OCEAN CITY — Following plea after plea from home builders and contractors Thursday morning, Ocean City Council tabled an ordinance that would have limited large construction dumpsters and required contractors’ trailers to be off city streets by 6 p.m. daily.
Council unanimously approved the tentative ordinance on first reading Dec. 5. It would have prevented dumpsters larger than 10-yard capacity from being on city streets at construction sites and required all trailers — not just those for contractors, but for other businesses and personal as well, to be removed from the city streets after hours every day.
Council members touted the change as a means to increase available parking by as much as 600 spaces with the new rule.
During public comment before the hearing on the proposed ordinance, some 16 different home builders and contractors stepped up to the podium asking council to table the ordinance and to work with them to come up with something better. Many said they believe they are getting a bad rap, that most are responsible and considerate of neighbors, and that banning large construction dumpsters is inefficient and would drive up home prices.
Council President Pete Madden noted after the meeting that the 24 speakers signed up for the first public comment session was the most they have had.
The bulk of public comment was reserved by builders and contractors who successfully argued to have council table the ordinance.
T. Gallagher of 75 Bay Road was critical of council, saying members were playing politics, pandering for votes and hiding behind the veil of parking issues.
The ordinance, he said, “is an attack on building and development. It’s politics.”
He called Ocean City a phenomenon with $13 billion in ratables, one of the lowest tax rates in the state, and incredible services from police to fire to schools, all driven by “smart development.”
Gallagher said there were other key parts that drive Ocean City’s success, including consistent leadership, core city staff “who are excellent at their jobs,” main stakeholders such as realtors, boardwalk and downtown merchants, hotel and motel owners, builders “and our best-in-state chamber of commerce” who tirelessly drive second-home buyers back to the city to shop, play and eat year round.
“If you don’t include a group of stakeholders in the process of changing an ordinance that will drastically impact them, it is irresponsible,” he said. The ordinance as written should be thrown out, Gallagher added. There are ways to make it better.
“Do not hide behind the veil of the never-ending story of parking issues. We live on a barrier island, the parking problems are maybe 50 out of the 365 calendar days,” he said. “Can we address parking to make it better? Yes. Is it a major problem that’s going to get fixed? Never.”
Gallagher said when people complain, the city should take time to educate them.
“For those of you who are vote pandering, we see it,” he said.
He also asked council to engage with the builders to write the ordinance properly.
Douglas Miller pointed out the extra cost to contractors of using 10-yard dumpsters instead of 30-yard dumpsters, how that would greatly increase truck traffic in the city and waste fuel and cause pollution, requiring three times the number of trips to the landfill in Woodbine. “There are hidden consequences to the ordinance,” he said.
Albert Juliano said simply to table the ordinance and think it through.
Ryan Price, who owns a construction company and is a member of the city’s Zoning Board, said all of the redevelopment that has taken place in the city has cast a black cloud over the entire industry, but the negative connotations were spurred mostly by irresponsible developers and contractors.
Price said he agreed some of them have to clean up their act but believes the ordinance punishes both the good and the bad and would negatively affect the entire industry.
“Don’t punish all of us for the actions of some,” he said.
Price asked the council not to “cripple” one of the most important industries in the city.
“Let’s work together to find a way to force the industry to clean up the job sites, get more dumpsters off the streets, eliminate unnecessary trailers and construction vehicles, but at the same time not create overbearing laws,” he said.
Scott Georgetti of Georgetti Construction asked the council to table the measure until they do more research because it would have a negative impact on residents and contractors.
Scott Halliday of Halliday-Leonard builders said at a time when there are spiraling construction costs, the end result of the ordinance would be greater expense for home-buyers and renovators.
“Do you really want to do that to the Ocean City taxpayers?” He asked the measure be tabled and for council to meet with the builders community.
Kim Styer of Coastal Marine said she has a 50×24-foot barge servicing bulkheads, a vital industry for the community. One of the main areas in the ordinance she called short-sighted was limiting the size of the dumpsters.
“Am I actually supposed to tear out 80 feet of bulkhead” and put it in 10-yard containers at a street end?” It would take her a few days to remove the debris, in contrast to the four or five hours it takes with a 30-yard dumpster, she said.
“It would be in and out, in and out, in and out, it’s going to be traffic, it’s going to be congestion. It’s gonna be a nightmare. It’s ridiculous. This is going to be more trouble than it’s worth.”
She urged council to sit down with builders and let them share their opinions.
“We need to do this as a group,” Styer said.
Michael Duncan of Duncan Homes and Chris Derrickson of Surfside Construction likewise urged council to table the measure because it would create problems and to understand the impact and consequences.
Clark Hindelang said as one of the youngest builders in the community, he takes great pride in development and recommends to all subcontractors and employees to do things such as cover dumpsters and move trailers.
“We already do a great job,” he said. “The new ordinance will create a bigger mess.”
He pointed to rising costs of materials already affecting the industry that would be passed on to future owners and taxpayers.
Dean Adams, a builder and Planning Board member, said the ordinance is flawed and needs more vetting because of the “unintended consequences” it would have.
Michael Keuny of Star Home Builders said he didn’t believe there would be enough 10-yard dumpsters available for the work and that some debris won’t fit. He said the trailers contain the necessary tools for contractors to do their job and that moving it daily is inefficient. He added that most builders want to be neighborly.
Mike Smith, who said he owns a small construction company, uses one pickup and one trailer and he parks on the street to maintain a clean, safe job site. He noted many homes, especially those on the waterfront, have limited access and large projects require a significant amount of tools and produce a lot of trash. He questioned where he would store his trailer and his supplies.
Former councilman Tony Wilson, of Wilson Plumbing, said he has already seen a difference of construction sites since the discussion began. He suggested council and the administration have a workshop on the ordinance and he could act as a liaison. He said the ordinance is a knee-jerk reaction to a problem that can be corrected.
Only one citizen, Frank Faverzani, spoke in favor of the ordinance. Prefacing his comments that the construction industry is one of the lifebloods of the town, providing jobs and revenue for the city, he said most contractors are respectful of neighbors but some are not and the ordinance would help with them and provide some peace of mind to residents.
Another resident, Jacob Gutenkunst, had a different qualm with the ordinance regarding boat trailers, noting one boat owner on his street basically flouted the past rules that limited boats and trailers on the street to a maximum of three days by simply moving it to another location. He asked the ordinance be strengthened to ensure that couldn’t happen.
Council voted 7-0 to table the ordinance.
– STORY and PHOTOS by DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff