OC Today WWW.OCEANCITYTODAY.NET
MARCH 31, 2017
SERVING NORTHERN WORCESTER COUNTY
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TASTE OF FINER THINGS Annual fundraiser for Coastal Hospice offers best from resort’s restaurants – Page 47
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More study on tap for inlet shoals Maintenance dredge may be available next month, depending on schedule
GREG ELLISON/OCEAN CITY TODAY
Memorial dedication Barry Berger, the sole Ocean City native to be killed during the Vietnam conflict, is being honored with a memorial in front of City Hall at 301 Baltimore Ave. In preparation for Thursday’s dedication ceremony, members of the Vietnam Veterans of America, Ocean City Chapter 1091, bolt in the plaque last Saturday. VVA President Nelson Kelly, left, watches while Charles “Spaz” Spaziani, VVA board member, lines up the holes and VVA sergeant-at-arms Jack Hyle, right, does the heavy lifting. Overseeing the proceedings is VVA Chaplain Sarge Garlitz.
New fire station? On second thought, no Council votes 4-3 to repair 74th St. facility instead of spending big to replace it
By Katie Tabeling Staff Writer (March 31, 2017) Plans for a new Ocean City Fire Department station were extinguished Tuesday, as a City
Council majority concluded that renovating the 74th fire house rather than replacing it would be a more prudent use of taxpayer money. Although city officials received bids from four architecture firms and had $30,000 set aside in this year’s budget to be used to design a new Fire Station 3, the council voted 4-3 to use that money to address repairs
to the facility instead. Fire Station 3 is the last fire house in the resort’s plan to improve fire and paramedic services. According to an engineering report issued in 2002, renovations of the fire headquarters at 15th Street and Station 4 at 130th Street and relocating Station 3 to 65th Street would better serve See OC COUNCIL Page 3
By Brian Gilliland Associate Editor (March 31, 2017) When fishermen, elected officials, government workers and others met about two years ago to look for an answer to the constant shoaling that was stranding commercial fishing vessels as they worked their way through the Ocean City Inlet, the compromise solution reached included increased dredging and a new hydrodynamic study of the area. Now, as fishing vessels continue to run aground — the most recent incident last week with the Instigator, a vessel that’s been stuck there at least twice before — the Army Corps of Engineers revealed that new dredging in the area won’t take place for at least a month, and it had narrowed the focus of the study to a scour hole near Homer Gudelsky Park, formerly known as Stinky Beach. “Going forward, our plan is for the study to focus primarily on the large scour hole in the waters near Stinky Beach and addressing its cause and impacts. With this change in approach, we hope to be able to finish the study effort and have a recommendation in 2019,” Christopher Gardner, corps spokesman, said. At the end of 2015, Congress approved the Army Corps’ Continuing Authorities Program, which contains a number relatively smaller projects relating to regional sediment management. Instead of tackling each project on a case-by-case basis, the CAP grants approval to a number of projects at once. See CORPS Page 4