OCEAN CITY — Two major renovations were approved this week by the Ocean City Planning and Zoning Commission, one for the Burger King located on 32nd Street and the other for Fresco’s restaurant on 82nd Street.
In addition to the site plan approvals, the commission also received a brief update on the ongoing evolution of the city’s Comprehensive Plan.
The first site plan application was from Burger King and represented the “re-development” of its 4,097-square-foot restaurant at 33rd Street.
“Essentially what their proposal is to raze the existing Burger King from the property and then re-do the site in similar fashion to this footprint that they have now,” said Blaine Smith, zoning administrator. “This would be done in an effort to upgrade the Burger King and also to include the Philly Pretzel portion and the gelato ice cream or food product that’s in conjunction with their new business theme.”
Both of the food additions, the pretzels and the gelato, would “look somewhat independent,” according to Smith, but would all be encapsulated within the same building. While Burger King has been experimenting with adding similar services to some of their locations, such as in Salisbury, this will be the first in the area to have all of the food options under one roof.
The re-development means that when the site is overhauled it will be upgraded to fall in line with all of the city’s current stormwater management. Despite the added use, the traffic pattern for the building is not expected to change and the renovations will not impact the nearby bus shelter.
“Our transportation people were very concerned that we keep the bus stop/shelter in the same location and they were willing … to keep it exactly where it is now. And that’s a good feature for the people that come by bus,” said Smith.
The site plan saw unanimous approval from the commission.
The second plan reviewed was submitted by Fresco’s on 82nd Street. It includes a significant expansion with a dining addition to the interior of 1,140 square feet, exterior dining area on the deck and porch of 1,492 square feet and an outdoor beach dining area of 3,874 square feet.
The scope of the change raised a few eyebrows. Commissioner Lauran Taylor questioned if the space would have enough parking now or enough bathroom facilities after the additions. Ocean City zoning codes don’t have the same parking requirements for indoor versus outdoor seating, and Taylor wasn’t sure if parking in this situation would be enough.
“When we changed [the code] to allow outdoor dining, it was never supposed to be this much of a variance,” she said.
“I know we’ve differed over the philosophy of it but code-wise this is compliant,” Smith replied.
In fact, according to the parking formula, there is actually a slight surplus of parking for the location. The expansion has also been reviewed by the Fire Marshal’s Office and found satisfactory, Smith continued. The number of restrooms, another concern brought up by Taylor, also falls in line with the plumbing code.
“Per regulations it’s compliant,” Smith said of the site plan.
Taylor didn’t press the point. She did, however, ask whether the location will remain as Fresco’s or if it will be changing over to something different as a property transfer is reportedly planned in the future.
“But our understanding is that this won’t be Fresco’s when this is implemented, it’ll be something else,” she said.
The future of the restaurant at its current location was neither confirmed nor denied during the meeting. However, Peck Miller, a commissioner who stepped back from this particular site plan as he was also a representative of Fresco’s, told the group that options are being kept open as of right now.
The commission, with Miller abstaining, voted to approve the expansion.
Following the two site plan approvals, Matt Margotta, director of planning and community development, brought the commission up to speed on how the city is looking at revising its comprehensive plan. It’s an ongoing process that still has many steps to go, but Margotta told the commission that he at least wanted to bring the body into the loop early on so that members can be brainstorming their questions and concerns as the effort advances.
Staff has been performing research for the plan for some time and is looking at a lot of areas where the commission might want to review, including historic districts, said Margotta. But one thing that needs to be kept in mind is that any changes to the plan are not likely to be drastic.
“Right now I’m not envisioning major overhauls … there’s no need to re-invent Ocean City completely,” Margotta said. “We’re not going to chop it in half where one side is gated and the other is open to everybody. There’s not going to be a huge, fundamental shift to what we do.”
It’s possible that the town could have a plan done by the end of the year, he added, but that would not likely be ideal as it could come off as rushed. Margotta promised to return with updates in the future.