Map shows Ocean City’s local Historic District outlined in red, and the State and National Registers of Historic Places outlined in black. The state map includes a dogleg that encompasses the historic Bellevue Hotel at Eighth Street and Ocean Avenue (which burned to the ground in September 2012). The local map includes an extension drawn to include the historic U.S. Life Saving Station No. 30 at Fourth Street and Atlantic Avenue.
About 75 people packed Council Chambers at City Hall on Thursday for wide-ranging discussion of issues related to Ocean City's Historic District.
Council is considering making minor revisions to the ordinance that governs the district — a 16-block area surrounding the Ocean City Tabernacle — and it scheduled the public workshop to invite district property owners to provide feedback not only on the proposed changes but on anything related to the district.
- The Immediate Issue: Proposed changes to the Historic District ordinance are "largely administrative, almost clerical" and years in the making, City Solicitor Dorothy McCrosson told council members. See PDF below for the draft ordinance (with proposed revisions in red). "Most of the changes were made to make it easier for applicants," Ocean City Historic Preservation Commission member Jeff Sutherland said.
- The Demolition Question: The draft ordinance does not include two proposed changes that have drawn more debate. Both are related to requirements when a property owner is denied permission to demolish a home in the historic district and build new. The first proposal relates to the amount of time an owner must advertise a property for sale (to a prospective buyer who wants to preserve the historic home) before a demolition can proceed. The Historic Preservation Commission had proposed six months with two of those months between May and September. The second proposal relates to getting appraisals to define the "fair market value" of a home advertised for sale. "The guidance we give is that it should not exceed one year," state Principal Historic Preservation Specialist Andrea Tingey said of the required advertising period.
- The District Boundaries: District resident Mark Crego told City Council that the 300 blocks of Ocean and Wesley avenues and other areas of the local Historic District did not make the cut when a 2001 survey designated the state and national districts for the area (the blocks are included in the local district, but not the state and federal). He questioned why the owners there should have to follow the district guidelines with no benefits. Tingey said the city is overdue for an updated survey, and she said the decision to change boundaries in a local historic district is entirely a municipality's decision. Ocean City can apply for a grant by September that would award as much as $25,000 (by January) to resurvey properties within the district.
- The Consensus: The majority of the people speaking at the meeting called the Historic District a great asset and asked council to make it easier to let it thrive. "We need to learn to love our historic homes, and we need to learn to love a yard," Central Avenue resident Susan Phillips said. "The only place it exists is in the Historic District ... Life was always neighborhoods, and we don't have them any more." Innkeeper and Historic Preservation Commission member John Loeper said, "If you lose your history, you lose your town."
- Some Ideas: Waiving fees that serve as "penalties" any time a district property owner wants to make an improvement could go a long way toward preserving the district, several said in public comment. First Ward Councilman and Historic District resident Mike DeVlieger inquired about providing incentives instead of obstacles for owners of "noncontributing" properties (not historic) within the district to rebuild homes with historic character.
- Elevation: The state representative, Tingey, said other municipalities have recognized the rights of historic district residents to elevate their homes to meet new federal base flood elevation guidelines — but not to exceed them (to make room for an under-home garage, for instance).
Council Vice President Michael Allegretto said the group's motivation is to help eliminate frustrations from owners who want to rehabilitate homes and from members of the local Historic Preservation Commission.
Commission member Susan Matthews reminded the public that the commission serves as an advisory board and meets the first Tuesday of every month.
Read more:
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