OC Today
HOLIDAY
DAY OFF The offices of Ocean City Today will be closed Friday, Dec. 26 and Thursday, Jan. 1 for the holidays. Here’s to a great 2015.
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DECEMBER 26, 2014
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App just might keep you from driving drunk Maryland spends $50k to keep partiers safe
JOSH DAVIS/OCEAN CITY TODAY
WARM WINTER WELCOME Despite fall temperatures, it is winter after all, and visitors can still take the tour of the light festival at Northside Park this weekend and into next week.
OCDC gets its Christmas present Multiple grants awarded, organization proceeds with St. Louis Ave. light project
By Kara Hallissey Staff Writer (Dec.26, 2014) The Ocean City Development Corporation announced last week it will be receiving $50,000 to continue its façade program and $100,000 towards decorative streetlights in the Downtown area from the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development through their Community Legacy Program awards. OCDC was also awarded $200,000 in demolition funding towards its Model Block Project located between Somerset and Dorchester Streets in Downtown Ocean City from Maryland DHCD’s Smart Growth and Investment Program.
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“The OCDC was extremely pleased to hear about the grant awards. These grants represent the largest grant amounts that we have ever received in one year,” said Executive Director, Glenn Irwin. “The OCDC is very appreciative of the Maryland Department of Housing and community development for their grant assistance over the past many years, their assistance has been very beneficial to our downtown revitalization efforts in Downtown Ocean City.” OCDC plans on using the $100,000 street light grant money on phase three of the St. Louis Avenue improvement project, which includes installing decorative street lights and LED lighting. With $50,000 in grant funds, Irwin said he would approve six new façade projects. OCDC has completed 155 projects to date through the façade program.
“The façade program has been extremely effective particularly due to the private investment from the many building owners and business owners in the downtown area. This private investment has resulted in a very high leverage ratio, which has allowed us to continue to get façade funds for this program,” Irwin said. The program provides subsidies to property owners for exterior renovations of their buildings, which provides higher-quality housing stock for local families while also boosting property values for tax purposes. “The Model Block Project is a land consolidation project of the OCDC and Town of Ocean City. The intent is to attract a developer on the assembled properties to construct a new project that will bring people to the inner blocks of the downtown area,” Irwin said. See OCDC Page 3
By Brian Gilliland Staff Writer (Dec. 26, 2014) The Maryland Highway Safety Office recently launched its own app, ENDUI (End DUI), an informational tool that state officials hope will inspire revelers to make and stick to evening plans. “Even good people make bad decisions,” Tom Gianni, chief of the Maryland Highway Safety Office said, “We want to provide the tools to get people home safely.” The app is available on iOS and Android devices for free. In it, users may take a reflex test to gauge their reaction time to certain stimuli such as pedestrians, braking cars or bicyclists. When a hazard appears, the user is prompted to touch a button to stop the vehicle. Based on the elapsed time, the app calculates stopping distance and reaction time. Another feature is a road sign pattern-recognition game reminiscent of the old Simon or any number of other memory games. The app includes a simulated blood alcohol level measurement. By entering personal information such as gender and weight, plus the amount, type and volume of drinks consumed over a given time period, the application will determine a goodfaith estimate of the user’s blood alcohol level. “It’s an estimator with a capital E,” Gianni said, “There are no substitutes for the tech law enforcement uses.” If the blood-alcohol level of the user exceeds the legal limit, See AN APP Page 3
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Ocean City Today
PAGE 2
DECEMBER 26, 2014
New Year’s Eve Dinner t w o - t h o u s a n d
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center cut, french boned 12 oz. pork chop rubbed with spices, seared and roasted topped with a dried fruit, pomegranate and citrus compound butter
combination of 6oz. broiled lobster tail and pan seared petite certified black angus filet with a rich demi glace and drawn butter
Black Angus Filet Mignon . . . . . . $37
seasoned and broiled with butter, lemon and white wine then served with drawn butter
Seafood Mac & Cheese . . . . . . . . $30
Prime Rib Au Jus . . . . . . . . . . . . $33 slow roasted with herbs and served with horseradish créme and au jus
