FENWICK ISLAND – Town officials agreed to consider changes to the median plantings in Fenwick Island following concerns voiced last week.
At Friday’s meeting of the town council, Council member Vicki Carmean offered to begin exploring alternatives for the medians, which she said were in poor shape.
“I am very concerned about the wretched condition of the median gardens,” Carmean said. “When I left office three years ago they were in bad shape. They’re in worse shape now. It’s an embarrassment to look at that mess up there on Main Street.”
Police Chief William Boyden said the contract with the company charged with maintaining the median gardens had expired Aug. 1.
“We are going to address that and tweak this contract to make it a little more specific in what we expect from the contractor,” Boyden said.
He said town employees would be working on a new contract and looking at other vendors.
William Weistling, chairman of the town’s charter and ordinance committee, said he thought the town should eliminate the majority of the plantings in the medians throughout town. He pointed out that doing so would save the town money in landscaping costs.
“The median strips are a jungle,” he said. “The trees are nice. I’d shave everything else. Every attempt we’ve had at vegetation has failed.”
Carmean said that while the plantings hadn’t flourished in recent years it was not the fault of town staff.
“You can’t blame public works,” she said, adding that the contractor had been charged with caring for the vegetation.
Mayor Gene Langan said he was concerned about the fact that the median plantings made it difficult to see pedestrians.
“You can’t see somebody who’s crossing because they’re hidden by the trees,” he said.
Carmean offered to look into options for the town as far as the median strips. Boyden said town employees too would be considering ways to improve the planted strips while addressing visibility concerns.
