Boardwalk Aerial Tram Plan Withdrawn

OCEAN CITY –Ocean City Skyline is considering proposing an aerial tram to sweep along the skyline of the boardwalk but its presentation was put on hold in order to take more time to work out the details.

A proposal for an aerial tram ride adjacent to Ocean City’s Boardwalk was scheduled to be presented to the Mayor and City Council this week.

“The people that were proposing it made the decision to withdrawal it,” City Clerk Kathy Mathias said on Tuesday. “There are a lot of significant issues with building limit lines and views from peoples condos on the Boardwalk, so they have gone back to the drawing board to consider some other options.”

In a letter addressed to Mathias, Dave Bambrick of GS Proctor & Associates explained his client, Trey Winstead of Skyline Ocean City, concept of the aerial tram.

The aerial tram would be 50 to 85 feet above the Boardwalk and would travel from one end of the Boardwalk to the other, which would offer views of the ocean to the bay from the Inlet to 27th Street. The tram would be considered an attraction as well as a mode of transportation.

The entire infrastructure would sit on a small concrete foundation and the loading on and off ramp towers would consist of two small open air terminals. The tower poles would stretch down the east side of the Boardwalk and would be anchored deep into the sand. The attraction would run from April to October, 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.

Bamrick added that they are willing to enter into a special lease or partnership agreement with Ocean City to make the project a “win-win situation” for bother parties and funding for the project is already in place.

“I don’t remember anybody ever proposing anything like that along the Boardwalk,” Mayor Rick Meehan said on Tuesday.

The mayor said he is waiting to hear the proposal because he knows very little about it but what he does know is the aerial tram isn’t something viable in the Boardwalk area.

“I just didn’t think it was something that was really going to be considered, and it was withdrawn and that was probably the best idea,” he said.