OC Today WWW.OCEANCITYTODAY.NET
JANUARY 14, 2014
SERVING NORTHERN WORCESTER COUNTY
SOCCER
COLLEGE BOUND Stephen Decatur soccer standout, Rebecca Lederman, to play ball for Div. I Canisius– Page 29
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FEMA data trumps city’s efforts on dunes Property owners on extreme north end getting less of break
JUST ITCHY
OCEAN CITY TODAY/JACOB COHEN
A deer takes a scratch break in the Assateague area snow. With the colder weather lately, wildlife have been seen all over Assateague and surrounding areas in search of late winter food.
By Zack Hoopes Staff Writer (Feb. 14, 2014) With federal flood re-mapping under way, property owners at the extreme north end of the city’s beach have found they won’t be getting quite the break the rest of the resort has gotten. While most of the resort’s coastline has been taken out of a flood zone on the latest map revisions from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the area from 146th to 144th Streets is still in a risk area, albeit a lower-grade one
Officials mull over skate park issues
By Zack Hoopes Staff Writer (Feb. 14, 2014) Just in time for upcoming city budget discussions this spring, last year’s budgetary battle du jour – the operating hours of the Ocean Bowl Skate Park – was brought back this week with some new information for city officials to mull over. Despite the harsh winter, the park’s attendance has remained strong. If that attendance is worth the park’s operating loss continues to be in question. “The numbers don’t suggest that [last year’s closure proposal] would’ve been a bad business decision,” said Councilman Dennis Dare at Tuesday’s Recreation and Parks Commission meeting. “Having this park open for just a few people…it’s hard to justify that.” During budget planning last year, the city had initially pro-
posed to close the park in the offseason between Labor Day and Memorial Day. Resistance to that from locals, who still frequent the park in the winter, gradually reduced the service cuts to the point where the city council voted to nix the idea all together. According to data compiled by Susan Petito, the city’s Assistant Director of Recreation and Parks, the park has seen an average of 31 visitors per day through January and the first week of February this year. Total January attendance, at 282 total visits for the month, was down from the 352 in January of 2013. But the park was closed for 13 days in January of this year due to inclement weather, versus just six days in 2013. The park is normally closed on Wednesdays, regardless of conditions. It opens at 9:30 a.m. on weekends and holidays and 2 p.m. on school days.
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“I’ve been surprised with the weather that the attendance has been as good as it is,” said Skate Park Manager Dave Messick. Despite the conditions, most skaters weren’t making casual visits, with the average stay being 2.36 hours. Attendance numbers also don’t include visitors for skate camps and lessons. “Several skaters and park supporters attended the meeting to dissuade the city from attempting any further schedule changes. Anne Cook, who had spoken out against the proposal last year, flatly asked the commission what it would take to convince them that the park was worthy of sustaining. “It’s not that we don’t see the good in it,” said Councilman and Commission Chair Joe Mitrecic. “We just have to make it work [financially].” As it stands, the skate park brings in roughly $55,000 in
revenue from admissions, but costs about $75,000 to run. The bulk of operating expenses – around $64,000 - are staff wages, which have already been reduced by almost $20,000 over last year, Petito noted. “We weren’t going to see that much by closing it down for the winter,” Mitrecic said. “If any benefit has come out of this discussion so far, that’s it.” “It’s not just a matter of throwing tax money at it,” concurred Council President Lloyd Martin. “We need to make sure we run it like a business, which I think you [Petito and Messick] are doing well.” Still, Dare pointed out, there were two Tuesdays in January where the park was open for one and five visitors, respectively. “I don’t know that the taxpayers can afford to have this facility open all day for one or five people,” Dare said.
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than before. “We’re trying to find out why we are [classified] like Delaware instead of like the rest of Ocean City,” said Mac Balkcom, a unit owner at the Ocean Place Condo on 146th Street, at Monday’s council meeting. “The latest from FEMA is that the dunes in front of our building and for two blocks down are not quite as good as the dunes further south,” Balkcom said. “I’m here to ask for any assistance from the city you can give.” The short answer to the plight of Balkcom and his neighbors is that the dune adjacent to the Delaware line is, in fact, simply not as strong as it is elsewhere in the resort, despite efforts to bolster it. “It’s what we call a ‘hot spot,’” City Engineer Terry McGean said Tuesday. “It erodes faster than other areas of beach. After Sandy, we had damage to the dunes, and that was definitely one of them.” Federal contractors from the Army Corps of Engineers are currently working from the north end of town south, pushing sand from the beach back into the dunes. Dredging – using barges that will suck up sand from the ocean floor and deposit it on the beach to a specified breadth – is scheduled to begin Feb. 25, McGean said, and last through April 1, weather permitting. Other hot spots include 33rd Street and the area from 75th to 85th Streets, McGean said. But the north end is the most difficult to deal with, given that it abuts the Delaware line, and is thus a sort of seam between Ocean City’s dune and Delaware’s lessambitious beach project. When FEMA revealed its new flood risk maps several months ago, it was discovered that most of Ocean City’s oceanSee FEMA, Page 4 We Service All HVAC Brands
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