OCEAN CITY, Md. - The Margaritaville hotel may have fizzled, but a smaller hotel is on the horizon. Developers are still pushing forward with plans to construct a hotel between 13th and 14th streets on a smaller scale.
The Ocean City Planning Commission has given the green light to the site plan for the new hotel. But, businesses surrounding the area have lodged an appeal, aiming to delay the process of introducing another hotel to the area.
Attorney G. Macy Nelson filed the appeal on behalf of concerned parties, citing several complaints including failure to fulfill signatory requirements, unresolved air rights jurisdiction, setback and height requirement discrepancies, and lapses in nonconforming use provisions like the number of parking spaces for the number of rooms.
Attorney Hugh Cropper, representing the developer, remains confident in the project's prospects. "There's been a legal appeal filed by one of the neighbors to our site plan approval, and that's being decided by the circuit court for Worcester County as we speak. We think they will uphold the planning commission," Cropper stated. "We do not think the planning commission, which spent hours and hours, the staff spent hours and hours reviewing this project, will be overturned."
Expressing a contrasting view, vacationer Frank Berkeridge sees no issue with another large hotel in the area. "There's other hotels that are huge. I don't know if this one is that much more bigger, but it's not a problem with these other hotels. So my position is, as long as it's the place, ain't going to sink into the ground or anything, and it's not a problem for the environment. I don't see why not. I don't see what the issue is," Berkeridge remarked.
With no clear timeline for the future hotel, the next steps involve the potential dismissal of the appeal by a circuit court judge and then obtaining a building permit to start construction on a new hotel.