OCEAN CITY – Two more steps were taken this week in the eventual abandonment and conveyance of an unused portion of Baltimore Avenue to existing private property owners, including a needed piece for the proposed Margaritaville project.
In recent years, a major renovation of the Baltimore Avenue streetscape has been in the works including undergrounding utilities, widening sidewalks and improving the overall aesthetics along the prominent corridor in the resort. The section currently slated for redevelopment runs from 15th Street to North Division Street and will be done in phases. Last week, resort officials were taken aback when they learned the estimated cost of the project and its timeline for completion had doubled in both cases.
In the meantime, the town is in the process of abandoning and conveying an unused portion of Baltimore Avenue to the private-sector property owners along that section of the corridor. Baltimore Avenue is somewhat unique in a variety of ways. For example, the original deeds show the right-of-way as 75 feet wide, but the current roadway only utilizes about 45 feet from curb to curb. A review of the ancient deeds for Baltimore Avenue reveals a no man’s land of about 21 feet in some areas that could ultimately be deeded back to the property owners along the corridor or used to widen the roadway and its sidewalks.
Over the decades, however, private property has steadily encroached on the original right-of-way platted over a century ago. For example, in some cases, private businesses along the corridor have signs in the old right-of-way, while others have parking areas. In some cases, the long-forgotten right-of-way is just covered with grass or landscaping and isn’t necessarily utilized by the private sector.
The Mayor and Council had before them on Tuesday two separate action items related to the abandonment and conveyance of the unused portion of the right-of-way to the private property owners. The first was a broad discussion explaining the process by which the right-of-way would be abandoned. City Manager Terry McGean said most of the property owners are aware of the Baltimore Avenue redevelopment plans and the eventual plan to convey the unused right-of-way to them through several meetings and workshop, but letters would be sent to each describing the process and how it will affect them.
McGean said a next step in the process is scheduling a public hearing as a means to begin adopting an ordinance defining how the conveyance will work.
“Typically, we have a public hearing then the Mayor and Council make a decision to direct counsel to draft an ordinance,” he said. “That’s the step you haven’t taken yet.”
McGean explained the abandonment process would likely come in three phases. There are some properties along the Baltimore Avenue corridor where the owners are ready to go, including the Margaritaville project, which has already submitted its application. A second group will likely understand the project but will need more information to explain how it will impact them, while a third group simply won’t be ready. He said ideally, those different sets of property owners could be grouped so their requests are covered by the same ordinance.
McGean said letters explaining the abandonment process would go out to all effected property owners likely by the end of the month. Council President Matt James asked about the anticipated timeline. He said he was aware the Margaritaville project developers had already submitted their application for the section along Baltimore Avenue between 13th Street and 14th Street.
“What would be the timeline?” he said. “You talk about three phases. We keep talking about a specific project.”
McGean explained the proposed piecemeal approach to the abandonments can and will work unless the council wanted to go in a different direction.
“If the direction is we don’t want to do any abandonments in that first phase from 15th Street to 10th Street, we can consider that,” he said. “If the question is what will the delay be if we wait until all of the letters go out, the delay would probably be three to four months. The direction I got from you all was to proceed with the right-of-way abandonment.”
McGean said after the Mayor and Council got more than a little sticker-shocked last week when the estimated cost of the Baltimore Avenue project doubled to nearly $40 million, the project was still up in the air.
“We don’t have a firm price,” he said. “We don’t know yet if we’re even going to do the project.”
Councilman John Gehrig said the $40 million estimated price tag for the project was likely untenable unless grants and other revenue sources were identified.
“I don’t think we’re going to get to that $40 million,” he said. “I think there’s a better than 50% chance this project doesn’t get done. I don’t see this getting any cheaper. We’ll probably all be gone before this project gets done.”
With that said, Councilman Peter Buas made a motion to move forward with the Baltimore Avenue right-of-way abandonment and conveyance process and to send out letters to the property owners along the corridor affected by the process. That motion passed on 6-1 vote with James opposed.
Later in the same meeting, the Mayor and Council considered a request to abandon and convey the section of unused right-of-way between 13th Street and 14th Street to the developers of the Margaritaville project. Because it will be a planned overlay district project (POD), the Margaritaville project needs a minimum of 90,000 square feet in order to qualify for the designation. In order to reach that threshold, Margaritaville needs that section of unused right-of-way along Baltimore to reach the 90,000-square-foot minimum.
The Mayor and Council had before them an ordinance for first-reading that would convey the unused section of right-of-way from 13th Street to 14th Street to the Margaritaville developers. It’s important to note the earlier ordinance was not site specific and every property owner along the corridor will eventually go through the process, but Margaritaville happened to be the first to apply. James said he didn’t view it that way, however.
“I feel like this is premature,” he said. “We’re talking about doing this for one property.”
However, Gehrig pointed out Margaritaville just happened to be the first to apply for the abandonment and conveyance.
“Any of these property owners can apply for it,” he said. “When we start getting more applications, we can expedite the process.”
Attorney Hugh Cropper, representing the Margaritaville developers, agreed the ordinance before the council was for its application, but the overall abandonment and conveyance of the unused portion of Baltimore Avenue right-of-way was not project specific.
“It’s not a special ordinance,” he said. “It’s an abandonment. In all my years here, I’ve seen the town abandon many unused alleys and other parcels. It’s a conveyance back to the property owners. Every other property owner along the corridor can and will apply for it.”
However, neighboring property owner G. Hale Harrison said it was evident the ordinance before the council was very specific to the Margaritaville project and questioned the process.
“The only sense of urgency here is for Margaritaville,” he said. “Why not have an ordinance that covers the whole section of the corridor? It shouldn’t be done for a single property owner. I think everybody in the room knows this is for Margaritaville.”
After considerably more debate and comments, the council voted 6-1 with James opposed to approve the ordinance authorizing the Mayor and Council to convey the 21-foot width of Baltimore Avenue between 13th Street and 14th Street to the applicant, the first successful applicant in the process.
