City officials are seeking other properties to accommodate a sports complex after receiving backlash from Berlin residents regarding a plan to use the Harrison site, pictured above in an aerial image.
The Town of Ocean City will explore other locations for a sports complex following recent backlash from nearby residents regarding a proposal to build the facility on a 95-acre site located next to Stephen Decatur High School.
Following a contentious community meeting earlier this month, and a letter from Berlin’s mayor and council asking Ocean City to remove the site from its consideration, it appears the Mayor and City Council will not be moving forward with the project on a parcel of land – owned by the Harrison family — located north of Flower Street and west of Seahawk Road.
While sharing the city’s commitment to developing a facility in the future, Council President Matt James said in a statement Wednesday that the city is exploring other options.
“This has been a long and extensive process,” he said. “In response to recent community feedback, additional options are being explored at this time; the exhaustive search continues.”
In a meeting earlier this month, members of the Flower Street neighborhood and other nearby communities were quick to share their objections to the city’s plans for an indoor-outdoor complex at the site.
From the outset, they argued the proposed location would generate more traffic in an already congested area and create additional burden on Berlin’s fire and EMS services, among other things.
Many also talked about the way the Flower Street community had been marginalized, highlighting the landfill placed along their road and the Route 113 highway that cut off their access to downtown Berlin.
Berlin’s mayor and town council took it one step further in the days that followed, issuing a letter to the Town of Ocean City with a request to abandon its consideration of the site.
What I’d like to know is if that property is in the Ocean City Town limits or the Berlin town limits.
The bottom line is a sports complex like that is not needed in Ocean City when there are multiple complexes in Wicomico County. If Worcester County thinks they need a sports complex then put it in the Pocomoke City area where the traffic congestion won’t affect Berlin and Ocean City!!
Governor Wes Moron and Jake Day are building affordable government section 8 housing on that land by the school.
Suck it up white boys
If Ocean City wants a sports complex, fine, build it Ocean City. If Berlin wants a sports complex they don’t need Ocean City’s help.