OC Today-Dispaatch MAY 17, 2024
STUBBORNLY LOCAL, EQUALLY INDEPENDENT
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PHOTO COURTESY KIM JOHNSON PHOTOGRAPHY
SURF’S UP Mr. Frisky Hooves and Annie Laurie cool down earlier this month during a hot spell at Assateague Island National Seashore.
Schools funded Mostly, as commisioners vote 4-3 to budget $106M instead of the requested $107M. But nothing’s official until June 4. —Page 12
Short-term rental regs Cruisin’— page 34
City Council proceeds with setting new rules. —Page 86
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OC Today-Dispatch
MAY 17, 2024
MAY 17, 2024
OC Today-Dispatch
PAGE 3
Council to review parking changes Code adjustments eyed for certain violations, new division within government By Bethany Hooper Associate Editor (May 17, 2024) Changes to the city’s parking code will advance to the full mayor and council for consideration. Transit Manager Rob Shearman told members of the Ocean City Transportation Committee on Tuesday that several proposed parking code updates will advance to the city council next week. He said the changes will reflect the authority of a new parking division and increase certain parking violations, among other things. “This is a summary of what we hope to bring to the council,” he told the committee, “and you should expect to see that this coming Monday night.” Shearman said he worked with the city’s new parking manager, as well as the city manager and city solicitor, to update the current parking chapter. He said one of the proposed additions would grant Ocean City’s new parking division the authority to enforce the parking code. “That’s a pretty important up-
date,” he said. Shearman said staff were also recommending increases in existing fines. While handicap parking violations and fire hydrant violations currently result in $40 fines, those numbers would increase to $250 and $100, respectively. “When the parking meter fine was changed from $25 to $50 several years ago, there were some other violation amounts that were kept lower than $50, which we need to update accordingly,” he said. “We don’t want, say, parking in front of a fire hydrant or parking in a handicap space to be less of an infraction than parking at an unpaid meter.” Shearman said the update would also codify existing signed violations at Somerset Plaza and create a new citation for occupying more than one parking space. Another recommendation would be to issue a new citation for the same violation every 12 hours instead of every 24 hours. “I think these are excellent recommendations,” Mayor Rick Meehan said. Officials noted the proposed changes improve the town’s parking code and pave the way for a new parking division, which will be tasked with enforcing the regulations.
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Shearman said enforcement officers under the new parking division are currently in the training process. “The path we’ve taken in looking for the right people has been more customer-service oriented than enforcement oriented, and the lead enforcement officer we have has a sales and marketing background, not an enforcement background,” he said. “We’ve done that on purpose. We’ve emphasized to them in their training that while we are ostensibly punishing people for messing up, we’re trying to do it in a way that is still welcoming and still protecting the visitor experience.” Shearman also presented committee members with an update on parking revenues for the month of April. He said parking revenues from April 2023 to April 2024 had decreased roughly 30%. “It’s primarily weather related,” he said. “But the overall numbers are small compared to what we are going to see this summer. So it doesn’t set us back that far in terms of the ability to catch up.” Meehan agreed. “It’s the same for everybody,” he said. “Our businesses and restaurants are behind. But those April numbers you can make up quickly if the weather changes.”
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