Ocean City OKs Money for New Skate Park and Road Work

City Council on Thursday approved the spending of $4.5 million on improvements to the city.

The appropriation includes $2.5 million for continued paving and drainage work on Ocean City roads and $550,000 for a redesign of the parking lot and recreation area between Fifth and Sixth Streets at the Boardwalk — including a new skateboard park.

Citing safety concerns based on deteriorating equipment, the city closed and removed a skateboard park at the same location in October 2011. The move led to an outcry from skaters and a grassroots movement to have the park restored.

The new skateboard facility would be part of a project that includes resurfaced shuffleboard courts and the addition of pickleball courts on city-owned land near Sixth Street and Boardwalk. The municipal parking lot there would also be repaved.

Ocean City Business Administrator Mike Dattilo said Thursday that plans for the project likely would be brought to City Council later this summer, and the work is expected to be complete this year.

The measure that City Council passed also includes spending on boardwalk and beachfront improvements, the Ocean City Music Pier, preparation of a Route 52 spoils site for dredging and work on a connector for adjacent parking areas at Moorlyn Terrace and Eighth Street.

The spending represents the second half of Ocean City's $10.3 million capital improvement plan for 2013 — about half designated for road and drainage improvements.

The ordinance authorizes $4.3 million in borrowing — the city's aggressive capital improvement plan continues to take advantage of historically low interest rates.