AGENDA MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION TUESDAY, MARCH 27, 2012 12:00 P.M.

Closed Session Tuesday, March 27, 2012 12:00 p.m.- 1:00 p.m. Legal and Personnel Matters 1. Report on Closed Session Tuesday, March 27, 2012 12:00 p.m. Legal and Personnel Matters 2. Report on Closed Sessions Thursday, March 22, 2012 and Friday, March 23, 2012 Personnel Matters 3. Planning Commission Scooter Recommendations Presented by: Jesse Houston, Director of Planning and Community Development 4. Continued Discussion Concerning Supplemental Funding for the Current Street Improvement Program Presented by: Hal Adkins, Public Works Director 5. OC Experience Update Presented by: Donna Abbott, Communication Manager and Interim Tourism Director 6. Request to Purchase Hurst MOC Combi Tool Presented by: Fire Chief Chris Larmore and Jennie Knapp, Budget Manager

WORK SESSION -MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL TUESDAY, MARCH 27, 2012 1 Report on Closed Session - Tuesday, March 27, 2012 12:00 p.m. 1:00 p.m. Legal and Personnel Matters

NOTICE OF CLOSED SESSION OF MAYOR & CITY COUNCIL OF OCEAN CITY DATE AND TIME: PLACE: SUBJECT: VOTE: Tuesday, March 27, 2012 12:00 p.m. City Hall Legal and Personnel Matters UNANIMOUS OTHER: FOR: AGAINST: ABSTAIN: ABSENT:

AUTHORITY: State Government Article: Section 10-508(a) Annotated Code of Maryland PURPOSES: 1. To discuss: (i) the appointment, employment, assignment, promotion, discipline, demotion, compensation, removal, resignation or performance evaluation of appointees, employees or officials over whom it has jurisdiction; or (ii) any other personnel matter that affects one or more specific individuals; 2. To protect the privacy or reputation of individuals with respect to a matter that is not related to public business 3. To consider the acquisition of real property for the public purpose and matters directly related thereto; 4. Consider a matter that concerns the proposal for a business or industrial organization to locate, expand or locate in the state; 5. Consider the investment of public funds; 6. Consider the marketing of public securities; 7. Consult with counsel to obtain legal advice; 8. Consult with staff, consultants or other individuals about pending or potential litigations; 9. Conduct collective bargaining negotiations or consider matters that relate to the negotiations; 10. Discuss public security if the public body determines that public discussion would constitute a risk to the public or public security, including; a) the deployment of fire and police services and staff; and b) the development and implementation of emergency plans 11. Prepare, administer or grade a scholastic, licensing or qualifying examination; 12. Conduct or discuss an investigative proceeding on actual or possible criminal conduct; 13. Comply with a specific constitutional, statutory or judicially imposed requirement that prevents public disclosures about a particular proceeding or matter; or 14. Before a contract is awarded or bids are opened, discuss a matter directly related to a negotiation strategy or the contents of a bid or proposal, if public discussion or disclosure would adversely impact the ability of the public body to participate in the competitive bidding or proposal process

REPORT OF CLOSED SESSION OF THE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL OF OCEAN CITY

Prior to this open session of the Mayor and City Council being held on Tuesday, March 27, 2012, a closed session was held on Tuesday, March 27, 2012 at 12:00 p.m. The following is a report of the closed session. 1. A statement of the time, place, and purpose of the closed session is attached. 2. A record of the vote of each member as to closing the session is attached. 3. A citation of the authority under the law for closing the session is attached. 4. (a) Topics of Discussion: Legal and Personnel Matters (b) Persons present: Council President Jim Hall, Council Secretary Lloyd Martin Council Members Doug Cymek; Joe Hall, Mary Knight, Margaret Pillas and Brent Ashley Guy Ayres, City Solicitor Hal Adkins, Director of Public Works Kelly Allmond, City Clerk Executive Office Associate Diana Chavis

Action(s) taken: Motion to close meeting:

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WORK SESSION -MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL TUESDAY, MARCH 27, 2012 2 Report on Closed Sessions Personnel Matters Thursday, March 22, 2012 and Friday, March 23, 2012

REPORT OF CLOSED SESSION OF THE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL OF OCEAN CITY

Prior to this open session of the Mayor and City Council being held on Tuesday, March 27, 2012, a closed session was held on Thursday, March 22, 2012 at 2:30 p.m. The following is a report of the closed session. 1. A statement of the time, place, and purpose of the closed session is attached. 2. A record of the vote of each member as to closing the session is attached. 3. A citation of the authority under the law for closing the session is attached. 4. (a) Topics of Discussion: Personnel Matters (b) Persons present: Mayor & Interim City Manager Richard Meehan Council President Jim Hall Council Secretary Lloyd Martin Council Members Doug Cymek; Joe Hall, Mary Knight, Margaret Pillas and Brent Ashley City Manager Candidates

Action(s) taken: Motion to close meeting:

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REPORT OF CLOSED SESSION OF THE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL OF OCEAN CITY

Prior to this open session of the Mayor and City Council being held on Tuesday, March 27, 2012, a closed session was held on Friday, March 23, 2012 at 8:30 p.m. The following is a report of the closed session. 1. A statement of the time, place, and purpose of the closed session is attached. 2. A record of the vote of each member as to closing the session is attached. 3. A citation of the authority under the law for closing the session is attached. 4. (a) Topics of Discussion: Personnel Matters (b) Persons present: Mayor & Interim City Manager Richard Meehan Council President Jim Hall, Council Secretary Lloyd Martin Council Members Doug Cymek; Joe Hall, Mary Knight, Margaret Pillas and Brent Ashley City Manager Candidates

Action(s) taken: Motion to close meeting:

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WORK SESSION -MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL TUESDAY, MARCH 27, 2012 3 Planning Commission Scooter Recommendations Presented by: Jesse Houston, Director of Planning and Community Development

March 7, 2012 RECOMMENDATION FROM PLANNING COMMISSION RENTAL OF MOTOR SCOOTERS, MOPEDS AND SIMILAR MOTORIZED VEHICLES Conditional Use - Rental of motor scooters, mopeds, scoot coops and similar motorized vehicles permitted by Conditional Use in the following districts: LC-1 Local Commercial, SC-1 Shopping Center, BMUD Bayside Mixed Use, B-1 Boardwalk Commercial, BC-2 Boardwalk Commercial, DMX Downtown Mixed Use, and M Manufacturing Districts. (Licensing requirements would be part of conditional use approval.) Nonconforming Uses A rental business possessing a valid business license as of April 30, 2012, that does not comply with the new licensing requirements may renew the license for the license year 2012-2013. After May 31, 2013, all such businesses shall have an approved conditional use and be subject to the new licensing regulations. License renewals for 2012-2013 must comply with all newly adopted regulations to the extent possible. Insurance Requirements Licensee must provide the Town of Ocean City written proof of a business insurance policy of at least $1,000,000. Rentals to licensed drivers Vehicles may only be rented to persons with a valid drivers license. Renters under the age of 18 must have parents or guardians written permission. Instruction and training - Licensee must provide instruction and training to each customer in advance of the rental of the vehicle. Training must include at least the following: 1. Explanation of State and local laws and regulations including: a. Permitted locations for driving vehicles as set forth in Sec. 21-1205.1 of the Annotated Code of Maryland. b. Operating at a maximum speed of 30 miles per hour. c. Requirement for renters to wear helmets. d. Requirement for proper lights and reflectors for operation after dark. e. Prohibition on cell phone use, texting and wearing headphones while operating the vehicle. f. Unlawful operation of the vehicle while impaired or intoxicated. 2. Starting, stopping, turning and otherwise controlling the vehicle. 3. Proper use of controls including but not limited to, turn signals, horn, brakes, stand, and lights. 4. The licensee must provide a training area on the premise of the business or on other private property within a reasonable walking distance of the business. The training area must be an unobstructed paved surface at least 20 feet wide by 50 feet long in order to provide adequate space to turn, accelerate and stop

the vehicle. Prospective customers must be walked to the training area. The training area shall not interfere with parking spaces, drive aisles, or access points used by other businesses or residences. Training shall not take place on public property or rights of way without permission of the Mayor and City Council. 5. The licensee or a trained representative shall observe the prospective renter operate the vehicle in the training area. The licensee shall refuse to rent the vehicle to any prospective renter who cannot demonstrate the ability to drive the vehicle safely. Use of public property The following activities shall not take place on public property including sidewalks, rights of way, parks, beaches or the Boardwalk. 1. Driving or operating vehicles except on areas approved for motorized vehicular operation (e.g.,streets, alleys, parking lots). 2. Displaying vehicles for rent. 3. Training. 4. Fueling, maintenance and storage of vehicles. Storage of vehicles When the business is closed, vehicles must be stored within a building or temporary storage container. Business transactions Sales transactions shall take place inside a building. Fueling Fueling methods and locations shall be approved by the Ocean City Fire Marshal. All fueling must take place outside. Number of riders on a vehicle The number of riders on a vehicle shall not exceed the manufacturers limit. Identification of ownership of rental vehicles Each rental vehicle and its owner must be identified as required by the Mayor and City Council. Testing of vehicles All rental vehicles are required by State law have a capacity of 50 cubic centimeters piston displacement or less. The Ocean City Police Department is authorized to inspect rental vehicles at any time to determine compliance with this limitation.

SUMMARY OF SCOOTER / MOPED ACCIDENT DATA Reported on MAARS Forms Year 2009 2010 2011 # Accidents 28 71 68 Fault of Scooter Driver? Yes No 13 15 34 36 39 29 Rented 12 33 36 Privately Owned 16 38 32

SCOOTER INCIDENTS (Including those NOT Reported on MAARS Forms) Year 2010 2011 No. Of Incidents 104 158

Case Number 2009001004 2009002048 2009002048 2009002048 2009002394 2009002970 2009002395 2009003404 2009003562 2009003614 2009003761 2009003901 2009004123 2009004476 2009004542 2009004598 2009003399 2009004813 2009004813 2009005170 2009005615 2009005680 2009005956 2009006866 2009006816 2009006821 2009007204 2009007618 2010000270 2010000789 2010001486 2010001495 2010001761 2010001775 2010001949

Date 4/25/09 6/6/09 6/6/09 6/6/09 6/10/09 6/16/09 6/10/09 6/23/09 6/26/09 6/26/09 6/29/09 7/3/09 7/5/09 7/12/09 7/14/09 7/15/09 6/23/09 7/19/09 7/19/09 7/27/09 8/6/09 8/7/09 8/13/09 9/7/09 9/6/09 9/6/09 9/24/09 10/22/09 1/25/10 4/4/10 5/22/10 5/22/10 5/30/10 5/30/10 6/3/2010

Time 1049 1723 1723 1723 1258 1452 1257 1320 1922 1004 1554 0031 1800 1604 1139 1938 1141 1814 1814 0853 1131 1711 1810 1701 1612 1823 1752 0216 1220 1811 2243 2355 1311 1549 1816

DOW SAT SAT SAT SAT WED TUES WED TUES FRI FRI MON FRI SUN SUN TUES WED TUES SUN SUN MON THUR FRI THUR MON SUN SUN THUR THUR MON SUN SAT SAT SUN SUN THUR

Type of Vehicle Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Moped Moped Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Moped Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Moped Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Moped Motor Scooter Moped Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Moped Moped Moped Moped Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter

Gender UNK Male Male Female Male Male Male Male Male Male Male Male Male Male Male Male Female Male Female Female Male Female Male Male Male Female Male Male UNK Male Male Male Female Male Male

Age UNK 16 16 16 19 18 19 20 21 20 26 25 24 18 21 19 21 18 17 15 UNK 23 UNK 23 23 22 23 28 UNK 25 15 18 22 41 19

Fault No No No No Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Yes Yes No No No No No No No Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes No Yes

Hospital PRMC AGH No AGH AGH AGH AGH AGH No No AGH PRMC PRMC No PRMC AGH No PRMC PRMC No No PRMC No No No AGH AGH No No AGH PRMC PRMC No No No

Establishment Continental Cycles Privately Owned Privately Owned Privately Owned Privately Owned Privately Owned Island Cycles Fun Cycles Privately Owned Privately Owned Fun Cycles Privately Owned Fun Cycles Privately Owned OC Watersports Island Cycles Privately Owned Island Cycles Island Cycles Continental Cycles Privately Owned Privately Owned Privately Owned Privately Owned Island Cycles Island Cycles Privately Owned Privately Owned Privately Owned Privately Owned Privately Owned Privately Owned Island Cycles Island Cycles Privately Owned

Prepared by OCPD Crime Analyst Brandon Reim

Case Number 2010001949 2010001694 2010002047 2010002312 2010002398 2010002598 2010002235 2010002487 2010002691 2010002821 2010002944 2010002470 2010002683 2010003077 2010003015 2010002955 2010002955 2010003335 2010003400 2010003432 2010003474 2010003714 2010003943 2010004145 2010004344 2010004249 2010004154 2010004505 2010004526 2010004269 2010004425 2010004516 2010004875 2010004632

Date 6/3/2010 5/29/10 6/5/10 6/8/10 6/9/10 6/11/10 6/7/10 6/10/10 6/12/10 6/13/10 6/15/10 6/10/10 6/12/10 6/17/10 6/16/10 6/15/10 6/15/10 6/20/10 6/22/10 6/22/10 6/23/10 6/27/10 7/2/10 7/4/10 7/7/10 7/5/10 7/4/10 7/11/10 7/11/10 7/5/10 7/9/10 7/11/10 7/19/10 7/14/10

Time 1816 1949 1818 1518 1815 2139 1756 0415 1902 1921 1449 1050 1454 1347 1733 2001 2001 1350 1802 1440 1553 0328 1520 1949 1432 1628 2016 1151 2006 2144 1816 1816 1200 1609

DOW THUR SAT SAT TUES WED FRI MON THUR SAT SUN TUES THUR SAT THUR WED TUES TUES SUN TUES TUES WED SUN FRI SUN WED MON SUN SUN SUN MON FRI SUN MON WED

Type of Vehicle Motor Scooter Moped Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Moped Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Moped Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Unknown

Gender Male Male Male Male Male Male Male Male Male Male Male Male Male Male Female Male Female Male Male Male Male Male Male Male Male Male Male Male Female Male Male Male Male UNK

Age 18 22 20 18 19 18 17 17 23 18 19 18 19 19 18 16 18 20 18 25 24 18 20 21 19 50 20 21 30 40 34 35 56 UNK

Fault No No Yes Yes No No Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes No Yes No Yes No No No No Yes Yes No No Yes No No Yes No Yes No No Unk

Hospital No No No No PRMC No No No No No No Yes No No No No PRMC No No No AGH AGH AGH AGH No PRMC No No No AGH No No No No

Establishment Casablanca Scooter Rentals Privately Owned Island Cycles Island Cycles Waterways Island Cycles Island Cycles Privately Owned Island Cycles Island Cycles Domani Scooters Island Cycles Domani Scooters Privately Owned Domani Scooters Island Cycles Island Cycles Fun Cycles Island Cycles Privately Owned Privately Owned Privately Owned Privately Owned Casablanca Scooter Rentals Privately Owned Privately Owned Domani Scooters Privately Owned Privately Owned Island Cycles Island Cycles Privately Owned Island Cycles Privately Owned

Prepared by OCPD Crime Analyst Brandon Reim

Case Number 2010005173 2010005126 2010005034 2010005280 2010005386 2010005728 2010005775 2010005959 2010005767 2010005898 2010006163 2010006121 2010006169 2010006381 2010005997 2010006477 2010006538 2010006538 2010006230 2010005897 2010006572 2010006572 2010006823 2010007039 2010007236 2010007290 2010007414 2010007484 2010007236 2010007598 2011001176 2011001469 2011001530 2011001610 2011001879 2011002197

Date 7/25/10 7/24/10 7/22/10 7/27/10 7/29/10 8/5/10 8/6/10 8/9/10 8/6/10 8/8/10 8/14/10 8/12/10 8/14/10 8/19/10 8/10/10 8/21/10 8/22/10 8/22/10 8/15/10 8/8/10 8/23/10 8/23/10 8/31/10 9/7/10 9/17/10 9/19/10 9/25/10 9/29/10 9/17/10 10/10/10 5/12/11 5/25/11 5/27/11 5/28/11 6/2/11 6/7/11

Time 0831 1607 2307 2253 0141 2007 1858 2052 1639 1158 1134 2045 1621 2131 1806 1739 2112 2112 1623 1222 1722 1722 1806 1938 2243 0219 1420 1044 2243 0158 0220 1315 2212 2323 1024 1257

DOW SUN SAT THUR TUES THUR THUR FRI MON FRI SUN SAT THUR SAT THUR TUES SAT SUN SUN SUN SUN MON MON TUES TUES FRI SUN SAT WED FRI SUN THUR WED FRI SAT THUR TUES

