OCEAN CITY — A scantily-attended public hearing this week officially closed the books on a proposed land swap to help pave the way for the redevelopment of a decades-old midtown restaurant and nightclub.
Last December, the Planning Commission reviewed a proposed site plan for the redevelopment of the old BJ’s on the Water property along the bayfront at 75th Street. The property has since been sold to Ropewalk connections, which plan to develop the bayfront eatery Windward OC on the site.
The Ropewalk group operated the restaurant in its original footprint this summer as the Atlantic Beach House, but the long-term plan calls for the old restaurant to be torn down and replaced with a new two-story establishment on the same site with a sandy beachfront along the water, nearly 9,000 square-feet of dining areas including over 700 square feet on a rooftop terrace and other amenities.
The project will go through multiple layers of the approval process, but the planning commission in December gave its blessing to the redevelopment concept. Last month, the Mayor and Council had before them a request to close a city-owned, seldom-used east-west alley between 74th Street and 75th Street to accommodate the redevelopment project.
Essentially what is a paper alley would be needed to accommodate the expanded parking for the establishment. Under the proposal, the town would convey the 100-foot paper alley to the property owner. In exchange, the property owner would convey an easement to the town for a 100-foot section of alley that runs north-to-south between the existing parking lot and the back of the Quiet Storm surf shop.
That alley already exists and is 10 feet wide, allowing for vehicle, bicycle and pedestrian traffic between 75th and 74th Streets. With the property owner conveying an easement to the town at 10 feet wide, the north-south alley would essentially become a 20-foot wide alley. In a nutshell, the property owners would gain access to the under-utilized 100-foot east-west alley between 74th and 75th Street, while the town would get an expanded 20-foot alley running north to south between 74th and 75th Streets.
When the land swap was first proposed, it was pointed out there was a utility pole in the portion of the public right-of-way the town was getting in exchange for the paper east-west alley, which would impede vehicle, bicycle and pedestrian traffic and limit the use of the entire 20-foot right-of-way.
The developer has since agreed to relocate the utility pole out of the town’s right-of-way. The developer also agreed to repave the 100-foot section of the north-south alley as part of its redevelopment plan. Last month, the Mayor and Council voted unanimously to approve the alley swap.
However, a public hearing was required to formalize the arrangement. That public hearing was held on Monday with little fanfare and few comments. One citizen, John Medelin, said he was pleased the developer agreed to make improvements to the north-south alley, but questioned if the simple swap of the two alleys was in the best interest of the town.
“I’m glad to see the developer will improve the alley,” he said. “I would like to suggest just closing the east-west alley and selling it to them.”
City Engineer Terry McGean explained swapping the two alleys made the most sense for both parties.
“We determined that it was going to be mutually beneficial,” he said. “We have determined the property no longer has any public use.”
The public hearing was closed, and the council voted unanimously to declare the east-west alley no longer had any public use, thus, completing the land swap.
