OCEAN CITY – Mayor Jay Gillian said an outside firm will study six city-owned sites to see if any are feasible for a parking garage.
Parking during the busy summer season is often an issue, especially for those heading to the beach and boardwalk.
At Thursday evening’s Ocean City Council meeting, Gillian said he has worked with his city team to solicit a proposal for a nationally recognized parking firm to look at the sites. The objective, he said, is for a firm to evaluate the potential layout, construction and operating costs and revenues of a parking garage in the city.
He said he is doing that based on requests made by businesses and members of City Council. Jody Levchuk, the Second Ward councilman whose family owns businesses on the boardwalk, brought up the idea of a parking garage at an earlier council meeting.
Over the years, parking garages have been proposed in different locations throughout the city from near the boardwalk to close to downtown, but have never come to fruition.
Gillian said he plans to have more information at the next City Council meeting.
In his weekly message Friday, he wrote, “Until we get an idea of what it might cost, where it might be built, and what it might earn, it’s impossible to know if this should be a priority among our infrastructure needs. As always, we will gather the facts first.”