OCEAN CITY – A proverbial can of worms has been opened as businesses and residents continue to voice frustration with taxi cabs taking up public parking.
On June 23, Ocean City resident John Robins submitted to the Mayor and City Council a neighborhood concern over taxi cabs using parking spaces in the area of 65th Street
“Last August I wrote to you concerning the utilization of taxi companies of the public parking spaces on 65th St. and on 66th St., and the mayor was kind enough to meet with me and my wife concerning the issue. The Police Commission recently made a recommendation to limit to two hours the parking spaces by the taxis, but only on the westerly side of Coastal Hwy,” Robins stated. “When you address the issue, please consider the recommended two-hour time limitation for areas east of Coastal Highway also. As was the case last year, three of the spaces on 65th St. on the easterly side of Coastal Hwy. have been occupied by Ocean City Taxis for more than three weeks. The unintended consequences of failing to do so will be the ‘re-location’ of the taxis to the public parking spaces on the easterly side of the highway.”
Robins’ submission comes following the Police Commission’s vote last month to forward a recommendation to the full Mayor and Council to implement two-hour parking on 64th Street bayside to resolve the same issue in that area. The council later voted to approve the request.
The area of 64th Street has had ongoing concerns regarding parking as most of the spaces were taken by parked taxi cabs leaving no room for commerce parking in the area. Last summer Dead Freddies co-owner Steve Carullo presented the commission with his concerns, and last September, the commission reconvened to discuss the matter.
At that time, City Solicitor Guy Ayres stated the way to alleviate taxi cabs from using parking on city streets is to amend the taxi cab ordinance to require taxi cab companies with a large fleet to provide some type of on-premise parking.
Last month, Carullo returned to the commission with local Realtor Peck Miller suggesting the implementation of two-hour parking on 64th Street. The commission agreed to recommend to the full Mayor and Council to grant the request on a trial basis. However, Mayor Rick Meehan acknowledged two-hour parking on 64th Street would only push the taxis to park on other streets and it would not resolve the problem.
“The mayor hit it right on the nail last time that we need to fix the ordinance so they don’t park on the streets,” Commission Chair Councilman Doug Cymek said during this week’s Police Commission meeting.
Ocean City Police Lt. Scott Harner stated concerns are also arising from the area of 59th Street and the Bank of Ocean City where taxi cabs are now being found parking in that area.
This time around Ayres suggested amending the taxi ordinance to require taxi medallion applicants or renewals to provide evidence of having parking either by lease or property ownership, as well as amend the taxi ordinance to prohibit taxi cabs from parking on public property for a certain period of time.
“I do think it has become a problem, and I do think we should try to address it but unless we have something that is part of the franchise it is going to continue to be a problem,” Meehan said.
Cymek pointed out, as in the past, a concern may arise from cab drivers that they won’t be able to drive their cabs home at night and park on the street.
“They would be able to park on their own property, so they would be covered,” Ayres said. “I guess the question is: do they have the same right to park on the public street in front of their house as they would with their own vehicle? I think we could probably put something in the ordinance that covers that.”
The commission deliberated over the timeframe of moving forward with a formal recommendation to the full Mayor and Council to review and amend the taxi ordinance.
“We want to move forward as soon as possible, if in fact this is what the council decides to do, so the franchisees have the opportunity to comply,” the mayor said. “I don’t know how long the whole overview of the ordinance is going to take.”
Cymek concluded further discussion on commission level will be scheduled for September to give Harner and Ayres the time to work together and with other partners in coming up with a recommendation prior to going before the full council.