OCEAN CITY — A successful petition blocking the town’s transfer of a right-of-way along Baltimore Avenue to help the proposed Margaritaville project was confirmed this week and could be heading to a special election.
Last year, local resident and former councilperson Margaret Pillas launched an effort to petition to referendum an ordinance passed by the Mayor and Council to abandon and convey a narrow strip along Baltimore Avenue between 13th Street and 14th Street to accommodate the proposed Margaritaville project’s planned overlay district (POD) requirements. On Tuesday, the town’s Board of Election Supervisors announced it has verified and authenticated the required number of signatures to successfully bring the petition to referendum.
What happens next remains to be seen. Pillas’ petition drive to overturn the ordinance was completed in advance of the town’s municipal election in November but did not meet the timeline to get on the ballot because of signature verification timing, for example. As a result, there could be a special election on that referendum question alone, or it could be folded into the next municipal election in 2024. In either case, time is of the essence for the significant project.
City Clerk Diana Chavis on Tuesday submitted the Board of Elections Supervisors’ verification of the petition’s signatures. She explained the petition needed the confirmed signatures of 40% of the voters in the 2020 municipal election. There were 1,528 voters in the 2020 municipal election, meaning the petition required the signatures of 612 qualified voters to meet the standard. Chavis on Tuesday confirmed the Board of Elections Supervisors had verified 639 valid signatures, meaning the petition for referendum was successful and the voters will ultimately have the opportunity to weigh on the property abandonment and conveyance along Baltimore Avenue. She said the petition submitted contained 825 signatures, but the board had confirmed 639 as valid.
“On Dec. 20, the Board of Elections Supervisors conducted a signature verification process,” she said. “The board has confirmed 199 petition pages containing 825 valid signatures were received to submit the ordinance to a referendum vote by the voters of the town of Ocean City.”
By way of background, the town in recent years has been planning a major renovation of the Baltimore Avenue corridor between North Division Street and 15th Street, including the undergrounding of utilities, widening sidewalks and streetscaping. Part of that project includes abandoning and conveying a narrow unused portion of the right-of-way along Baltimore Avenue back to the property owners along the corridor.
Deeds platted decades ago show the Baltimore Avenue right-of-way at 75 feet, but the current roadway utilizes just 45 feet from curb to curb, creating a narrow strip of property not needed for the corridor. Over the years, the adjacent property owners have steadily encroached on the no man’s land of sorts with signs, parking, landscaping and driveways, for example.
With the property not needed for the proposed Baltimore Avenue redevelopment project, the town is in the process of abandoning the strip and formally conveying it to the adjacent property owners. The abandoned property will be deeded to the property owners and go back on the town’s tax rolls.
Eventually, all the property owners along the corridor from North Division Street to 15th Street will have the opportunity to apply for the conveyance of the property, a process that will likely be completed in phases. The proposed Margaritaville project, a resort hotel and convention center with multiple restaurants and 265 hotel rooms over an entire city block between 13th and 14th streets, just happened to be the first to apply for the abandonment and conveyance of the property and the council last month approved the application.
The proposed Margaritaville project requires a planned overlay district and needs 90,000 square feet to qualify for the zoning designation. The abandoned right-of-way along Baltimore Avenue conveyed by the town to the developer helps the project meet the requirements for a POD.
However, Pillas’ began a petition drive to bring the approved ordinance to referendum and a decision by the town’s voters. On Tuesday, the success of the petition drive was verified, leaving resort officials to decide the next step in the process. City Solicitor Heather Stansbury said Tuesday’s agenda item was simply a verification of the petition results as confirmed by the elections board.
“There is no action needed at this time,” she said. “We can take the matter under advisement at a future work session. This is just a night to read the results into the record.”
Stansbury said the Mayor and Council have different options for addressing the referendum issue.
“Ultimately, there will need to be a decision made by the Mayor and Council whether it intends to set this in for an election as a special election or hold this for the next regularly scheduled election or to consider any other options that may be available,” she said.
Council Secretary Tony DeLuca said he desired to start the process for addressing the referendum question sooner rather than later in order to begin conveying the no man’s land along Baltimore Avenue to the property owners and expedite that redevelopment project.
“I’d like to begin the process or the next steps or whatever you want to call it to possibly approve the ordinance and begin to convey the next five blocks,” he said.
City Manager Terry McGean was asked where the Baltimore Avenue redevelopment project stood currently. McGean advised the first phase, including letters to adjacent property owners about the conveyance of the narrow strip along Baltimore Avenue was moving forward, but a big question remaining was funding for the project.
“Right now, we’re going to go through the capital improvement plan process,” he said. “The big question right now is trying to find some grant funding for it. If you want to move forward with property transfers, we do have pretty much the first five blocks platted and we can send those letters out. We can mover forward with a more blanket process especially for that first phase.”
Margaritaville was the first to request the transfer, and the petition drive is an attempt to reverse that.
“This 20-foot conveyance is just the latest concession,” the referendum petition reads. “Earlier, the council allowed the alley within this block to be moved closer to Baltimore Avenue to enhance the project’s architectural design. The City Council also conveyed air rights above this alley providing 720,000 cubic feet of additional bulk-mass allowing for greater density.”
The referendum petition cites the need for additional parking in the downtown area. It also points to the uncertainty of the Baltimore Avenue redevelopment project in general. Resort officials learned late last year the project’s estimated overall cost had nearly doubled, along with its timeline.
“Parking is greatly needed for the downtown area,” the petition reads. “The highest and best use for these 16 blocks where the easement allows would also be to provide additional needed parking. Why prematurely abandon this city property when we do not even know when the enhancements to Baltimore Avenue will be done due to the exorbitant cost estimates.”
