OCEAN CITY — With what one councilmember described as “the most debated thing we’ve done in a long time,” the Ocean City Council on Tuesday finally approved the final design for the painting of the water tower at 64th Street.
Over the last several months, Ocean City officials have debated the design for the municipal water tower at 64th Street in close proximity to the Route 90 entrance to the resort. The discussion moved from a Coca-Cola sponsored design to the golf ball and tee design including the town’s Eagle’s Landing logo to a replica of the beach ball design at 1st Street to the tried and true basic blue.
Last week, the more grandiose designs including the Eagle’s Landing golf ball and tee and replicating the downtown beach ball design were taken off the table largely because of costs concerns. Instead, the majority of the council endorsed essentially repainting the tower with its existing design including the basic light blue color with a darker blue stripe around the middle and with the town’s sunburst logo and a welcoming and thank you for visiting message on either side.
Even then, the debate was not over. The council instructed Public Works Director Hal Adkins and his staff to go back to the lowest bidder and get yet another cost estimate for the basic blue paint job with the sunburst logo and messaging without the distinctive darker blue stripe. On Tuesday, Adkins returned with yet another rendering showing the water tower painted in a pale blue color with the same logo and messaging without the blue stripe, which came in a little under $5,000 cheaper.
However, continuing a trend that began months ago, the council could not reach a clear consensus on the final design. A motion to opt for the light blue tank with the logo and messaging without the blue stripe failed by a vote of 3-4. A motion was then made to approve the final design with the darker blue stripe included and that motion passed on a 4-3 vote.
