Ocean City Considers Ways to Create More Parking

Ocean City will consider a series of proposals, both short term and long term, to help ease the chronic parking shortages that become particularly bad during the busy summer tourism season.

Councilman Keith Hartzell, who represents the Second Ward, unveiled a series of proposed measures that he indicated could free up hundreds of parking spaces throughout the city.

“I don’t think anyone here doesn’t think that we have enough parking. We all know we don’t have enough parking,” Hartzell told nearly 200 people at Tabernacle Baptist Church during a Second Ward community meeting last Saturday.

Hartzell told the crowd that he will work with his fellow City Council members and Mayor Jay Gillian’s administration on some of his new ideas to create more parking spots. He also wants to tighten the city’s existing ordinance regulating construction dumpsters to help alleviate parking shortages.

In the short term, Hartzell wants the city to ban dumpsters from the streets from Memorial Day to Labor Day unless there is an absolute need for them to stay out on the road. He also believes dumpsters should be limited in size to 10 cubic yards to prevent them from taking up the equivalent of two parking spaces along the street.

In a related move, Hartzell also wants all trailers and work trucks to be removed from the streets at night, creating another way that would free up more parking. Under the plan, the owners of trailers and work trucks would be required to either park them on private property or take them home at night, he said.

“There are estimates at times that 700 or 800 spots on the whole island would open up. It’s just a simple adjustment of where we put dumpsters, where we put trailers and where we put trucks,” he said.

Hartzell also described a plan he wants to implement to create more parking for new homes built on smaller, nonconforming lots that have no alley access.

Essentially, those homes would be built with an open space in front of the house, off the street, dedicated for parking, he said.

He believes the plan would “help immensely” with parking throughout the island.

    Dumpsters would be banned from Ocean City's streets, under most circumstances, between Memorial Day and Labor Day under a proposal by Councilman Keith Hartzell.
  

Hartzell also outlined a longer-range plan that would need state approval to have it implemented in the Second Ward. He called it the “5-5-5” plan.

State regulations currently allow homes built with five bedrooms and five bathrooms to have three parking spots, he said. Hartzell wants the number of parking spaces increased to five for homes of that size, hence the “5-5-5” designation he is proposing.

He plans to work with city officials to apply to the state for a formal designation, called a “Special Area Standard,” requiring new homes built in the Second Ward to have five parking spaces if they have five bedrooms and five baths.

“The problem is, that standard of three parking spots doesn’t cut it,” he said of the state regulations.

Ocean City would have to meet a number of criteria to have a chance of winning the “5-5-5” designation from the state, Hartzell pointed out.

If approved by the state, Hartzell is looking to limit the “5-5-5” requirement in the Second Ward. It would not apply to home construction throughout the entire city.

Hartzell called the Second Ward “unique” compared to other parts of town.

“We are the economic engine of this town,” he said of the Second Ward. “From Fourth to 12th streets is my ward – our ward,” he told the audience. “You have most of the Boardwalk in the ward. You have most of the bayfront in the ward. (And) my favorite, the downtown. We have a lot going on here, and all that requires more parking.”

The five-bedroom homes reflect the trend for bigger, fancier houses in Ocean City and other shore communities. As those homes become more popular, they have added to the parking crunch because they often attract large families and group rentals.

“We are creating some homes, in my opinion, that are more for Airbnb use than it is for living use,” Hartzell said.

    Large homes leading to spillover parking issues in neighborhoods may be remedied with proposed construction changes.
  

Hartzell stressed that his “5-5-5” plan isn’t intended to slow down development in Ocean City. On the contrary, he described development as “the key” to the city’s growth and emphasized his support for tourism.

“Folks, I’m not here to stop development,” he said during the Second Ward meeting. “What I am here to do is just make it work a little bit better for the neighborhood.”

Hartzell said no one is really to blame for the parking challenges created by the construction of larger homes, except for local elected officials like him.

“What I want to say to folks, and this is the most important thing I’m going to tell you, this is not the fault of the realtor, this is not the fault of the developer, this is not the fault of the architect,” he said.

“It’s my fault, because I was on City Council. So, without going backwards, we voted for things in the past and somehow this got created. I don’t know how exactly. My job is to go backwards, look at it and try to come out with solutions,” he added.

For years, city officials have been searching for ways to create more parking. At the Sept. 12 City Council meeting, a bond ordinance was introduced to buy two privately owned parking lots next to City Hall for $3.3 million.

Combined, the two lots include 44 parking spots. The additional parking would be used by the public and also by the Police Department during the renovation of the Public Safety Building across the street on Central Avenue and Eighth Street. Construction on the Public Safety Building is expected to begin in 2025.