Ocean City will pay an architect up to $15,000 to draw up plans to make the Greater Ocean City Theatre Company’s home at 15th Street and West Avenue safe for classes and rehearsals that include large numbers of participants.
William McLees Architecture of Somers Point is at work on the job, according to Roger McLarnon, director of the former Department of Community Operations.
The work is necessary, he said, to meet code requirements for that type of use, which he said was not known when the building was first permitted and inspected.
The expense is only for design work. The improvements will come at more cost.
The city already has spent $47,558 to fix the building, not including overtime work for Department of Public Works employees. (Read more: City Spends $47,558 to Get OCTC Property Ready for “As Is” Lease.)
The city-owned property had been vacant, used in recent years only for storing records and equipment, until Superstorm Sandy flooded it in October 2012. The expenses are relatively small in relation to other post-Sandy repairs and renovations to city facilities, but they’ve been called into question because the city signed an “as is” lease with the theater company.
In pushing for approval of the $1-a-year lease to the private nonprofit group in December 2014, city officials had trumpeted a lease that specified “the tenant shall maintain, repair and keep in satisfactory condition the interior of the building.”
But even though the lease was signed, the city proceeded with interior renovations in the early part of 2015. The city’s intention all along was to provide a building that was “habitable,” Mayor’s Assistant Mike Dattilo said at the time. OCTC would then be responsible for outfitting it, and for ongoing interior maintenance.
The theater company moved into the building throughout the spring and celebrated a ribbon-cutting on June 24 (“Ocean City Theatre Company Celebrates Opening of New Home“).
A state fire inspector visited the property on July 22 and issued a violation notice to the city for the repair or replacement of damaged exit signs, for lack of fire extinguishers near exit doors and for inoperable emergency lighting.
Less than a week later, a city construction official inspected the property and issued a violation notice to the city the following day. The violation was for a “change of use without permits or approvals.” The notice said the city would be required to provide an “architectural drawing depicting as-built conditions: type of construction, uses, design load, egress plan, etc.” It required the city to provide the drawing within two weeks.
Even though the proposed use of the building was widely reported at the time the lease was approved (Ocean Theatre Company Gets New Home at 15th and West) and McLarnon toured the vacant building with representatives of the theater company, he said he was unaware that so many people were using the building until “somebody saw 50 kids.”
“My license requires me to report this,” McLarnon said.
“It’s our responsibility to make sure they have a safe place to hang their hat,” he said of the OCTC.
Ocean City Business Administrator Jim Mallon echoed his concerns for the theater company members and students using the building.
“If people identify areas where we can improve safety, we will,” Mallon said.
Mayor Jay Gillian had told City Council the same at the last meeting — that the city would never let the theater company use the building if it weren’t safe.
In the meantime, OCTC continues to use the building as modifications are made and plans are designed.
The first floor is home to rehearsals, classes, offices and a room for props. The second floor is dedicated to costume storage and construction.
The final performance of OCTC’s tribute to Broadway tribute to John Kander and the late Fred Ebb, “The World Goes Round,” is 7:30 p.m. Friday.
