Five Things to Know About Council Agenda

City Council has a complete agenda for its public meeting 7 p.m. Thursday at the Ocean City Free Public Library, but here are five things that might be of special interest:

• Big fines for trucks on neighborhood streets: City Council will consider the first reading of an ordinance that would dramatically increase fines (from about $50 to up to $500 for a first offense) for drivers who ignore designated truck routes. The Ocean City Police Department experimented with barricades, signs and new traffic patterns in an attempt to thwart drivers from taking shortcuts, but when it caused other problems, they decided to move on to an enforcement strategy.
• Another set of post-Sandy zoning relief measures: City Council will consider the first reading of an ordinance that would add a new set of zoning changes to help owners rebuilding after Superstorm Sandy. See the Agenda Packet for the complete text of the ordinance. One section revises the definition of "Floor Area Ratio" to exclude garages. Under the revised definition, only habitable area above zoning flood elevation will be included in FAR. The revision helps owners who are elevating their homes and have new space at grade level for garages.
• Utility Advisory Commission: City Council will consider the first reading of an ordinance that assigns fewer members and fewer meetings to the Utility Advisory Commission and asks the Commission to interact with new utilities, such as Internet service providers.
• Tax Deadline Extension: City Council will vote to extend the grace period for tax payments to Aug. 20 (from Aug. 10). All 19,250 tax bills should be in the mail by July 25.
• Closing of Comcast's Ocean City office: City Council will vote to oppose the proposed closing of Comcast's customer-service office in Ocean City.