Ocean City Town Council approves final plans for new police substation on Somerset Street

OCEAN CITY, Md. - The Ocean City Town Council approved the final design plans for a new police substation on Somerset Street in downtown Ocean City. 

This project has been years in the making and originally the property was supposed to be only employee housing but the Ocean City Police Department said they needed to add to the plan. 

Zach Bankert, the Executive Director of the Ocean City Development Corporation said expanding the project added to the price tag. 

"We originally started with a budget around $2 million dollars," Bankert said. "Now we're around the $4.2 million dollar mark, we went from strictly a housing element into a police substation plus housing and that type of project flat out costs more money."

The new substation will include new public restrooms, storage for police bikes 16 spots for officers employee housing and a more accessible substation for the public.

One local John Buscemi who drives a shuttle that takes visitors to and from their resorts to downtown said the bus stop on Somerset Street stays busy and they could use new facilities in the area. 

"At times my customers have to walk up to the boardwalk and look far for a rest station, so I think this substation would be beneficial for our clients," Buscemi said. 

Joann Mary who lives in Salisbury said the substation sounds good but she does have some reservations especially with the lack of parking in Ocean City. 

"I'm in the middle with this, I appreciate that they have a need for the police substation," Mary said. "But I also see that they have a very strong need for better parking facilities especially in the summer."

The OCDC says the town council's decision to finalize the plans are huge and the next steps will be to finalize details of construction and start plans to build.