OCEAN CITY – The town is moving forward with the condemnation process on a piece of property that is key to a new two-lane public boat ramp on 64th Street, while city officials instructed staff this week to create a single-lane design to get permits underway in the meantime.
At the conclusion of Monday evening’s Mayor and City Council meeting, Councilman Dennis Dare asked the council to consider having the proposed two-lane public boat ramp reduced to a one-lane boat ramp in order to have the permit process get underway until the condemnation process to acquire the adjacent piece for the second lane is completed.
The town has come to a stalemate with property owners Robert Kirchiro and Matin Maghsouzadeh over land needed to construct the new public boat ramp that has been slated to begin for the past two years.
In 2012, the Mayor and City Council voted to construct a new boat ramp and trailer parking facility at 64th Street that would consist of a two-lane boat ramp, channel dredging for ramp access, trailer parking and a small comfort station. The location was chosen because it is surrounded by commercial or governmental uses and located close to the center of Ocean City.
It was brought forward to relieve congestion at the current city-operated, single-lane public boat ramp in the residential neighborhood of Little Salisbury as well as increase access to the coastal bays and the Atlantic Ocean. Little Salisbury residents have been disturbed by the ramp in their neighborhood and been dealing with associated headaches for years.
In the summer of 2013, it became apparent the purchase of additional property would be needed to fulfill the design of a two-lane boat ramp, due to the placement of a water tank and its utilities projecting into the site.
In June, the Mayor and City Council voted to approve an ordinance authorizing the Town of Ocean City to purchase, by private negotiation or by the institution of condemnation, certain real property between 64th and 65th streets needed for the construction and installation of the public boat launching facility.
“The folks in Little Salisbury have brought it to our attention many years ago and we have been working pretty diligently, especially over the last several years in acquiring the property, and then most recently in working with the property owner but time keeps slipping away,” Dare said this week. “The permitting process doesn’t start until we own the property. In this case, we can’t even submit the permits until we successfully reach an agreement with the property owner or the condemnation run its course.”
In an effort to get the permit process underway, Dare asked the council to consider a motion to have city staff develop an expandable single-lane boat ramp design to get moving on the paperwork.
“This would allow us to begin the design, and begin the permitting process because those things will take a period of time, and hopefully before it is completed we can modify the permit and design to incorporate a two-lane ramp,” Dare said.
City Manager David Recor said the matter will be placed on next week’s work session agenda to formally discuss and receive a vote.
According to City Solicitor Guy Ayres, the town will most likely file for condemnation next week. In Ayres’ experience, a condemnation process could take up to a year to complete.
“The town is moving forward with the condemnation proceeding at this point. They want to get the process moving and when we either settle on the condemnation or prevail on the condemnation we will modify the permit for a double ramp,” Ayres said on Wednesday.
The reasoning for moving the public boat ramp out of Little Salisbury is essentially due to the congestion it causes as the single-lane boat ramp becomes overwhelmed during peak times by demand.
“The ramp we are restricting or closing in Little Salisbury is a single-lane ramp and we have to replace it. I think everyone would prefer a two-lane ramp because that is clearly what the demand says we need, but the council’s feeling is to move forward because I can’t even apply for the permit, which will be a nine-month process, if I don’t own all the properties,” City Engineer Terry McGean said on Wednesday. “If we modify the design to include a narrow-single lane ramp that will not encroach on the adjacent property, then I can move forward with the permit, but the first thing I have to do is to get our design firm to draw that up.”