OCEAN CITY — The failing west runway at the Ocean City Municipal Airport is set for a major rehabilitation and expansion after resort officials this week approved a $1.9 million contract for the project.
Public Works Director Hal Adkins on Tuesday brought before the Mayor and Council a recommendation to accept a bid from George and Lynch Inc. to complete a substantial rehabilitation of the west runway at the Ocean City Airport in West Ocean City. Adkins said the ramp has fallen into disrepair and is in need of the rehabilitation and the recommended contract for George and Lynch would also include add-alternatives such as an expansion of the runway and the installation of the wildlife fence around the airport property.
Adkins said the town received five bids for the project in early May and George and Lynch was not the lowest bidder. However, the lowest bidder’s application was incomplete and did not include the add-alternatives, so it was essentially eliminated from consideration and the recommendation was to accept the bid from George and Lynch, a company with which the town has a long and extensive history.
Councilman Wayne Hartman asked if there was any consideration for reaching out to the low bidder to see if its application could be completed at a possible savings for the town.
“Could this go back out to bid?” he said. “Maybe there is a benefit for the town’s taxpayers.”
However, Adkins said the clock was ticking on the life of the west runway and starting the bidding process all over would set the project back several months.
“The runway is falling apart as we speak,” he said. “That would move this project back to the fall at the earliest. I see your point, but I don’t recommend it.”
The total cost of the project with the add-alternates including the runway expansion and the new wildlife fence is just over $1.9 million, but the town is not on the hook for much of the project. State and federal partners including the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the Maryland Aviation Administration (MAA) will pay the lion’s share of the construction costs. For example, for the runway rehabilitation and expansion, the state’s MAA will pay 75 percent and the town of Ocean City will pay 25 percent. For the installation of the wildlife fence, the FAA will pay 90 percent, while the MAA and the town of Ocean City will each pay 5 percent.
The wildlife fence was first approved by the council in 2014, but it was put on hold while the town worked through a long-term master plan for the airport. The town’s portion of the wildlife fence was funded back in 2014 and will not come out of the fiscal year 2018 budget.
