OC Today-Dispaatch MAY 3, 2024
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Crackdown on displays Council advises Boardwalk merchants it (mostly) means business this time The back-and-forth between city officials and business owners whose outdoor displays encroach on public property is taking a tougher turn, with fines and permit suspensions now possible in a proposed ordinance change. But the city will warn them first. — PAGE 3
County canine can smell cells PHOTO COURTESY CONNIE ALDERFER
WHAT’S UP? So much for the old-fashioned diamond-shaped kite at last week’s Maryland International Kite Exposition in Ocean City, where all sorts of elaborate creations took to the blue skies. See more photos on page 70.
A suspect on the run tosses his phone in dense underbrush and figures police will never find it and the incriminating information it contains. But he’s not counting on the newest addition to the sheriff’s office staff — Luna, the 3-year-0ld lab who’s been trained to sniff out electronics, including thumb drives. — PAGE 22
SPRINGFEST BEGINS — PAGE 28
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OC Today-Dispatch
MAY 3, 2024
MAY 3, 2024
OC Today-Dispatch
PAGE 3
OC cracking down on shop displays By Mallory Panuska Ames Digital Editor (May 3, 2024) Ocean City business owners will need to be more careful about how they showcase their merchandise this summer as officials prepare to crack down on outdoor displays. City Council members advanced an ordinance during a work session Tuesday that will change, and strengthen, the existing rules. The current outdoor display ordinance requires two warnings before the issuance of any citation or fine, allows a one-week suspension on the fourth violation, a two-week suspension for the fifth violation and a fourmonth suspension after six violations. “There’s a number of steps and they’re fairly cumbersome,” City Manager Terry McGean said during the work session. The number of violations also resets to zero each year and there is nothing in the existing ordinance that penalizes someone who ignores the code altogether, which McGean said ties officials’ hands even more. To remedy the situation, staff came up with a new proposal to change the ordinance to allow a citation and fine of $500 to be issued on first violation upon discretion of enforcement staff; a citation and $1,000 fine for the sec-
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ond violation; a citation and fine of $1,000, plus a two-week permit suspension for the third violation; and four-month permit suspension and another $1,000 fine for violation four. Under the existing code, displaying a sign without a permit could also result in a business license suspension. The proposed new code would also not reset the violation count after four violations, but wait until the fourmonth suspension is complete. Outdoor displays, as defined in the ordinance, include merchandise such as t-shirts and other clothing; areas designated for hair wraps, henna tattoos, caricatures and the like; and display of other items not considered signage. And while the ordinance technically specifies that the regulations apply to Atlantic Avenue, or the Boardwalk, McGean pointed out that the language actually covers the whole town. During discussions, Mayor Rick Meehan pushed to give some leeway to businesses on first violation, at least for this season. “As we document this going into this year, and this will be going into effect this year, … the very first step should be a documented warning,” Meehan said. “Then you go to 500 [dollars]. I’m just adding one extra step. But as with everything, the first
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thing everybody’s going to say — even though we’re going to talk about it, we’re going to pass an ordinance, we’re going to try to get the word out — is, ‘nobody told me.’” Planning and Community Development Director George Bendler said that his staff, as well as Ocean City Development Corporation employees and the police, have been making efforts to let business owners know that the proposed ordinance changes could be implemented, thus enforcement should be expected. “We are educating, and I think we have done a very very good job of letting them know this is coming,” he said. Council members ultimately agreed to verbally tell enforcement staff to give a warning on first violation for this year, as the ordinance already gives them the option, but leave the language as presented. “It’ll be a direction to staff,” McGean said. After some more discussion, which included a decision to include a requirement that all fees must be paid before a new business license is issued, council members voted 5-0, with Councilman John Gehrig and Councilwoman Carol Proctor absent, to advance the change to a first reading.
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