardwalk’s north end approved
OCEAN CITY – Ocean City Council tabled a vote last week that would have moved forward with a request to the state for parking changes in the Second Ward sought by Councilman Keith Hartzell.
Hartzell has been seeking the changes in response to construction of large residences meant for transient rentals that exacerbate parking because they attract more vehicles than parking spots required for the properties.
City Solicitor Dorothy McCrosson said the Second Ward parking requirements were forwarded to the city’s Planning Board, which has a subcommittee for that type of proposal.
“We have a very complicated zoning ordinance and a complicated zoning map, particularly in the Second Ward,” she said. “Every different ward has a different color and that ward is the most colorful on our zoning map.”
She said the subcommittee came up with a report on the proposal. City Planner Randy Scheule explained Hartzell’s proposal involves Residential Site Improvement (RSI) standards that apply statewide. The standards include parking and supersede municipal zoning ordinances but contain opportunities for waivers.
Hartzell’s proposal to the RSI board was to increase the parking standards in the ward for residences that have four or more bedrooms and four or more bathrooms, Scheule said. RSI requires a maximum of two off-street parking spaces for a residence with up to four bedrooms and for a maximum of three spaces in residences with five or more bedrooms.
Ocean City’s request for a waiver is designed to address residences constructed as rentals through the transient online marketplace such as Airbnb that attract multiple vehicles because of unrelated parties renting in the same building.
Scheule said that is unlike typical single-family homes.
“It’s basically a building of bedrooms and bathrooms,” he said, without much common space.
He said the Second Ward is diverse in encompassing areas such as a hospitality zone and part of the city’s historic district. The subcommittee did a broad review of potential impacts, Scheule said, and decided the RSI may not provide enough parking for these larger residential rental units, which are more like “lodging houses” and might be considered commercial development, which is not under state RSI standards.
The subcommittee reports to the full Planning Board and City Council that it will look at state requirements for lodging houses and consider having them limited to the hospitality zone on the west side of Ocean Avenue between Ninth and 14th streets, he said.
The Planning Board voted 6-0 two days earlier in favor of the subcommittee’s lodging house concept which would allow the city to maintain control of parking requirements “while restricting the problematic transient rentals to an area” of the hospitality zone, which is designed to accommodate them, Scheule said.
On questioning by council, he noted the lodging house concept would be new in Ocean City and allowed in the same zone that allows for motels and hotels.
Fourth Ward Councilman Dave Winslow said he asked the resolution to be pulled after speaking with Hartzell. He agreed with the Second Ward councilman that parking in the ward is a problem, but that after attending the Planning Board meeting, there were concerns that the changes could be problematic.
Winslow said the change requested didn’t reflect the lodging house nature because it only referred to four bedrooms with no mention of the bathrooms and that could apply to larger single-family homes like his.
McCrosson agreed with Winslow that if the request wasn’t done quickly, it could make all the four-bedroom homes in the ward non-conforming.
“I think we need to send it back to the Planning Board with this revision,” he said.
Hartzell said he would change it to five bedrooms instead of four and find a way to describe the requirement for “a new home” rather than have it affect existing homes. However, he would want the RSI board to decide what was describe a new home.
“Right now if you build an eight-bedroom home you only need three parking spots,” Hartzell said. “There has to be a point where we say, ‘Wait a minute, we need more.’” He added he only wants to affect new construction in his ward.
Hartzell passed out a proposed revised ordinance to council.
Councilman Sean Barnes said he, like Winslow, was at the Planning Board meeting and “at some points it was as clear as mud what direction we should go.” He appreciated Hartzell’s proposed changes, but suggested waiting.
Hartzell said most of his neighbors want something done and no one disagreed with him. “All I’m asking for is an eight-block area. That’s it,” Hartzell said, noting he has waited a year for this. “Something needs to be done. When is enough enough?”
“Why not send it there (to the state) and find out if this works?”
Council Vice President Pete Madden recommended going back to the Planning Board.
Council President Terry Crowley Jr. asked McCrosson if council could put a 60-day limit on getting its recommendation back. She said council could, but Planning Board members are all volunteers and suggested a report back in 90 days. Hartzell said he could help the Planning Board to help get “every piece of information” the board desires.
“We’re not going back and sanding the fence and repainting the whole thing,” Councilman Jody Levchuk said by way of analogy. “We’re only touching it up.”
McCrosson said Hartzell’s offer for research and information would be well-received by the Planning Board, but they would need time to study the ramifications after consulting with builders and architects.
Scheule said the board already has a lot of information and 60 days would probably work out, giving them time to consult with builders and architects on how to fit more parking spaces on small lots.
Council voted 7-0 to table the resolution.
$4.25 million
boardwalk
rebuilding contract
Levchuk asked for the resolution to be pulled from the consent agenda for awarding a $4.25 million contract for reconstruction of Ocean City Boardwalk from St. Charles Place to Fifth Street. The contract was later approved 6-1 to the L. Feriozzi Concrete Co. of Atlantic City.
Levchuk said he’s in favor of the project, but was “not a fan” of some of the materials to be used. Levchuk asked if they could award the contract then make change to the materials used or if the materials in the contract were, no pun intended, “set in concrete.”
McCrosson said the bids went out based on the specifications and voting yes would be supporting the specifications as written.
Levchuk would not say what materials he objected to.
Although he asked to consider tabling it, he was encouraged to let it move forward. Council President Terry Crowley Jr. said they could consider a change order in the future after city Business Administrator George Savastano said the project was on a tight schedule to get completed around April 2026.
Council voted 6-1 in favor of the contract; Levchuk voted no.
– By DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff