OCEAN CITY – Recommendations to seek state funding and initiate an RFP process highlighted last week’s meeting of the Ocean City Sports Complex Task Force.
Last Thursday, members of the task force reconvened to discuss funding and legislative options for a proposed sports complex in Worcester County. Before going into closed session to discuss property acquisition, the task force agreed to pursue funding options at the state level and to seek proposals from operators to run the facility.
“There’s essentially two costs, the cost to build and the cost to operate,” City Manager Terry McGean said in an interview last week. “We believe based on what we’ve seen, if we get an operator on board early, the operational costs could be done so we break even.”
For years, resort council members have expressed their desires to develop a sports complex somewhere near Ocean City. And in 2019, the town commissioned the Maryland Stadium Authority (MSA) and its consultant, Crossroads, to conduct a market and economic analysis for a proposed sports complex in the Ocean City area. When the pandemic hit, however, MSA officials were tasked with revising the study and producing a site-specific assessment of a 95-acre site next to Stephen Decatur High School.
While the county initially took the lead on the project, the Worcester County Commissioners voted last year to terminate its contract for the purchase of the property and to end any county involvement in the development of a complex. Since that time, resort officials have agreed to take on the project and form a task force to address community concerns relating to the project’s location and scope.
No more taxes to fulfill somebody’s dream !!!!
Good bye USSSA to Wicomico County when this is constructed except for the fields on Naylor Mill.
If it is such a great idea let private enterprise open it vs raising taxes
if this is such a great thing why do you need my money to build it? piss off and put your own money at risk!
It’s called kissing Ocean City’s A$$