OCEAN CITY — With little discussion, resort officials this week agreed to move forward with the proposed land swap of two parcels near 100th Street with Delmarva Power and Light (DPL).
The two parcels are adjacent and identical in size, and simply swapping them provides a mutual benefit to the Mayor and Council and the utility company. Public Works Director Hal Adkins explained the proposed land swap with DPL has been in the works for a number of years and it is now nearing the finish line.
“I have been working on this land swap issue on and off since around 2016 with the previous Mayor and Council and current members,” he said. “It’s finally coming to fruition in dealing with members of DPL. They have indicated a willingness to do a swap. Both parcels are identical in size and configuration and are adjacent to each other.”
Last week, DPL’s proposed use of the land acquired from the town in the swap was the subject of a nearly three-hour public hearing in front of the planning commission. DPL had filed an application for a conditional use to develop a battery energy storage system on either of the two parcels, the one it currently owns, or the parcel that is subject to the proposed swap with the Mayor and Council.
After the marathon hearing, the planning commission approved both conditional use applications and sent a favorable recommendation to the Mayor and Council, contingent on the results of the proposed swap. In short, DPL will install the battery energy storage system, or BESS, on the lot it currently owns, or on the land acquired from the town in the swap.
With that order of business dispensed with, Adkins told the Mayor and Council on Monday there were a couple more steps to complete before the swap was consummated.
“In order to move forward with the swap, we need to move this forward to a public hearing, which is the next step in the process,” he said. “Secondly, we’re looking for a waiver of the appraisal process. Tonight, we’re simply looking for approval to move this to a public hearing for the land swap. That’s the planning commission’s recommendation.”
Adkins explained the town already has public utilities near the parcel in could acquire from DPL in the proposed swap. For example, the on lots adjacent to the parcel proposed in the swap, the town already has a large ground water storage tank and a pump house, along with cellular facilities.
“The benefits to the Mayor and Council are that a land swap aligns the northerly parcel that we would acquire with lands already owned by the Mayor and Council,” he said. “It also ensures that any future improvements or installations constructed by DPL would be positioned west of the library in close proximity to other utility improvements owned by the Mayor and Council and screened from the public view of the Coastal Highway corridor.”
In layman’s terms, the proposed BESS would be fallback energy source in the resort for DPL during times of peak electricity use on the barrier island. It’s part of DPL’s efforts to improve and ensure reliability during peak usage times.
In 2019, the state of Maryland, through the Public Service Commission (PSC) initiated a pilot program known as the Maryland Energy Storage Pilot Program. The purpose of the pilot program is to explore the efficiency of deploying utility-scale energy storage throughout the state including Ocean City. As a result, DPL is required by the PSC to install a BESS in the resort, which is part of the reason for the proposed land swap.
At either location, the BESS would essentially by a rectangular building about 10 feet by 50 feet and around 12-feet above ground level. It would house panels of lithium batteries that could be used as a backup energy source during times of peak usage. It would be fenced in and screened with landscaping, and the colors of the structure and the surrounding fence would make it bleed into the landscape.
During the public hearing last week on the proposed BESS installation on either of the two 100th Street parcels, considerable concerns were raised by adjacent property owners including fears of electro-magnetic radiation from the power source, possible impacts on property values in the adjacent areas and even concerns about impacts on the bayside viewshed and sunsets, for example.
It was learned during the planning commission public hearing DPL has a permanent conditional use on the parcel it currently owns that would allow the utility company to construct a more impactful electric power substation. The permanent conditional use would go away if the land swap with the town is completed.
With no discussion, the council voted 6-0, with Councilman Lloyd Martin absent, to move the proposed land swap to a public hearing on Feb. 22 and to waive the appraisal process for the parcels involved in the proposed swap.
