OCEAN CITY — Resort planners this week tabled a site plan review for a five-room expansion at a downtown motel over issues with a neighboring property’s ownership, but not before a spirited debate about whether the proposal should have been before them in the first place.
On Wednesday, the Ocean City Planning and Zoning Commission began reviewing a site plan for the proposed addition, or restoration, of five units at the Islander Motel in the area of 19th Street and Philadelphia Avenue. Zoning Administrator Blaine Smith explained the motel was large enough for 50 units, but when the property expanded in the 1980s, parking limitations kept the number of rooms at 38.
The site plan before the Planning Commission on Wednesday was seeking five additional units in a section used primarily as an accessory area for the motel despite the on-site parking limitations. Smith told the planners an agreement had been reached with the owner of the nearby Cabana Motel to provide the additional parking spaces needed to bring the proposed Islander Motel expansion into compliance with the parking code.
“Because they didn’t have the parking needed to accommodate the expansion, the Cabana Motel, which used to be the Fountain Court, is willing to dedicate five parking spaces on their property for the Islander,” said Smith.
However, after some spirited debate, Planning Commission Attorney Will Esham III pointed out there was some discrepancy in the paperwork that still showed the Fountain Court as the owner of the Cabana Motel property. Esham said it was likely inappropriate for the commission to consider an agreement between the Islander and the Cabana when the Cabana was merely a tenant of the old Fountain Court.
Essentially, Esham asserted the Fountain Court, as owner of the Cabana Motel, should hold sway over any shared parking agreement with the Islander, or at the very least be part of the discussion. With that said, the Planning Commission voted to table the site plan approval request for the Islander expansion until the Fountain Court property owner had signed off on the proposed arrangement to share parking spaces with the Islander.
However, before the ownership issue even surfaced, the commission had grave issues with the proposed Islander expansion in the first place, given the property’s recent history. Smith explained the Islander Motel had been caught last summer utilizing the five rooms in question even before they were ever approved. Basically, the Islander had been using the five extra unapproved rooms without any building permits or plumbing, electric or other life-safety inspections.
“Last summer, we received a complaint someone was staying in the accessory areas where the five additional rooms are proposed,” said Smith. “We did an inspection and that led to a ‘no occupancy’ for the Islander Motel. Now, the new owner is coming forward with a plan to restore those five rooms.”
Smith further explained the proposed plan to designate five spaces at the nearby Cabana Motel for use for the Islander Motel to accommodate the expansion of five additional rooms. He also said if the commission was inclined to approve the project as proposed, the approval should come with some conditions.
“If you give this approval, you would have to make it subject to conditions to bring the electric and plumbing into compliance with the code,” he said. “We’re not sure when the electricity and plumbing were done, or if they were ever in compliance with the code. We would also have to make sure it met all life-safety requirements before we could grant this occupancy. There are some issues to resolve.”
Planning Commissioner Palmer Gillis vehemently questioned if the proposed expansion should even be considered given its illegal use of the five additional rooms without building permits or plumbing or electric inspections.
“Is there a precedent for approval after they went around and used these rooms and never got a building permit?” he asked. “This is being done in a covert way right under our noses and I’m not sure I can support this. I’m really upset they’re trying to pull something covertly that violates everything Ocean City stands for.”
Smith explained the motel was still under a “no occupancy” order and that the owners had resolved some of the issues in court.
“They’re coming in today to try to bring it into compliance,” he said. “They’ve gone to court and pleaded guilty through due process and not they are just trying to bring it into compliance.”
That issue became moot when Esham discovered the discrepancies in the owner-tenant relationship at the Cabana Motel, which had a tentative agreement to provide the parking spaces to the Islander to accommodate the five-room expansion. The site plan approval was tabled until those ownership issues were resolved.