Type of Vehicle Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Moped Moped Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Moped Motor Scooter Moped Moped Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Moped Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter

Gender Male UNK Male Male Male Female Male Male Male Male Male Male Male Female Male Male Female Female Male Male Male Male Male Male Male Male Male Male Male Male Male Female Male Male Male Female

Age 26 UNK 28 21 20 23 24 20 31 15 27 45 70 29 23 21 17 17 20 16 25 27 51 22 38 60 66 47 38 29 28 62 17 18 18 18

Fault No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes No Yes Yes No Yes Yes No No Yes No No Yes No No Yes No No No No Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes

Hospital No No No No No No Yes PRMC No No No PRMC PRMC AGH No AGH No No PRMC AGH No No AGH No PRMC No No PRMC PRMC AGH AGH AGH AGH PRMC No No

Establishment Privately Owned Domani Scooters Privately Owned Privately Owned Privately Owned Privately Owned Privately Owned Privately Owned Privately Owned Privately Owned Privately Owned Privately Owned Privately Owned Waterways Privately Owned Privately Owned Island Cycles Island Cycles Privately Owned Island Cycles Domani Scooters Domani Scooters Fun Cycles Fun Cycles Privately Owned Privately Owned Privately Owned Privately Owned Privately Owned Privately Owned Privately Owned OC Scooters Privately Owned Privately Owned Island Cycles Domani Scooters

Prepared by OCPD Crime Analyst Brandon Reim

Case Number 2011001985 2011002061 2011002061 2011002076 2011002190 2011002313 2011002325 2011002503 2011002640 2011001965 2011002892 2011002830 2011002830 2011002893 2011003206 2011003480 2011002506 2011002901 2011003296 2011003471 2011003218 2011002526 2011003840 2011003907 2011004029 2011004256 2011004163 2011004153 2011004153 2011004054 2011004466 2011004160 2011004822 2011004412

Date 6/4/11 6/5/11 6/5/11 6/5/11 6/7/11 6/8/11 6/8/11 6/10/11 6/11/11 6/4/11 6/14/11 6/13/11 6/13/11 6/14/11 6/18/11 6/22/11 6/10/11 6/14/11 6/19/11 6/22/11 6/18/11 6/10/11 6/29/11 6/30/11 7/2/11 7/4/11 7/3/11 7/3/11 7/3/11 7/2/11 7/8/11 7/3/11 7/15/11 7/7/11

Time 2134 1637 1637 2010 1015 1744 2016 1933 2146 1552 1133 1659 1659 1220 1357 2215 2002 1527 1825 1812 1728 2321 0046 1413 1020 1905 2205 1949 1949 1841 1215 2130 1407 1133

DOW SAT SUN SUN SUN TUES WED WED FRI SAT SAT TUES MON MON TUES SAT WED FRI TUES SUN WED SAT FRI WED THUR SAT MON SUN SUN SUN SAT FRI SUN FRI THUR

Type of Vehicle Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Moped Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter

Gender Male Male Male Male Male Male Female Male Female Male Male Male Male Male Female Male Male Male Male Male Male Male Male Female Male Male Male Male Male Female Male Female Male Male

Age 24 23 22 19 63 18 18 17 25 16 19 18 56 17 19 18 17 19 19 30 18 18 18 21 21 18 22 22 21 18 41 23 34 25

Fault No No Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes No No Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Yes No Yes Yes No No No Yes Yes No No Yes

Hospital No No No No No AGH PRMC No AGH No AGH AGH AGH No No AGH No No No No No No PRMC AGH No No No No No No AGH AGH PRMC No

Establishment Waterways Island Cycles Island Cycles Domani Scooters Privately Owned Island Cycles Domani Scooters Island Cycles Privately Owned Privately Owned Privately Owned Island Cycles Island Cycles Privately Owned Privately Owned Island Cycles Island Cycles Cycle City Island Cycles Scooters by the Beach Island Cycles Privately Owned Cycle City Island Cycles Privately Owned Island Cycles Scooters by the Beach Domani Scooters Domani Scooters Domani Scooters Privately Owned Domani Scooters Privately Owned Privately Owned

Prepared by OCPD Crime Analyst Brandon Reim

Case Number 2011005127 2011005206 2011005242 2011005423 2011005820 2011005573 2011005573 2011005179 2011005594 2011005929 2011006149 2011006431 2011006503 2011006654 2011006475 2011006769 2011006745 2011006764 2011006880 2011006953 2011006933 2011007110 2011007050 2011007295 2011006874 2011006829 2011007560 2011007786

Date 7/21/11 7/22/11 7/23/11 7/26/11 8/2/11 7/29/11 7/29/11 7/16/11 7/29/11 8/5/11 8/9/11 8/15/11 8/17/11 8/21/11 8/16/11 8/24/11 8/23/11 8/24/11 8/31/11 9/3/11 9/2/11 9/7/11 9/5/11 9/17/11 8/31/11 8/29/11 9/30/11 10/20/11

Time 1339 2209 1028 1657 1814 1231 1231 0042 2243 1555 1621 1552 1708 0047 1815 1500 1848 1731 2128 0216 2133 0958 2245 1215 1507 1334 1639 1911

DOW THUR FRI SAT TUES TUES FRI FRI SAT FRI FRI TUES MON WED SUN TUES WED TUES WED WED SAT FRI WED MON SAT WED MON FRI THUR

Type of Vehicle Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Moped Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Motor Scooter Moped

Gender Male Male Male Female Male Male Female Male Male Male Male Male Male Male Male Male Male Female Male Male Male Male Male Female Male Male Male Male

Age 44 18 25 33 18 26 38 20 25 24 20 46 18 30 23 56 24 21 36 21 16 24 21 29 52 30 28 24

Fault No Yes No No No Yes No Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes No Yes No

Hospital No No PRMC AGH No No AGH No AGH No No No AGH PRMC No AGH No AGH No No No No PRMC AGH PRMC No AGH AGH

Establishment Island Cycles Island Cycles Privately Owned Waterways Fun Cycles Privately Owned Island Cycles Beachside Scooter Privately Owned Privately Owned Privately Owned Privately Owned Island Cycles Domani Scooters Privately Owned Privately Owned Privately Owned Island Cycles Privately Owned Privately Owned Privately Owned Privately Owned Privately Owned Privately Owned Privately Owned Island Cycles Privately Owned Privately Owned

Prepared by OCPD Crime Analyst Brandon Reim

PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION Scooters, Scoot-Coupes, et. al., Public Hearing February 22, 2012

PRESENT Pam Buckley John Staley Peck Miller Chris Shanahan Lauren Taylor

IN ATTENDANCE Blaine Smith Kay Stroud Jesse Houston Bob Nelson Kevin Gregory, Attorney

This meeting of the Planning and Zoning Commission was held on Wednesday, February 22, 2012, in the City Hall Council Chambers located on Baltimore Avenue and 3rd Street, Ocean City, Maryland. Pam Buckley, Commission Chairwoman, called the meeting to order. BUCKLEY: Alright, wed like to call to order the public hearing tonight which is on Ocean City scooters and it is to consider: Scooters, scoot-coupes, and other names commonly associated with such vehicles that do not require a State vehicle registration license as a special exception or conditional use with the appropriate safeguards and regulations in various zoning districts. The applicant is the Planning and Zoning Commission and it is file #12-14100001, and prior to each public hearing the chairman is asked to state Is any person in attendance object to the Commission member taking part in this public hearing due to a conflict of interest. The Commission, excluding the person in question shall decide by majority vote if that person challenged may take part. Does anyone in attendance have any problem with the Commissioners on the dias taking part in this public hearing? Let the record state that theres no objections. And Mr. Houston will give us the record and we will have him sworn in. GREGORY: Sir do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? HOUSTON: I do. Jesse Houston, Planning Director for the Town. I think what Ill do is lay out maybe the format that we have recommended for the hearing, and then well get into the details of it. Basically Im going to give you an introduction why were here and a little bit of background. Blaine will then take over and go through the current regulations, how the current codes handle these scooter, scoot-coupes, mopeds, whatever we want to call them, the rentals of those. Hes also going to discuss some police data, accident data, some concerns or interests the Fire Marshal has, so well talk about all those different codes. And then Ill come back and go over some issues to consider. Weve done some research on other communities and how some other communities handle this, so well go through a list of items that you might want to consider and then I guess youll want to take some comments, or if you have questions or comments, then take comments from the audience, and then decide on if you want to deliberate this evening, if you want to wait until your next meeting to deliberate, so you can decide on that at the end. And then of course at the end, youll make a recommendation to the Mayor and City Council. So to start with, this item has been referred to you by the Mayor and City Council. I know at one point, maybe a year or so

ago, you all had also mentioned that you had concerns about the rentals of these vehicles. But the Mayor and City Council have referred this to you for public hearing, and ultimately for a recommendation from you to them. The vehicles that are being addressed, Ill read what the City attorney, how he has described them. Basically its the rental or sale of motorized vehicles with a purported capacity of 50 ccs or less, which are not required to be licensed by the State of Maryland. So thats sort of the definition of the vehicles that were concerned about and its what you see, you know what they are, theyre the scooters, the scoot-coupes, the mopeds, those sorts of vehicles. The Mayor and City Council did pass a moratorium on January 31, 2012. Ive given the attorney a copy of it, and hell enter that as an exhibit, or well enter that as an exhibit into this hearing. The moratorium was to not issue any new or renewal business licenses for these businesses for at least 90 days or until they pass new regulations on these ordinances. So the 90 days for the moratorium would expire on April 30th, so there will be no business licenses issued before 90 days or sooner if you get a recommendation to them and they pass it sooner than that. So right now we have kind of a rest period to work on these regulations, and again the moratorium states that the Mayor and City Council has determined that the proliferation of these vehicles on the streets and roadways within the Town creates a safety issue as theres no training in the use and operation of these vehicles required. So thats sort of the reasoning that the Mayor and City Council gave for enacting the moratorium. So, thats why were here, thats kind of your background; well talk about, as I said, later on, well talk about some items to consider, and now I think Blaine is going to talk about how we handle these currently in the zoning code, maybe some police department, and some fire marshal issues and Ill be back to give you some more detail. GREGORY: Sir, do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? SMITH: I do. GREGORY: Thank you. SMITH: My name is Blaine Smith, Zoning Administrator. I think to explain our zoning regulations as they are today and how we got to this point with the regulation of both scooter and bicycle. Current zoning regulations allow indoor and outdoor sale and rental of bicycles in all commercial districts, and if its in a residential district, its a special exception permit. And when, 3-5 years ago when scooters started becoming popular, we treated as same as bicycle as far as how they would conduct business and I think as Jesse has stated, the proliferation, the competitive nature of the rental programs, and then the incidents that the police have reported to us, and things of that nature, we find that there is some need to do some type of regulation to be able to maintain safety with the user of the scooter if nothing else. I think once they get into the street, then obviously thats the State Highway and the police and the State Highway, with the size of the engine being 50 cc or less, is also under state law, under Department of Motor Vehicle, and the police enforce that. As to bicycle rental and the scooter rental as what were doing today, we do require parking at one point in time it was one parking space per 10 bicycle, or device, if you will. A few years ago, I think 2007, we changed our parking regulation to be one parking space per 200 square feet of display area, so ultimately, depending on the size of the bicycle or scooter, or whatever, however many you could put in the 200 square feet of display area that was one required customer parking space. And we will show you some photo later, how theyve been displayed, in

years past. You can see how that affects neighboring properties and what have you, as far as how theyre displayed and utilized as well as whether theres available training area without using public streets and sidewalks and that type of thing. So well try to talk through that as to what we have seen over the last 3-5 year, on how theyve conducted business on and off the property. Downtown has, the Upper Downtown, and the Lower Downtown, which is pretty much all commercial districts, and there are several of these operations along Baltimore Avenue, and Philadelphia Avenue. Once you get north of 17th Street, there are several in different locations, some are on commercial properties, some are in shopping center properties, and they have operated in that fashion. A few of these have been there for many years, especially when you use the term moped, around 70-some Street theyve rented moped there for many many years from that little strip center. But most of these have become new location, and we have experienced regulation as to parking, signage, we have been working with the Fire Marshals office because of fuel handling, some of these are stored inside, some of them are maintained inside of buildings, some of them have mixed occupancy, be it commercial or residential in the same building. The Fire Marshal has assured me that, until currently (correction Mr. Smiths meaning was up-to-date, current), they do regulate and make sure theyre fire-safe on how they store and put these in buildings, and they have regulated them ongoing and inspect them regularly. And they thought they have done their part to maintain the life safety to a high degree, however, this statement that theyve given me is that should we go to a special exception or conditional use they would comment site specific, you know, on any request that might come and any experience that has happened and they would review the request and they would make sure whatever the proposal is would be maintained life-safe. But they have thought they have done a fair job maintaining these as is these last few years. The police report, and we had hoped to get, a crime analysis on the number of incidents and things like that. Mainly what they have reported to me, and the number, theres several incidents, and I dont have all the statistics but what it boiled down to was negligence and the inexperienced rider. They go out onto the public street and theyre either inexperienced or negligent as to how they use these, and probably because of inexperience, I dont necessarily want to say theyre careless they just dont necessarily know how to handle it. And when you get up to 50 ccs, if youre near 50 ccs youre almost to a motorcycle speed, and I think that as to how they are allowed to be on public street and public ways, Ive heard, because Im not an expert on this but I believe that you have to be on streets that are posted 40 or less miles per hour, which is Coastal Highway is 40 miles per hour (mph). If youre like on Route 50 I dont think you can get into a high-speed zone, like a 55 speed, I dont think theyre allowed to ride in those type areas, but were an urban setting and they could be on probably any of our streets unless the Mayor and Council decide to do otherwise, and I think at one point they were considering to limit them to certain streets, and Im not 100% sure on that, but thats up to the Mayor and Council and the Highway Administration and those, is how they regulate them on the street. There was some issue on how to, because Jesse used the word purported 50 ccs I would not know one engine from another, personally. And I believe, on the regulatory side, if that is the criteria, and its part of the criteria we have to make enforceable, that any recommendation that you all would have to the Mayor and Council so that we can regulate and enforce it, that we need to have the right criteria and the proper enforcement, be it either the police and/or the zoning office. These, as you know, a Conditional Use, youd be the hearing examiner and the Mayor and Council would be the final decision based on your recommendation; whereas if you did a special exception, it would go to the Board of Zoning Appeal. Normally if the Board of Zoning Appeal hear a case they weigh the testimony, and they can approve it or disapprove it based on what

they hear. I think if you all want the Conditional Use, normally you look at the neighboring properties, make recommendation, and you can set standard through that conditional use process that maybe the Board of Zoning Appeal would not have the expertise, if you will. Because youre looking at the whole neighborhood youre looking at the adjacent properties, even though they would as well, a lot of times they depend on testimony from the opponents, if you will. BUCKLEY: Um hm. SMITH: But you look at it from a planning mood, and you know, I think if you see youd look at a particular location site-specific with all the controls that would protect the values of properties and the compatibilities of properties and other things, which the Board of Appeals would do it in part, but your expertise on the planning and the location of these type uses, just like were talking about design standards and things of that, I think its more in line for you all to evaluate if its going to be an allowed use or a conditional use whereas sending it to the Board of Zoning Appeals, theyre not as involved as we are in day to day land use planning. So thats something you may take into advisement from a regulatory standpoint. I have looked into the process when we got into watersport, water-related activities on the bay. A lot of that was safety, the handling of fuels because of contamination in the bay and incidence and that type thing. These probably have some of the same inherent type things, training the people in how to properly ride them, so that, which is a conditional use, and so you can do that evaluation, you can get the departmental review comments BUCKLEY: Right. SMITH: and things of that nature. It too involves parking, it involved having onsite employee toilet facilities, storage of fuel, you know, be it bulk-storage or what have you. If in fact these facilities, these types of, bicycles are not motorized; so you dont worry about fumes. BUCKLEY: Right. SMITH: These are motorized, and they do have oils and they do leak from time to time. When you start putting them in buildings, fumes and things like that, and I talked to the Fire Marshal about it, you know, how much can you supervise once you take it inside of a building, and if theres fumes and things of that nature, its different that putting a bicycle stored inside at night versus putting some of these inside that might have the mufflers and all the other stuff that have heat built up and things of that nature. So I think that there are safety issues, not just on the road but on how they are handled on the property and how they are stored at night and things of that nature. Then again, the Fire Marshal assured me that they do regulate that, but still those are the things you have to be concerned about. We have taken picture of virtual ever rental site, now these picture were taken recently, so you would not see scooters in all instance, but weve gone back, maybe as far back as 2008 and 09, and picked up pictures where weve had enforcement issues, and we can tell you which, and youll see the picture of today, an example this is Talbot Street and Baltimore Avenue, and they place a scooter up on the porch BUCKLEY: Um hm.

