By MADDY VITALE
Walking along Ocean City's beaches gets easier each year. Sand is still the same. And with replenishment projects, the shoreline has only grown.
So no, the beaches aren’t shrinking.
But a more convenient way to travel onto the beach for a staycation, vacation or daytrip, has been put to good use at the city’s beach entrances.
They are the mobility mats. Made of hard plastic, they provide an easier way for those in wheelchairs and for the elderly or anyone else who needs to get to the beach safely, a way to do it.
And they also are popular among beachgoers who simply want to get onto the beach comfortably while toting chairs, pulling wagons and, of course, pushing baby strollers.
The 34th Street beach mat extends to the high tide line.
But city officials explained that there is a delay in receiving new mobility mats for beaches that do not currently have them.
In a report to City Council at a meeting Thursday, City Business Administrator George Savastano said that there is a slight delay and the beach mats are on back order.
“A large item we get requests for through the summer is mobility mats. Everyone knows these are very popular and I just ask everyone to bear with us,” Savastano said. “We are running low on mats. We have them on back order, so we are going to be getting more.”
He continued, “We’ve gotten most of them placed, but we still have several of locations to complete.”
In addition, he noted that the city has handicap-accessible sitting areas with the mobility mats now at Stenton Place, 14th Street, 34th Street and 58th Street.
“Next week, we will place sitting areas for handicapped accessibility at the Surf (Road) and Waverly beaches,” Savastano added.
Mobility mats provide convenience for beachgoers.
In recent years, Ocean City has made it a focus to create more beach accessibility for all of its visitors by rolling out more mats. At some beaches, such as 34th Street, 59th Street, Surf Road and Waverly Beach off E. Atlantic Boulevard, the mats stretch to the high tide line.
For the summer of 2021, Mayor Jay Gillian said in his State of the City address in March that the hope was to have the mats at most, if not all, of the city beaches.
“We expanded our beach mat program to increase accessibility for everybody. We plan to have mats at every beach entrance this summer,” Gillian said.
Savastano also emphasized that goal during his report Thursday to City Council.
But for now, beachgoers at some of the beaches may have to wait a while longer.
