OC Today
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OCEAN CITY JEEP WEEK Beach crawls, Jeep Jam and obstacle course among weekend event festivities – Page 49
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AUGUST 28, 2015
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City going after floating docks Many installed without permits by unlicensed contractors who may or may not know law By Zack Hoopes Staff Writer (Aug. 28, 2015) While any other municipality has its share of traffic violators, public drinkers, and so on, Ocean City is one of the only ones that can claim a pandemic of Jetski scofflaws. More specifically, un-permitted floating Jetski docks, a recent rash of which caused an outcry from some local marine contractors, and an alleged flurry of citations from City Hall. “What’s happening is that we have competitors coming into town, and whereas I would tell everyone. ‘You need a permit and you’ll have to pay this much and wait a few weeks,’ these guys are saying you don't’ need it,”
said Randy Warden of Ocean City Boat Lifts. “Obviously, I’m losing my shirt, which is why I complained to the city.” While they may seem innocuous, floating docks for personal watercraft –- regardless of if they are attached to piers, bulkheads, or anything else – are required to be permitted by the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) if they are to be placed in tidal wetlands, per Title 16 of the environment article of the Code of Maryland. Major considerations for floating docks include the impact on underwater vegetation and wildlife habitats and if the water’s surface is See CONTRACTORS Page 6
Sunfest sings different tune to younger crowd Well, maybe, if OC’s musical experiment works as it hopes
PHOTOS COURTESY U.S. COAST GUARD
RESCUE AT SEA A Coast Guard helicopter team out of Air Station Atlantic City lowers a crew member to the 96-foot fishing vessel Hannah Boden 62 miles off the coast of Ocean City on Tuesday to secure an injured man to a litter, which is then hoisted back aboard the aircraft. The Coast Guard Public Affairs Detachment in Baltimore reported that the 23-yearold victim had cut his hand severely while fishing. The Coast Guard flew the man to Ocean City Municipal Airport, where EMS personnel recommended that he be flown out by a Maryland State helicopter to Union Memorial Hospital in Baltimore. Altogether, this one incident involved four Coast Guard units, the Maryland State Police and Ocean City EMS. The original distress call from the Virginia-based vessel was picked up by the Coast Guard’s Long Island Sound Sector in Connecticut, routed to Fifth District Command Center in Portsmouth, Va., then to Baltimore and on to Atlantic City.
$95,900
By Zack Hoopes Staff Writer (Aug. 28, 2015) For an event with a recent history of featuring music that’s three to five decades past its popular height, pulling in a headliner that’s only 20 years removed could, unusually, be considered a great leap forward. Now in its 41st year, the 2015 iteration of Sunfest may be the most important one
yet, at least in terms of the festival’s future as Ocean City’s signature late-summer event. Outwardly, little is changing: there will still be lots of arts and crafts tents and fried food at the inlet. But for the first year, the festival’s Saturday night headline entertainment will be geared toward an audience far younger than the event’s traditional demographic. “We’re going for a different category of attendee,” said city Special Events Director Frank Miller. “We See INTRODUCTION page 3
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