SMITH: and if Bob keeps moving, I can kind of real quickly (showing power-point slide show), thats the same thing, a close-up. BUCKLEY: Yeah, we have no walkway. SMITH: It sometimes blocks the ingress and egress, and we can just keep moving those because theyre all the same. Thats the north end of that building. They train those folks over on our city street, thats where theyve been doing their training program because they have no other place to do it. BUCKLEY: Um hm. SMITH: Okay BUCKLEY: Well, at least they were training them. SMITH: thats with nothing on the property. Now this is, and the gentleman who owns this, hes here. This is a, I think around 26th Street, and they have a, thats their parking lot, and youll see scooter thats associated with that as the pictures keep happening. Well, this is out near Coastal Highway, and thats down along side the property. They keep them well-stored, they have a nice training area in the parking lot, and that parking lot is strictly for their business, so theyre not competing or interfering with every business that are adjacent. And theyve maintained an operation I guess probably, three or four years now, and they were one of the first ones to get into the scoot-coupe, the coupe device. Now this one is near the Taylor Bank, theres a motel site. They have placed them on the landscape strip, theres a banner, and here they are out along the road in the parking lot where you have motel people and, I couldnt do anything about it because there was extra parking there and they were able to occupy the parking space. Now what I have done more recently, and it was at the shopping center up north, the Food Lion, I brought it to the Planning Commission, that was the best I could do was to try to put a handle on it at staff level, so if theyre going to start doing this, but some of these got done, thats actually the back side of 45th Street Village, so they MILLER: Well, did that one that you just showed have an area for training onsite that wasnt competing with other people? SMITH: No, no. Its all with the motel, you know, and when that picture was taken there wasnt a lot of guests in the parking lot, but you know, from time to time there will be, and especially on weekends, youve got Friday, Saturday, Sunday, theres going to be the turn-over traffic and things of that nature. And if they tried to train them, that would be mixed use on that parking lot. Okay, and again thats, and at the 45th Street Village they do have some back area to do training, but you know, they store them in those shipping container. This one has been there for a number of years. Its right at what used to be Tutti Gustis, to the south of them, the next unit south, and they, I would assume they just get them out on the road somehow and take off. Theres, theres a parking lot in the back BUCKLEY: They use to have, doesnt it have a rear entrance in the back? SMITH: Yeah, but whether they take them around there and practice in that back, because theres a parking lot in that back

BUCKLEY: Right. SMITH: and what have you, which is also a public alley back there, but they may or may not do that. But I think if you made it under certain conditions or if you made it a conditional use, then you could understand it before you approve it. They would explain, performance-wise how they were going to maintain and train the people. BUCKLEY: Yeah. MILLER: And whether theyre going to train them right. SMITH: Yeah. This is sort of what has happened, and I really dont know, and they may have ways that they help them become comfortable before they put them on the street, again its 45th Street and they were putting them out near the landscape strip and near the highway, and quite often theyll put the banners up. Thats a quick way of getting, you know, the signage. Need to get some orientation on that one. BUCKLEY: Oh where is that, SomerTAYLOR & MILLER: Somerset Street BUCKLEY: Yeah, thats downtown. SMITH: Okay, thats bicycles, thats not scooters as such, yeah thats bicycles. This is at the Kitchen Restaurant, they were doing it in the parking lot of the Kitchen Restaurant. And I think last year they may not have done it, they did it year before. But there was some set-up there for scooters, and they couldve done it in the parking lot but then you do have other uses that utilize that parking lot. Its zoned commercial. Thats Somerset Street again. This is Mikes Bikes, and now its Bills Bikes, but for years they didnt do scooter, after-hours they would do scooters when the bicycles, because that was like 10 or 11 oclock, then they would go to scooters in the nighttime, or late hours, and they would operate from the back side of that building. They do have a parking lot thats somewhat theirs, so there wouldnt be a lot of interference. Now this ones at 2nd Street, the motel on the west side of Baltimore Avenue. They really dont have any training area, and they do have the motel guests along 2nd Street, its all parking; and thats how they store them sometimes, you know, to leave them outdoors. Part of thats our rightof-way; now this is 2nd Street between Baltimore Avenue and the Boardwalk and the second building on the left and youll see more pictures with the scooter. He jumped on that one, thats uh. Now that one right there is, they did on the walk area of the shopping center, its like, Tony Russos building, and they do have a parking lot to the north, but that serves that whole center, and they do put them out on the walk area. Now they maintain the egress out to the public sidewalk, but it does somewhat block the porch area. And thats the parking lot to the north of that building where they could do some degree of training. This is Larry Laytons Family Restaurant, and this past year one of those stores was vacant, and they did them up on the porch of that one area, and they too have a parking lot out back that serves that whole center. So, it would still be a mixed use if you used the parking lot for training. And the parking lot to the north is CVS. That was, I believe that might be where the mopeds are. TAYLOR: Its like 18th Street.

SMITH: Yeah. MILLER: Its the second one next to Dunkin Donuts where they had them, and they would, they had them out in the parking lot. SMITH: It was in the parking lot, yeah. So thats a mixed use, and you know, if it were a request made there, then you would look at how to safeguard the community for that purpose. This was, its just south of the Minit Market, and theyve got that whole back area for training, so its got adequate facilities if you will, with display and training. This is the one we saw earlier. This is north of 34th or 35th Street, 33rd? And they have a (indistinguishable) that they can train, because their total commitment there is for that one business, so they could train there on their parcel. MILLER: The one I got, I called a lot, got some phone calls on that because they were in the back of Seven Seas Condo, in the parking lot training people. SMITH: And thats the thing, once they get on they can go through neighborhoods up and down alleys MILLER: And thats why they were training back there, supposedly what the owner said. SMITH: Yeah, right. MILLER: Because thats Docs parking right there, for Ocean Atlantic, those spaces you see right there? Between the two buildings is the parking spaces for Ocean Atlantic I think. SMITH: Oh, its not theirs? MILLER: Well, I think he owns both buildings. SMITH: Okay, yeah. MILLER: I guess its common maybe. SMITH: But theyve been there for two or three years now at that location with scooter rental. Uh, thats the Adkins Company property and they were doing it in a few of the parking space. Now, since Adkins Companys gone out theyve got adequate parking, if you will, but it is a little bit mixed use in conjunction with the T-shirt Shop, but theyre a distance from the store entrance and all of that, I mean, but still, thats what you would look at it if they wanted to request a permit to do it there. You would make sure that there are enough safeguards employed that it would be safe and operable. Thats the old Cloudbreak, this was the first year I think they did them there, and theyve got their back area and their parking lot to the north is strictly for that use. Thats the mopeds. Yeah, thats the one thats done moped for many years. And they use the parking lot for display. And I suspect they probably train them, if theyre not familiar, in that parking lot. This one I think, this one you saw and they eventually moved the scooters to that back building rather than have them out by the highway. When you first saw it, they had a few out at the highway, but then they moved them back to that building. This is back to 2nd

Street, its just showing one of them parked in our right-of-way because we own some of that right-of-way. There they are in our street, and we see this often in some areas. MILLER: Is that 2nd Street? SMITH: Yes. Now I will say that City Engineer have allowed them a couple parking spaces from time to time, whether we continue that practice or not is what were thinking of, you know, thats what weve got to be careful of. But then if they train, do they train in the street, because they barely have enough property to store them on the property and thats why theyre putting them in the parking space. BUCKLEY: Right. SMITH: And this is back to the 16th Street, Tony Russos property with them up on that porch. BUCKLEY: Right. SMITH: And these are the ones that are there by Mackys in that front parking lot. Theyve had mopeds and jet skis rental there for many years, and they do have a little bit of a use area but its for the marina activity and other things, so I mean, if you looked at it, you would weigh the good and the bad of it and how they operate. BUCKLEY: Okay. SMITH: So those are examples and the best we could pull up, you know, in a short time span. BUCKLEY: You know, you said, from the OCPD, did we get, did you say you had anything from them? SMITH: I have a letter but they are talking about the negligence of the rider BUCKLEY: Okay, but no specifics SMITH: and the inexperience of the rider, but they do have a lot of data that the crime analyst was working on, but I, Ill use the word neglected, to get it all. They do have it BUCKLEY: how long do you think it will take to get that? SMITH: I think we can have it within a week, yeah. BUCKLEY: Okay. SMITH: I think this coming week we would have it, I worked with them last week, but I didnt do, I dont think it was them, it was me. I didnt do all the follow-up. BUCKLEY: Well, I think for us to do our due-diligence, we need that information for this hearing. TAYLOR: Absolutely, without that information, it

BUCKLEY: Right, yeah. SMITH: And they have quite a bit of database. BUCKLEY: Right, and so we need to, we will need to get that to, um HOUSTON: Yeah, and well need that just for reasons, this is why were doing this. BUCKLEY: But we need it yeah HOUSTON: This is why were looking at this BUCKLEY: It makes sense, yes, we need that. SMITH: And it will probably be site specific. BUCKLEY: And it also might help us in determining some of the issues that are creating that are site-specific that we can see what happened on that particular site and what the issue there couldve contributed to that, you know, to that issue, to that situation whether they dont have proper training area, whether theyre getting their access to the roadways is not sufficient or hampered. Anyway, okay. HOUSTON: I can tell you that at one point, if I can find it, Chief DiPino did tell the Mayor and City Council at one point that, she gave a percent-, that scooter-related collisions were up 46% from this year to the previous year. BUCKLEY: Really. TAYLOR: Yeah, but what is the number? HOUSTON: Well, I know. We need to find that, we need that data. TAYLOR: We dont do percents, I mean, thats four more than last year? HOUSTON: Right, we need the data but, thats one of their BUCKLEY: Right. HOUSTON: the reasons for looking at this. MILLER: They want to bring it forward, they want everybody to look at it, right? Police? HOUSTON: Im sorry? MILLER: Their interest is to get this somewhat more defined? HOUSTON: Yeah! MILLER: Okay.

HOUSTON: Yeah, definitely. So Ive done some research on, Ive tried to find some other communities that are addressing this issue, and Ive been able to find some codes and some ordinances from various places, Key West, Virginia Beach, a couple of places in Florida, so Ive looked at some of the issues that they address, some of the application procedures, the information that they require from people who are applying for these sorts of things, and Ill just run down a list for you. I gave you a copy of what Im going to talk about, it has introduction here at the top. BUCKLEY: Can I ask you one quest-, well, Ill wait for your information and then well HOUSTON: Okay, okay. First of all, down under #7, regulatory issues is what Im going to go through BUCKLEY: Right. HOUSTON: Do you have that? BUCKLEY: Um hm. HOUSTON: Um, Im kind of looking at this, the codification of it, the same way that we did dry nightclubs and the sexually-oriented businesses where the zoning code will set forth, you know, where you can do it and what the process is, and then a lot of the regulations will go into the business license section. It has a lot of the detail, but, youll want to make recommendations on, you know, whatever issues that you, that youre concerned with, even though they may not go into the zoning code, its still part of the big picture. BUCKLEY: Right. HOUSTON: Um, theres still one thing you need to talk about is what districts do you want to allow them in probably the LC-1 and the Shopping Center Districts. Maybe the R-3 if youre looking at it as an accessory use, you know, to a hotel possibly or something along those lines, but we want to take a look at districts. Blaine already touched on it; is it a permitted use, would it be an accessory use, would it be a special exception, would it be a conditional use. I think the Mayor and City Council probably are looking for a conditional use. And its probably, as Blaine said, it gives you a little more, as Planning Commission, gives you input, lets you look at the big picture, and also goes to the Mayor and City Council for a final approval, so its a more thorough, um BUCKLEY: Its a thorough, and its HOUSTON: review process. BUCKLEY: Exactly, itll HOUSTON: Definitely, and it is very similar to the water-related uses. BUCKLEY: Right.

HOUSTON: So some other issues to think about that Ive come across, business license application procedures, some of these youre not going to really want to get in much detail, but these are things that were going to have to fuss out at some point. Insurance requirements, every ordinance I looked at had insurance requirements for these businesses, both to protect them, to protect their rentals and to protect the City, you know, being on public streets, or public properties. They all require training and testing of the renter by the business, both in how the machine operates the rules of the road, most of them require, you know, they have a whole list, they require the signature of the renter or guardian if the person is under a certain age. Almost all of them require, they can only rent to someone that has a valid drivers license, so youre talking at least someone over 16 or older. Thats usually the requirement. Something we probably need to think about is hours of operation, you know, do we allow them out at night or not, most people dont, most places do not. Approved riding locations obviously there are places, you know, the Boardwalk, you know, places like that where it would be prohibited. A lot of this probably comes in with state regulations, as far as do they stay in the bus line or are they allowed to go in travel lanes, but I think if we spell all that stuff out upfront then everybody knows what the rules are. Storage of vehicles when the business is closed do we see a need to require them to be stored inside or is outside okay, or is it an issue at all. Thats a consideration. Parking the vehicles on public streets not so much the rider who may be out, you know, hell park in a parking place like anyone else does. But, as far as display, weve seen that in a couple locations in town where the business owner will display seven or eight of these vehicles in a parking space out on the street, especially where its not a metered space. And, you know, is that something that needs to be regulated or at least looked at? Requirements for the customers to park well address that in the zoning code as Blaine said. Training areas I think thats probably the biggest one. Do we prohibit training on public property, you know, public streets Somerset Street, 2nd Street, whatever it might be. Do we require a training area on private property thats only used by that business, for example as you saw many shopping centers, do we want them training in a parking lot where users of other businesses are using that parking area, whether it be parking spaces, driveways, you know, back-up aisles, that kind of thing. So what kind of training area do you want to require? If you think of the outdoor display regulations, do we want business transactions to take place inside a building? Thats kind of always been our standard, you know, do we want to address that issue. The fueling, again, as the Fire Marshal one thing I found interesting, a lot of places require the vehicles to be identified as some way as belonging to a certain business. Some even go so far as requiring an identifiable color helmet for each business, like Joes Bikes has blue helmets, and Toms Bikes has red helmets, I guess so the police or anyone whos enforcing any of the issues knows who the responsible business person is, thats something Ive seen in several of the ordinances. State regulations, and we do need to get a little more information about this, because the police department is cognizant of the state regulations regarding mufflers, speed limits, and those kind of things. And we do need to make sure all of thats included. Testing of the vehicles you know weve had, or the Citys had some issues with the size of these, you know, 50 ccs is supposed to be the maximum and theres discussions as to whether some are bigger, you know, or more powerful than that, so do we want to require annual or random testing of the vehicles to be sure that they do meet, come within the limitations of the sizes. Finally, and I think this is kind of important, how are we going to treat non-conformities, or pre-existing, or already existing businesses, you know, if you do, if and when the Mayor and City

Council pass regulations that some of the existing businesses may not be able to exist under these new regulations non-conformity or amortization, you know, obviously is going to be something that needs to be discussed. You know, do you give them, you know, a year or something like that, to operate as they been and then knowing that the following year they have to find an appropriate location or at least ramp up their business practices to meet the new requirements. BUCKLEY: Theyre only given one year licenses, business licenses, correct? HOUSTON: Yeah, theyre given a license from year to year, but some of them may, you know, have leases and things like that so BUCKLEY: Right, just asking. MILLER: Its a significant investment too. HOUSTON: Yeah, its a discussion that has to be BUCKLEY: Has to be taken up. HOUSTON: that we have to make, and come up with a fair, you know, solution to that. BUCKLEY: Okay, um. HOUSTON: So theres a lot of things to consider, to be discussed, and as I said before, I dont know whether you want, obviously you want to hear from the audience BUCKLEY: Right. HOUSTON: or, whether you want to have a deliberation some other time, or how you want to do that. BUCKLEY: Um, well because were going to be waiting for the Ocean City Police Departments data, we would be deliberating at another date. HOUSTON: Right. BUCKLEY: Once that comes in, the one question you were looking at the other communities? HOUSTON: Um hm. BUCKLEY: What types of roadways were they, I mean, did they have 8-lanes of traffic? HOUSTON: Um, well, lets see, Im familiar with Key West and they dont BUCKLEY: City buses? Of our size?

