Council Approves Contracts to Renovate Two Ocean City Landmarks

U.S. Life Saving Station 30 at Fourth Street and Atlantic Avenue in Ocean City. By Donald Wittkowski City Council approved contracts Thursday night that will help preserve and renovate two landmark buildings, both more than a century old. In another vote, Council approved an ordinance that will require Ocean City's historic homes to meet the same property maintenance requirements as every other house in town. Meanwhile, the new contracts are for work at the Public Safety Building and the old Life-Saving Station. The Life-Saving Station will receive $930,400 worth of renovations to its windows, doors and interior as plans continue to transform the historic building into a public museum opening next year. "In 180 days, it will be done," said John Loeper, who serves as chairman of the nonprofit organization overseeing the project. Speaking to City Council, Loeper said the renovations will recreate the building's heyday between the late 1880s and early 1900s. "When you walk in there, it will feel like 1905," said Loeper, who also serves as chairman of the city’s Planning Board. The Life-Saving Station's fate has been debated for years. The city purchased the building at Fourth Street and Atlantic Avenue in 2010 for about $1 million, ending a decade-long battle to save it from demolition. The renovation work ensures that it will become "a great historic landmark," Councilwoman Karen Bergman said. The city also plans to save the old Public Safety Building. It will be modernized to continue as the headquarters for the police department and municipal court. Mayor Jay Gillian, who once wanted to replace the Public Safety Building with a new facility, now believes it should be renovated and expanded. At the mayor's request, Council approved a $106,500 architectural contract to design an overhaul of the antiquated building at Eighth Street and Central Avenue. "This is just the first step in a process to modernize a facility that is now more than a century old and completely out of compliance with federal flood requirements," Gillian said in his weekly message posted on the city's website. The Ocean City Police Station on the 800 block of Central Avenue. Plans include extensive renovations to the upper floors of the building and construction of a new addition next to it. Ground-level parking would be created beneath both structures. Jim Tweed, president of the local government watchdog group Fairness In Taxes, said his organization supports the idea of renovating the building. "We agree that updating the current building ... is necessary," Tweed told Council. Last January, Gillian had proposed replacing the old building with an entirely new structure as part of the city's five-year, $98.5 million capital plan. At that time, he had proposed spending $1 million this year for designs and engineering, followed by the construction of a new $9 million building in 2017. The project was proposed on land across the street that currently serves as a parking lot for City Hall. Gillian, though, backed away from that plan after local merchants complained it would rob the downtown business district of parking. The revised plan to renovate the building does not eliminate any parking. In addition, it would not require the purchase of land or affect any other parts of the city, Gillian said. By reconstructing the building, the city will preserve a historic landmark and make it resistant to flooding, he noted. The estimated price tag of the building's renovation and expansion has not yet been announced. A cost analysis of the project will be part of the architectural contract awarded by Council to Czar Engineering LLC of Egg Harbor Township. In another key vote Thursday, Council gave final approval to an ordinance that brings the city's historic homes in line with the same propery maintenance code as the non-historic houses. The measure ensures that the city's property maintenance requirements apply equally to every building, historic or otherwise, Business Administrator Jim Mallon said. Ocean City's Historic District covers an area roughly between Third and Eighth streets, Central and Ocean avenues. Mainly, it would allow the city to issue violation notices to the owners of historic homes if their property becomes unsightly, such as overgrown grass or trash in the yard, Mallon said. However, the owner of one historic home expressed fear that the ordinance could lead to "backdoor demolitions" within the Historic District of town. "I think this is a kettle of fish that should not be disturbed," said John Feairheller Jr., who has lived at 435 Wesley Ave. for 60 years. Feairheller questioned whether the ordinance would allow the owners of historic homes to use the measure as a loophole to demolish their houses if they no longer wanted to maintain the property. "Somebody could easily backdoor the system once this takes effect," Feairheller told reporters after the Council meeting. However, City Solicitor Dorothy McCrosson assured Feairheller that the ordinance would not result in "backdoor demolitions." She said anyone who sought to tear down their homes would still have to meet the rigorous demolition requirements of the Historic District. McCrosson explained that the ordinance is designed to give the owners of historic homes the same protections as all other homeowners in town. She said it will help to preserve the appearance of all the homes in the Historic District. "We're trying to encourage people to maintain them so they will be preseved," she said. The ordinance incorporates the hundreds of homes within the Historic District under the umbrella of the city's property maintenance code. The district's boundaries roughly run from Third to Eighth streets between Ocean and Central avenues, although there are some offshoots.