For the second year in a row, Ocean City’s election board will convene to validate signatures after a group of property owners opposing a short-term rental license moratorium submitted their petition for referendum Tuesday.
After the Ocean City Council voted last month to extend a moratorium on the issuance of short-term rental licenses in R-1 residential and MH mobile home districts another year, an opposition group made good on their promise to launch a petition drive challenging the council’s decision.
On Tuesday, the city clerk accepted the 1,257 signatures the group had collected over the last 40 days. Now, it will be up to election officials to determine if the signers are eligible to vote.
“This says that the people do not want more regulations in these areas,” Terry Miller, petition organizer, told OC Today-Dispatch. “They want enforcement of the current regulations.”
Last February, city leaders agreed to a 11-month moratorium, halting city staff from issuing new short-term rental licenses to properties located in the R-1 and MH districts. From the outset, they said the temporary pause would give them more time to evaluate the effectiveness of newly enacted short-term rental regulations.
However, when the moratorium was revisited in the fall, a council majority expressed their desires to extend it another year. They argued more time was needed to find a solution for regulating short-term rentals in single-family neighborhoods.
Already voted on …. Ocean City council lost !! Get over Boys !!! 😢😢