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City Council Denies Request To Sell Beer At Beach Event

OCEAN CITY - The City Council denied promoters their request to sell beer on the beach during the AVP Crocs Volleyball Tour in June, citing double standards and preaching mutual benefits. In an unanimous decision, City Council members granted organizer Brett Wolf of Corrigan Sports the ability to charge admission during the event, but thwarted his hopes of generating revenue by sales of alcohol at a beer tent inside a fenced area of the 'stadium' during the three-day event scheduled for June on...READ MORE

Commissioners Surprised By School Board Action

SNOW HILL - Controversy over the Worcester County Board of Education budget continues, with county elected officials surprised over the board's sudden invocation of a state regulation requiring flat funding of the schools on a per student basis. 'I've sat here for 11 years and didn't have the faintest idea what Maintenance of Effort was until I saw it in the [briefing] book,' said Commissioner Virgil Shockley. 'I kind of feel a little shell shocked.' 'Maintenance of Effort' is a state regulation...READ MORE

County Opts Not To Fight Lower Slots Percentage

SNOW HILL - Local elected officials will not oppose a change in slots legislation assigning a percent of future slots revenues to a local housing development, but will testify before the Maryland General Assembly seeking clarification of the role of a development council potentially with the power to approve or disapprove slots impact spending. The 15-member local development council, under the current bill, looks at slot machine gambling impacts, but it is not clear what authority that body...READ MORE

County Schools Seek Cut Relief

NEWARK - Worcester education officials did an abrupt about face on Tuesday, just before adopting its proposed fiscal year 2010 budget, when it came to light the spending plan would not comply with a seldom-evoked state law requiring a local contribution equal to the prior year's allocation per student. Shortly after reviewing its rather dire fiscal year 2010 budget reflecting a 3-percent, across-the-board cut from last year's local allocation mandated by the County Commissioners, Board of...READ MORE

Resident Pleads With Council To Fix 'Problem System'

OCEAN CITY - Robert Melvin's simple plea to the Mayor and City Council does not appear to have a simple solution, even after the third try. Melvin, a local handicapped resident who utilizes the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) vans that Ocean City provides, came to City Hall for a third time in recent months to try to coerce the council to fix what he calls a 'problem system in need of a solution.' Melvin thinks that the current system is not efficient, citing that it often takes him...READ MORE

Berlin Council's Decision Lifts Sewer Capacity Moratorium

BERLIN - Sewer capacity has become available in Berlin, ending a de facto moratorium that has lasted for years, now that the Berlin Mayor and Council has passed new sewer rules. With the new wastewater regulations approved last week, after two years of development and discussion, the town of Berlin can release about 458 EDUs for allocation to new projects. The EDUs are portioned out among residential, commercial, industrial, and reserves under a capacity management plan, with about 90 units of...READ MORE

Berlin Planners Opt Against New Regs

BERLIN - Plant and fence heights on corner lots in Berlin will still fall under existing regulations after the Berlin Planning Commission rejected suggestions to modify the code, which ensures that motorist sight lines are clear at street corners. The Planning Commission decided to leave the enforcement of those sight lines to Planning and Zoning Director Chuck Ward's judgment instead of creating new regulations. Ward suggested new rules for corner plantings and fences after citizen complaints....READ MORE

Council Wants To Study Redevelopment Incentives

OCEAN CITY - Some members of the City Council took exception to the idea of granting special exceptions for downtown redevelopment. A new ordinance concerning incentives for downtown redevelopment backtracked from first reading to a future work session on Monday night, after Council took umbrage with certain language in the ordinance, mostly pertaining to granting waivers to certain projects concerning the construction of loading zones. 'There are times on the Boardwalk, when a business doesn't...READ MORE

