By MADDY VITALE
Ocean City officials are gearing up for the throngs of visitors traveling to the island for a vacation this summer.
As part of the preparations, at the urging of Police Chief Jay Prettyman, there will be more stop signs and four-way stops. And drivers planning to zip up an alleyway to avoid a clogged main roadway better do so at 15 mph or will risk getting a summons.
City Council unanimously adopted two amended traffic ordinances at its regular meeting Thursday night.
“This ordinance and the next one are brought for you at the request of Chief Prettyman,” City Solicitor Dorothy McCrosson explained of both ordinances during the Council meeting.
Specifically, a stop sign was installed at Ninth Street and Atlantic Avenue, and there were three four-way stop signs put in at 15th Street and Simpson Avenue, 17th Street and Simpson Avenue and 17th Street and Haven Avenue.
Language in an ordinance for alleyways emphasizes that all alleys, including Wesley Way, have 15 mph speed limits.
McCrosson said Council’s approval of the ordinance on stop signs adds those streets to the schedule of stop signs and four-way stop signs in Ocean City.
Both amended traffic ordinances were introduced at the April 8 Council meeting. City officials said at that meeting that speed limit enforcement is needed in the alleyways.
Councilman Tom Rotondi said at the April 8 meeting that kids play in the alleys and that motorists using the alleyways have to drive slow.
McCrosson noted that Councilman Jody Levchuk also voiced concerns over the speeds in the alleys.
“This is another police ordinance and was suggested by Councilman Levchuk,” she said.
Prior to the vote Thursday on the second ordinance, Councilman Michael DeVlieger asked if 15 mph speed limit signs could be installed at each alley.
“We have such a tremendous percentage of our population who isn’t here year-round. It might be a tourist for the first time ever who drives 25 mph down the alley,” DeVlieger noted. “I think progressively, it would probably be a good policy to make a few more every year. I just think it is common sense for us.”
Councilman Keith Hartzell suggested that installing a sign at each of the four entryways onto the island might be a good way to inform or reinforce the speed limit for all alleyways in town.
“I think when the chief (Prettyman) talks about education, this is right on education, a sign on each four entrances to the island,” Hartzell said. “If we have a persistent problem, then we would go to engineering and enforcement.”
McCrosson responded to DeVlieger’s question about posting a sign at each alleyway, saying, “The chief said there will not be a sign in every single alley. The speed limit being codified in the administrative code is enough.”
She added, “There are a lot of signs already and the chief said there would not be a sign in every alley.”