shrimp, jumbo lump crab, lobster and pollack tossed with a three cheese cream sauce and penne pasta then baked with a panko crust (pasta serves as the starch for this selection)
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Five Onion Soup . . . . . . . . . . . . . $8
chunks of fresh lobster meat in a creamy sherried lobster bisque
seasoned and seared rare, then drizzled with yuzu-wasabi mayonnaise served on seaweed salad with red pepper and cucumber
caramelized mix of onions in a sherried beef broth, topped with ciabatta croutons and glazed with gruyere and smoked gouda
Clams Casino . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $9
Creole Shrimp & Grits . . . . . . . . $11
Duck Confit Crustini . . . . . . . . . $12
little neck clams stuffed with peppers, bacon and garlic butter baked and topped with gruyere and gouda cheese
shrimp sautéed with andouille sausage, peppers and onion on a cheddar-chive grit cake, and finished with cajun butter sauce
slow roasted shredded duck on toasted baguette slices with an apple, dried cherries and shallot compote with brie
Lobster Bisque . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $11
Ocean City Today
DECEMBER 26, 2014
PAGE 3
OCDC receives major grants for its projects Continued from Page 1 The intentions for the addition are to create more foot traffic, which will help businesses in the area, he said. In addition, Irwin said he thinks the development will increase the taxable base of these properties, which will help the town, county and state. The $200,000 demolition funds from the Smart Growth and Investment Program will be applied to reducing the overall costs in site development of these properties. The Community Legacy Program provides local governments and community development organizations with essential funding for important
An app that might prevent you from facing charges Continued from Page 1 the app suggests calling a cab or finding a designated driver. “We want people to make a plan and stick to it,” Gianni said. Within the app are functions to locate convenient cab companies or call friends. There is also a simple tool for reporting a drunk driver while on the roads, although calling while driving is discouraged. “Impairment begins with the first drink,” Gianni said, noting that it takes some time for imbibed alcohol to register in a test. While the app might report that two double shots of 151-proof rum within the last 15 minutes might not put a user over the legal limit in theory, the practice might return different results. Gianni said within the past two weeks ENDUI has been downloaded 20,000 times, and most of the feedback has been positive. Through iOS and Android’s respective stores, the app has been reviewed about 40 times with generally negative reviews. Users report problems with the interface, an irritating amount of popups and disclaimers and the expenditure of taxpayer funds to produce the app.
Ocean City Today Business ..................................33 Calendar ..................................50 Commentary..............................61 Classifieds ................................51 Entertainment ..........................44 Insight Plus ..............................41 Obituaries ................................31 Public notices ..........................53 Sports ......................................37 News: editor@oceancitytoday.net Sales: sales@oceancitytoday.net Classifieds: classifieds@oceancitytoday.net Phone: 410-723-6397 Visit us on the Web at www.oceancitytoday.net and at Facebook/Ocean City Today Published Fridays by FLAG Publications, Inc. 8200 Coastal Highway, Ocean City, Md. 21842 P.O. Box 3500, Ocean City, Md. 21843 Available by subscription at $150 a year.
projects and is Maryland’s initiative to stimulate investment in traditional downtowns all over the state. These projects strengthen local communities, support housing and homeownership goals, while attracting and retaining business according to their blog. Projects include improving commercial façades, greening and streetscaping activities, renovating historic buildings and rehabilitating properties in downtown areas. Maryland’s program promotes neighborhood revitalization, affordable housing, tourism and economic growth. DHCD announced a total of $5.7 million in Community Legacy Program grants to 67 projects in 20 counties and Baltimore City. Those grants support total project costs of
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local governments and nonprofit community development corporations, who many times are working with private entities and other partners invested in Maryland neighborhoods and focused on creating jobs and housing opportunities,” according to their blog. A few other towns in Worcester County received funds from the Community Legacy Program awards this year. Snow Hill’s Façade Improvement Program received $50,000 for business owners and residential properties. Pocomoke City was awarded two grants, the first was $25,000 to rehabilitate the historic Costen House Museum. The other was $25,000 for their downtown business development and façade improvement program to assist business owners.