HOUSTON: Some places, um, and you sort of have to know the terminology of the local, the local terminology, but some places do not allow them to be in their tourist zone, which you would think would be a congested area, downtown so to speak, and that kind of thing, so they do, some of them do say you can go here, you cant go there. I dont remember seeing any that had any sort of reference to a speed limit on a street or four lanes or anything like that. BUCKLEY: Whats, whats, I havent been to Myrtle Beach since I was in high school, so thats been a few years. You go down there to golf, right? What is their main drag like? HOUSTON: Well, its, theyve got bypasses, but they do have an old downtown thats quite a bit like ours. BUCKLEY: Thats what I remember. HOUSTON: Right, right, right. BUCKLEY: Is it 8-lanes now? HOUSTON: I dont think so. BUCKLEY: With these types of buses? HOUSTON: No, its like Baltimore Avenue I think. BUCKLEY: Okay. MILLER: Virginia Beach HOUSTON: And Virginia Beach is like that too. MILLER: but its not BUCKLEY: But its not Coastal Highway, right? HOUSTON: Right, right. Im not BUCKLEY: Thats of interest to me as any of it, were putting um HOUSTON: Yeah. I cant picture any that have a Coastal Highway BUCKLEY: Yeah, exactly. HOUSTON: like we do. BUCKLEY: Okay, I was curious. HOUSTON: Key West sort of has a loop around the side.

BUCKLEY: Yeah, uh huh. HOUSTON: But, I know theyre all theyre all STALEY: Six lanes, I think. HOUSTON: theyre all over that, so. BUCKLEY: Okay. Alright, does the staff, does the Commission have any questions of Mr. Houston at this time? MILLER: Not at this time, but I can bring him back though I think for a lot of stuff later. HOUSTON: Oh yeah, definitely. BUCKLEY: Oh yeah, we rebut him all day long. Okay, now Id like to open up the public hearing to comments from the audience, from those in attendance, anybody for or against please step up and Mr. Gregory will swear you in and well get your name and address. (pause, waiting for response) Well, thats going to be quick, alright! SHANAHAN: I think it would be helpful for anybody who has a scooter business to come up and say how can we make this better. BUCKLEY: Ifd you like to step right over here thatll be great, that way we can all see you and listen. GREGORY: Sir, if you could raise your right hand. Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? WARD: Yes, sir. GREGORY: Can you state your name and address please? WARD: Shane Ward. I own a bicycle rental shop which really doesnt have too much to do with these scooters. Its on #7 Somerset Street. BUCKLEY: Um hm. WARD: Just listening to some of this stuff that youre saying. How does our bicycle business stay the same licenses these motor scooters go under? I dont, I kind of dont understand it. I mean, will that affect us, to say if I wanted to open up a BUCKLEY: No, no sir, not at all. The only thing it will affect, were talking about motorized vehicles. MILLER: Were looking at them differently than bicycles. WARD: Okay, that was my main question. BUCKLEY: Were trying to separate the two.

WARD: Right, but say if I wanted to open up a scooter shop as to where you all these licenses set up, does that waive me the right to be able to open up one if they do make these decisions, or where I already have the license can I be in effect with that, how does that work? BUCKLEY: You would be under the new ordinance, the new guidelines if you opened up a scooter shop. WARD: Okay, even though I already have the same license that theyre operating under right now? BUCKLEY: If youve got a bicycle license, and we are here tonight to deliberate, get public input to decide how we are now going to license the scooters, so it will be a different license. STALEY: Motorized. BUCKLEY: Motorized type of license, after the fact, after our deliberations and then the Council will make their decision. But well be, we all have a business license if you operate in Ocean City, but it will be a different thing, a criterion, of expectations and guidelines WARD: Right. BUCKLEY: for a motorized. WARD: One other question. I was looking at some of the pictures he was showing on there. I know we have easement rights where we have to pay an extra fee to use the streets BUCKLEY: Right. WARD: do any of these people in these pictures here pay that extra easement fee? I mean, I see a lot of pictures where theyre setting in the streets, actually on the sidewalks and everywhere else MILLER: Ask Blaine that question. BUCKLEY: That would be why I think were here tonight because I think weve got some discrepancies in that some ways that the engineering department was giving access to things, but other times theyre just using it, so. WARD: Right, for instance, the one picture you see on Somerset Street that showed the other bicycle shop that really doesnt have anything to do with scooters, but while Im here Im going to ask. Is there any kind of law that states you cannot store all that on a front deck like that? Does it have to be inside a building, or is that BUCKLEY: What, the bicycles? WARD: Yes, maam.

BUCKLEY: I dont think so. UNIDENTIFIED BACKGROUND VOICE: Youre talking about displays, you mean? WARD: Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Theres supposed to be a law where you cant actually leave displays. My grandfather had a bicycle rental shop on 26th Street for thirty-some years. And we had to put everything that we had, we could not leave anything on a porch, or anything on a street like that. We had to put it inside a building itself, you know, where it does not stay. BUCKLEY: Right. WARD: Well, the one fellow has the one shop has all his stuff piled actually sitting outside on the street, you know, a public street, and also on a deck. Is that BUCKLEY: HMM WARD: something thats supposed to be in effect? MILLER: Ask Blaine that question. WARD: Yeah, maybe you can address this to me, or explain to SMITH: Yeah, there are some variations. Some of the bicycles are allowed by right and we dont have a limitation as to how we store them, and some others have gone to the Board of Zoning Appeal and they put conditions of approval, they would be stored inside when not in use. An example would be on the Boardwalk, the Lankford Building? BUCKLEY: Um hm. SMITH: They have to be put inside, and I think they put them back underneath the building, and theyve got like 100 bikes that they were given a permit to do, whereas if you take the Eden Roc, theyve got a lot, and they store them outside and the Board let them do that. So some of them have been given variable type permit to, in their operation, based on their location or what-have-you. The other thing I think for clarification, Jesse might have to correct me on this, when they did the moratorium, that, and I think this gentleman, when he asked the question whether or not he would qualify for a license or not, it was that I could not, or the license people could not do anymore renewals and/or new license until after the moratorium. To say that, there are existing license in play that are valid through, I think, July 1, or June June 1 or July 1. HOUSTON: I think they all renew in May. SMITH: Yeah. So June 1 would be, everybody would be cut off at June 1 depending on what happens with this, but between now and June 1, those that have license can continue to operate as they did, but no new renewal or no new license can be issue during that moratorium. BUCKLEY: Okay, anyone else? Yes, sir, please step up to the podium. MONTGOMERY: My names Carl Montgomery.

GREGORY: Please raise your right hand. Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? MONTGOMERY: Sure, why not. I was wondering, the safety, and road-testing BUCKLEY: Please state your name and address for the record, please. MONTGOMERY: Carl Montgomery, I live off of, on Sea Captain Road, in Caine Woods. BUCKLEY: Okay. MONTGOMERY: Im thinking about starting a scooter business, and then all of a sudden, boom, I see this (chuckle) youll stopped them for 90 days. And I said (indistinguishable) anyway, Im past all that. You say youre going to have road-testing and what-not for safety regulations, this is what your issues are going to be? BUCKLEY: Were looking at all those items. MONTGOMERY: Okay, well, you know, a lot of these places dont have room to do this, dont have parking lots to do this, I mean, theyre displaying them on the sidewalks. How are they going to have something like that unless they can do it on a side street or, you know, something like that? BUCKLEY: Well, were just going to take a look at all the information, all the data, and were going to wait for the Police Departments um MONTGOMERY: Well, I mean, theres no room in Ocean City, everybodys used it all up for businesses. I mean, where you going to run a road-test? BUCKLEY: Right, well, were going to see, were going to take a look at it all and hopefully make it all work out. MONTGOMERY: Alright, thank you. BUCKLEY: Youre welcome, thank you. Does anyone else have a comment? Yes, sir. GREGORY: Sir, can you raise your right hand please? Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? GJIKURIA: Yes. GREGORY: Can you state your name and address, please? GJIKURIA: (Mr. Gjikuria has a strong Greek accent and pattern to his speech) My name is Peter Gjikuria, I live in 12943 Windy Drive, in Ocean City. Im glad you guys brought this item up, I own the store Fun Cycle on 26th Street and the safety is the main concern for us. We try to do our best to make the customers happy and to have less accidents every year. Everything you guys discussed here makes sense and I agree pretty much with most of them, almost everything. Every store is supposed to have like a training area something like 360 degrees or you have to train somebody to use a

scooter because you put him on the road and possibility of accidents happens. So that be very nice if somebody has, um, I used to have a parking lot with gravel, and it was very difficult to train people so I put pavement. I mean, Im not saying everybody should put pavement, but its a nice acquirement to have. To display the scooters usually outside, most of the places, they put them on the sidewalk, which is not nice. I have a little bit parking lot, but Ray comes every time and tells me no more than three or four, sometimes I put four. But usually he tells me to put three, so, I have to keep it the same amount. A few of the properties rent from the parking lot, its a nice store to have an office and people come to the office and rent it and explain the rules. The one thing you guys didnt mention is that every store to have like a video monitor and CD to play there so they can explain the rules, where to go or not to go, and actually two years ago I talked to Chief DiPino about it and I asked her to send an officer, somebody, and I can do the video, and she told me she going to talk to the relation people there because they do the videos. BUCKLEY: Right. GJIKURIA: But, havent happened yet, so its been three years, but its nice to have a TV and video playing so everybody can see it. With the parking requirement of parking, I have no idea how many parkings required to have for scooters, so, I dont want to go through those details because I dont know. Usually all the time we rent scooters, we tell the renters to go in the bus line, or the further right line, and not to cross any bridge and not to cross 142nd Street, to go to Delaware. Sometime even my scooters happen, they cross the bridge, but we have it on the paper, on the contract, and we tell them verbally not to cross. Soon as they cross, the police go give them a ticket so, thats nice to have it like that. BUCKLEY: Right. GJIKURIA: Like they passed the law for the helmets and, theres a lot of people didnt wear the helmets, but they got a $25.00 ticket. To store the scooters, the scooters should supposed to be stored inside, not leave them outside, cover up. Thank you for the time to make the scooter safety, and its a lot of stores who dont have these requirements; whats going to happen to those stores I dont know, but its nice to put some regulations. BUCKLEY: Thank you. GJIKURIA: Thank you. BUCKLEY: And, we have a couple questions for you, Mr. Miller? MILLER: A training area. How big of a training area would you, do you use? Like, is it, 20 x 50 or GJIKURIA: Um, I didnt prepare for the measurements, but if you see my store there, the picture where you see the lot of scooters; my parking lot has two sides to park, but what I did, I put all on one side cars to park for (indistinguishable) but the other side I left that, since I have extra parking. Yeah, this area here, that one. You see? So I have cars over on that side, this side I use for the scooters.

MILLER: When youre, Im just saying, when youre training, youre teaching them how to turn, to stop, to go, I mean GJIKURIA: We teach them how to make couple turns, around turns, not straight, straight everybody can go. You have to make a turn. MILLER: So can you do that in a 20 x 20 or, 20 x 30 or BUCKLEY: Like two parking spaces, three parking spaces? GJIKURIA: I think to make a nice turn MILLER: Im not going to hold you to it, Im just asking BUCKLEY: Just an idea. GJIKURIA: Yeah. BUCKLEY: Because we know that a parking space is like 10 x 20, so. GJIKURIA: Uh, to make a nice turn, somebody whos experienced can make a turn in two parking, but somebody whos not experienced going to need three or four BUCKLEY: Okay. GJIKURIA: because its very hard with the scooter, because you have a low speed. MILLER: So 20 x 30, 20 x 40 is a nice area where you can teach people in. GJIKURIA: Uh, I cannot say that; I dont know. MILLER: Somewhere between two and four parking spaces GJIKURIA: Yes, something like this, probably, yes. MILLER: Okay, that was the question BUCKLEY: Thats fair. MILLER: then, the cust-, you have a busy location, when people come up, like 5 kids in a car, or is it at lot of walk-ups, or what kind of traffic? GJIKURIA: Usually we have a lot of people whove been going up and down, driving, and they see the scooter stores, and they stop, we give them a permit for their car to park, and then they take a scooter. So in one car there might be two or three. Usually we dont allow to rent to a parent with a kid under seven year old to put them on a scooter. We have the scoot-coupe, so we put them, we give them the three-wheeler for kids. We dont allow under 7 year old to go on the scooter. Now when they rent it, they go to the hotel and pick up the kid, its out of our view. SHANAHAN: Whats the oldest, or youngest individual youll rent to?

GJIKURIA: Usually we hold to they have to be 18 years old, with a drivers license; if its a 16 and has a drivers license and a parent come, and the parent signs, they provide the waiver, so, he can rent it. SHANAHAN: Now is that required by your insurance or is that just your policy? GJIKURIA: No, thats my policy, I have that. MILLER: Now what are your thoughts on the over 50 cc units that are out there? GJIKURIA: For over 50 cc, theyre not supposed to be there. MILLER: Theyre not supposed to be there. GJIKURIA: Theyre not supposed to be there, because in the State of Maryland, under 50 cc considered like a scooter, no license for motorcycle, no tags, no insurance, but actually this year theres a bill there to put tags and registration for the scooters. I can tell you the Bill #. MILLER: Maryland. GJIKURIA: Last year, last year it didnt pass. They have the same Bill, its #149 at the House and #309 at the Senate. Last year they put the bill again, but didnt pass it, to put the 50 cc, so they have them again this year, I dont think its going to pass. BUCKLEY: Who knows? GJIKURIA: Who knows, but there is a bill there to, for the scooters. SHANAHAN: Peter how many reportable accidents did your company have this year? GJIKURIA: Um, a few, I dont have a number exactly, but we have a few. SHANAHAN: Do you think its more than last year? GJIKURIA: I cant say that. But I deal with the Police Commissioner a couple times, and over there they have, each store, has the accidents and what happened and everything, so its very nice to see which store, how many one store has, like you say, different color for helmet, I mean, everybody that has the scooters, I know what they have, I know color he has, and he knows what I have, so pretty much we know, and plus the scooter has a tag in the back which says the store and everything. But the Police, the Police Commission, theyre more concerned about the scoot-coupes for accidents, but thank God the scoot-coupes have zero accidents, so its nice for the City Hall and (indistinguishable) to pass the law for us to use the scoot-coupes, theres zero accidents, which is very good. BUCKLEY: Really? Wow. MILLER: But can you throttle these down to where they dont go above 40?

GJIKURIA: Usually the scooter is made to go by law 30 miles, if you are little, theyll go 35, so MILLER: I see some going by a lot faster it seems like. GJIKURIA: Some time they have a trick to fix it or something, but not the rentals. The ones that go fast MILLER: Theyre the private. GJIKURIA: its a lot of things they do, little detail here, two miles, three miles there, they can do that, but not the rentals. We dont want people on the rentals to go fast because its, accidents happen, so SHANAHAN: Would you support some regulations to tone them down, with some type of governor that really kept them safe, 20 miles an hour, and would they still be marketable, if they didnt go that fast? GJIKURIA: On the highway, 20 miles per hour, when the speed limit is 30-35, is a nice speed I think, by putting them down is going to create more problems because the buses are going to pass them. Its going to be more problems to have it. The way the scooters make 30 miles per hour, 35, its nice for our roads. Our roads SHANAHAN: So you think its better if they keep up with the traffic. BUCKLEY: Yeah. GJIKURIA: Yeah, to keep up, because even the bus line (indistinguishable), so they cannot wait behind, like MILLER: Like behind a scooter. GJIKURIA: Like a scooter, or a bike. Sometime we see a bike, and its going slow, and its going to take you forever to turn, so the scooter has to keep with the traffic, and at 30-35 miles per hour, its nice, its no problem. But SHANAHAN: They dont seem to like to go single-file, so theyre all side-by-side, so if theyre doing 20, that would be a problem. GJIKURIA: Yep. MILLER: That comes from you guys training them, dont ride all the way across the street too. GJIKURIA: Of course, but the kids, sometimes to be honest, I call the police on my scooters. I have a senior week like 8 guys, and somebody calls and says Peter, your scooters rode all over the place, I call them and say my scooters is on that street and they catch them, but, after they leave the store MILLER: Theyre subject to the

GJIKURIA: they are, they are, but thats good, because the police can enforce the law and give some revenues, if taxes are down, they can make some money, so COMMISSIONERS: (laughing in unison) BUCKLEY: Okay. MILLER: Thank you very much. SHANAHAN: What do you think is the biggest problem right now with the scooters, while were here, in your opinion? GJIKURIA: The bigger problem I see is the accidents happen from the people who has no training. How you going to give a scooter to somebody and you dont train him? You have to train before you give a scooter and the time doesnt start from the time he sign the paper; in my store the time start when he leave the parking lot, so delegate the person there, the guide, to teach them try. And I have a camera system, so Im, were watching everything, so if we dont feel comfortable making couple turns in the parking lot, we dont let them go out, and (indistinguishable) we dont let them go out. So the training is the most important thing. So a lot of stores are using the street, the street is tough for scooters to teach people, to train, so you have to have a parking lot. BUCKLEY: Right. Okay. Anything else? MILLER: Thank you. BUCKLEY: Thank you so much, we appreciate your time. Yes, sir. GREGORY: Raise your right hand please. Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? CROSARIOL: I do. GREGORY: Please state your name and address. CROSARIOL: My name is Sean Crosariol. I represent Waterways Marina. I guess what I just want to say is safety is a big one for us too, and this past year we worked very closely with Jan Jones, Im sure you all are very familiar with, Transportation Officer, and Doug Smith. We took it upon ourselves to basically show them the breakdown of how to spot the motors, like what to look for whats a 150, whats 50, whats 2-stroke, whats 4-stroke, just tried to educate them. We got them out with State Police, ICE, everybody. Brought them all in and tried to show them the ins and outs, just kinda little spot-check things, because theyre very different, they might look similar, very different. And there obviously, 150s are a lot more powerful. BUCKLEY: Right. CROSARIOL: And people want them, they go faster, wed love to have them, it would be nice, but it creates a safety issue. BUCKLEY: Right.

