Page 8 The Dispatch/Maryland Coast Dispatch July 12, 2013 Delays Plague New OCComfort Station By JOANNE SHRINER STAFF WRITER OCEAN CITY – The new Caroline Street comfort station completion date has been delayed once again due to wet weather, but the resort is continuing efforts to ensure comfortable and clean temporary facilities. The old underground Caroline Street Comfort Station was demolished last December and a projected completion date for the new facility was set for May. Due to inclement weather, by the time May rolled around it was obvious the restrooms would not be done in time and the completion date was pushed back to the end of June. At that time, the Mayor and City Council approved the temporary solution of Royal Restrooms. The facilities were located immediately next to the construction site on Caroline Street and included 10 men and female stalls and two ADA stalls. The restrooms were trailer mounted and plumbed with running water. A couple of weeks ago, the city began to receive complaints as foul odor began to rise from the temporary restrooms, especially when the facilities holding tanks were being pumped out and emptied. Based on the increasing number of visitors on the Boardwalk as the summer progressed, the pumping process had to take place a couple times a day. Prior to last week’s holiday weekend, the trailer restrooms were replaced with several rows of port-ojohns, which increased the number of stalls, and ultimately decreased the impact. “The trailer setup just didn’t prove to be compatible or able to empty out into the system fast enough so now we have more stalls and we are making sure those are cleaned out and pumped out as often as necessary to avoid any problems,” Mayor Rick Meehan said on Monday. This week, City Engineer Terry McGean explained the ongoing wet weather has made it difficult for the stages of concrete work to get underway. Basically the entire building, from the foundation to the walls, is made of concrete but with the majority of the concrete completed at this point the building is close to completion. “They [contractor Black Diamond Builders] are working as fast as they can,” McGean said. “I don’t want to sacrifice the quality of the building to rush it. The famous philosophy is everyone may be upset right now with it opening late but three years from now nobody will remember it opened late but if the quality is bad that will still show. We want to make SEE NEXT PAGE