OCEAN CITY – The City Council has awarded a $6.1 million contract for the construction of a new police substation at Eighth Street and the Boardwalk.

Weatherby Construction and Renovation Corp., which won the contract at the council’s Oct. 23 meeting, was among four bidders, with the highest bid coming in at $6.9 million.

The substation will serve as home to the entire Police Department while the department’s existing quarters on Central Avenue are renovated.

During the public comment period of the council meeting, a final pitch by the owners of the Ocean City Waterpark and Adventure Golf for a land swap was unsuccessful in swaying any votes. They asked the council to delay the vote and consider a proposal they had made for swapping a parcel of their property elsewhere on Eighth Street for the land on which the substation is to be located.

They argued that the land they offered would give the police substation three-street access and provide space for more parking. 

Councilman Jody Levchuk said after the vote that he would have preferred more council involvement in the land-swap proposal; he said he had only heard of it the day before the vote. One of the owners of the waterpark, Pat Agnellini, said he had first approached the administration in 2022 about the swap.

Mayor Jay Gillian told the council that the proposal to swap parcels “didn’t make sense” and was not in the best interests of residents. Levchuk’s counter was that it would have been useful to involve the council in making that decision.

He said he voted to award the contract so as not to hold up the construction, which ultimately determines when other work, like that on the current police station, can begin.

Contact the reporter, Vince Conti, at vconti@cmcherald.com.