CROSARIOL: And I guess our problem this year was, when the scoot-coupes came in, because if you go to any one of these rental operators that have them right now, and Im going to take, I dont know the gentleman at Cycle City, but its, to my knowledge, the ones Ive seen of his, are the only 50 cc scoot-coupes, in existence, in this town. The other ones, the other rental operators, Ill just leave nameless but, the other two big ones all have 150 cc scoot-coupes BUCKLEY: Really. CROSARIOL: I mean Id (pause) bet my license right now on it, 150. We tried to show them ways to spot check it, brought it in front of the City Council, kinda got backhanded, shot down. I guess my question was for this gentleman who, you were looking at Key West and how they regulate it? Whats the penalty? You know, if they get caught doing it, whats, how do you, how do you go about, you know, enforcing it? Do you create like an inspection station, do they come, where your city mechanic can take it apart, measure the bore, I mean, I know its very hard, but, how do you regulate it? You know, thats basically what I would like to know BUCKLEY: Right. CROSARIOL: because we had a tough time with it this year, it definitely hurt our business. We were down at one point to $2.00 an hour for scooters, $2.00 and $1.50 an hour, which is a far cry from $25.00 that we were getting before, just to get them out the door because we couldnt compete. And I mean, where does it stop there? If you let the 150s pass, then you do a special session, you pass these scoot-coupes at 150s, then can I have a scooter for $150? And then theyre going 65, I mean, a driver on a scootcoupe is like 450 lbs, you add two adults youre up to another 150-200 lbs a piece, thats like 800 lbs, doesnt go 45 miles an hour down the bus line, does not. Not with the 4stroke 50, so again, the gentleman with Cycle City though, I know, Ive seen his are 2strokes, and they are 50s, I know. BUCKLEY: So whats the time frame to determine if one is a 2-stroke or a 4-stroke, or a 150 or a 50, on a scooter? How long does it take you to determine if you were looking at it? CROSARIOL: I work on them every day of my life, I can spot it in 2 seconds. I can see it from a cop car, or whatever, it just BUCKLEY: Oh you can tell, you dont have to take it apart? CROSARIOL: No, 100%. BUCKLEY: Okay, alright. MILLER: Because youre a mechanic, you dont need to do it. CROSARIOL: Exactly, and I tried, we tried to educate the Police Department, but it was just a manpower issue, it was too much to do it BUCKLEY: Right.

CROSARIOL: it got political and all, so. MILLER: Are there larger than 50 scooters? CROSARIOL: Not to my knowledge, I havent seen anybody with them. MILLER: So the scooters were seeing are typically CROSARIOL: Yeah, I mean, theres no real need there because youre talking about a vehicle that only weighs 200 lbs, you know, 150-200 lbs, you put a 200 lb adult on it, its plenty of power. But when youre talking about scoot-coupe, or something thats 450 lbs, and youre adding two full-size adults, no, it just doesnt. I mean, its common-sense, it doesnt move 45 miles an hour. Itll go, with a 50 cc 4-stroke motor, if it got out of its own way, it would go maybe 20 miles an hour, maybe. Thats why the 2-stroke, what they do with the 50 ccs, I said, the gentleman, like I said, I dont know if hes here, from Cycle City with the 2-stroke 50s, those are more powerful than the 4-strokes, thats why they put the 2-strokes in there. It makes them a lot more powerful than the 4s. MILLER: It makes the 50 work in them. CROSARIOL: It makes the 50 work in them, yeah, instead of having a 4-stroke. BUCKLEY: Okay. CROSARIOL: Its a lot to think about BUCKLEY: Robonics classes didnt give me this (laugh). CROSARIOL: It was a tough season for us down there. TAYLOR: (Indistinguishable comment). BUCKLEY: ME TOO! (Laughter continues) MILLER: Jesse, the State of Maryland says anything over 50 is not considered HOUSTON: Has to be licensed. CROSARIOL: Has to be licensed. And I guess the scary part for us too, is say somebody rents to a 16 year old kid BUCKLEY: Um hm. CROSARIOL: the guy wrecks this thing, they get killed, the parents are going to come back and sue the city. Theyre going to sue the City, the rental operator, and then were all screwed, so, thats our fear, its you know, not being safe with these things and where does it end. BUCKLEY: So youre saying a 50 cc, the little coupe thing

CROSARIOL: Yes. BUCKLEY: if its 2-strokes its, it would work, but 4 strokes doesnt in a 50 cc. CROSARIOL: You can modify 2-strokes to make them bigger cylinders, to make them faster, but, you dont, with the 150 4-strokes it makes them a lot more marketable because they are quicker, they are, you know, like I said, if they had a 50 4-stroke in there, it wouldnt make any sense. Youre paying $5,000-6,000 for something thats not going to get out of its own way, its not going to be fun to rent, you know. BUCKLEY: And what in one of these little scoot-coupes will go the 30-35 miles an hour? CROSARIOL: What? What, Im sorry? SHANAHAN: It depends on how many people are in it BUCKLEY: The two-ster, yeah, okay, alright. Because we dont want them going 45 miles an hour. CROSARIOL: The 2-stroke can get more power than the 4-stroke, it goes through more powerstrokes than the 4-stroke does, thats why the 2-strokes are, you know, used in the 50 application for those, but not when they get to the BUCKLEY: Your recommendation would be a 4-stroke, 150 on the scooter, on the scoot-coupes. CROSARIOL: My recommendation would be we need to find a way to police this whole thing. It needs to, we need an inspection station or something. BUCKLEY: Well, thats what were figuring out today. MILLER: 4-strokes really? I mean if 150s are illegal BUCKLEY: Oh thats right. CROSARIOL: 150s are basically a motorcycle, thats what were getting at, so BUCKLEY: Oh. CROSARIOL: whats going on is if you put somebody in a 150 cc, anything 2-stroke, 4-stroke, it doesnt matter, you put them in that, and theyre going down the road, and they get hurt, they get hit, theyre technically supposed to have a motorcycle license, so where, who gets in trouble and to what extent? And I guess thats the fear. BUCKLEY: Okay, alright. MILLER: And everybody playing by the same set of rules. BUCKLEY: Oh goodness.

HOUSTON: And you really dont need to be concerned with all the technicalities because basically what you need to say is, whatever the state law says is what is required by Code. BUCKLEY: I just wanted to understand it a little bit better when I go into the HOUSTON: Oh I know, yeah. CROSARIOL: But the other issue we have too, and the reason ICE got involved over the summer was because theyre all Chinese buggies, all these things come straight from China, and the problem is they will do anything to sell them over here. And to do that they will fudge documents, you can get COs, because what theyll do is CO the frame, which theyll show you, if you go to any of the rental operators, theyll show you the CO that says 49 ccs, but that doesnt match what the actual engine is in it, it matches the frame. You can put any engine in anything you want. You can build them out any day of the week and put any motor in there. So Im saying, you cant physically go by, you actually have to take them apart and look. It cant just be a CO you simply look at. SHANAHAN: Youd think the word would get out internally among the scooter people that (indistinguishable) CROSARIOL: It already has, and it didnt, theyre always a step ahead. You asked the question earlier about, you know, whats the biggest problem, its the onus is on the rental operator to actually do the right thing, and theyre ruining it for everybody. MILLER: And heres the thing, if its a conditional use permit and we say 50 cc or less, and they dont, they have larger things, theyre not going to get their license, and it wont be renewed and it could be revoked. SHANAHAN: Well, hes saying you can change them pretty quickly too. MILLER: Well. CROSARIOL: Oh yeah, its just the, engine hairbolt, its one bolt, you pull it out, pull out a motor and then MILLER: What Im saying is if we say, in the conditional use, adhere to all Maryland State Laws, if theyre not adhering to it, thats revocation of their license. Very few people are going to want to suffer losing their license HOUSTON: I was going to say the same thing, you asked about enforcement, and basically, youve got the business license that can be yanked, youve got the conditional use permit that can be pulled, and youve got fines, and, and, if we can get the proper enforcement, we would, obviously I think rely on the police department, and I know theyve had a lot of discussions about that, youve got those kinds of issues that you can pull the license, pull the approvals. BUCKLEY: Right. MILLER: Its like with jet skis, weve have stuff

CROSARIOL: Yeah, I guarantee that if you yank somebodys business license for 30 days as soon as they get caught, its not going to happen again. No, for 90 days or whatever it may be, stern enough punishment, its not going to happen anymore. BUCKLEY: Right. SHANAHAN: Now would this be something that Ray would be spearheading? I know hes not a gearhead so, how do you do that, but CROSARIOL: Well, thats the thing, like how do you, do you come up with the, the police station, I mean, theyve got a huge set-up up there at the back of the Public Works building, for having one of the mechanics, I mean, it doesnt take a genius, I mean, it literally is, looking at, I could show you everything to look for, you can see it on the internet yourself, but take the cylinder off and measure the bore, you know, measure the one (indistinguishable), its a very simple thing to do. HOUSTON: And one of the issues that I think that I mentioned earlier on was, you know, either requiring annual inspections, or random inspections. BUCKLEY: Right. MILLER: Random testing. HOUSTON: Random testing, and you do what youve got to do BUCKLEY: Love random testing! CROSARIOL: But the speed thing is kind of a tough one to get into, I do want to say something about that. With the, even the 50 cc scooters, its just like if youre peddling the bike into the wind, its going to be harder with, against the wind than it is with the wind. Youre talking about a 50 cc engine, its a very small engine, somebody my size, 250 lbs, its going to go a lot slower than somebody like yourself whos a lot less than me. You know, its anybody like, smaller girls, 110 lbs BUCKLEY: God bless you. CROSARIOL: well, Im just saying, somebody thats 110 lbs, theyre going to go a lot faster on a 50 cc scooter than I am, so regulating the top-speeds would be kinda tough, although you know, its up to you all, thats an option on the table but, it would be very tough to do. I mean, as far as MILLER: To put a speed CROSARIOL: to put a speed thing, theres a couple things that makes this thing tough. BUCKLEY: Right, yeah, I mean I underCROSARIOL: I mean, I dont want to get a fine every time some 110 lb girl gets on it and goes 42 miles an hour and you said the top has to be 40, so, lets

MILLER: They are weightCROSARIOL: Very much so, yes, yes, very much so. MILLER: Weight-oriented, makes a difference. Okay. CROSARIOL: And with the winds, thank you. BUCKLEY: Thank you so much. TAYLOR: Thank you. BUCKLEY: Yes, sir. UNIDENTIFIED AUDIENCE MEMBER: I dont think you have to worry about anything over a 50 cc BUCKLEY: I need you to step up, I need you, Im sorry, any comments have to be made, its a public hearing, have to be made at the podium, thank you. And just please remember youre under oath. MONTGOMERY: Right, right. I thought anything over a 50 cc had to be tagged and registered. TAYLOR/BUCKLEY: It does. BUCKLEY: It does. MONTGOMERY: So, before I know, you know I mean BUCKLEY: It already gives, running the law, I mean MONTGOMERY: Alright, thats why I was wondering. BUCKLEY: Okay, yes, sir. You just step right up here. MILLER: Glenn wants to talk, when you get a chance. BUCKLEY: Glenn wants to talk? STALEY: This is going to be a fiasco, you wait and see. GREGORY: Sir, do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? CROKER: I do. Ron Croker from Waterways. I just wanted to say, Ocean City is a great place, really. Towns like Key West, I mean, I know some of the guys down in Key West. Little Duval Street, one lane in each direction, you cant throw a stone without hitting a scooter! The Moped Doctor down there rents 300 scooters is what he has in his suite. They recognize it as a real viable thing down there.

BUCKLEY: Um hm. CROKER: Its a cheap way to get around for people who are down on vacation. BUCKLEY: Um hm. CROKER: Its easy to park. I dont think anybody back here is purposefully trying to, you know, do anything really seriously wrong. I think we need to address the brick and mortar thing. I think we need to address the fact that this is a viable thing to have here; its a good thing. I mean, its a really fun thing for people to do. And Ocean City is all about safe, fun things to do, you know, weve got tons of watersports, weve parasail, you name it, we have it here, and thats why people come here, its just such a diverse thing to do. So I think its a real viable thing to keep, so when youre looking at all of these things, and youre talking to everybody here, I think its important to remember that we can make this thing work. We just have to look really hard at making it safe. BUCKLEY: Exactly. CROKER: And making it safe means having an area to train, proper storage of gas, proper insurance to protect you guys as well as us. And I think everybody here has that intent, but there may not be a place downtown in a strip mall to run a scooter rental, it just might not happen. Theyll have to look for something else, thats all I wanted to say. I think that its great that were talking about it. Only thing, working with Blaine and everybody here, its just a wonderful process, and I think we can definitely get through it, thats all. BUCKLEY: Um hm. Thank you very much. Oh, any questions? Thank you, sir. Mr. Irwin, please step up. GREGORY: Sir, do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? IRWIN: I do. GREGORY: Please state your name and address. IRWIN: Glenn Irwin, Ocean City Development Corporation, 108 Dorchester Street, Ocean City. Good evening. BUCKLEY: Good evening. IRWIN: Yeah, I just want to add, I dont think Im bringing anything new but the scooters have been around, particularly downtown for many years, at least for the last 8 or 9 years Ive seen. And each one sometimes has its own little issue that needs to be addressed, whether its parking in the street, or parking blocking a sidewalk, or a covered porch, but I think the overriding thing still, and youve heard it tonight, is the training grounds. BUCKLEY: Yes.

IRWIN: And it keeps coming up, and of course, downtown is very difficult because of the limited space. But its something, as probably you know it, if not most, many of the people come to Ocean City to use these scooters, its often their first time on the scooter, and thats the thing that I think makes it unique; the safety issue. I think a lot of people come here, its a novelty, they dont have it at home, and thats appealing, as already mentioned about the parasails, you know, thats something theyll never see other than coming to Ocean City, but again, its those training grounds, which training areas are so difficult where you find them often training on the side streets. I think what Ive seen, many of the scooter places downtown do train it just happens to be on a side street or in an alleyway, and that does present some other issues with it. BUCKLEY: Right. Questions for Mr. Irwin, Peck? MILLER: Downtown has its own set of issues IRWIN: yeah. MILLER: obviously youre very active in that. What would you, do you have any suggestions for where you could possibly train downtown and not be in a public right-ofway? IRWIN: It, its, I mean MILLER: I mean, without IRWIN: Some places may not necessarily need to be there, I mean theres some places that maybe its not the best suited place to have a scooter place, if you dont have. Some other places may need to go within 100 linear feet and rent a strip or work something out with an adjacent property owner to lease that, or something like that. Its a tough, its a tough decision, but there are probably some scooter places that may not, should not be where they are because theyre in the middle of a shopping center where youve got to walk them, you know, 30-40 feet just to get them to the training ground, and sometimes theyre riding them on the sidewalks. MILLER: Have you noticed a size of a training area that would make sense? Someone in the scooter (indistinguishable) would know that, I guess. IRWIN: No, I dont. Yeah, I think thats where, I think the scooter people would probably be able to work them, come up with something, Im not saying it has to be a whole parking lot, but it should, it needs to be a strip with some length to it, so, I think it does need to be a hard surface, soft surface may present other issues. BUCKLEY: Anyone else have a question for Glenn? Thank you SHANAHAN: You saw some of those pictures, do you think some of those property owners are really kind of pushing the limits with how theyre stored inside. IRWIN: Yeah, theres a number of them, and again, not sure where theyre training. And there are, as youve seen tonight, some who are very good operators. BUCKLEY: Um hm.

