OC comp plan could provide direction for code changes

Continued from Page 9 straint on planners for residential properties.

“We are going beyond what I think is a typical parking space dimension,” Neville said.

He said this change would be only for inside garages, not outdoor spaces.

“I think it’s important for us to say that we’re responding to, essentially, the market conditions, which are heading this direction of an increased number of garage parking units,” Neville said.

Any projects that have already made it through site-plan approval would get to build according to its previously agreed upon parking standards should the code change pass, Neville said.

Neville said that one of the things the commission needs to consider on all the discussed code amendments is whether downtown projects need to be treated differently. The current code in the upper downtown zoning district allows a percentage of parking spaces to be compact, Neville said.

The commission also tentatively decided that these standards should only apply to residential buildings and not larger commercial garages.

Besides parking, the commission discussed possible zoning code amendments that would create clear definitions for “attics,” “habitable attics” and “dormers,” which is a term used to describe vertical windows that stick out from a sloping roof.

The commission decided that Neville will draft a definition of dormers and an update of building height definitions in order to move the project forward.

“At this point, I wouldn’t recommend that we try to tackle doing separate zoning definitions for attic and habitable attic, because it’s just a mess,” Neville said.

The commissioners then discussed changing how building heights are measured, and perhaps allowing complexes to begin measuring height starting from above-ground-level parking for structures that fall in downtown or upper downtown flood zones.

Wilson said it doesn’t seem like there is a “big appetite” to move anything forward with this amendment, and that it seemed to be the lowest priority of the three.

Wilson suggested having a public hearing for the amendment would help put the commissioners in the right direction on the issue.

Neville said he would look into some dates for a meeting with the state planning office about Ocean City’s Comprehensive Plan, which commissioners thought could help them understand how to proceed with code changes.

“To me it’s almost like the vision would be the comprehensive plan and then everything would fall underneath that, and it seems like that we’re coming up with the laws and regulations and not really knowing what the vision is,” said Commission Member Pam Robertson.

The commission decided to try to schedule some code amendments for public hearing on Sept. 6.