OCEAN CITY — After debating procedural issues, resort officials this week approved on first reading the purchase of a downtown property that could ultimately be used as a new staging area for the Boardwalk tram.
The agenda for Tuesday’s Mayor and Council meeting included a first reading for an ordinance authorizing the purchase of a handful of parcels in the area of 2nd Street and St. Louis Avenue for a future maintenance and staging area for the Boardwalk tram. The Boardwalk tram is currently maintained at a location on South 1st Street known as the Whiteside facility, which is maintained and operated by the Public Works Department.
The Whiteside facility is nearing the end of its useful life and replacing it has been listed as a high priority in Ocean City’s long-term strategic plan. A potential replacement location has been identified as 2nd Street and St. Louis Avenue and evidently the Mayor and Council and appropriate staff have been discussing the possible purchase in closed sessions for several months.
The apparent plan has been to purchase the property for $2 million with an upfront investment of $400,000. The remaining $1.6 million would be financed with the sale of a 10-year general obligation bond offered at a low interest rate. Apparently, the details of the purchase have been worked out during the multiple closed sessions and the ordinance authorizing the bond sale was ready for first reading during Monday’s Mayor and Council meeting.
However, just before it was ready to appear on the agenda, City Manager Doug Miller announced it had been removed at the request of Council President Lloyd Martin. According to Miller, the first reading was being removed from the agenda because of a desire to lump it together with a larger discussion about strategic property purchases and property disposals that were not yet ready to move forward.
However, some council members took exception to the sudden removal of the proposed purchase of the property at 2nd Street so close to the finish line after considerable resources had been dedicated to finalizing what was believed to have been a done deal.
“I’m surprised to hear this,” said Councilman Wayne Hartman. “We’ve spent a lot of time and money on this for months. We have a great opportunity after so many man-hours have been dedicated to this, and we have a great interest rate, so I don’t know why we are suddenly moving backward with this. I’m a little taken aback.”
Councilman Dennis Dare said while he agreed with the proposed property purchase, there were still issues to resolve in terms of the future tram operation.
“We’ve discussed this project for some time,” he said. “We’d have to reconstruct 2nd Street so the trams can get on and off the property. It doesn’t flow well and it doesn’t operate well. There are just a lot of issues that have to be resolved. I’d just like to take a closer look at it from an operations standpoint.”
Hartman, however, was not willing to back-burner the proposed property purchase so close to the finish line.
“We’ve had a lot of discussions about this in closed session and there were so many things we discussed,” he said. “We’ve spent so much time and money on this and now we’re moving backward. Frankly, I’m speechless.”
Mayor Rick Meehan was also taken aback somewhat by the abrupt removal of the proposed property purchase from the agenda.
“I’m a little surprised too,” he said. “This discussion has been going on for a year. There are very few parcels in town that have this access. It was a unanimous decision to move forward with this.”
Meehan said delaying the purchase could lead to regrets.
“We were all anxious to move forward with this,” he said. “I think with this property, if we don’t purchase it now, we’ll look back and say what happened? It’s crucial to our operation.”
Of course, advertising the proposed purchase and the prescribed terms publicly in the agenda packet could jeopardize the sale, a point not lost on Councilman Matt James.
“We’ve made what we’re paying for this property public,” he said. “Someone can see that and offer the owner a little bit more because they know we want it.”
However, Martin, who apparently requested the property purchase be taken off the agenda on Tuesday, said he merely wanted to take a deeper look at all of the alternatives.
“I want to make sure we air this out,” he said. “I just want to make sure we have all of the information.”
Meehan pointed out it was only a first reading and it could be approved on Tuesday and brought back for further discussion before second reading. However, Hartman still questioned why it was being removed from Tuesday’s agenda and made a motion to approve the ordinance on first reading.
“I hope when I have a concern as an individual councilmember I can simply get things removed from the agenda,” he said. “I just can’t believe where we are with this at this point.”
Councilmember Mary Knight said there was no harm in discussing it further with so much at stake.
“If you’re going to spend $2 million, I’m the type of person that is still willing to discuss the issues no matter how long it takes,” she said.
For his part, Martin said his intent in asking for the agenda item to be removed was not to circumvent his colleagues on the council. He pointed out replacing the Whiteside facility was listed as a top priority in the strategic plan.
“I want to make sure we get it right,” he said. “I want to make sure all of the issues are addressed. That’s why I asked for it to be removed from the agenda.”
The council voted 6-1 with Dare opposed to approve the ordinance on first reading and bring it back for further discussion before second reading.
