OCEAN CITY – Mayor Jay Gillian says the city has received suggestions from 170 individuals concerning how best to use the new land the city acquired adjacent to the community center.
Gillian said in his Nov. 1 message to residents that the suggestions varied, but fell into three broad categories: open space and passive recreation, recreational use with facilities like a swimming pool or pickleball courts, and what the mayor called “practical” use, such as affordable housing or additional parking.
The city purchased the blockwide property for $20 million. A professional planner will likely be used by the city to incorporate as many of the public’s ideas as possible in future use of the land, Gillian said.
The mayor said the city acted to “protect the entire city block from residential development before it was too late.” He said the city now has time “to make sure we get this right.”
Gillian said the planning will extend beyond the newly acquired property and will look at the “entire area of publicly owned land from 15th Street to 20th Street.”
Contact the reporter, Vince Conti, at vconti@cmcherald.com.
