OCEAN CITY – Members of a resort committee say they hope to reapply for a Bicycle Friendly Community designation.
In 2019, the Town of Ocean City submitted its application to become a Bicycle Friendly Community, a national designation spearheaded by the League of American Bicyclists to honor cities and towns taking steps to develop bikeable communities.
For Ocean City, the BFC designation aligns with its efforts to establish a continual bike route along the resort’s side streets and minimize the need for bicycles to interact with vehicles on major roadways throughout town. But gaining entrance into the program is challenging, a lesson the town learned later that year after receiving an honorable mention for its efforts.
“The League of American Bicyclists is very selective,” said City Engineer Paul Mauser, president of the town’s Bike and Pedestrian Advisory Committee. “They don’t make it easy to get that designation.”
To that end, committee members last week agreed to take another look at the BFC application, which is due in August. Mauser said the goal in reapplying is to earn the town a bronze-level designation.
“My concern is I’m not sure if we’ve moved the ball far enough in order to be accepted as a Bicycle Friendly Community …,” he said. “I think we can have a better discussion on this at the April meeting.”
