SNOW HILL – Redevelopment plans for the Alamo Motel in West Ocean City can proceed following allocation of sewer capacity for the project.
The Worcester County Commissioners approved a request this week for 45 EDUs (equivalent dwelling units) from the Mystic Harbour Sanitary Service Area for the Alamo property. Though the motel is expected to be open for another summer, the sewer capacity will allow property owner Mark Odachowski to redevelop.
“He’d like to tear down the Alamo and build two restaurants,” attorney Hugh Cropper said.
According to county staff, Odachowski applied for 45 EDUs to serve a 276-seat restaurant and a 256-seat restaurant proposed for the 1.82-acre property currently home to the Alamo. At the time of the request, there were 58 EDUs available for infill/intensification, 50 for vacant lots, 17 for single family homes and 36 for commercial.
Though the commissioners didn’t object to the request, they questioned if they should allocate all of the available commercial EDUs.
“You might want to leave a portion in,” said Bob Mitchell, the county’s director of environmental programs.
The commissioners voted unanimously to grant the request through the allocation of 20 commercial EDUs and 25 infill/intensification EDUs. The approval came with the condition that the property’s existing 11 EDUs, which are from a different sanitary service area, not be mixed with those from the Mystic Harbour service area.
In an interview Wednesday, Cropper said Odachoswki purchased the property earlier this year with the intention of redeveloping it. Though he did extensive repairs to the old motel, those were simply to keep it inhabitable.
“When he first bought it, it was not in good shape,” Cropper said. “It needed safety repairs. That’s when he went in and cleaned it and fixed it up.”
Cropper added that while Odachowski had no intentions of selling the property, he had already been in conversations with people interested in potentially operating restaurants on the site.
“His long-term goal has always been to develop the property into something better and nicer,” he said.
Cropper said he expected the Alamo to remain open next summer and to be redeveloped the following year.
