Ocean City Boardwalk set to

By Mallory Panuska Staff Writer

(June 9, 2023) The days are numbered for the hodgepodge of variable message signs along the Ocean City Boardwalk as local officials prepare to switch them out to add more, newer models.

“This give us the opportunity to improve the signage, improve our marketing of the events that we propose, the events that are going on in town,” Tourism and Business Development Director Tom Perlozzo said Monday of the 14 double-sided, fullcolor signs set for installation across the length of the Boardwalk.

“Plus, as we enter into the world of sponsorships as we move forward as well, it gives us the opportunity to get some eyeballs on the things that we’re doing,” Perlozzo added.

Council members voted 6-1, with Councilman Peter Buas opposed, to grant Perlozzo’s request to spend nearly $550,000 in advertising funds to buy the new 75-inch television signs. The signs will display a total of 28 messages from 14 locations set up roughly every two-and-a-half blocks. Perlozzo said he and City Manager Terry McGean had been researching ways to improve signage along the Boardwalk for some time.

“There’s all different sizes,” Perlozzo said of the existing signs. “There’s no uniformity, you don’t know where to look, what to do. This is possibly an opportunity to revisit what we have and clean it up.

Both Perlozzo and McGean said the new signs are the first step in a complete makeover of the Boardwalk displays. They plan to allocate money in next year’s budget to hire a consultant to look at the entire system and make recommendations to consolidate the signs.

“We have a lot of different styles with a lot of different messages,” McGean explained. “I think going forward we need to really just take a full holistic look at all the regulatory signs and information signs and try and come up with a cleaner, more consistent way to do it.”

The plans to clean up and improve the whole system quelled concerns from Councilman Frank Knight, who initially commented that he thought the 28 signs would bring too much visual clutter.

The explanation was not enough for Buas, though.

“You know I appreciate the idea and the research. I’ve been to Atlantic City, I’ve seen them, I think it’s too much visual stimulation out there,” he said of the reason for his opposition vote. “… I am in favor of replacing them, I’m OK with replacing with them. I just don’t want to clutter the Boardwalk with 14 more locations.”

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