Plan To Convert Part Of Commercial Business Into Seasonal Housing For Restaurant Employees Advances

OCEAN CITY — Resort planners this week somewhat reluctantly approved an unconventional proposal to convert an existing commercial space to seasonal housing for foreign students, but only after a lively debate about the shortage and condition of much of the existing seasonal living conditions.

The Planning and Zoning Commission on Tuesday had before it an innovative plan to address the seasonal housing issues for one local employer. The plan calls for converting about 50 percent of the space of the existing Homeworks building at 85th Street to seasonal employee housing for foreign student workers hired by the nearby Ropewalk restaurant.

The proposal is a partnership between Ropewalk and United Work and Travel, one of the major sponsors of foreign students on J-1 visas who live and work in Ocean City each summer. The project as proposed would have included 18 rooms at roughly 250 square feet, each housing four student workers for a total of 72. The converted space to the rear of the existing Homeworks building would include common areas like kitchen and dining areas, shared restrooms and bathroom facilities and an outside area where the students could congregate when not working.

It’s no secret there is a shortage of suitable summer workforce housing in Ocean City and it’s an issue resort officials have struggled with for years. At different times, there have been proposals floated to build dorms for seasonal workers, but land values and the cost of building a new structure have made the proposals not economically feasible.

The plan presented on Tuesday would serve the dual purpose of supplying seasonal housing for 72 foreign workers hired by Ropewalk while repurposing an existing underutilized commercial structure. Planning and Community Development Director Bill Neville said he was uncertain with the feasibility of the project when it was first presented, but had since come around to the possibility of making it work.

“I was skeptical at first,” he said. “After meeting with people and discussing it, this is meeting a real need by utilizing an existing structure in the best way possible instead of building a new structure.”

However, the planning commission had serious concern about the number of students and the number of rooms, including the size of the common areas.

“This is not acceptable,” said Planning Commission Chair Pam Buckley. “I am fully cognizant and aware of the fact we need this in town. I understand that. I just think putting four people in a 250-square foot space is too many.”

The plan calls for the residential rooms to be arranged around the common space areas with 18 rooms hosting 72 student workers, or four to a room. Buckley said with no windows planned for the living quarters, she had concerns about the quality of life and the safety for the students.

“There are no windows on the parking side and no plans to alter the façade,” she said. “So, there’s no way in or out of the rooms other than the front door. I’m frankly surprised it could be approved.”

United Work and Travel’s Jason D’Amore promised the planners his agency had worked closely with Ropewalk on the plans and would never consider placing students in living conditions deemed unsafe.

“We’re going to manage all of the rooms,” he said. “They are all going to be Ropewalk employees and Ropewalk and United Work and Travel will work together. We’re going to be looking after these students and their welfare. That’s our job. That’s what we do.”

However, Buckley was not entirely convinced despite the reassurances from D’Amore and the obvious need for suitable seasonal housing.

“The hardest thing to do is find suitable workforce housing,” she said. “I just can’t wrap my head around this. At 18 rooms and 72 kids, that’s four kids in a 250-square-foot space. I think we need a field trip before we can move on with this.”

Planning Commissioner Palmer Gillis said he appreciated the services United Work and Travel provide for the foreign student workers, but agreed there were still concerns about the project.

“I respect everything your family does for these kids, but I agree,” he said. “I’m also having a hard time wrapping my head around four kids in a 250-foot space.”

However, Planning Commissioner Peck Miller said the project as proposed could be a considerable upgrade over a lot of the existing employee housing in the resort.

“Having seen a lot of the employee housing out there, this might be an improvement over what they’re used to,” he said. “I know we need it. A lot of employees are living in deplorable conditions, but that’s a separate issue. This will be clean and safe with running water and a hot shower and nice common areas and a resident manager living on premise. I like the concept. Four people to a room might be 80 percent better than a lot of stuff out there.”

The proposal calls for 18 rooms totaling 72 residents including living quarters for two resident managers, similar to a college dorm arrangement. Planning Commissioner Chris Shanahan said the success of the proposal could hinge on the effectiveness of the resident managers.

