Density? 'Hospitality zone'? First of all when you are a resort destination, hospitality is everyone's job - the shop owners, the cops, even the residents - if you can give directions, offer suggestions or just some general info you should do it. As for density - there are too many buildings but on the other hand our population is in serious decline? Why? They HS was supposed to be a magnet for families. The new library and community center project is supposed to be a benefit for the citizens. But people are still moving out. The bottom line is OC is just too expensive for the modest income family raising kids, so until you can solve that, how high a roof is or what should be the 'hospitality zone' is just empty talk.

the decline in ocean city permenent population can be a little misleading. how many "residents" of ocean city now claim to domicile in florida, primarily for tax reasons. i personally know 6 in my immediate area, and many others throughout ocean city. while they still participate as residents of ocean city, officially, they have left our town. as our population ages, more and more of our residents will find it advantageous to officially change their residence to florida.

Hello...............When the toilets overflow into the ocean, I believe is a good sign that OC is overpopulated and overdeveloped, not to mentioned no parking, overcrowded beaches, and too much traffic. How much more can this barrier island handle? I believe you reached your development ceiling. Stop being so greedy!!!!

When "the Big one Hits", 2 feet is not going to matter!!

When I was a kid, the area south of 34th Street was virtually empty. In the evening as we sat looking westward from the 2nd floor porch of our rented house at 4917 Central, few residences were visible; the rest were empty lots. I have very fond memories of those days in Ocean City, but I would never stay there again. I'm much too claustrophobic!

The meeting got off to a bad start when they couldn’t get the recording device to work. That whittled down an already too brief 3 hour meeting to a 2 and 1/2 hour meeting. The chair, John Loeper, then advanced a motion that the board vote preliminary approval of the re-exam before the master plan re-exam was introduced and before citizen comment. The message couldn’t have been any clearer.

The public received yet another general overview of the re-exam, short on specifics. Comments were mostly negative, with a formal councilman pointing out that the numbers used to support the newly proposed “cottage” overlay (the Tioga Terrace concept) didn’t add up. It's a good thing he had the inormation in time to to study it. Most of the board members (like the public) hadn't received that information until the last minute. At the OCCA meeting those numbers were used to support the contention that having two discrete single family units on one lot would not increase lot coverage above what it is for the more traditional duplexes. There was no give and take. Citizen comments were endured and another item was crossed off the check list

As I stated at the meeting I was disappointed at the format and didn’t learn anything from the meeting I didn’t already know. The public could have benefited from a discussion and from what are surely divergent points of view among members of the Planning Board who were muffled. In terms of providing pertinent information to the public the master plan re-exam meeting was a joke. It was carefully controlled and orchestrated to do the exact opposite.

As for the comments by McMahon, why are we still not talking about the need for a viable flood plan? Residnet Steve Cole stated that there are 1600 points avaialbale to the city that have been left on the table. Everyone seems to be overly concerned about the 200 or 300 points we could possibly receive from going to base flood + 2. The problem with the proposed ordinance isn't that it would add an additional foot of height to a building, but with the other provisions of the ordinance that will only exacerbate the height offset. If you think the difference is one foot, you still don't understand the proposed ordinance. Much of the height differential will come from going to base flood period. Instead of making the situation worse we should be taking steps to minimize the impact. You'll finally understand it when your home is dwarfed by new construction next to you.

During the70's and 80's , the town was raped by the real estate folks in the name of profits. Dozens of duplexes were built close together with max lot coverage. Well, that is all coming home to roost. Young families cannot afford to move onto oor stay on the island. Better take a look at wildwood or stone harbor, which is going to be the future of oc?

It's 2012 and we are still being raped by the real estate folks in the name of profits. Hundreds of duplexes were built and hundreds more will be built. Maybe it is all just an experiment to see how many people can we cram onto a 7mi barrier island. The beaches are crowded, there is limited parking, riding bikes on the boardwalk? Forget about it. Where does quality of life come in to the picture?