The Shore Progress newspaper published in Ocean Pines, Maryland focuses on real estate development and building news, business and government news in Worcester County, Maryland and Captain's Cove, Virginia. Particular news coverage emphasis is placed on the communities of Ocean City, Ocean Pines, West Ocean City, Snow Hill, Showell, Pocomoke, Berlin and Captain's Cove, Virginia.
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Breaking News
Funding amenities though lot assessment suggested by Clubs Committee chairman
Published:
November 28, 2009
Discussion of a report by an ad hoc committee on building membership in the Ocean Pines Association’s amenities spurred debate among the board of directors and members in attendance at the Nov. 16 meeting about how amenities are funded.
One advisory committee chairmansuggested it is time to consider paying entirely for the amenities through the general property assessment instead of user fees and then allow all OPA members to use them. OPA General Manager Tom Olson said that approach would allow the OPA to save money in the membership department.
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Developer to pursue plans for North Gate medical campus
Published:
November 28, 2009
Armed with a recent decision by the Worcester County Commissioners retaining neighborhood business zoning on his parcel, Ocean City/Salisbury area developer Palmer Gillis is planning to continue efforts to develop a medical campus on his 22-acre parcel adjacent to the North Gate entrance into Ocean Pines.
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Steen rezoning approved, but commissioners kill AGH medical campus
Published:
November 12, 2009
The decision by the Worcester County Commissioners early in November that effectively killed a proposal for a satellite Atlantic General Hospital medical campus just south of Ocean Pines was just one of several comprehensive zoning decisions that affect future growth and development on Route 589.
The most prominent winner in a collection of mostly losers in a series of votes pertaining to comprehensive rezoning throughout the county may have been developer Marvin Steen, whose planned 60-lot subdivision on the southern boundary of Ocean Pines was rezoned from A-1 agricultural to R-1 single-family residential. The parcel eventually will be annexed into Ocean Pines in accordance with an agreement between Steen and the Ocean Pines Association that dates back to 2003.
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Jury decides in favor on OPA in SPN case
Published:
October 30, 2009
ne month and one day after a minority of directors was prepared to drop the Ocean Pines Association’s lawsuit against SPN., the contract consultant for a community center project rejected by voters in the summer of 2007, a jury has decided in favor of the OPA.
The decision awards the OPA the full $74,000 sought from the construction management firm as a refund against payments made for services that the OPA contended had not been provided when the project was stopped in January of 2007 before any significant construction progress was made.
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Worcester County Maryland News
Ocean Pines voters will have lots of choices in 2010 elections
Tom Stauss
Publisher
Ready or not, 2010 promises to be a political year with more than the usual drama and uncertainty, as races are shaping up for the state House of Delegates and state Senate, as well as Worcester County Commissioner, that will give Ocean Pines voters some real choices at the ballot box.
It’s even possible, before the dust settles, that local voters will help decide whether the state reelects its governor, incumbent Gov. Martin O’Malley, or goes back to the future with a new “old” one.
Published: February 07, 2010
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Local delegates busy in early going of state legislature
Rota L. Knott
Editor
With the General Assembly now in session in Annapolis, bills are being introduced in the House of Delegates that could have an impact on Worcester County residents.
Among the list of bills sponsored by District 38B Delegate Jim Mathias so far this session is HB 140, which would require that minors wear protective headgear when riding bicycles, mopeds and motor scooters. Ocean City officials requested introduction of the bill.
If approved, it would prohibit anyone under age 18 years from operating or riding as a passenger on a bicycle, moped, or motor scooter unless the person is wearing protective headgear. It would increase to 18 years the age below which the operator or passenger of a bicycle is required to wear protective headgear and clarify that the defined term “bicycle” includes a moped.
Both Mathias and Delegate Norman Conway have put their names on HB 191, which would make it a crime to sell novelty lighters. The bill would prohibit a person from selling at retail, offering for sale at retail, or distributing for retail sale in the state a novelty lighter
Published: February 07, 2010
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General Assembly ponders changes to sex offender laws
Rota L. Knott
Editor
Making good on a promise to try to tighten sex offender laws following the abduction and murder of 11-year-old Pittsville girl Sarah Haley Foxwell, legislators have introduced in the General Assembly a series of initiatives targeted at protecting Maryland families from sexual predators and strict enforcement of sex offender laws.
One bill would require that courts sentence to mandatory lifetime supervision certain serious sex offenders convicted of crimes like first or second degree rape, first degree sexual offense, certain second and third degree sexual offenses, sexual abuse of a minor and sexual offenders with multiple offenses. This lifetime supervision would be consecutive to any sentence or probationary term imposed for the underlying offense. The sentencing court would order a pre-sentence investigation prior to imposing the conditions of this lifetime supervision, which may include GPS monitoring. The bill also provides for criminal penalties for violations and provides that any sentence imposed for a violation of lifetime su
Published: February 07, 2010
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Resolution expands GM’s authority to set rules for Pines
Rota L. Knott
Editor
A resolution that would allow the general manager to set rules for use of the Ocean Pines Association’s amenities without seeking the approval of the board of directors will be up for discussion at the board’s Feb. 17 meeting.
The resolution M-03 places the responsibility on the general manager for establishing, publishing and distributing rules regarding participant conduct at OPA recreation facilities. At present, such rules are established by board-approved resolutions.
The resolution was originally scheduled for first reading at a January meeting, but directors put off voting after discovering they had not all received the most up-to-date version.
Under the resolution the general manager will be authorized to establish, publish, and distribute the rules governing participant conduct in the use of the recreation facilities of the OPA. Advisory committees, within their area of responsibility, will be given the opportunity to propose rules or rules amendments and comment on those rules and rules amendments prepared by the general manager and staff. The general manager can immediately publish a new rule or amended rule, without further review, when it is considered in the best interests of the association to do so.
Published: February 07, 2010
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OPA budget still on track with $45 assessment increase
Tom Stauss
Publisher
The projected Ocean Pines Association budget plan for the fiscal year that begins May 1 is heading toward adoption by the board of directors at its regular monthly meeting Feb. 17, set to begin at 9 a.m. in the board room.
Property owners would face a $45 increase in lot assessments but no increase in amenity dues in the proposed $11.7 million budget. Total spending would reach $15.334 million when bulkhead/waterway funding and transfers from reserves are taken into account.
OPA General Manager Tom Olson’s sparsely attended budget presentation Jan. 23 drew only a handful of comments from property owners. Among the most noteworthy was a suggestion by Bill Wentworth to increase lot assessments to cover amenity membership for all property owners, an idea that would effectively eliminate separate memberships for golf, swimming and tennis.
Another was from property owner Doug Loewer, who proposed that the OPA revert to $541 per year in lot assessments, its rate before consecutive increases raised it to $808, the rate that has been included in the draft budget set for a vote Feb. 17. He said that any increase in assessments over the $541 should be subject to a referendum of property owners that he urged the board to conduct.
Published: February 07, 2010
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Pines board may reconstitute golf task force
Rota L. Knott
Editor
An innocuous item on the pending actions list about the status of the Ocean Pines Association’s golf advisory committee prompted a lengthy discussion by the board of directors in January about seeking proposals for the management of the golf course by private companies.
The discussion started as one about the lack of membership on the golf advisory committee but quickly turned to one about the best way to manage the golf course. Director Bob Thompson asked about the status of a letter from consultants Golf Profit Builders seeking to give the OPA a proposal for independent management of the golf course.
“If you have an amenity that’s losing money, maybe we can look at some alternative sources. That’s all I’m saying,” Thompson said.
Published: February 07, 2010
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