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THAT GIRL CAN SHOOT Senior Dayona Godwin breaks the Decatur girls’ basketball leading scorer record – Page 29
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DECEMBER 18, 2015
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PAUSE FOR THE CLAUS
Dozens of people arrive at the 28th Street Pit and Pub around 3 p.m. last Saturday to kick off Ocean City’s fifth annual SantaCon, a bar crawl that raises money for the Worcester County Humane Society. The several hundred participants in this year’s event raised $2,000 in donations for the shelter.
After special meeting county OKs school plan Commissioners also hold session during MACo conference
By Brian Gilliland Staff Writer (Dec. 18, 2015) Though many of the students who would attend kindergarten at a replaced Showell Elementary School haven’t been born yet, as the projected occupancy date is April 2021, the process for delivering a
school to those students is no less laborious than raising those children. The last public action of the Worcester County Commissioners on the school projects occurred on Nov. 3, when the board voted to torpedo the project by notifying the state Interagency Committee of School Construction that it was withdrawing support for the plan because of amendments added by the school board in a previous See DISSENTING on Page 6
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Commander Hotel denied setback variance by BZA Hotel wanted to add retail on old footprint but loses in 3-2 vote
By Zack Hoopes Staff Writer (Dec. 18, 2015) Following a second two-hour hearing, the Commander Hotel’s request for a major Boardwalk setback variance was denied by the Ocean City Board of Zoning Appeals last Thursday. Commander attorney Hugh Cropper presented
much of the same case as he had two weeks ago, when the BZA cast a split two-to-two vote that caused Cropper to request a stay of the 14th Street hotel’s application until the board’s fifth member could be present. That member, board chairman Al Harrison, was unconvinced. “I still am personally very much in favor of maintaining the Boardwalk setback,” Harrison said. “I don’t think I would want to be on this
board in the future if we have hotel and commercial space owners coming before us en masse for this type of variance.” Although the renovation plans for the Commander are a multi-faceted project, the BZA was addressing one particular element of the design: the fact that the east side of the hotel is proposed to be extended out to within six inches of the hotel’s property See REDEVELOPMENT on Page 3
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