Pause Possible on Ocean City Coastal Cottages Concept

Ocean City, NJ -- The Coastal Cottages housing was always designed to be an experiment, and now the city is “taking a pause” to evaluate its progress, city officials said during last week’s council meeting.

Ocean City Council approved an ordinance with a 6-1 vote at its Feb. 25 meeting that amends city ordinance to remove Coastal Cottages as a conditional use in the Drive-In Business (DB) Zone.

The lone dissenting vote came from Councilman Pete Guinosso, who said he would like to see the Planning Board take the lead on the issue.

City Council approved the Coastal Cottages concept for smaller, more affordable single-family homes in Ocean City in 2013.

There were 18 homes built in the area of 13th and Haven. On Thursday night, Ocean City Business Administrator Jim Mallon said 12 of those 18 homes have been sold, and eight of those were sold to families who would move in as year-round residents.

Additionally, the city said any Coastal Cottages projects currently underway would be grandfathered in. Existing Coastal Cottages would be unaffected.

Ocean City Solicitor Dorothy McCrosson said the city would take the time to examine the possibility of implementing some of the suggested improvements, including decks and some maintenance design issues.

The suggestion for the pause came from a Planning Board sub-committee, which isn’t improper procedure, McCrosson said.

“Ordinances can be suggested by outside sources,” McCrosson said in response to a suggestion from a resident that the ordinance should’ve come directly from the Planning Board. “You can consider the source, but it’s not improper.”

“When we passed this, it was a concept,” Council President Keith Hartzell said. “We wanted to see how this was going to be laid out. The most important thing we do as a council is planning and zoning. Why not pause and take a look at the finished product? This either helps us bring in families or it doesn’t. If families didn’t stay, why not? We always knew this was just a concept.”

One resident suggested that while the concept is revoked, there may be other applications that come in its place. He saw no reason the concept should be revoked entirely, and called it “shortsighted.”

The public hearing on the issue precedes final consideration at the March 24 council meeting.

“It’s important for us to get citizen comment on this,” Councilman Anthony Wilson said. “First reading is to spark conversation, so everyone can get their ideas in, both here and at the Planning Board.”