OCEAN CITY — After years — maybe decades — of talk, City Council took steps to move forward with the latest plan to address the city’s public safety building. The current building at 835 Central Ave. is more than a century old. It has seen some updates since its days as a schoolhouse, but police and city officials say it is in poor shape and too small to continue to house the municipal court and the police. At a recent meeting, council unanimously approved a $1.07 million contract with William McLees Architecture LLC of Somers Point to design the updates and additions to the building. Council also introduced an ordinance that would lease two floors of the building at 801 Asbury Ave. for some police operations, including police administration, and the municipal court administrator’s office while the renovation work continues about a block away.
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The lease for the fourth and fifth floors of the former Crown Bank building will run from July 1 to June 30, 2026, with an option to extend. That ordinance is set for a public hearing and final vote May 9. The posted ordinance did not include a cost to rent the space, and there was no immediate response from the city to an emailed request for more information. The plan also includes the creation of a police substation on the Boardwalk, which is expected to be the hub of summer operations. That proposal has been amended since the last time it was publicly discussed. Plans had been for the building to be built at the street end of Eighth Street. Instead, it is now planned for the nearby parking lot, city Administrator George Savastano said in a presentation to council.
While some towns have a brawling political style, Ocean City tends to keep on the kid gloves even in hotly contested races. That changed Monday, when a candidate accused members of council by name of being pawns of the mayor and the mayor of being indebted to developers. The architect, Mayor Jay Gillian, police representatives and others looked at the site and concluded the original plan was impractical, Savastano said. At the meeting, Gillian cited the significant expense of moving utilities from the construction site. The new plan will cost about $1 million less, Savastano said. “We believe it works better than what we originally came up with,” he said. A series of police chiefs have said the existing building does not meet their needs. Officials described buckets set around the third floor when it rains. But the delays had more to do with space than money. The barrier island offers few options for where to put a new building. Potential locations raised, and ultimately dismissed, include the parking lot across the street from the current building; an open space at 16th Street the city has acquired where there had been a car dealership; and a combined police, fire and courts building where the city’s fire headquarters now stands across from the Primary School between Fifth and Sixth streets. Some members of council were skeptical of the $42 million cost, while there were also concerns about the disruption to the area and putting the police and courts that close to schoolchildren. That plan would also require the city’s skate park to be relocated. Council members Tom Rotondi and Jody Levchuk both said they prefer the current plan. “I’m glad that we sat on this for a couple of years. This is a much better plan than from a couple of years ago,” Levchuk said. Council member Dave Winslow had his own doubts, his about sinking millions into an old building. But he said he was convinced after meeting with Savastano. “All too often we’ve waited and done nothing,” he said. “The cost of doing nothing is more expensive.” The city’s capital plan for the next five years includes $30 million for the upgrades to the public safety building. Last year, the city bonded $6.5 million for the substation at Eighth Street. The same plan includes $8.5 million for upgrades to the fire headquarters. The substation is expected to be completed by next summer, Savastano said. There will be parking for police vehicles on site, and additional parking underneath the building. Savastano told council members the city worked closely with municipal court personnel and police. He said the department backs the current plan, and that the court had sought several changes and staff there are now satisfied. It’s been three decades since the police and court building has seen significant renovations. Gillian said the discussions on what to do about the public safety building go back about 20 years.
It’s been at least since 2008, when serious consideration began about replacing the building, and officials started to talk seriously about where. When the work is completed, it will look like a new building, he said, and more importantly will function like a new building. “It needs a lot of work. We’re going to spend a lot of money to renovate it. But the bones (of the building) are not bad and the foundations are solid,” Savastano said. “When it’s done, it’s going to look like brand new.” He said city staff has spent thousands of hours working on the best option for the building. “This is a good plan. In the administration’s view, it’s time to move forward,” Savastano said.
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