IRWIN: Its just a matter of they have proliferated over the last three years, youve seen scooters just boom, not only downtown but all over, and many are going wherever they can happen to fit the scooters, some of them happen to be parked where they may not need to be, landscaped areas, whatever. I think its a good thing that, at least youre having this discussion with the scooter industry, to kind of figure out what are the proper regulations, because youve heard tonight, I think a couple of the current owners have agreed, regulations may be a good thing. BUCKLEY: Right. SHANAHAN: From the pictures it looks like a lot of those companies dont have the infrastructure IRWIN: Yeah. SHANAHAN: to display them. IRWIN: Thats the tough part, yeah. SHANAHAN: You hate to take anything away from somebody when theyve put the time, money, and effort into it, but thats why were up here. BUCKLEY: (chuckle) Thank you, Glenn. IRWIN: Yep, yep. Thanks very much. BUCKLEY: Anyone have any other questions? MILLER: I have a question of Ron from Waterways. BUCKLEY: Ron from Waterways, do you mind stepping up to the podium again. Just remember youre still under oath. MILLER: The training area, what if youre going to give a size to what someone should have, I mean is 20 x 40 too big, too small, sufficient? CROKER: I think thats too small. I mean, the way that MILLER: Just real quickly, we have a lot of spaces that are tight, so it would be nice to find a space that could be as small as possible yet totally functional. Thats my question. CROKER: Yeah. Personally I think something that was along the lines of maybe 30 x 60, you know, 20 x 80, you know, because you do have to be able to turn around. STALEY: Need a place to turn around. CROKER: You do want to be able to get a little acceleration, because a lot of people will accelerate and if you stop them right away they dont get the feel for what its like to be moving along 20-30 feet, and actually stopping the thing. So, in my opinion, either 20 x 80 or maybe 30 x 60, where you could actually get up a little bit of speed, slow it down,

put the brakes on, turn it, use the blinkers, you know, get off the bike, put it on the kickstand, the whole nine yards. BUCKLEY: Okay. CROKER: I think that it is important to have something like that, and being, you know, as long as weve been at Waterways, and I havent been there that long, but Waterways used to have scooters in 2002, same as the guys up to Continental. And it takes a while to realize that the goal here isnt just to make money, its obviously to do it as safely as you can. Most of our clients are teenagers. BUCKLEY: Right. CROKER: Theyre just over 18 years old, and it breaks your heart if youve got to call a parent and say hey, theres been an accident. So you try whatever you need to do to not let that happen, and whether or not they listen, if they go around the corner there and take the helmet off and they put it under the seat, at least youve told them thats what it is. In the parking lot when youre giving them a lesson on the scooter, if you feel confident that somebody can do it, you let them go, but you can almost know instantly if somebody cant, and then you just, you cant go, you pull them off the scooter, give them their money back. You know, it might break your heart as a business man to hand them a hundred bucks back, but youre not going to be the guy making that call in the end when they come back. So yeah, the training is all important. I think that trying to limit the speed on these things with the weight issue is a big consideration. Its just like a boat, put four people in a boat, go slower than if you had one. So how do you do that? How do you take a manufacturers bike and how do you regulate the speed on the thing? BUCKLEY: I think we were more concerned whether or not we wanted, we were just asking the question if we wanted to, if it was reduced to 20 miles, you know, would that be any safer, and I think that we kind of found out that it wouldnt make it safer. SHANAHAN: Would it be any safer, that was my question. CROKER: Well, I mean, we have to be able to get it out of the way, youve got to be able to pull up an apron in a parking lot, or cross the street, or if theres a bus coming, get out of the way. BUCKLEY: Let me ask you this, what about your age limits and that sort of thing. The gentleman back here gave us his parameters, what are yours for renting a scooter? CROKER: Same thing, 16 with parents consent, 18 to sign for themselves. Our insurance company requires that. BUCKLEY: Okay, okay. CROKER: Our insurance company requires, you know, they fill out a release form, and on that release form, you know, we make them sign what would appear to be things that you wouldnt see on a release form, but its important that they know BUCKLEY: Right.

CROKER: you cant take the helmet off, you need to keep the helmet on, you need to have closed-toe shoes on, you cant wear sandals, you cant do all these things because you can get seriously injured, but having said that, being in the watercraft business for as long as weve been, it took a while to regulate that and get it to the point where we wanted it, but theres always going to be something that needs to be addressed and the last year it was the helmet and the closed-toe shoes. BUCKLEY: Right.

CROKER: I really think that, you know, having put the kind of effort in that most of us here have to make this a safe thing, you know, its just a, I just think were light years ahead of a lot of places. I mean, I heard you talking about Key West and Myrtle Beach and they have, I think Myrtle Beach has, about the same size highway we do, and I think they have even more scooters, so I think the important thing is to definitely limit the operators to a place where they can actually do this thing, teach them, and if they cant, they cant go out period, thats it. You know, having the scooters, I dont know if anybodys brought this up, about driving the scooters at night. We get a large amount of people that come in to rent our scooters from the 4-8 oclock time period. And the reason is, theyre either going out to dinner, and the parking situation you know, it can be horrendous at times, its just that, everybody wants to come here so, limited parking. So theyll rent the scooters to go out to dinner, believe it or not. Theyre not getting dressed up, but theyre going out and theyre cruising around and theyre going out to dinner. So weve got a large walk-up crowd from 4-8. Um, you know, we do some overnight rentals too, I dont know if the other guys do, but, we have a family wholl come down and rent a scooter for four days, you know and then theyll use scooter to do their running their errands and doing all that kind of thing. A hundred miles to the gallon, you cant beat it, it does save a lot of gas, and it saves a lot of time because you can park these things relatively easily. So limiting the hours of operation, I just, you know, dont know if thats the best thing to do. MILLER: Do you send them out at dark? 9 oclock at night? CROKER: Um, if theyre going out overnight, if theyre going to keep that scooter and take it home with them, we probably would, yeah. Because most of the time, we send them out with a lock, they take the scooter home and lock it up and then its there in the next morning for them to use. You know, I mean, its a good thing, I think, you know, because they have it there available for them, but for the most part, in the afternoon, we have a ton of people that come in and go shopping. You know, theres a little basket underneath the seat they can take the scooters and go around shopping, parkings easy, they can pull up, so its a real good thing, I think, but limiting the hours, Im not too sure we should limit the hours, at least thats my opinion. But the training area, I think thats a must do, and I think something of that size would be really adequate. Our, just to let you know, in our particular situation at Waterways is we clear all the parking places at 6 oclock, so any, the only way well rent to somebody is if theyre walking up at 6 oclock. So, Mackys Restaurant takes all his parking back at 6 oclock, so the training that we do is on the side of our building from the front of Waterways down to our gas storage tanks, you know, which is about 80 to 100 feet. BUCKLEY: Okay.

SHANAHAN: I wouldnt want to formulate an opinion restrictions until I saw police reports. COMMISSIONERS COMMENTING IN UNISON: Exactly, thats what I said. MILLER: I just wanted to ask what theyre doing. BUCKLEY: Okay. MILLER: I see somebody in the audience that Id love to ask a question, is that possible? BUCKLEY: No. Okay, thank you very much. Do we have anyone else who would like to make a comment? Paul. (Which ones Joe, without the hat?) MILLER: (Yeah) BUCKLEY: (Come on up Joe) GREGORY: Sir, could you raise your right hand please? Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? MORRIS: Yes, I do. GREGORY: Could you state your name and address, please. MORRIS: Paul Morris, 1931 Marlin Drive, Ocean City, Maryland. Can I put these pictures up this way? (pause as Blaine assists) Oh good! Good evening, thank you for the opportunity to speak to you tonight. Im sure were all here because were concerned, its kind of a dangerous situation, and yes, Chief DiPino did testify this spring about the 46% increase in moped accidents in Ocean City, and she referred to the dangers, and so, of course, every time you have an accident, you have to have police cars, firemen, ambulances, and its kind of an expense, and this is a dangerous thing. I would suggest that we could eliminate probably most of the problem, at least in the downtown area by simply following city code. City code requires for mopeds that they follow the parking requirements of bicycles, as stated in Section 110-932, minimum number of parking spaces. (Sub)section 13 refers to bicycle rentals and it says its the same as in subsection 21. Subsection 21 requires that there be at least a minimum of five (5) parking spaces for moped rentals. This is not the case. As you can see on the screen there, there is a motel in the downtown area that is using six or seven required parking spaces for their hotel guests and not requiring any additional, mandatory five (5) parking spots for the additional use of mopeds, so these people are getting permits but theyre not following city code. This happens all over downtown. Now, if its, its particularly pressing because I go by the 26th Street operation, and the Waterways operation, and they provide plenty of parking, they go by city code, and hows that feel to them, to require them to adhere to city code at much greater expense to have to provide that parking and practice area and yet you allow multiple, and I mean multiple, rentals downtown, that just dont follow the city code, at the expense of their hotel guests or their stores, they just dont follow code. I think that would probably eliminate a whole lot of problems, especially downtown. Clearly these things do not belong below 17th Street where theres no bus lane. Thank you for your time.

BUCKLEY: Thank you, Paul. MORRIS: Excuse me, while Im here, I want to show you one more problem associated with this. These is what happens downtown, every Saturday morning. I dont know which operations these are, and clearly I doubt that its anyone above 17th Street doing this, but theyll fill the side streets up with the mopeds, so that when their onsite mopeds are out and gone, theyll come down, this happens to be 7th Street by the way, the Walker House. Theyll come down and do what they do. Now I blew these pictures up and I know this, mopeds are by code I believe supposed to be identifiable with location and phone number, and if you blow this up and look at the phone numbers, theyre all made up. I tried calling these phone numbers, they dont exist, so I think it might be important to not allow moped rentals to use on street parking spots, because this is what happens. Clearly no ones going to pay, I dont know (indistinguishable) for a moped is, its probably pretty high, but youre certainly not going to rent a moped and go park it in the City street. This is the kind of problem we have. Thanks again for your time. BUCKLEY: Thank you. Anyone else in the moped/scooter business like to speak tonight? Any concerned citizen that would like to speak this evening? Okay, does the staff have anything else for us? Does the Commission have any questions of the staff before we close the hearing? SMITH: The only thing I would say, and Im going to go back to the cross-reference to the watersport BUCKLEY: Right. SMITH: to regulate the operators is one thing, and I think, when you go out on the water, a lot of those are owned privately, and sometimes theyre the ones that are the violator because the operators do train their watersport people when they go out on the bay where if someone owns their own, it may or may not. BUCKLEY: Right. SMITH: And I think when you think of the moped and the scooters, more people are buying them and owning them privately, and so the State Police and the City Police will have to regulate the streets when private people go on the road, so I think theres a difference sometimes if you mix those that own privately versus these operators. The operators are probably the better source because they do, and well get into the training, they do have more reliability and responsibility, but we are finding more people are buying these and owning them and going out on the streets. MILLER: You know, we found too with the watersports and the jet skis, as the more evolved they became in the business, it was safer. Because the operators put safety rules in effect that really, and it translates, theyll see people out there doing things they shouldnt be doing, and slow them down too. So its nice having educated operators out there. SMITH: Yes, yes.

BUCKLEY: Definitely. Alright does the Commission I will entertain a motion to close the hearing if the Commission feels they have enough TAYLOR: No, I move that we leave the hearing open pending the receipt of the police reports. HOUSTON: Yeah, thats what I was going to suggest BUCKLEY: Oh, thats right, Im sorry (chuckling) I think I said that already. HOUSTON: you just leave the hearing open until we can get more information. MILLER: (indistinguishable) Laurens to keep it open. BUCKLEY: Yes, were going to keep, I have a motion before me to hold the hearing open for, basically were waiting for the Ocean City Police Departments incident reports. All in favor? COMMISSIONS IN UNISON: Aye. BUCKLEY: So moved. Respectfully submitted by, Karen G. (Kay) Stroud Zoning Analyst Hearing will be continued on March 6, 2012. Audience members advised after gavel fell that the continuance would proceed on that date once the OCPD incident reports received and likely deliberations would take place after that continuance.

PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION CONTINUATION Scooters, Scoot-Coupes, et. al., Public Hearing March 6, 2012

PRESENT Pam Buckley John Staley Peck Miller Chris Shanahan Lauren Taylor Joel Brous

IN ATTENDANCE Blaine Smith Kay Stroud Jesse Houston Bob Nelson Will Esham

This meeting of the Planning and Zoning Commission was held on Tuesday, March 6, 2012, in the City Hall Council Chambers located on Baltimore Avenue and 3rd Street, Ocean City, Maryland. Pam Buckley, Commission Chairwoman, called the meeting to order. BUCKLEY: I would like to call to order, were going to reopen, not reopen, were going to continue the public hearing from February 22, 2012, which was to consider including scooters, scoot-coupes, and other names commonly associated with such vehicles that do not require a State vehicular registration license as a special exception or conditional use with appropriate safeguards and regulations in those zoning districts. The applicant is the Planning and Zoning Commission, File #12-14100001. Please note that this is a continuation, and those that were under oath are still under oath, and BROUS: Madam Chairwoman, before you start, if I was not here for the first part of this, I mean, Ive read the stuff, the emails; but is it okay if I still attend this, or did you need to have a ESHAM: Probably not. BROUS: I shouldnt? ESHAM: No. BROUS: Not a problem. MILLER: You can go home. HOUSTON/BUCKLEY: (Chuckle) MILLER: Hes got kids to take care of at home. BROUS: Probably not a problem or probably shouldnt? ESHAM: Shouldnt, should not.

BUCKLEY: You should not, yeah. BROUS: I should not sit on this BUCKLEY: Okay. BROUS: Ill listen in though. TAYLOR: You can still have an opinion, you just cant vote. BROUS: Ill just have to stay here and listen, or sit in the audience? MILLER: Yeah, thats fine. ESHAM: You know, only if you have comments, Id go to the audience. BROUS: Okay. TAYLOR: Youre still a citizen. BUCKLEY: Okay, so lets continue, and weve got some new information that we had requested HOUSTON: Right. BUCKLEY: to be brought forth, and I believe Mr. Houston has that, you were sworn in before, right? HOUSTON: Been sworn. BUCKLEY: Yes, okay, thank you. HOUSTON: We also have Sergeant Doug Smith back here from the Ocean City Police Department if you have any questions of him, from their point of view BUCKLEY: Okay. HOUSTON: during your discussions. We did get the accident data from the police department and their crime analyst, and Ill explain it to you a little bit. I sent you; we sent you the spread sheet BUCKLEY: Right. HOUSTON: that had all of the detail on it, and I summarized it for you on a smaller spreadsheet. Let me just explain whats on here. This is every accident or incident that the Police Department filed a, an accident, an official report on, so its, its broken down by year and Im not sure yours is in color or not, green shading, a little bit, okay, Ill explain that real quick. BUCKLEY: No color.

TAYLOR: The one that came in email was colored. HOUSTON: The numbers that I gave you on the summary, for example, 2011 it says 68 accidents; there were actually 64 incidents, some involved more than one scooter, so I gave you the entire 68 so that we could look at the demographics, you know, was it an owner or rental. Each scooter that was involved had that information, so, so theres either 68 or 64, however you want to look at it, incidents that were actually filed; a report was filed on. And you can see the breakdown of who was at fault, whether it was the scooter operator or not, and essentially, thats almost a break-even BUCKLEY: Right. HOUSTON: whose fault it was. Whether it was a rented or privately owned scooter and again, that comparison is almost equal between rentals and owned vehicles. PEREZ: Could we see that, on the (indistinguishable) from the audience HOUSTON: That kind of a, its kind of marked up a little bit. Actually Ill show it to you in a minute, because I do have to go through one more thing. BUCKLEY: We can give you a copy. HOUSTON: Those are the incidents that reports were filed on. They also kept okay, good, because Ive got writing on mine (putting report on the screen). Alright, thats just the summary, um, they also kept, they gave us a log of all of the incidents, whether or not they had to file, whether or not they filed a report, so some of these were, you know, fender-bender sort of things that didnt fall into the category of yes, we filed the actual formal report or not. And I just got these numbers. In 2010, there were 104 incidents as opposed to the 68 you see on there where reports were filed, so there were 104 in 2010. In 2011 there were 158. So thats over a 50% increase from 2010 to 2011 in the total number of incidents, which I think is one of the reasons the Mayor and City Council asked us to look at this situation because of the number of accidents, the number of incidents, and the safety factor involved. Any questions on those, on that data? Thank you Ms. Taylor for getting that all straightened out for us. It did work out well though because I did get some more information today. TAYLOR: Well, it was clear that more is going on than just the accident reports, its just like the cars HOUSTON/BUCKLEY: Right. TAYLOR: you know, theres a whole lot more stuff going on that never makes it to a police, and even the incident reports, from just talking to people about what theyve seen, its you know, all the near misses, all the heart-stopping moments, and all of that kind of, theres a lot of that going on at the same time. HOUSTON: Right. Okay, so, another (pause) some more information that wed like to put in the record, um, Maryland Transportation Code, does have, I dont know if I sent this to you, it does address in brief form motor-scooters and mopeds. It defines each one of them, and I just want to make a couple of points to you. One of the, the definition

in both of them, is a capacity of 50 cubic centimeters piston displacement or less. We talked about the size of the engine, or the displacement at the last one, and thats actually in the State law for both motor-scooters and mopeds, that they cant exceed that limitation, so, thats State law. And the other interesting item, they do have a discussion about operating, where these can be operated, and essentially it says where theres a bike lane, paved to a smooth surface, the operators of these vehicles shall use the bike lane. And then it goes on to say you cannot ride in the roadway, with several exceptions when overtaking another vehicle, and some things like that, but essentially State law requires that they stay in the bike lane whenever, essentially whenever possible, so thats where theyre supposed to be riding. And it also sets a speed limit, 30 miles an hour for these vehicles, and thats also in the State, the State Transportation Code, so obviously then, some of this is an enforcement issue and obviously, we dont need to address those kinds of things if theyre already addressed in the State Transportation Code. Um, the only other new thing I have is, Ive sort of drafted, to get you started, some, I guess, recommended, criteria that you may want to consider in your recommendation to the Mayor and City Council, and if you want to go through that right now BUCKLEY: Sure. HOUSTON: most of it is thing, are things that we talked about at the last part of the public hearing. The regulations would be found in two different sections of the Code as talked about before in the Zoning Code as far as the permission to do the operation within the town, and then most of the more specific requirements would probably come under the Business Licensing section. Thats how weve handled some of the other major items weve talked about over the past like the dry nightclubs BUCKLEY: Right. HOUSTON: that kind of thing. And some of these were taken, as I said last time, from other communities, how, what their regulations, some of them from our discussions two weeks ago. So, some of the proposals are, insurance requirements, the numbers that Ive included in here are the requirements that are already in our code for the, um MILLER: Jet skis. HOUSTON: No, the things they ride around. TAYLOR: Watersports? MILLER: No the(snapping fingers) TAYLOR: Waveriders? MILLER: unicycle, whatever you call them. TAYLOR: Jet skis. HOUSTON: No, no. MILLER: You have to be upright.

