OCEAN CITY – Concerns over a potential bike path along a 10-foot construction easement in uptown Ocean City highlighted a recent resort committee meeting.
With a bike strategic plan well underway, members of the Ocean City Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) got to work last week reviewing some of the six proposed corridors involved in the project.
“All ideas are on the table …,” said Council Secretary Tony DeLuca, committee liaison. “That’s what you need in a strategic plan.”
Earlier this year, the town hired Toole Design Group, a national consultant, to develop a strategic plan that will be used to expand Ocean City’s bicycle network.
In recent years, the resort has embarked on a multi-phased initiative to install a continuous bike path from one end of town to another without using Coastal Highway. With the help of a strategic plan, officials say the town will have designs and cost estimates for several proposed biking corridors, including Coastal Highway, 94th Street, 146th Street, town alleys from 27th to 62nd streets and 62nd to 94th streets, and a 10-foot construction easement west of the primary dunes from 94th to 118th streets.
“We’ve picked all the low-hanging fruit, as far as our abilities to implement bike infrastructure in town,” BPAC President Paul Mauser said this week. “So at this point, any improvements we make are going to be costly, timely and take a good amount of consideration in order to implement. That’s why we brought in a national consultant to look at these corridors.”
Mauser told committee members this week a Mayor and Council work session with Toole Design has been scheduled for Nov. 30. At that meeting, he said, the consultant will present officials with a progress report on the development of the strategic plan.
“We’re not planning to complete this until the end of April,” he said, “so it’s a long project here.”
Some of the items to be discussed at the November work session, Mauser said, were the potential use of town alleys and the 10-foot construction easement.
“The consideration we have right now is turning this into an actual path,” he said of the easement, “where we better delineate with sand fencing on both sides and improve it with some asphalt or concrete surface and lighting.”
Officials noted, however, that both proposals presented challenges. The use of town alleys would require the elimination of some parking spaces, they said, while the use of the construction easement could upset uptown beachfront condo owners.
“That’s going to be very controversial,” DeLuca explained.
High Point North resident Laura Hill told committee members this week she opposed the use of the 10-foot construction easement, located in front of her condominium.
“No one I know in my building wants this at all …,” she said. “We don’t want that in front of our buildings.”
DeLuca noted that the strategic planning document was just that, a plan.
“It’s not approved at all yet,” he said.
Officials noted that the Mayor and Council would have to decide if it wants to move forward with the idea of using the construction easement. If so, they said, a survey would be sent to property owners and posted on the town’s website.
“We’re planning on sending a survey to property owners to gauge their feelings,” Mauser said. “We want to make sure their voices are heard.”
Toole Design will make its presentation to the Mayor and Council Nov. 30 at 1 p.m.
