OCEAN CITY — With a green light from the county, resort officials this week approved a boundary line adjustment that will allow the Ocean City Volunteer Fire Company to expand its facilities at the West Ocean City station on Keyser Point Road.
Since 1974, the Ocean City Volunteer Fire Company (OCVFC) has maintained a fire station, or Station 5, on a piece of property fronting Keyser Point Road in West Ocean City. The same general area of city-owned property is also home to a public works department facility. Additional town-owned property was conveyed to the OCVFC in 1988 and again in 2006 as the needs of the fire company in the growing West Ocean City response area increased.
In April, the OCVFC, through Public Works Director Hal Adkins, requested another boundary line adjustment to facilitate future growth for the company’s West Ocean City station. The Mayor and Council approved the land swap with the condition the appropriate approvals were acquired from Worcester County. On Monday, Adkins reported the requisite approvals had been obtained from Worcester and asked the Mayor and Council to approve the boundary line adjustment.
“You all voted unanimously in April to approve this as long as Worcester County didn’t object,” Adkins said on Monday. “We have worked through this with the various county departments and they have no objections. The county is ready to allow this to go forward.”
As a result, the Mayor and Council approved the transfer of the flag-shaped parcel at the Keyser Point public works facility to the OCVFC. The expansion will allow the OCVFC to accommodate a growing desire for its live-in program. Currently, there are only three small live-in suites for firefighters, but the expansion will allow that program to grow exponentially with more firefighter quarters. It came to light during budget deliberations last spring there was a great desire to expand the live-in program, but the facility in West Ocean City lacked the accommodations to support the growth.
In addition, the land swap approved on Monday will allow the OCVFC to expand its apparatus bays, which currently are cramped to the point it is affecting operations in the growing response area. Adkins explained the OCVFC is currently storing equipment on the floors in the apparatus bays and thousands of dollars worth of utility vehicles and support trailers must be kept outside in the elements year-round because of the lack of indoor space.