OCEAN CITY – Code amendments pertaining to garage parking, habitable attic space and building height highlighted a lengthy discussion at the committee level last week.
Last week, staff presented the Ocean City Planning and Zoning Commission with three code amendments involving enclosed parking spaces, habitable attics and downtown building heights. After a lengthy discussion, the commission agreed to schedule a public hearing to gather feedback on the proposed changes.
“I think we’re ready to schedule,” said Chair Joe Wilson, “so anybody who wasn’t here tonight can add their two cents during the public hearing.”
Planning and Community Development Director Bill Neville told commission members last week members of staff were bringing forward three code amendments talked about at length during previous commission meetings. The first, he said, would amend the town’s off-street parking code design standards to require minimum dimensions for enclosed garage parking spaces. He said while the town code established minimum dimensions for parking spaces, he suggested one- and two-car garage parking include additional footage to length and width.
“We know we’ve documented the concern about lack of storage and a concern about the size of vehicles and being able to open doors,” he said. “There’s also a new issue we are starting to consider, which is the state is promoting the idea that a state-level requirement may be coming our way to require that EV charging stations be included in everybody’s residential construction … At this point, we don’t know what that means dimension wise. But to me, it helps support the idea that the extra foot on the front and back probably makes sense because we will start to see those features added.”