Ocean City will hold a special election after it was announced this week a petition had acquired enough signatures to bring new short-term rental regulations to a referendum.
On May 9, the Ocean City Board of Supervisors of Elections conducted its verification process for the 1,327 names that had been collected on a petition to bring new short-term rental restrictions to a referendum.
And on Monday, Board Chair Mary Adeline Bradford announced the petition had garnered 1,090 valid signatures, which meets the requirements to bring the legislation before voters. The Ocean City Council this week agreed to hold a special election July 22 at the convention center.
“There were 2,476 voters in the November 2024 election, so 990 qualified signatures are required to have a successful petition for referendum,” Bradford said. “The petition contained 1,090 valid signatures. Therefore, the petition has met the required number of signatures.”
In March, the City Council voted 4-3 to set a five-night minimum stay for short-term rentals located in the R-1 residential and MH mobile home districts for the 2025 and 2026 rental seasons, and a 31-night minimum stay beginning in 2027. As the city code defines short-term rentals as 30 days or less, the ordinance approved would ban vacation rentals in those districts in two years.
From the outset, those in support of the proposed ban argued that short-term rentals were a business, and as such, are not allowed in single-family neighborhoods.
However, the petition group OCMD Property Rights, led by local real estate agent Terry Miller, said the ordinance violates property rights and does little to solve existing problems with short-term rentals.