County Volunteers In Running For Governor's Awards

BERLIN - The Worcester County Commissioners and Volunteer Services Manager Cyndy Howell recognized Worcester County volunteers as rare treasures during the county's 2009 Maryland's Most Beautiful People (MMBP) Volunteer Awards Ceremony held at Lighthouse Sound in Bishopville. Rather than choosing only three MMBP nominees, as has been done in past years, the Worcester County Selection Committee chose to highlight and forward information on each of the 15 individuals and organizations nominated...READ MORE

Horseshoe Crab Season Closure Avoided

OCEAN CITY - State environmental officials this week announced a dramatic change in horseshoe crab harvest regulations along the Atlantic coast of Maryland including Ocean City and its coastal bays in a two-prong effort to preserve the prehistoric crabs and the migratory birds that feed off their eggs. Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) fisheries service officials this week announced they are implementing new horseshoe crab regulations including a two-to-one, male to female harvest...READ MORE

OC Marina Burglar Ordered To Reimburse

SNOW HILL - One of two brothers arrested in October after resort police connected them to a series of marina burglaries in the downtown area in September pleaded guilty this week to second-degree burglary and was sentenced to two years in jail, with all but six months suspended, but perhaps more importantly was forced to pay thousands of dollars in restitution to the victims. Robert James Sickler, Jr., 37, of Ocean City, appeared in Circuit Court last Friday to face burglary, theft and malicious...READ MORE

Ocean City News In Brief

OCEAN CITY - In 'the brief' this week, the City Council decided to let the sweet sounds of television advertising join the beeping of the Boardwalk tram, struggled to get through the passage of the first reading of the wind turbine law for the second time and said that continuing the reduced trash pick up schedule in Ocean City might be a good thing for everybody for a little while longer. Comcast To Sell Ads On Boardwalk Tram Back in October, when City Manager Dennis Dare brought the first...READ MORE

Officials Excited To See Draft Rezoning

SNOW HILL - Just over three years after the new Worcester County Comprehensive Plan was adopted, county staff has delivered the draft rezoning and subdivision regulations to the Worcester County Commissioners on Tuesday. 'Hallelujah! Oh my goodness, I think it's wonderful,' said Commission President Louise Gulyas said after the meeting. These regulations are the enforcement section of the 2006 Comprehensive Plan. 'This has been a long ongoing process and I'm glad to get it to this point,' said...READ MORE

Ordinance Mistake Costs OC Developer

OCEAN CITY - The City Council cleaned up the language in an ordinance specifying how high buildings can be on Jacqueline Avenue, and in doing so, stalled a major project that was about to commence. The council admitted missing a verbiage error in an ordinance intended to establish three stories as the height limit for buildings built from Philadelphia to Edgewater avenues, but were unwilling to allow a compromise for the developer that will now have to severely alter his plans for a 50-foot...READ MORE

Proposed School Budget Includes Layoffs, Furloughs

NEWARK - It remains to be seen if the Worcester County Board of Education's fiscal year 2010 budget is adopted as proposed, but the spending plan currently on the table includes the elimination of as many as 29 positions along with a freeze of salaries for teachers and mandated furloughs for administration staff. Worcester school board members on Tuesday got a look at the final draft of the proposed fiscal year 2010 budget on Tuesday, reflecting a 3-percent, across-the-board cut from last year's...READ MORE

State Approves Coastal Bays Easement

BERLIN - A significant chunk of waterfront property in Worcester County was preserved from future development this week with the state Board of Public Works approval of a 232-acre conservation easement purchase of a site near Public Landing through Program Open Space. Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley on Wednesday announced the three-member Board of Public Works on which he serves approved the purchase of the conservation easement on the 232-acre tract in the coastal bays watershed in Worcester...READ MORE

Worcester County News In Brief

SNOW HILL - The Worcester County Commissioners discussed a variety of business at their March 17 meeting. The following is a review of sorts. The free prescription card program begun last year through the National Association of Counties has been a success, said Marty Pusey, Director of Prevention for the Worcester County Health Department. 'Fortunately, our pharmacies have been very supportive of this program. All our pharmacies in Worcester County participate in it,' Pusey said. When the...READ MORE