The Mark Soifer Park in downtown Ocean City would serve as a model for landscaping improvements for the Ninth Street entranceway.
By Donald Wittkowski
One of the last things motorists see while leaving Ocean City on the Ninth Street corridor is an abandoned, ramshackle Getty gas station that has a “Sorry, we’re closed” sign in a front window smeared with dust and smudges.
Next door to the hulking Getty site is a muddy lot where a shuttered BP gas station once stood before it was torn down last year after the city bought the property for $475,000.
Taken together, these eyesores hardly create an inviting tableau that would beckon visitors back to town again. But the city is about to embark on a cleanup plan for the Ninth Street gateway that would transform the old gas station sites into landscaped green space.
City Council, at its meeting 7 p.m. Thursday, is scheduled to vote to advertise for construction bids for the landscaping improvements. More information is expected to be released at the meeting about the timetable for completing the projects.
The redevelopment of the former Getty and BP sites is a key part of the city’s strategy to beautify the Ninth Street corridor from the bay to the Boardwalk, creating a far more appealing welcome mat for visitors arriving in town via the Route 52 Causeway bridge.
Mayor Jay Gillian unveiled a proposed $112.2 million, five-year capital plan Tuesday night that includes $2 million in funding in 2017 for land acquisition in the Ninth Street corridor and other parts of the city.
Now little more than an empty, muddy lot, the old BP site is part of the city's plan to create landscaped open space on the Ninth Street corridor.
Initially, the city would concentrate on sprucing up an expanse of land stretching from the corner of Ninth Street and Bay Avenue to the base of the Route 52 Causeway bridge. The old gas stations are right in the middle of that area.
After the city bought the old BP property last year, the station’s weather-beaten building and rusting fuel pumps were demolished to clear away the blight. Currently, the site is little more than an empty lot dotted with mud puddles and piles of dirt surrounded by a chain-link fence.
The Mark Soifer Park in downtown Ocean City would serve as a model for landscaping improvements for the Ninth Street entranceway.
The old BP and Getty sites would offer a much larger swath of land than Soifer Park. The landscaped lots would be elevated by 2 to 3 feet to help protect them from flooding. The project would also include new parking for the adjacent Revere Place, Chew said in his memo.
In addition to the proposed landscaping improvements, a retaining wall would also be built along Ninth Street to allow the city to further elevate the artery for flood protection, Chew said.
The mayor held a town hall meeting in October to gather suggestions from the public on how to give the Ninth Street corridor a facelift. Ideas included open space, new parks, children’s playgrounds, boat slips and a series of environmentally friendly attractions ranging from bird-watching areas to rain gardens.
Still unresolved is what will happen to yet another former gas station site in the heart of the Ninth Street entranceway. The Keller Williams realty firm bought the old Exxon site last year for $500,000 and had planned on redeveloping the property into a new $2 million office building.
However, the city Planning Board rejected the Keller Williams project on Jan. 11 after expressing concerns about traffic flow and parking arrangements. Paul Chiolo, the owner of Keller Williams, said he would talk to his attorney to consider his options in the wake of the Planning Board’s decision.
