OCEAN CITY, Md.- Right now the Sportland Arcade is empty, but Jonathan Kowalewski, a manager at Sportland, is preparing for the on season and he knows he will need help, "At the arcade we have a lot of seasonal help both J1 and nationals and they're always looking for a place to stay. We unfortunately don't have housing at the arcade. So we try to redirect them to resources to find those housings and sometimes that can be a problem for them and takes them some time or it can prevent them coming in at all. They can't find that. So it'd be very useful to have more options for them."
Ocean City is in talks to change the zoning code to allow businesses to build employee housing away from the vicinity of their business. The current code requires businesses to have employee housing close to or on their business property. Seasonal work is a big need in the on season, Kowalewski said, "A lot of people live in Ocean City for the summer, but they visit for the summer. So we need people to work here for the whole summer, so we are dependent on seasonal help big time."
Some year round workers in town like Jennifer Kindred said there is a bigger need in town, "Affordable housing for employees, locals, J1's, seasonal all year round just has to be affordable. You know, close, close so it's not you know so far away that you're just sitting in traffic forever in the summer."
But Kowalewski said with the town trying to make changes, he is hopeful, "Yeah, well you hope for this summer of course, but any progress is good progress."
As of now, the zoning code for employee housing in Ocean City remains the same. But there's talks of changing it. At the next Planning and Zoning meeting they will discuss recommendations for new zoning for freestanding seasonal employee housing.Â
