OCEAN CITY The history of
Sunset Park and the direction the
city intends for the bayside recre-
ational area was the subject of a re-
cent internal study intended to
gauge future directives.
A "Sunset Park Use, Analysis
and Direction" plan prepared by
Recreations and Parks Department
was presented to the Recreation
and Parks Commission last week.
According to the report, Sunset
Park, built on the South Division
Street road bed west of Philadelphia
Avenue, opened in September of
2006. The park is approximately .67
acres in size and is designed as a
public plaza with onsite amenities to
support public gathering and enter-
tainment.
The Special Events Division of
Recreation and Parks scheduled
summer entertainment in the park
beginning in 2007. That initial effort
evolved into the Sunset Park Party
Nights, a series of Thursday even-
ing concerts from June through Au-
gust featuring local and regional
bands and the on-site sale of re-
freshments. This series has proven
to be the most successful and en-
during publicly sponsored program
in the park.
Sunset Park hosted 22 public
and private events in 2012. The us-
es included three weddings, nine
concerts as part of the Sunset Park
Party Nights series, a production of
"Romeo and Juliet" by the Brown
Box Theatre Company, Children's
Day hosted by the Ocean City Life
Saving Museum and seven evening
programs for Light Up Downtown,
sponsored by the Ocean City Down-
town Association. Events were
scheduled in the park from May
through December.
The Recreation and Parks staff
has discussed and considered fu-
ture uses for the park and has con-
ferred with OCDC Executive Direct-
or Glenn Irwin.
The options include, continuing
to provide Sunset Park Party Night
on Thursday evenings in July and
August as a cooperative venture
between the town and OCDC, con-
tinue to promote Sunset Park as a
unique downtown venue suitable for
events and programs scheduled
through Recreation and Parks facil-
ity reservation program, encourage
the Ocean City Life Saving Museum
and Brown Box Theatre Company
to expand programming the park
and promote Sunset Park as a wed-
ding venue.
Also, encourage the OC Down-
town Association to continue and
expand its "Light Up Downtown"
programs in December, encourage
the Coast Guard to host a commu-
nity education day at the park,
explore the possibility to conduct an
Autumn Food Festival based on the
model of the Crab Soup Cook-off,
explore the possibility to conduct an
Autumn Food Festival based on the
model of Crab Soup Cook-off, en-
courage the National Aquarium to
conduct programs in the park, con-
sider a Spring or Fall movie night at
the Park and provide funding in a
future bond issuance for the pier
construction at Sunset Park current-
ly in the town's Capital Improve-
ments Plan.
Councilman Dennis Dare brought
up an initiative that was added to
Ocean City's Code in the 1980s. The
Bayside Boardwalk Plan concept
was created to better circulate busi-
ness and enhance Ocean City's vis-
itors experience by extending the
resort's famous boardwalk from the
ocean side around the Inlet and
down the bayside up to 4th Street.
"The Boardwalk does well but if
you rent a store 20 feet off of the
Boardwalk it does not do well. Peo-
ple walk down the Boardwalk. They
don't explore the side streets. Balti-
more Avenue business has deterio-
rated over the years, so from a de-
velopment standpoint we are al-
ways trying to think of ways to get
people to explore all of the down-
town, not just the Boardwalk ... The
idea of Sunset Park was it will have
activity that will draw people through
the downtown," Dare said.
The town built a Boardwalk be-
tween 2nd and 4th streets along the
bay and inserted into the code that
any future development in the re-
maining areas would include the
construction of Boardwalk.
According to Dare, the puzzle
pieces started coming together
when the old Holt's Landing at
South Division Street was demolish-
ed and a bulkhead was built and a
boardwalk along with it. When Wor-
cester House was built, a board-
walk was also built. Cropper's Con-
crete was demolished and the prop-
erty is vacant, and when it becomes
developed another piece of the bay-
side Boardwalk will be incorporated.
"As properties have developed
that concept has been developed,
by code, and the idea was over time
the bayside would develop and the
boardwalk would become a reality,"
Dare said. "Its 30 years later and
there has been some progress but
my point is we should recognize that
in Sunset Park that the Boardwalk
Development Plan plays an integral
part."The commission was in consen-
sus to have Recreation and Parks
Director Tom Shuster amend the re-
port to add a future use item to in-
clude Sunset Park into the Bayside
Boardwalk Plan.
The Sunset Park Use and Anal-
ysis plan will be forwarded to the
City Manager's Office for comment,
and then will be presented to the full
Mayor and City Council.
More Future Events, Uses Sought For OC's Sunset Park
Page 14
January 24, 2014
The Dispatch/Maryland Coast Dispatch
By JOANNE SHRINER
STAFF WRITER
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