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OC Today-Dispatch JANUARY 16, 2026

STUBBORNLY LOCAL, EQUALLY INDEPENDENT

PRICELESS

Wind fans, foes state their cases Positions reiterated as two sides attend panel session that changed few, if any, minds about offshore turbines. — PAGE 13

Short-term rental cap proposed Planning staff at City Hall directed to come Area resident Regis Reft was one of the 11 speakers who weighed in with questions and statements during this week’s offshore wind forum. up with ordinance language that would limit the number of licenses that could It’s been 30 years since the inlet parking got a new surface, but that’s be issued in R1, going to change in the next couple of months as parking kiosks are MH Zones. — PAGE 4 removed, new lights are installed and paving takes place. — PAGE 3 BRIAN SHANE/OC TODAY-DISPATCH

Inlet lot getting overhaul

ROUTE 50 BRIDGE CLOSURE BEGINS TUESDAY FOR TWO WEEKS ... TAKE ROUTE 90 — PAGE 71

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OC’s Inlet Lot to get cellular antenna, new asphalt for ‘26 By Bethany Hooper Associate Editor (Jan. 16, 2026) Improvements to the Ocean City’s inlet parking lot will continue throughout the winter. During Tuesday’s meeting of the Ocean City Transportation Committee, Public Works Director Hal Adkins reported that Verizon and AT&T are installing small-cell antennas in the lot to improve network coverage. Company representatives say these low power compact units will improve cell coverage during large special events. Adkins said crews also are beginning to demolish old light poles and that the city is on track to begin an extensive repaving project in the coming weeks. “We are racing between now and the next three weeks to have everything done infrastructure-wise to repave the entire parking lot,” he said. The repaving project will be the first to take place at the inlet lot in more than three decades, Adkins said earlier this month. He told committee members this week the goal is complete the lot in early April, ahead of the city’s first special event. While new antennas and light poles will be added to the inlet parking lot, City Manager Terry McGean the city does plan to do away with one feature – parking kiosks. Ahead of the 2025 summer season, the Ocean City Council voted to eliminate parking kiosks in town and to gradually phase out kiosks at the inlet lot by 2026. “Just as a reminder, the kiosks will

no longer be in the inlet lot for 2026,” McGean told committee members this week. “They are all done.” The elimination comes as the city finalizes its transition to a meterless system. During Tuesday’s meeting, Transportation Manager Rob Shearman noted that parking revenues in 2025 increased 18.1% from the year prior, with a vast majority of those collections coming from mobile applications. “Of course kiosk payment was lower this year because we took them away at the beginning of the season outside of the inlet lot. Then you can see in August, kiosk payments flatlined. Why? Because the inlet lot was shut down. The only place we had kiosks was no longer available,” he explained. “So at that point, our revenue shifted entirely over to mobile app payment. We were already trending in that direction. This just accelerated it.” This fiscal year, total revenues are on track to meet budget projections, Shearman reports. Revenues from surface lots, the inlet parking lot and parking fines are slightly down, while revenues from street parking are up. “Street parking is up, due mostly to the targeted ocean block rate increase there …,” Shearman told the committee. “The good thing is that it’s a lot easier to find parking on those ocean blocks because people are more careful about how long they stay … It’s a perfect illustration of the intent of that.”

WE CANNOT SA AY Y THAN K YOU ENOUG H FOR F THE OVE RWHE LM ING SU P PORT TH I S C OMMUN ITY HA H S SH OWN US ! A SP ECIAL THAN K YOU TO HAR POON HAN NNAH’S !

OC Council holding special meeting on DeLuca decision By Bethany Hooper Associate Editor (Jan. 16, 2026) With a petition filed challenging the residency of Ocean City Councilman Tony DeLuca, the City Council will hold a special meeting next Wednesday to discuss the accusations. “As a follow-up to the petition to the secretary’s residency, we have tentatively scheduled a special meeting for 1 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026 to discuss the issue,” Council President Matt James announced at the end of Tuesday’s work session. Last week, Leslie Smith filed a formal complaint with the Town of Ocean City seeking a review of DeLuca’s residency. The former council candidate – ousted from the 2024 race after a council majority determined she did not meet the city’s domicile requirements – alleges she was discriminated against, and that the same review was not applied to DeLuca, who she claims is living full-

time in Annapolis. “I just want the record to reflect that there’s a lack of confidence within our community that Councilman DeLuca actually resides in this town fulltime,” she told the City Council during public comments at the end of last week’s meeting. “I feel the scope, manner and outcome of the residency review applied to me versus Councilman DeLuca raises serious concern regarding selective and inconsistent enforcement.” From the outset, Smith has publicly questioned why she was singled out for renting out her Ocean City property in the summer months, while DeLuca – a fellow candidate seeking re-election in 2024 – traveled between his condo in Ocean City and his property in Annapolis. According to public records, DeLuca purchased his Annapolis property in April 2023, at the same time he sold his primary residence in See DELUCA Page 6

NOT I C E OF T E M POR A RY C LOSU R E DUE TO A RECENT INCIDENT, T, OUR EST ES ST TA ABLISHMENT A IS CLOSED UNTIL FUR RT THER NOTICE. WE ARE WORKING DILIGENTL LY Y TO REOPEN AN ND REGRET ANY DISRUPTION TO YOUR PLA ANS. TH HA ANK YOU FOR YOUR UNDER RS ST TA ANDING. A WE WILL PROVIDE UPDA DA AT TE ES S AS SOON AS POSSIBLE REG GA ARDING OUR REO OPENING. The Mushrush family would like to thank you for all the calls , messages & kind d wor rd ds.