OCEAN CITY, Md. -- At a work session on Tuesday, councilmembers expressed interest in taking the lead to bring a sports complex to Worcester County. One of their first orders of business will be forming a committee.
Ocean City still sees a sports complex as a potential pot of gold for Worcester County. Town leaders recognize there will be a long road ahead to get there.
Plans are to gather elected officials, local business owners and Ocean City neighbors to pitch-in ideas and opinions. Ocean City's City Manager Terry McGean said the process could be similar to the towns past efforts with the Roland E. Powell Convention Center.
"Where is it going to be, how big is it going to be, are we going to do the indoor and outdoor, how are we going to pay for it?" said McGean.
All questions the committee will be tasked with answering. McGean said the council at least sees a benefit of seeking, and hopefully getting answers for how to feasibly make this work.
It could include looking at locations outside of the proposed site next to Stephen Decatur Middle and High Schools.
"When we talked to the [Maryland]Stadium Authority about, would the economic impact that they determined in their study, would that hold on different locations," said McGean. "Their response was 'it will provided that location remains within close proximity to Ocean City'."
Close proximity would mean a 15-20 minute drive.
For anything to move forward, a partnership with the state of Maryland will be key. Delegate Wayne Hartman said if Ocean City can come up with their portion, he could see this working out at the state level.
"If the town of Ocean City agrees to support the 20% and the state agrees to support the 80%, we could move forward with the full support from the mayor and council," said Hartman.
Despite Worcester County Commissioners declaring their disinterest in a sports complex back in December, Hartman said this is possible, but Ocean City will have to put in the work.
"Take a new look and see if they can make it work between a cost-share between the state and the city and do their homework," said Hartman.
In terms of a timeline for getting this committee together, McGean said the goal is for it to happen this summer. McGean said scheduling could make that tough, so it still looks like the town will have their hands full before any major league decisions are made.
