Abandoned Getty and BP gas stations greet visitors coming over the Ninth Street Bridge into Ocean City. Across the street is a vacant former Exxon Station.
City Council will consider an ordinance Thursday that would allow the city to take control of abandoned properties that become a nuisance to the community in Ocean City.
The proposed ordinance would authorize the mayor to assign an officer to create an abandoned properties list based on a variety of criteria (see PDF below). The city would then have the right to take control of properties, borrow money to rehabilitate them, and recover costs through liens on sale of properties.
Mayor Jay Gillian has said that the first targets of the ordinance would be three long-vacant gas stations at the foot of the Ninth Street Bridge — the first sights to greet visitors traveling the main route into Ocean City. Gillian said he would like to see the properties preserved as open space.
Council will consider the ordinance at its public meeting 7 p.m. Thursday (June 11) at City Hall.
Council had approved one reading of a similar ordinance, but City Solicitor Dottie McCrosson
recommended on May 14 that Council table the measure and bring forth a resolution at its May 28 meeting acknowledging that blighted and abandoned properties in Ocean City are indeed a problem. She said the resolution would make the ordinance more "bulletproof."
Council followed her recommendations and now considers a new resolution that will require two readings.
In other business at Thursday's meeting:
- McCrosson and Stanton Contract: City Council will consider a professional services contract that would renew the services of the McCrosson and Stanton law firm for general legal services for the city at a rate of $175 per hour plus costs.
- Schilling Estate Grant: City Council will vote to apply for a $325,000 state Green Acres grant to be used toward purchase of vacant property that fronts the boardwalk at 19th Street. If the grant were received, the city would be responsible for only $175,000 of a $1.75 million purchase. (Read more: $1.75 Million Deal Will Keep Boardwalk Lots Undeveloped Forever.)
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