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Ocean City Today
PAGE 4
DECEMBER 26, 2014
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Ocean City Today
DECEMBER 26, 2014
PAGE 5
City could cap FEMA building upgrade rule Currently, big improvements in a home over time mean bringing it all up to code By Zack Hoopes Staff Writer (Dec. 26, 2014) Ocean City government would have an avenue, if it so chose, to ease up on a federal building requirement that has reportedly caused problems for homeowners in a declining-value housing market. The city’s Planning and Zoning Commission spent time at its last meeting discussing with city staff ways to allow owners to continue to upgrade their properties without triggering the “substantial improvement” clause set by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. “I am, at some point in time, going to go before the mayor and City Council to change this standard for substantial improvements to be a 10-year period,” said city Chief Building Official Kevin Brown. “When the [property] values went down, that’s when we saw an increase in substantial improvements because the value no longer balanced it out,” Brown said. Under FEMA’s guidelines for the National Flood Insurance Program, applicable communities such as Ocean City can maintain their favorable insurance rating even if older structures are not brought up to the current flood protection code. Ocean City currently receives a townwide 15 percent discount on all flood insurance purchased through the national program, the highest discount level FEMA awards. These noncompliant, grandfathered structures are allowed to remain sub-standard, with no effect on the city’s rating, as long as there have been no “substantial improvements” to the property. If such improvements are being made, the structure must be
brought up to code. FEMA defines substantial improvement as having occurred once structural improvement has been done to 50 percent or more of the property’s value. This threshold is cumulative. “Substantial improvement is commenced when the first alteration to the structural part of the building has begun,” Brown said. “Once that first structural improvement is done, any improvement - structural or not - goes toward the tally of improvement.” This means that, over time, many property owners have accumulated improvements up to the 50 percent mark, and are unwilling to do any further work on their property, lest they have to conform to current flood codes. For many older buildings, this could mean raising the entire structure several feet, at great cost. “We want people to improve their property and keep things up, and it seems at times that we’ve been hearing its hard to do that with the codes that are in place,” said Commissioner Peck Miller. “What we’re talking about are structures where the owner just wants to make maintenance repairs and replacements,” said Commissioner Lauren Taylor. “As it is, we’re driving people to let things get worse.” In the past, the value of improvements to a property was often outpaced by the growth in value in the market. For instance, Miller said, a person could make $30,000 of improvements to a $60,000 property, after which he or she would need to stop to avoid having to bring everything up to FEMA code. But if the value of their property later grew to $90,000, the threshold would increase to $45,000, giving that person an extra $15,000 of headroom for work. In a flat or declining real estate market, however, no additional head-
room is coming, and owners are running up against the hard choice of delaying work, or shelling out for massive flood improvements. Brown’s solution, to allow the tally of improvements to reset after 10 years, or whatever length the city finds appropriate, is likely the only one that would squeak by FEMA. “I think what Kevin was talking about with the 10 years makes a lot of sense,” said Glenn Irwin, executive director of the Ocean City Development Corporation, a non-profit that finances redevelopment in the downtown area. “Downtown, where the assessed values of the buildings are so much lower than the land, it creates a problem.” There are two ways, currently, to work around the FEMA system. Improvements that result from a recorded building code violation don’t
count toward the total. Further, variances to the flood code can be given via the city’s Board of Adjustments and Appeals, although Brown stressed that such appeals may not be made on the basis of financial hardship, but rather due to physical constraints. “So the way to work through this right now is to go to the Board of Adjustments and Appeals and get a variance through them, or to call in a safety violation,” Miller said. Appeals through the adjustment board cannot put the structure below base flood elevation, but a waiver can be granted for the freeboard requirements that the city has put in place in order to get the full 15 percent discount rating. Roughly 20 such appeals have been done in the past four years, Brown said.
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Ocean City Today
PAGE 6
DECEMBER 26, 2014
Harbor seals: OK to look, but not too closely Sure, they’re cute but they also carry diseases and need to be left alone
By Brian Gilliland Staff Writer (Dec. 26, 2014) They may be cute and they may be cuddly but they are wild animals, are susceptible to a host of diseases, including rabies and herpes, will bite and can carry fines of up to $500 for “harassment,” which is basically any interaction that might change the animals’ behavior. They’re seals and they’re back in Ocean City. Now leave them alone. A young harbor seal was spotted on Dec. 7, the first seal of the season. Sandi Smith of the Maryland Coastal Bays Program said in a release the first “social haul out” in Ocean City
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Ocean City Today
DECEMBER 26, 2014
PAGE 7
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was in 2008. Smith said hauling out is a normal behavior of pinnipeds, otherwise known as seals, sea lions and walruses. The animals take a necessary break from foraging for mating, giving birth, escaping predators, social activity and rest – activities that are coupled with an inherent degree of agitation. Approaching a seal to sate curiosity is fine, to a point. Keep 50 yards between the observer and the observed and the consequences will be few. More if there is dog involvement. Seals are protected by the Marine Mammal Protection Act. The bill was signed into law in 1972 by Richard Nixon prohibiting the hunting, killing, capture or harassment of marine mammals. The law is enforced by the Fisheries service of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “We try to educate folks as much as possible,” Assistant Director, Northeast Division Logan Gregory said. If that fails, enforcement becomes an option. Gregory said NOAA employs uniformed officers and special agents to handle that side of things.
Here in Ocean City, there is one special agent, Steve Niemi, managing the area. Niemi said summary settlements, what he is empowered to issue instead of a ticket, provide for a $500 penalty for feeding wild animals for a first offense. Harassment carries a $100 fine for a first offense and $500 for a second. More severe interaction – Niemi recalls animals being shot with guns and arrows – carry harsher penalties. “We do our best work when people do what they are supposed to do,” he said. Niemi said he has never issued a summary settlement with regard to seals. Indeed, there are other, preferable options to sidling up to a hauled-out harbor seal and risking fines. If a seal is discovered on local shores, the Marine Animal Rescue Program, part of the National Aquarium in Baltimore, should be contacted at 1-800-6289944. An observer from the program will locate the seal and evaluate its condition: social, tired, hungry or injured, for example, and coordinate with Ocean City Animal Control to keep the animal safe.
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