“I’ve managed things like this and it can be a nightmare,” he said. “You have to have the right resident manager. The resident manager has to enforce things and can’t be buddy-buddy with the residents. I’m all for it because the town definitely needs this. We just went to the job fair for our business and one of the biggest issues we heard was a need for safe, clean employee housing.”

There was some sense of urgency for the project, with the calendar hitting late April and the foreign students expected to start arriving in June, Ropewalk owner Chris Reda said there was much work to be done to convert the space if the planners approved the project.

“We’re trying to expedite this and get it ready by June because that’s when the students are arriving,” he said. “We did the best we could with the building we have.”

Gillis said he appreciated the urgency, but was a little put off by the pressure to rush it through.

“There is a lot of pressure on us to approve this so they can be ready by June 15,” he said. “They don’t even have a building permit yet. The reality is this might not happen this year. In fairness to us, we need to follow the process. It’s unfair to come to us with two weeks to go and ask us to approve something so important.”

Shanahan said because the proposal could be a prototype for similar seasonal workforce housing solutions in the future, the planners need to carefully review all aspects of it.

“This is an important project,” he said. “It’s going to be the poster child for future projects and we want to make sure we get it right.”

Buckley agreed the unique concept needed careful review.

“This is the first project like this and we don’t have a zoning code for it,” she said. “We’re trying to fit this into something for you. Seventy-two is a lot of bodies in a building that size. I just can’t see us agreeing to this and then having it blow up in our faces. We would never get anything like this again.”

D’Amore urged the planning commission to work through their concerns about the amount of space in order to provide suitable housing for a large group of seasonal employees. He pointed to larger issue of the season housing shortage in the resort.

“A lot of employers come to us and we have a backlog of students we can’t bring because of a lack of housing,” he said. “We’re not that kind of sponsor. We want them to have the best possible living conditions and we wouldn’t bring them here if we didn’t believe in this. Ropewalk is bringing a lot of students, but they really care for them. A lot of employers bring students and don’t care where or how they live.”

However, the planning commission could not get past the issue of four student workers living in a 250-square-foot space.

“We want to get this right out of the gate,” said Gillis. “We haven’t seen this before. I do have concerns with the amount of space. You could go to jail and have more space than this.”

Shanahan was a voice of reason and tried to come up with a solution amenable to all. He suggested reducing the number of rooms to create larger common areas, or reducing the number of students per room from four to three.

“What if we limited the number of residents for this year?” he said. “If it works, they can come back to us after the season and ask to add more. I certainly don’t want to put the kibosh on this because I think it’s an important project. I can live with three to a room and try it for a year and maybe come back next year and ask for four if it works and there aren’t any problems. We’re trying to find a way to move this forward because we all agree it’s needed.”

D’Amore said that was a proposal United Work and Travel and Ropewalk could probably work with.

“Look, I want them to be safe too,” he said. “That’s why it’s so exciting to have an employer willing to step up and do this.”

Shanahan made a motion to reduce the number of rooms from 18 to 14 and use the space to expand the common areas. That would reduce the number of occupants from 72 students to 56 students, plus the two live-in resident managers, bringing the total to 58. The housing complex could only be used from April 1 to Oct. 1 with no off-season rentals.

The outdoor common areas adjacent existing residential neighborhoods would include a 10 p.m. curfew and the project would be utilized only by employees of Ropewalk, which is developing the housing. If the proposal works during the first season, the partners could come back next year with a proposal to enclose the existing outdoor common areas to increase the number of occupants. The commission approved the motion with the conditions stated with a 4-1 vote with Gillis opposed.

About The Author: Shawn Soper

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Shawn Soper has been with The Dispatch since 2000. He began as a staff writer covering various local government beats and general stories. His current positions include managing editor and sports editor. Growing up in Baltimore before moving to Ocean City full time three decades ago, Soper graduated from Loch Raven High School in 1981 and from Towson University in 1985 with degrees in mass communications with a journalism concentration and history.