BUCKLEY: Upright. TAYLOR: Segways. COMMISSIONERS IN UNISON: Segways! MILLER: There you go! HOUSTON: Segways, thank you! Those numbers are already in our code TAYLOR: Sounds like (chuckle) HOUSTON: with regard to the segways, and Eric Lagstrom, our Risk Manager, looked at that and said those numbers would be, would be acceptable, and so Ive included that in there. Basically it says licensee must provide the Town with written proof of insurance of at least one ($1m) million dollars single-injury, two ($2m) million dollar aggregate, and a hundred thousand ($100,000) dollar property damage. Rentals only to licensed drivers requirement, and if a renter is under the age of 18, must have parents or guardians signature, or approval, permission. Regarding instruction and training, which I think was most of what we talked about last week, licensee must provide instruction and training to each customer in advance of the rental. Training must include at least the following: explanation of state and local laws and regulations, including permitted locations for driving the vehicle as we discussed in the state law, operating at a maximum speed of 30 miles an hour, requirements for renters to wear helmets, requirements for proper lights and reflectors for operation after dark, prohibition on cell phone use, texting, or wearing headphones while operating the vehicle, and unlawful operation of the vehicle while impaired or intoxicated. Instruction on stopping, starting, turning and otherwise controlling the vehicle, proper use of controls including but not limited to turn signals, horns, brakes, stand and lights. Licensee must provide a training area on the premise of the business or on other private property within a hundred (100) feet, you might want to discuss if thats appropriate or not. The training area must be an unobstructed, paved surface, at least 30 feet wide by 80 feet long (30 x 80) in order to provide adequate space to turn, accelerate, and stop the vehicle. The turning area shall not interfere with parking spaces, drive aisles, or access points used by other businesses or residences. Training shall not take place on public property or rights of way without permission of the Mayor and City Council. And a licensee or trained representative shall observe the prospective renter operate the vehicle in the training area. The licensee shall refuse to rent the vehicle to any perspective renter who cannot demonstrate the ability to drive the vehicle safely. With regard to use of public property, the following activities shall not take place on public property, including sidewalks, rights of way, parks, beaches, or the boardwalk driving or operating the vehicles except in areas approved for motor vehicle operation streets, alleys, parking lots, displaying vehicles for rent, training, or fueling/maintenance and storage of buildings (vehicles), those should not occur on public property. Storage of vehicles when the business is closed vehicles must be stored within a building or temporary storage container. TAYLOR: Jesse, temporary storage, does that include like a canvas cover? HOUSTON: Well, I think thats for discussion.

BUCKLEY: Well have to decide. TAYLOR: Because I think thats kind of, that might be a little restrictive than we need. HOUSTON: Um hm, and yeah, you TAYLOR: Sometimes theyre covered. HOUSTON: Business transactions, this is common in most of our, most of our Code sales transactions shall take place inside a building. Fueling methods and locations shall be approved by the Ocean City Fire Marshal. The number of riders on MILLER: Jesse, is that storage of the vehicles approved by the Fire Marshal too? Does he, do they weigh in on where youre storing these vehicles? HOUSTON: Yeah, they do. MILLER: Okay. HOUSTON: Number of riders on a vehicle shall not exceed the manufacturers limit. Identification of ownership of the rental vehicles each rental vehicle and its owner must be identified as required by the Mayor and City Council. And testing, all rental vehicles are required by State law to have a capacity of 50 cubic centimeters or less, the Ocean City Police Department is authorized to inspect rental vehicles at any time, to determine compliance with this limitation. And then as far as the zoning code goes, I think youre leaning toward a Conditional Use procedure, which would be a public hearing before this body and youd send a recommendation for final approval by the Mayor and City Council, and it would be allowed in basically our commercial districts LC1, Shopping Center, BMUD, Boardwalk, DMX, and the Manufacturing District downtown. And nonconforming uses, this is something I think we need to discuss, what I put in here is a rental business possessing a valid business license as of April 30, 2012 coming up that does not comply with the new licensing requirements, would be allowed to renew their license for the license year 2012-2013. After April 30, 2013, all such businesses will be required to have an approved Conditional Use, and be subject to the new licensing regulations, so that would give the businesses who do have a valid business license this year to renew it for one more year, and then the following year, get a Conditional Use and meet all the requirements of the Code. Just a little, little bit of amortization and leeway. MILLER: How many are out there? HOUSTON: Blaine has a list of how many are out there I think. Um, I cant tell you exactly. BUCKLEY: Well, couldnt we have them, certain, okay, good ahead HOUSTON: All thats up for your discussion, this is just something to get you started with.

SMITH: In conjunction with the Fire Marshal, we know theres 17 established locations, and subsequent to our last meeting, Ive got a print-out from the Fire Marshals office, and it talks about the type of containers that hold the fuel and how its UL Rated and what-have-you, which I think my statement to you from the Fire Marshal at our previous public hearing was that he felt that they were maintaining inspections and life-safety at all these locations and they would continue to do so, which is one of the conditions of approval. BUCKLEY: Right. SMITH: The one thing he has said to me subsequent to our last meeting that a condition would be that all fueling would be conducted outdoors and not inside of buildings even though the scooter or the fuel would be stored inside, he thinks, maybe because he doesnt have that much leeway to put that condition MILLER: That we should. SMITH: Then he said that all fueling shall be conducted outdoors, not indoors. I cant tell you specifically that he dont have that, but he told me that he would like that condition, that all fueling be conducted outdoors, even though the fuel container and the scooter could be stored inside as per life-safety code, the fueling itself would take place outdoors. BUCKLEY: Better just not, if theres a spillage, its not, in the enclosed area. SMITH: But we do know 17 locations. BUCKLEY: Okay, okay. HOUSTON: Um, so thats what, thats what I have for you, thats the additional information you asked for, and some ideas to get your started with your deliberations. BUCKLEY: Okay, anything else that needs to be put into the record? There was one One other comment I think that came in. Does anyone else have anything? Any other comments? Yes, sir, please step forward and state your name. Raise your hand. Thats what I was trying to get, across, whatever, for what its worth. ESHAM: Under the penalties of perjury, do you hereby swear to tell the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? PEREZ: Right. ESHAM: Then state your name and address. PEREZ: My name is Yehuda Perez, I live in West Ocean City, Im the owner of Island Cycles. ESHAM: And your mailing address? PEREZ: P O Box 1437, Ocean City, Maryland.

BUCKLEY: Yes, sir. PEREZ: The only comment that I have, weve been here, operating here for like 12 years already BUCKLEY: Um hm. PEREZ: we never had any problems with, we used to take our customers to practice on the side street, we always did that, never had any problem with that. Now as far as the new regulations, the practice area, what are we going to do? I mean, we have a business, we dont have private property to let them practice in. BUCKLEY: Um hm, well that MILLER: Thats what were talking about BUCKLEY: thats what were trying to get at, but that seems to be one of the main issues that we found in the public hearing testimony. PEREZ: I dont think its fair, I mean, we, we let all the time, we let the customers practice on the side street, we always did that before, were the first one that started with it, actually. We never had any problem practicing in the side street, we never had any accidents on the side street. I mean yes, kids dropped the scooter, things like that, but we never had any problem with other issues. I mean, with the helmets, with the gear, with everything, weve always been doing that, weve always been supporting everything, but as far as the practice area, it doesnt make sense to us, I mean, what about bicycles? Bicycles are the same things, why dont they practice on the side streets, do you know what I mean? I mean, we saw the locals about the accidents and everything, about the scooter accidents. Do we talk about the car accidents compared to the scooter accidents, I mean accidents be forever, its all depends how you play. If you play it safe, everything is safe. If youre going to play it safe, even cars will be safe, even trucks will be safe, I understand, I respect everything that we talking about but, everything has to make sense too. BUCKLEY: Well, thats what were here to discuss, weve got, were just collecting testimony and see where it goes. Does anyone have any questions of Mr. Perez? Thank you sir. PEREZ: Thank you. BUCKLEY: Yes, sir. CROKER (FROM AUDIENCE): I was here last year, last year, last week, I was sworn in. I just would like to give BUCKLEY: Sir, I need you to step up to the um, microphone please, and to please remember that youre under oath. ESHAM: Yes, I would like to remind you you are under oath, and can you please state your name and address again?

CROKER: Its Ron Croker, 5303 Coastal Highway, Ocean City, Maryland. ESHAM: Thank you. BUCKLEY: Yes, sir. CROKER: Last week, four of the scooter rental operators got together and we started discussing things that we think are important to the scooter rental business because were in the trenches with it. And, we came up with this, if I could, just pass this down (hand-out), I think theres enough there. Supposed to be seven of them. Let me grab mine real quick. Is there enough for everyone? BUCKLEY/MILLER/BROUS: Yes. BUCKLEY: Sir, thank you. CROKER: These are just things that we have come up with as scooter rental operators in (pause) it involves Continental Cycle, OC Scooters which is us, Fun Cycles, and Cycle City and it, this kind of mimics exactly what we were talking about last week with suggestions from us. I think what youre going to find here when you read this a lot of these things have already been talked about, except a few other ones that were DOT approved helmets, and making sure the customers wear them, talking about you know, what the fine is if you dont wear a helmet. Things like that, providing parking, one customer space for each, every five rental scooters, and so forth, and number #2, like a safe and secure place to store fuel Fire Marshal comes out to our location all the time, every year, and were, that system is already in place, and it works very well. I dont think anybody here fuels vehicles inside the building, it would be absolutely ridiculous to do that, so no one does. We do store the scooters inside, but you know, its, that was already discussed with the Fire Marshal. The others that are on here, just once again, talked just very briefly about everything that we talked about, but I would like to just say, having a practice area of 30 x 80, and I dont know where that number came from, I think it was just thrown out there as a reference point. We got together, we measured everyones area as far as scooters making safe turns, and we came up with 20 x 50. And the reason we came up with 20 x 50, is because if we give somebody 100 x 100, they will make that long loop all the way around. BUCKLEY: Okay. CROKER: And they wont realize how to turn the scooter around in a normal-sized parking lane, ah parking space, or in an alley or wherever they are, if you give them too much room, theyre going to take every bit of it because its there, just like I would if I was trying to get out of Seacrets parking lot on Saturday night. The parking places, it would be nice if they were bigger but, theyre not, theyre adequate they work just fine. Its the same thing here. BUCKLEY: Okay. CROKER: So to actually say, you know, come up with a 20 x 50 or a 30 x 80 thats just an astronomical amount of room to designate for somebody to drive a scooter around, and its a waste.

BUCKLEY: Okay. CROKER: Thats one thing BUCKLEY: Point taken. CROKER: yeah, and these are just suggestions, you guys can. How do an insurance be a, insurance policy, and you can tell me Mr. Houston, what was it, a million dollars? BUCKLEY: Its written proof of at least a million dollars single-injury, two million aggregate, and a hundred-thousand property damage. CROKER: Okay, well I can tell you right now with Odyssea Watersports, our jet ski rentals, it costs us about $29,000 a year to insure like 15 jet skis. We dont make $29,000 a year doing scooters at these locations, its just not worth it. Every scooter rental that Ive talked to, the insurance in the industry is that the business has a blanket insurance policy on it. You cannot insure something that you cant register. You cant register a 49 cc scooter, so therefore, the insurance companies dont recognize it as a vehicle, so they will not insure it. What they will do is they will insure you as an operator BUCKLEY: Right. CROKER: but not for a million dollars or two million dollars, they just dont do it, its a blanket coverage policy. We just cant get it. BUCKLEY: So what kind of numbers are we talking? CROKER: As far as policy costs go? BUCKLEY: Ive got a million dollars on myself, but TAYLOR: What is your coverage? BUCKLEY: what is it, what is your coverage for your business? CROKER: It covers the business itself, its a liability BUCKLEY: And the dollar amount, theres a dollar amount of coverage. CROKER: Theres a million dollars on the business, its not BUCKLEY: Right, okay, so you do have a million dollars. CROKER: Well, but not on the person, its not on the scooter. BUCKLEY: No, no, but it would be on the business. CROKER: Its on the business, we all have that right now. BUCKLEY: Right.

CROKER: But when somebody wants a scooter, they certify on the rental sheet that they have automobile insurance, thats one of the stipulations that our insurance company put in place. You cant rent a scooter unless you have insurance, so if you want to rent a scooter, and you have GEICO, GEICOs going to cover that scooter and any accident you might have with it. BUCKLEY: Interesting! CROKER: Um hm. BUCKLEY: Okay. CROKER: And thats the industry standard believe it or not, because you cant register a 49 cc scooter. BUCKLEY: Okay, thats why, thats why youre, so that the, okay, alright. CROKER: And even at that, a million dollar coverage is still like $6,000 for the business, its still expensive. BUCKLEY: Yes it is, we all pay to operate, trust me! CROKER: Yeah, you gotta pay to play, but BUCKLEY: I have to, I have mine too, so. CROKER: If I could just go down here to #6 BUCKLEY: So automobile insurance, okay. CROKER: just to let you know that we do make sure that everyone has a drivers license, if somebody comes to the businesses, at least the ones that we talked about, and its an underaged person, lets say theyre 16. We have the parent come there BUCKLEY: Right, right, thats what you, we CROKER: and we copy their license too, I dont know about the legalities of copying licenses, but I do know that when, you know, Officer Smith rolls up and says hey, there was an accident, well, heres the paperwork, everything signed and documented. BUCKLEY: Do you get a copy of their insurance, their car insurance as well? CROKER: Its a statement that they sign on the release form that says I will provide, or that I do have BUCKLEY: But the answer is no, you do not copy the insurance card? CROKER: No, no. BUCKLEY: Okay.

CROKER: Because I dont think most people have it in their pocket; I mean I do, but I dont know if everybody does. ESHAM: One clarification I want to ask on the insurance CROKER: Um hm. ESHAM: do you, are you, do you think youre being asked to insure the actual scooter so if it gets damaged you have insurance on the scooter? CROKER: Im not, but I think some people are. ESHAM: But thats not what the citys asking you to insure. I wasnt quite clear, its more about liability that somebody else gets hurt. CROKER: Well ESHAM: Thats why they need the million dollars, not on your scooter replacement value. CROKER: right, because theyre not very expensive to begin with, thats why our insurance company wont insure them, another reason ESHAM: Right, but very important for public safety. CROKER: Right. ESHAM: Thats why the million is out there. CROKER: But are you guys asking then to be named as an additional insured on the policy? ESHAM: I dont, I dont BUCKLEY: I have no idea. MILLER: With watersports, when I was doing this before, we had to have a policy that covered our business, we didnt name the Town of Ocean City. ESHAM: No, no, I dont think MILLER: But we had to show proof of insurance. ESHAM: Jesse, thats not a practice of ours, no so its BUCKLEY: I think what you have now is what, youve got a million dollars on your business, thats what were talking about CROKER: Right.

