OCEAN CITY, Md. — A group of Ocean City homeowners is seeking to overturn a recently extended moratorium on short-term rentals, launching a petition drive that could trigger another special election in town.
The Ocean City Council recently voted to extend the moratorium by one year, preventing any new short-term rental licenses in residential neighborhoods and mobile home districts until early 2027. Certain town officials say the extension allows more time to consider long-term regulations, but some residents argue the decision unfairly restricts property rights.
Resident Terry Miller and others have begun collecting signatures for a referendum aimed at reversing the council’s action. “Stop taking people’s property rights,” Miller said.
According to Miller, the group must collect 991 signatures from registered voters whose primary residence is Ocean City by Jan. 20 for the referendum to move forward. If successful, it would mark the second special election in Ocean City within the past year.
Miller said she believes restrictions placed on certain areas could eventually expand to other parts of town. “Hotels are down, and they thought this would be easy pickings to take out the short term rentals in these areas, and then they'll move on to R-2 and they'll just keep chipping away,” she said.
Not all residents support the petition. Carolyn Mariani, who lives near a short-term rental property, said stricter rules are needed to protect residential neighborhoods. “People have rights for their property. But the issue is I also have privacy rights,” Mariani said.
Mariani said she has called police in the past due to repeated noise issues from a nearby rental home, including guests partying and making noise past midnight. “I feel sorry for the people across the street from them because they have two children, two little ones. And that has affected them, especially the one little boy who's very sensitive to noise,” she said.
Miller argued that enforcement should focus on problematic properties rather than imposing broad restrictions on all homeowners.
If the petition meets the required number of signatures, voters would again weigh in on short-term rental policy.