OCEAN CITY – A resort committee has agreed to explore options for new Boardwalk bike racks.
Last week, Council Secretary Tony DeLuca, liaison for the Ocean City Bike and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC), presented committee members with a proposal to replace the aging bike racks along the Boardwalk.
While no funding source has been identified, officials say surplus funding from the Boardwalk re-decking project or the seawall recoating project could be used.
“I think it’s an important project,” DeLuca said. “They are heavily used … and the way they look now, it’s not good.”
In recent years, BPAC members have focused their efforts on identifying locations to add bike racks near the oceanfront street ends. DeLuca noted the idea of replacing the Boardwalk bike racks came forward as part of those discussions.
Committee President Paul Mauser said there were roughly 40 bike racks placed along the Boardwalk. While officials noted it would have been ideal to replace the racks as part of the Boardwalk re-decking project, Public Works Director Hal Adkins said it could still be done at a future date.
“It’s not like they’re inserted, bolted, mounted underneath the stringers or anything,” he said. “We’re going to go ahead and put the old ones back up in the exact same pattern we took them off, just like putting the benches back or the trash cans back. I’ll just wait for some decision at a later date on a different design, and we’ll install them then.”
Worcester County Bicycle and Pedestrian Coalition’s Patti Stevens noted the new bike racks could feature a bike or fish design. The committee’s vice president, Allen Hawk, noted the town could work with the Art League of Ocean City to secure grant funding.
Regardless, committee members agreed the existing racks needed to be replaced.
“Some of them date back 25, 30 years,” Adkins said. “They are simplistic, galvanized, bare-bones racks.”
As the existing racks are still usable, Stevens suggested the town could donate them to the Greater Ocean City Chamber of Commerce.
“We’ve been reaching out to different businesses to try and get them to put bike racks in,” she said. “Perhaps they can be offered to the OC Chamber of Commerce for businesses that would like to put bike racks at their business place.”
Mauser noted it was something the town could explore.
“Let’s get the new ones first,” he added.
With no further discussion, the committee agreed to discuss options and pricing for the new bike racks at its next meeting in February.
“Let’s bring it back to the committee next meeting,” DeLuca said, “and let’s see what kind of money we are talking.”
