By BILL BARLOW/Special to the Sentinel
OCEAN CITY – By all available measures, the summer of 2021 looks to be an exceptionally busy one, with many people eager to hit the beach after an exceedingly tough year and some overseas destinations unavailable due to continued restrictions related to the pandemic.
“Being in the hotel business and working for The Flanders Hotel, our reservations for 2021 are at an all-time, (extreme) high,” Councilwoman Karen Bergman said at the April 8 City Council meeting. Reservations are already up 20 percent compared to where there were at this point in 2019, she said. She said the first quarter has already been the best she’s ever seen.
“And with that being said, I didn’t have any events to back it up,” she said.
Her observations match other local businesspeople, who report a scramble for rooms and rentals and eager anticipation for the summer.
City talking with county about car lot
The city is speaking with the Cape May County Open Space Fund about the former car dealership property on 16th Street, Michael Allegretto, the aide to Mayor Jay Gillian, told City Council on April 8.
After trying to get hold of the long-vacant lot for years, city officials say they are now in possession of the block-long property adjacent to the Ocean City Community Center through eminent domain, although it remains for the courts to decide the fair market value to be paid to the property owners.
Last August, City Council introduced a $9 million bond to cover the cost of the property. An earlier bond ordinance to buy the lot was scuttled by a referendum petition.
“For the summer, the plan will be to clean up the lot and make it presentable, then look to hold a town-hall meeting in the fall to get feedback on how to use the property going forward,” he said.
Senior housing may be eliminated from boardwalk zone
On April 8, Ocean City Council introduced an ordinance amending the city’s zoning ordinance to eliminate senior housing as a conditional use in the boardwalk zone.
The proposal will need a review by the city’s Planning Board before a public hearing and final adoption can take place.
The ordinance does not refer to affordable housing, city attorney Dottie McCrosson told City Council, only to age-restricted housing.
City Councilman Keith Hartzell said that it is important to be careful when mixing residential use into commercial districts, arguing that a healthy retail area is important to the community.
“When you talk about residential on the boardwalk, I don’t want that to happen,” he said. “We have to protect our town; the culture of the town and the way it is.”
He said over the past year, proposals have come up for boardwalk development, but from the discussion at the council meeting, it did not appear to be in response to a specific proposal. According to Hartzell, the conditional use allowing senior housing could allow residential development in the zone otherwise set aside for retail.
City Councilman Jody Levchuk described the senior housing conditional use as nothing more than a loophole.
The vote was unanimous. A public hearing and final vote are planned for Thursday, May 13.
Spending increased on promotions
As the council liaison to the city’s Tourism Commission, Councilwoman Bergman reported that the organization increased spending on advertising for 2020 in response to the economic impact of the pandemic.
The commission discussed the possibility of increasing the amount requested from the city on tourism promotions. She said the city has also lost revenue over the past year, including in beach tag sales and parking revenue.
She reported that the commission dipped into its fund balance to advertise the Ocean City brand instead of spending on promotions for specific events. Many of those were canceled for 2020. She said tourism is the county’s top industry and took a hit from the pandemic.
At the start of the year, the commission planned to spend on television and digital media and elsewhere. The commission increased the amount it spent on promotions.
“We ran two commercials letting the public know that Ocean City was ready,” she said, and would be ready to welcome visitors back.
There was a total of $316,000 spent, she said.
Council amends parking rules
In a series of ordinances approved on April 8, City Council added nine new 15-minute parking spaces around town and amended several spaces reserved for handicapped drivers.
Reserved spaces for drivers with physical limitations were eliminated where the public safety department found they were no longer needed, and 10 more handicapped parking spaces were created around town.
New stormwater management rules
City Council introduced an ordinance governing stormwater management on future major developments.
A summary of the ordinance prepared for City Council states the change will require the use of “decentralized green infrastructure practices” and provide a more objective review process for projects.
The city is required to have stormwater management rules on the books, according to McCrosson.
“They were changed in March of 2021. This ordinance would replace the existing stormwater management rules with the new state rules and we’re mandated to adopt them,” McCrosson said. For the most part, they will not apply to Ocean City because they deal with major development. That would mean the disturbance of one or more acre of land.
“We just don’t see that, that frequently in Ocean City,” she said.
A public hearing and final vote are planned for Thursday, May 13.