BERLIN – Concerns regarding the need for community feedback highlighted a discussion of changes planned for the Ocean Pines Association Country Club.
Brett Hill, acting general manager of the association, presented plans for renovations to the second floor of the country club during a meeting of the Ocean Pines Association (OPA) board of directors Monday. Though the idea of renovating the facility has been discussed for some time, several people, including at least two board members, said they thought the final floorplan should be shared with the public before the project proceeded.
“We’re going to do it without the input of the community?” board member Dave Stevens said. “It feels wrong to me. It feels wrong that we’re doing this without some kind of presentation.”
The drawings of the renovations planned for the country club shared by Hill this week illustrate the second floor broken up into a variety of meeting rooms. While a large banquet space would remain, the area would also include meeting rooms of various sizes, including a large 60-seat board room.
“That gives us versatile space,” Hill said. “Year after year we have an increase in the demands for space.”
By reconfiguring the second floor of the country club to include meeting rooms, some of the administrative offices currently used for that purpose will be given up to allow for an expansion of the community’s police department. Because the country club needs to be renovated before the meeting space can be moved there, Hill told the board it was the first phase of the overall project and that he planned to seek approval of the floorplan at Saturday’s regular meeting.
“We need the country club done first because it replaces the board room and conference room (in the administration building),” he said.
Stevens said that he thought the project, which will result in substantial changes to the decades-old country club, needed to be shared with the public first.
“Does this meeting not suffice?” asked Tom Herrick, president of the board.
Stevens said the changes would impact a lot of OPA members and that while the concept of renovating the country club had been discussed, this was the first time anyone had seen the final floorplan.
Board member Slobodan Trendic said he agreed with Stevens.
“I think it’d be a good idea to get some feedback,” he said.
Like Herrick, board member Doug Parks said the country club rehab project had been discussed for months.
“This is not a new topic,” he said.
Residents in attendance told the board they thought people would want to have the opportunity to comment on the proposed floorplan.
“Everyone in the community’s going to have an opinion,” Bob Kessler said.
Resident Joe Reynolds pointed out that the changes were going to cost close to $800,000. He said that before the association had approved plans to cover the Sports Core Pool, another large capital project, multiple public meetings had been held.
“I think Dave’s right,” he said. “I don’t know that there’s any big rush on this.”
As of Thursday, the second floor renovation at the country club was included among the capital projects listed on the agenda for Saturday’s board meeting. The board will meet at 10 a.m. at the Ocean Pines Community Center.
