Page 4 The Dispatch/Maryland Coast Dispatch May 10, 2013 Take Mom To Fine Dining At T he Island featuring our special City Not Wavering On Paid Parking Despite Opposition By JOANNE SHRINER STAFF WRITER 3 course dinner $40 and Bryan Clark on stage 6-9 p.m. Mother’s Day Sunday Jazz Brunch opens at 10 a.m. Restaurant & Bar 60th street in the bay 410-524-5500 www.fagers.com OCEAN CITY – Disgruntled property owners who will be impacted by the addition of paid parking on 146th Street continued at this week’s meeting to try and convince Ocean City’s elected officials it was the wrong move. For the past few weeks, Ocean Place Condominium owners on 146th Street have gone to great lengths to persuade the Mayor and City Council to reverse their decision in installing paid parking on the street with no such luck yet. During a budget wrap-up session on April 19, the Mayor and City Council voted to install paid parking on 146th Street from Coastal Highway to the beach; 49th Street from Coastal Highway to the beach; 131st Street from Coastal Highway to Sinepuxent Avenue; and on the west side of Philadelphia Avenue from South 1st to North Division streets. The council made the moves to bring in alternative revenues to help close a budget gap and lower the proposed property tax rate. Installing paid parking on 146th Street was approved because the street abuts the Maryland-Delaware line where half the street currently has paid parking operated by Fenwick Island and the other side remains free in Ocean City. The town has found Fenwick Island residents and visitors taking advantage of filling the free side of the street first and walking to spend time in Fenwick. Ocean Place Association Board of Directors President Ron Deacon came before the council to list the association’s grievances. “All 100 owners are opposed to this policy because we would be dramatically affected by this. Since 1983, we have had parking available to us on 146th Street and now all of a sudden we do not,” Deacon said. “I believe you made your decision based on the best information you had available … it is very important that you know, though, that information given to you was incorrect.” Deacon stated Ocean Place condo owners believe they are being discriminated against. “We all pay taxes, but we will be paying more, it may not be called a tax but it is a fee, a parking fee,” he said. “If you did this all over Ocean City, everybody would be paying it, but you didn’t, you just picked us.” Ocean Place is allotted one to two parking lot spaces per condo depending on the amount of bedrooms. Owners argue the amount of deeded spaces is not enough when it comes to having visitors. According to Deacon, during the summer months the Ocean Place SEE PAGE 6