OCEAN CITY — The proposed alley swap to accommodate a restaurant redevelopment was formalized last week with the passage of an ordinance on second reading.
Last year, the Ocean City Planning Commission reviewed a proposed site plan for the redevelopment of the BJ’s on the Water property on 75th Street. The property is now owned by connections to the Ropewalk with plans to develop Windward OC.
The Ropewalk group operated the restaurant in its original footprint this summer as the Atlantic Beach House, but the long-term plan calls for the old restaurant to be torn down and replaced with a new two-story establishment on the same site with a sandy beachfront along the water, nearly 9,000 square-feet of dining areas including over 700 square feet on a rooftop terrace and other amenities.
To accommodate the new restaurant project, the developer requested a swap of a city-owned east-west alley between 74th Street and 75th streets. What is essentially a paper alley with no public purpose is needed to accommodate expanded parking for the new restaurant project.
Under the proposal, the town would convey the 100-foot paper alley to the property owner. In exchange, the developer would convey an easement to the town for a 100-foot section of alley that runs north-to-south between the existing restaurant parking lot and the Quiet Storm surf shop and the Station 3 firehouse at 74th Street. That alley already exists and is 10 feet wide, allowing for vehicle, bicycle and pedestrian traffic between 75th and 74th streets.
With the property owner conveying an easement to the town at 10 feet wide, the north-south alley would essentially become a 20-foot wide alley. In a nutshell, the property owners would gain access to the under-utilized 100-foot east-west alley between 74th and 75th Street, while the town would get an expanded 20-foot alley running north to south between 74th and 75th Streets.
When the land swap was first proposed, it was pointed out there was a utility pole in the portion of the public right-of-way the town was getting in exchange for the paper east-west alley, which would impede vehicle, bicycle and pedestrian traffic and limit the use of the entire 20-foot right-of-way. The developer has since agreed to relocate the utility pole out of the town’s right-of-way. The developer also agreed to repave the 100-foot section of the north-south alley as part of its redevelopment plan. The council voted unanimously Nov. 15 to approve the swap.
