OCEAN CITY — Resort officials this week approved a summer-long beach volleyball tournament series on a north-end beach, but not before a spirited debate about the potential impact on neighboring property owners.
On Monday, the Mayor and Council entertained a special event request for the Junior Atlantic Beach Series, a large beach volleyball tournament spread over six weekends throughout the summer beginning May 14-15 and ending on Sept. 3-4 sponsored by the Carousel Resort Hotel. The proposed event, a beach volleyball tournament for junior players from high schools around the region including Maryland and Delaware, was slated for the named weekends on the beach from 117th Street to 121st Street.
While town officials embraced the concept, there were concerns at different levels. Private Events Coordinator Lisa Mitchell told the Mayor and Council the beach patrol expressed concern about the number of weekends, and perhaps more importantly, the size of the tournament and the potential impact on private property owners and renters on either side of the central Carousel location. In addition, the Recreation and Parks Committee had not formally vetted the event request, but had been brought up to speed on it through a series of emails.
“The beach patrol believes the number of dates could be excessive and asked to meet with the organizer to go over all of the dates,” she said. “The Recreation and Parks Committee had concerns as well. The committee voiced concern the event may be too large for the area proposed.”
The Mayor and Council also voiced concern on Monday about the scope of the proposed event and its impact on the already crowded beach during the summer months. The Council asked event promote Rich Comly of RRFU Enterprises, a non-profit based in Berlin, if he had reached out to neighboring property owners for consent.
“I’ve not been able to reach the other property owners since the objections were raised,” he said.
Councilmember Mary Knight said there certainly was some bad precedent for allowing special events on certain areas of the beach during the summer months and voiced concern about a six-weekend volleyball tournament on the beach.
“A few years ago, there was a proposal for surf fishing on the beach and I got so many calls from tourists and the condos that they didn’t want any more activity on the beach,” she said. “I have a lot of concerns with this location.”
Councilman Dennis Dare said the area proposed for the Junior Atlantic Beach Series on the opposite sides of the Carousel included fairly expensive oceanfront summer condo rentals and also voiced concern about impacting the neighboring properties.
“We have an area downtown that has an established use for sporting events,” he said. “Over the years, families have put up a volleyball net on the beach and used it every day, but this is a lot of nets over a large area of beach. It’s okay if the sponsoring property wants to displace their guests, but this is a big area of condos and it’s not just a weekend, it’s six weekends.”
It was suggested maybe the first weekend event could go off as planned and then the latter weekend events could be reviewed based on the impact. However, Dare warned against even approving the first event without a major configuration, or even elimination, of some of the nets.
“We won’t get through the first event without people complaining,” he said. “They’ll complain the rented beachfront for the week and have a volleyball tournament out in front of them.”
Council President Lloyd Martin agreed.
“Looking at the diagram, I couldn’t really see that happening,” he said. “It affects too many property owners. Some of the nets could be moved to the street ends, but the street ends feed the beach. I support events like this, but this is overflowing with volleyball nets.”
Councilman Matt James, whose family operates the Carousel and other condo properties in the same area, suggested the event could be approved as planned if some nets were eliminated or reconfigured to fit entirely within the confines of the beach in front of the Carousel.
“I don’t see why this can’t be approved if he can get all of the nets within the Carousel property where they wouldn’t effect anybody else,” he said. “He would have to eliminate some of those nets that spill over unless he got consent from the neighboring property owners.”
However, Martin, while acknowledging the time frame was tight, suggested the promoter go back to the committee level to work out the requested changes.
“Go back to Recreation and Parks and work these things out before it comes to the Mayor and Council,” he said. “Everybody here wants this event to happen, but there are just too many things to work out.”
That appeared to bring closure to the discussion, at least briefly, but James continued to battle for the event.
“I don’t see a problem with allowing this event to happen,” he said. “Eliminate some of the nets and keep it in front of the Carousel. The Carousel owns more than half of the condos, so it has a majority there in terms of consent.”
Knight also pointed out the volleyball tournament series targeted young players from all over the region, including many from high schools in neighboring Delaware, and asked the promoter to consider the town’s contribution when distributing the proceeds.
“We’re giving you a 75-percent reduction and I’d like to see a portion dedicated to Worcester County and Ocean City kids,” she said. “It’s a big discount to use our beach in the middle of the summer. Not that I don’t love Delaware, but I love Ocean City more.”
Mayor Rick Meehan reiterated the only way the event would likely get approved is if the vast array of nets and the associated tents and other components could be limited to just in front of the Carousel.
“This comes down to if there is a way to confine the event in the footprint of the Carousel,” he said. The concern is if it spreads out to the other properties.”
With that said, Councilman Wayne Hartman made a motion to approve the first three weekends of the proposed series with an opportunity to revisit the final approval for the entire event based on the early feedback. The motion included several provisions including limiting the event to the front of the Carousel, getting approval from the Beach Patrol and gaining the consent of the beach stand franchisee in that area. The motion passed by a 6-0 vote.