Five Things to Know About City Council's Thursday Agenda

City Council meets again at the Ocean City Free Public Library at 7 p.m. Thursday (Nov. 29) as flood repairs continue at City Hall.

Council has a full agenda (see attached PDF for supporting documents) and will consider an ordinance raising the required first-floor elevation of new Ocean City homes and a resolution asking for more sand for the south end of the island. But here are five other agenda items that might be of interest.

• City Council will vote on the first reading of an ordinance that would waive fees for zoning and construction permits and inspections for repairs and rebuilding related to the Oct. 29 Superstorm Sandy. The temporary waiving of fees would be in effect through May 24, 2013.
• City Council will vote on the second and potentially final readings of two ordinances that were approved by City Council on Oct. 23 to rezone parts of Ocean City. The ordinances cover many areas but include a rezoning of a vacant Wawa property at Fourth Street and West Avenue to allow a mix of residential and commercial use, and a rezoning of the vacant Peter Lumber Company property on the 1500 block of Haven Avenue to allow single-family homes.
• City Council will vote on the first reading of an ordinance intended to expand permitted uses in the Drive-In Business (DB) Zone centered on West Avenue on either side of Ninth Street. Former Councilman John Flood had pointed out at a Planning Board meeting in the fall that the wording of the ordinance appears to make existing businesses in the zone nonconforming, and Planning Planning Board member Gary Jessel later moved to add lumber yards, supermarkets, auto dealers and car washes to the list of principal uses in the redefined DB Zone. But the wording of the new ordinance included in the agenda packet does not appear to include that new language.
• City Council will vote on a series of resolutions related to emergency spending for storm cleanup after Superstorm Sandy struck on Oct. 29. Business Administrator Mike Dattilo said at the last City Council meeting that the city administration may have a better idea of total storm costs by this meeting. The resolutions include one to spend $59,000 to restore documents and blueprints flooded on the first floor of City Hall.
• City Council will vote to spend $86,000 in federal Homeland Security money to buy a Zodiac boat for Ocean City Police Department patrols. It will also advertise for bids for the city to acquire new military cargo trucks to replace the ones that plied the deep floodwaters during Sandy.