OCEAN CITY, Md. -- Town officials have three locations in mind for a proposed sports complex. It moves them one step closer to achieving their longtime goal of having a facility near the resort town.
It's been a long journey, but City Manager Terry McGean said the town is happy with the progress they've made so far, especially after Worcester County backed out of any involvement, leaving the town to take over this project on its own.
"A lot of things still need to happen, obviously settling on a site is the biggest one and I don't want to speculate on how long that might take," said McGean.
As for settling on that site, the town is looking at three options. Option one is a location a lot of people are familiar with: the property next to Stephen Decatur High School.
The second option is a little bit west of the Decatur site somewhere off of Route 50, and the third and final is somewhere near the intersection of Route 113 and Race Track Road.
McGean said he's not ready to say exactly where the second and third sites are.
"They may change so what we wanted to make sure was that in the scope of work that the [Maryland Stadium Authority] put out, that the consultants know we want them to look at at least three sites," said McGean.
The MSA is looking for someone to manage preliminary design work. Ocean City has money set aside to get through that process before figuring out construction costs, if and when that time comes.
"The town set aside a half a million dollars and we got a half a million dollar grant from the state of Maryland," said McGean. "So we have $1 million to get through this, you know site analysis and preliminary design process."
Berlin officials have voiced concerns with the site next to Stephen Decatur. Last year when we interviewed Berlin Councilmember Jack Orris, he expressed concerns with increased traffic and congestion.
Berlin Mayor Zack Tyndall provided us with a statement today:
"The Town of Berlin is aware of the Maryland Stadium Authority's RFQ in conjunction with the Town of Ocean City. We have shared the thoughts and position of the Town of Berlin regarding Site #1, which is adjacent to Stephen Decatur High School, with the Town of Ocean City. If you have any further questions at this time, they should be directed to the Town of Ocean City."
