SEPTEMBER 12, 2024
BERLIN • NORTH WORCESTER COUNTY• OCEAN PINES
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Moratorium on site plans stretches out With no planning director yet on the job, town will continue national search
Dogs get last day pool play Dozens of dogs took to the pool at Mumford’s Landing in Ocean Pines on closing day last Saturday. The event helped raised funds for the Worcester County Humane Society. PHOTOS COURTESY NICK DENNY
School buses experience overcrowding By Tara Fischer Staff Writer (Sept. 12, 2024) The public school system addressed concerns this week about bus crowding over the first two weeks of school. The Worcester County Public Schools transportation system is experiencing changes in the wake of
Fiscal Year 2025’s budget cuts and a last-minute bus driver retirement, according to WCPS Coordinator of Public Relations and Special Programs Carrie Sterrs. With fewer students riding the bus to and from school since the pandemic, adjustments to routes and pickup and arrival times have been
made. Though early school year issues are common as students and bus drivers settle in, many parents have taken to social media since last Tuesday’s start to express concerns about high school students forced to sit three to a seat and some students reSee SCHOOL Page 4
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By Tara Fischer Staff Writer (Sept. 12, 2024) Berlin’s moratorium for site plan approval, annexation, and rezoning has been extended once again as the town continues its search for a planning director. A moratorium, or temporary pause, went into effect on July 8 to halt certain actions of the town’s planning commission amid the absence of a full-time director. Site plan approval, annexation, and rezoning will not proceed until the suspension is lifted. The planning c o m m i s s i o n ’ s ‘This is intended leader, Dave En- to be temporary gelhart, unex… This is to give pectedly passed away in April. staff a bit of Since then, Rick relief from Baldwin has pro- having to vided consulting approve very services to the group. A morato- complex rium was pro- matters.’ posed earlier in — Mary Bohlen the summer to Town Administrator lessen the burden placed on Baldwin and staff per the director vacancy and unanimously passed by the Berlin Town Council on Monday, July 8. “The purpose is because we are down a planning director,” Town Administrator Mary Bohlen said at the initial meeting. “This is intended to be temporary … This is to give staff a bit of relief from having to approve very complex matters … [consultant] Rick’s assistance has been invaluable, but he is not the planning director. He cannot sign off on things. He gives me solid advice, but he is not the authority.” See SITE Page 4
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