What Type Of Sidewalk Damage Will Draw A Penalty In Ocean City?

OCEAN CITY, NJ — A proposal that puts more responsibility on the property owner to maintain sidewalks adjacent to their land is designed to stamp out vulgarity, the Ocean City Administration clarified Thursday night.

City Council unanimously approved the proposed ordinance, 7-0, during Thursday night’s meeting at City Hall.

Specifically, the proposal calls for a property owner who obtains a permit for sidewalk work in front of their property to be responsible for watching over the site until the new concrete can solidify to prevent it from being defaced, injured or damaged.

The owner would be responsible for fixing any damage done to the concrete during this time within 14 days of when the defacing took place.

On behalf of a constituent, Ocean City Councilman Michael DeVlieger asked for clarification as to what “defacing” meant in this situation.

“She and her son have put their initials in concrete before, and they think it’s cute,” DeVlieger said.

And this cute action is shared by anyone who has ever seen wet concrete and wanted to leave their everlasting mark on new construction. But will this activity now be penalized in Ocean City?

“This applies to if a whole panel of a sidewalk is in need of repair,” Ocean City Solicitor Dorothy McCrosson said. “For something small like that, I don’t think there’d be any penalty.”

She said the decisions would be made on a case-by-case basis, and that the city was mostly concerned about offensive statements.

As Ocean City Mayor Jay Gillian put it: “We’re not trying to be mean about it.”

However, when the new legislation does need to be applied, there are penalties for property owners who don’t comply.

In that case, the city would handle the necessary repairs, then the responsible party will be billed in the form of a lien against their property.

The owner will have 60 days to pay the lien, which begins to accrue interest after 90 days. Ultimately, the tax collector would be permitted to enforce the lien by putting the property up for sale.

Patch file photo