Smaller hotel plans still running parallel to larger resort proposal
The Ocean City Council’s second and final vote this week to abandon air rights over an alley that bisects a beachfront property floated for a Margaritaville resort has officially paved the way for construction of a smaller flagship hotel.
The 6-0 vote, with Councilwoman Carol Proctor absent, came after council members confirmed that the project’s site plan was on the up-and-up.
On Sept. 19, members of the planning commission approved a site plan for the proposed 11-story, 230-room hotel on the former Philips Beach Plaza property between 13th and 14th streets. The plans were introduced as a potential alternative to a larger Margaritaville resort with more space and amenities that ran into issues when developers tried to obtain a zoning designation needed to bring it to fruition.
While the Margaritaville project is still alive and awaiting a vote on the city’s abandonment of an alley, the smaller project is cleared to advance following Monday’s vote.
Before the vote, Vince Gisriel, a former councilman and persistent opponent of various aspects of the Margaritaville project, asked some questions during the public comment period.
He pointed out that the site plan in the council’s packet was an original version, not an updated one that included revisions to internal access to six retail spaces planned for the first floor along the Boardwalk. He basically asked council members how they could approve the air rights without the corrected site plan in hand, as they added a condition during the first reading that the site plan must comply with city code.
City Solicitor Heather Stansbury said Gisriel made a good point, and explained that the corrected site plan exists, but it had not been physically included in the packet. She also said that because the planning commission approved the original version and council members are only legally tasked to determine if the air rights are needed for public use, the vote would be legal.
In an abundance of caution, council members voted to abandon the air rights with the amended version of the site plan and with any other changes planning staff may approve regarding the details.
Their vote also requires the developer to include a 3-foot bike lane, a 20-foot drive aisle and 5-foot sidewalks on each side of the 16-foot alley in exchange for the air rights above it.
This story appears in the Oct. 20, 2023, print edition of the OC Today.
