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DECEMBER 5, 2014
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Next up in hotel spurt: new Hyatt
School bd. round one on budget
PZ reminded that code must be accepted when it comes to nonconformity
Salary, technology chorus dominates public input session on FY16 plan
By Zack Hoopes Staff Writer (Dec. 5, 2014) You can lead a horse to the lot, but you can’t make him park, unless he wants to. The city’s planning commission has approved the redevelopment of the Sea Scape Motel properties on 16th Street into a massive Hyatt Place hotel — on the condition that the property’s owners dedicate additional parking to the project in order to alleviate a severe — but legally permissible — lack of spaces. During Tuesday’s hearing, the Ocean City Planning and Zoning Commission grappled with, in the words of Commissioner Palmer Gillis, the “reality versus the legality” of grandfathered parking nonconformities. “The legality is that you meet the code. The reality is that it stresses the neighborhood and doesn’t serve the property,” Gillis told the applicants. “Although it may discomfort some of you, [the owners] have a legal right
An architectural rendering of the Hyatt Place Hotel shows how the structure would appear looking east from Baltimore Avenue at 16th Street, where the Sea Scape Motel now stands. The demolition of the motel is scheduled to begin in January.
to that nonconformity,” argued Hugh Cropper, the project’s attorney. “With all due respect, I think it’s beyond your authority or your job to re-write the code. As it stands, you’re not recognizing a legally existing nonconformity,” Cropper said. The proposed Hyatt would be a complex of 170 hotel rooms and four employee apartments, plus restaurant, retail, conference and wedding space. The project entails two separate buildings on either side of Baltimore Avenue south of 16th Street.
As presented, however, only 113 parking spaces would be provided on-site. But given the massive nonconformity rights granted to the Sea Scape property, this is actually more than the site needs, at least legally. “The reality is that parking in that area is already a nightmare, and you’re talking about having 100 less spaces than what are going to be needed for practical purposes,” noted Commissioner Lauren Taylor. As is almost always the case, tenSee SEA SCAPE page 6
By Brian Gilliland Staff Writer (Dec. 5, 2014) With only one or two outliers, representatives from each school in Worcester County enumerated similar goals for the coming budget year at the annual public input session at the Board of Education complex in Newark. These goals will be taken in tandem with the board’s own recommendations and will eventually be presented to the Worcester County Commissioners for review as they formulate the fiscal 2016 budget in the coming months. Every parent who spoke to the board mentioned salary increases. Every parent also mentioned purchasing new technology for the schools. Pocomoke High School advocates were alone in mentioning afterschool programming, while other popular requests included school supplies and improvements, funding future positions and books. Step increases, contractual pay See UNION page 3
New regional rockfish regulations carry a sting Biology, conservation and plenty of politics go into developing agreement
By Zack Hoopes Staff Writer (Dec. 5, 2014) If you were ever fortunate enough to catch two keeper rockfish in the same day, don’t look forward to doing it again. After several months of shake-ups and contention in the complicated world of fishing regulations, Maryland’s coastal striped bass limit for
recreational anglers is almost guaranteed to drop from two fish of at least 28 inches in length to one fish of at least 28 inches, effective Jan. 1. “The plan all along has been to go with a one-fish bag limit at 28 inches, at least along the coast,” said Mike Luisi of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources’ Fisheries Service. “What the board has said is that if the option exists already in their addendum, it will be adopted.” In this case, “the board” is the striped bass management board of
the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, which coordinates regulatory action in shared waters for the eastern United States. For 2015, the ASMFC has mandated a 25 percent reduction in ocean striped bass harvesting, and a 20.5 percent reduction in the Chesapeake. The ASMFC is – and isn’t – a regulatory authority. Regulations made by the commission are promulgated through its individual member states. See HARVEST Page 4
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