BUCKLEY: So that if youre negligent ESHAM: Its probably no more than you already have. BUCKLEY: Right, exactly. ESHAM: Its just we need to see evidence of it. MILLER: That youre insured as a company. BUCKLEY: Right. CROKER: Which is a great idea, and I think I even mentioned that once again, collectively talking here, you know, that #9 was the proper insure the scooters and the business itself. BUCKLEY: Right. ESHAM: The insurance requirement here probably will not increase what you already have, which is what, if you already have the business. CROKER: And thats the way the business is structured, believe it or not, because its the only way you can actually get any kind of liability insurance on these things. So, its just one other thing that may be of interest to you guys is #10 (pause). We already recognize that our business is our business, its there. We dont think anybody should be parking in fire lanes, in safety access sidewalks, any City-owned property or anything like that because, it spills over into areas that can lead to other things somebody falling over the scooter walking out of the store, blocking the fire lane, these are all things that we know exist and we want to see put in place because its good business, period. So we recognize this, and we recognize a lot of things that you guys are saying already. We wanted you to have this so that you know that were already thinking about it, and were already in the process of doing this. BUCKLEY: Okay, wonderful. CROKER: Thats it. TAYLOR: Yeah. BUCKLEY: Any questions? TAYLOR: No but, I just think that, clearly you all have been working on this because of all of the accidents and incidents theres only five of them that are related to your four businesses, so CROKER: No, and I think it does show, but I have one quick question if I may for Mr. Houston, the figure of 168 total, or 158 total of accidents in 2011, is that by adding that information across the line or is that something that is available to us that we might be able to HOUSTON: Which one was that?

CROKER: I think it was the 2011, you said there was 68 accidents, but then you came back and said 158. HOUSTON: Oh. BUCKLEY: 158 were the incidences that didnt have a, they didnt write a report for it. HOUSTON: Right. TAYLOR: Nobody went to the hospital. CROKER: Okay. HOUSTON: Right, so that would BUCKLEY: Nobody wouldve required stitches. HOUSTON: have included the 68 that were on the sheet BUCKLEY: Right. CROKER: Alright, that was a little confusing, but thank you very much. BUCKLEY: Okay, does anyone else have anything further for this public hearing? STALEY: Do we want to listen to comments from the policeman? ESHAM: Paul, Paul Morris, back here. BUCKLEY: Yes, sir, Paul. Im ready. ESHAM: Paul, please raise your right hand. Under the penalties of perjury do you hereby swear to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth? MORRIS: Yes I do. ESHAM: Your name and mailing address. MORRIS: Paul Morris, 1931 Marlin Drive. I agree with just about everything the previous gentleman spoke to, addressed here tonight, and I appreciate Jesses work, but Jesse mentioned grandfathering some of these dangerous operations. I dont think you can grandfather public safety. That doesnt sound like good public policy. Were here because its a dangerous situation as is proven by the statistics that the Police Departments good enough to give to us. Basically the problem with the situation is downtown and from Mr. Houstons statement from what the State is talking about, these things should not be allowed anywhere where there is no bike lane. I think our bus lane is considered a bike lane, also, so, once you get south of there, its really dangerous, and in terms of grandfathering, the problem is the operations are so prevalent and dangerous downtown outside of bike lane/bus lane situation is that theyve incurred a license to operate, which is entirely contrary to City Code. Theyre not supplying

required parking, as a matter of fact, theyre doing the opposite. Theyre using required parking for existing hotels or whatever that are, and sucking up that, so its had a doublenegative effect. Once again, I just dont see grandfathering public safety. BUCKLEY: I just want to make, I just want to clarify that, were not talking about grandfathering, were talking about amortizing the light, you know, just the business investment for an additional year. I agree, but I just want to clarify those two terms. MORRIS: Once again, its the same thing. BUCKLEY: Yeah, yeah, I understand what youre saying, yes, so, thank you Paul. ESHAM: Thank you. BUCKLEY: Yes, sir. TAYLOR: But, to that point, Blaine, when some of these come up for renewal, and we know some of them like, what is it, I suntan at one of them where they have their rental scooters in what should be designated as parking for the business BUCKLEY: Um hm. TAYLOR: would that be looked at as to whether to renew the license or not if theyre actually meeting code, whether they actually have those spaces they need, whether those bikes are not in public space, theyre not on the sidewalk, theyre not on the alley, theyre not somewhere else? Is that going to be looked at a little more closely in renewing these things? SMITH: I would say without doubt, especially if you go as a Conditional Use because youll analyze it to get the approval. What has happened in the last recent years, I say over the last 5 year, downtown businesses have leased parking from like the Kitchen Restaurant, that had commercial parking for lease BUCKLEY: Um hm. SMITH: the Harrison Group has leased some of their parking at 2nd Street for some of the neighborhood scooter rentals. The Purnells at Atlantic Hotel have a lot thats over by the Assateague House, they have leased some, so thats how they have survived, with leased parking if they didnt have parking otherwise. But I think, whether its reasonable, or whether the training areas are reasonable, thats why the Conditional Use, we believe, is a better process, so you can look at it comprehensively, and know exactly where all the parking is, and how theyre going to come and go, and how theyre going to be trained, and the life safety issues and all that would be weighed out. Where Ive basically compared them to bicycles and have had to issue the permit if they could find leased parking, and weve had less control, even though the Fire Marshal has had life safety control with the fuel handling, theyve not been able to implement the other things that were now talking about. BUCKLEY: Okay.

MILLER: Ive got a question for Blaine. As we move forward on this, I mean, are you guys prepared to do Conditional Use permits for this year for these, if we were going to do all of these? SMITH: If there were a need, no, I would not say, I think thats why the amortization was thought about, in fairness to, because were into the season basically, and normally it takes at least 3 weeks because you have to advertise 14 days and there are 17 or more of these operations and its only those that now have license which are good through May 31st, and then they have to renew. And this is saying that they could renew one more year if they currently hold the license, in fairness to established business, whereas any new one that would come in this year at a new location they would have to get a Conditional Use if this were adopted. MILLER: And this amortization youre talking about would then cease May of 2013? SMITH: Yes. BUCKLEY: Right, next year. HOUSTON: Next business season. SMITH: But they would have enough lead time now to prepare for next year. MILLER: And thats a preference for you guys, for your office? SMITH: Yes, yes. MILLER: Okay. SMITH: I think moreso for the businesses, we could manage it if we had to, but I think its for the fairness of the businesses that are already paid their landlord and theyre ready to go. MILLER: Well, I guess its for the record, its not a safety issue, just a procedural issue more from your standpoint. SMITH: Yes. HOUSTON: I mean, its fair to the existing businesses, but also its a timing thing. By the time this process gets through the Mayor and City Council, and the ordinance gets adopted, then you have the whole Conditional Use process to go through. If somebody started on Day One they probably couldnt finish that process until June, so its kind of a procedural thing too. BUCKLEY: Right, okay. MILLER: Thats why I was asking. HOUSTON: Id like to clar-, can I clarify one thing that Paul said? BUCKLEY: Sure.

HOUSTON: The State law, it says where theres a bus lane, thats where they have to drive BUCKLEY: Okay. HOUSTON: but if theres not a bus lane, they can operate it on the roadway or on the shoulder. So the bus lane comes into effect where there is one, but where theres not, they can use, they can use the road. MILLER: Coastal Highway, the bike lane is it, period. HOUSTON: Right, right. TAYLOR: But when they want to make a turn HOUSTON: Well, yeah TAYLOR: they have to go through 3 lanes of traffic to make it. HOUSTON: yeah, exactly, right. BUCKLEY: Shoo, alright. TAYLOR: And if were cutting the rate of increase which is what weve seen over the last three years in accidents and incidents, we can halt it now and keep it level or drop it going to Conditional Use, which is the direction we want to go, I mean, by allowing the BUCKLEY: Why dont we see if we can close the hearing, and then we can start. ESHAM: Youve got some more. BUCKLEY: Oh dear Lord, yes, sir. Please step forward. WARD: I was sworn the other time. BUCKLEY: Step right up and give us, please remember that youre under oath and state your name and address for the record. WARD: Shane Ward, #7 Somerset Street, I just have one thing to add. You kind of went through visually of covering the stuff up, like on the street BUCKLEY: Right, um hm. WARD: like I said we always here about the one business thats on my street that has everything cluttered on the front, it is covered STILL with a canvas out there. My one question is, are they still going to be able to cover stuff with canvases? I think #1 its an eyesore BUCKLEY: Okay.

WARD: #2 I think that it should at least be kept inside, in an enclosed building or something, especially with the downtown area, on the street that Im on its supposed to be, the reason why they did them streets like that was to beautify Ocean City BUCKLEY: Okay. WARD: and the more stuff thats cluttered on them front porches like that BUCKLEY: Right. WARD: its not stored inside or somewhere, it just looks hideous, and thats all I wanted to say, all I had to say. BUCKLEY: Good point! Thats a good point, thank you very much. WARD: Thank you. BUCKLEY: Anything else, yes, sir. GJIKURIA: Hi, good evening. ESHAM: Under the penalties of perjury, do you hereby swear to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth? GJIKURIA: I do. ESHAM: Your name and address. GJIKURIA: My name is Peter Gjikuria, 12943 Windy Drive in Ocean City. Pretty much we discussed with one other business and we come up with these ideas, which is pretty much the same ideas you guys have. The one thing I want to make a point is for the training, like Ron says, 20 x 50 I think is good because if you give them 100 feet theyre going to think its so easy, but if you put them to try in a smaller place, I feel theyre going to feel comfortable to do it. BUCKLEY: Makes sense, okay. GJIKURIA: For the insurance, we do insurance, I have no problem with the insurance, we do have insurance for the scooters and they have like liability of one million and I think its like $6-8,000 just for liab- it doesnt mean insure the scooter but BUCKLEY: The liability. GJIKURIA: incidents or anything. And the other thing I wanted to add is we explain to renters all the time when theyre out on the scooter where they go, and where they supposed to go, on the bus lane, or further out lane, if you say no bus lane down here, not to cross the bridge, and not to go into Delaware, not to cross Bridge 90 or Bridge 50, and I know the police is very busy in the summer time, but I feel they did, (clears throat) excuse me, I remember when I was with the Police Commission, they gave like 400 and some tickets for helmets, thats $25 a ticket, so that makes some money, let them give a ticket if they cross the bridge because theyve already signed the papers from us which,

and we have them written down on the wall not to cross the bridge, and if they cross, just give them a ticket, so SHANAHAN: Thats not a statute though, I dont think, I dont think they can give them a ticket. GJIKURIA: They give them a ticket for the helmet. SHANAHAN: For the helmet, yeah, I dont think they can give them a ticket for going across the bridge, its not a statute. GJIKURIA: Or a ticket if they speeding. BUCKLEY: They can do that. GJIKURIA: Because last time we discussed speeding of the scooter, its very hard to make the scooter because the manufacturer makes the scooter, its like we have to say Ford or Chevrolet, you know what, make the cops to go 55 or 65, then Ill go, theyll go faster. So its the responsibility of the renter not to go BUCKLEY: Right. GJIKURIA: if it has a little (indistinguishable) on the back of them, I go 40, so if the police catch them, I know they busy, they do a great job helping us, they can just give them a ticket, they have a driver license, they can have a ticket. BUCKLEY: Okay, we can discuss that, thank you. GJIKURIA: Thank you, (indistinguishable). BUCKLEY: Yes, thank you very much, you can Jesse we have another question for you. MILLER: What is the law on Route 90 and Route 50? HOUSTON: Um, the State Transportation Code says they cant go on a roadway thats, the speed limit is posted 50 miles an hour or higher. I dont know if Sergeant SERGEANT SMITH: (From audience) 55. HOUSTON: Smith knows any more than that or not. BUCKLEY: He said 55, why dont you step up here sir, I guess we need to get that in the record. SERGEANT SMITH: Basically BUCKLEY: Do we have to swear in a police officer? ESHAM: Under the penalties of perjury, do you hereby swear to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?

SERGEANT SMITH: I do. ESHAM: Your name and address please? SERGEANT SMITH: Sergeant Douglas Smith, 6501 Coastal Highway, Ocean City, Worcester County, Maryland. It is 50 miles an hour, but so, they cant go on Route 90, they can go across the Route 50 Bridge which is posted 35. That is scooters only. Scoot-coupes are not permitted outside of Ocean City jurisdiction, only in the bus lanes which is the bike lane, or on public streets, so theres several limitations to that, and youll see an increase of enforcement on all the owners this year. Basically if they go south of 17th Street on Philadelphia Avenue, where the bus lane would stop, and then theyd have to go on St. Louis Avenue, if they go south of that this year, theyre going to be stopped and towed. The business, Island Cycles down on Somerset Street, you cant let them go north on Baltimore Avenue, you have to send them straight across, towards St. Louis Avenue because its prohibited by the State law, so. MILLER: So thats the scoot-coupes? SERGEANT SMITH: Thats the scoot-coupes, right. Scooters, again their limitation will be going out Route 90, which we do see, I know, but the more of a problem was the scoot-coupes going out Route 50 all the way out to Walmart, which caused quite a stir with the Maryland State Police BUCKLEY: Oh my goodness. SERGEANT SMITH: they were calling us quite frequently trying to figure out, that went all the way up to the Attorney General on what to do with them, so that, youll see that, theyll be stopped and towed if theyre caught out there and the driver cited for operating an unregistered motor vehicle, so. MILLER: Thanks. BUCKLEY: Okay, good to know. SHANAHAN: I guess we probably should ask the Police Commission if they had any recommendations for this situation. MILLER: I think thats probably came through Jesse. HOUSTON: Yeah, yeah. BUCKLEY: Sir, did you have any other issues that you needed? HOUSTON: I think that was essentially BUCKLEY: Okay, that was what it was HOUSTON: the Council, acting as the Police Commission has asked, yeah, for this BUCKLEY: Right.

CROKER: I forgot to say one thing, is that possible? BUCKLEY: Yes, sir, come on up. (Laughs) STALEY: Hell run now. CROKER: Im quick! BUCKLEY: You might, we dont want you guys CROKER: I know, we just, I know, Ive got a heart condition too. The guys were just telling me BUCKLEY: Remember that youre under oath, please, state your name. CROKER: Its Ron Croker. BUCKLEY: Yes, sir. CROKER: Address? ESHAM: No. BUCKLEY: Ron Croker will be fine, just so we know for the record. CROKER: One other thing I didnt have on my sheet because it came in late was, we wanted to see if you have a scooter or bicycle license, its usually from 1 to 25 things, whether its a bike or a scooter, right? SMITH: On the business license. CROKER: On the business license, so would it be possible for the City to step up and say, Okay, Waterways, when you pay your $240 for your business license, were going to give you 25 little license plates that say WW#1, WW#2, that we can attach to the scooters that you guys know how many scooters we have, so that you guys, the Fire Marshal knows, how many weve been licensed to have, if we had 30, we would pay an extra, just like we do with jet skis right now. BUCKLEY: Um hm. CROKER: That way everyone knows who has what. BUCKLEY: Okay, we can discuss that. CROKER: And the reason is, is because I think its a real good idea to know that, plus, you know, it also helps us BUCKLEY: Um hm.

CROKER: we have, like I could have 50 scooters, but only rent 30 of them because the other 20 might be broken, or something like that, but I could move that tag around to a bicycle or to a scooter. So, thats what they wanted me to say. BUCKLEY: Okay, thank you very much. WARD: (from audience) Ive got one more thing to say. BUCKLEY: Yes, sir. WARD: Do I have to come back up there? BUCKLEY: Yes, sir. WARD: (indistinguishable) BUCKLEY: You have to come right here. ESHAM: Did you read that earlier today? BUCKLEY: I read part of it, yes. ESHAM: (indistinguishable) BUCKLEY: Yes, I did. TAYLOR: Is that the one we got emailed? WARD: #7 Somerset Street again. I have a bicycle rental shop, what hes talking about these tags is hideous. I have somewhere over 500 bikes, does that mean I have to get a tag on every single one of my bicycles? I mean, come on man, I can understand what youre saying about the scooters having these tags but, youve got to think about us little people too man. Were in the same industry youre in, which is fine, I mean, but I dont want to have to pay to get my license plate tags with my name put on all of them, but come on, I mean, thats just drawing it a little bit too far. COMMISSIONERS LAUGHING IN RESPONSE SHANAHAN: I dont think the City would pay for this, so BUCKLEY: No, I dont either. WARD: Im just voicing my opinion, I mean, Im BUCKLEY: Get little labels, dont you get, we can get labels like the, like they do for the renters license, its just a little sticker. WARD: Yeah, I mean, thats BUCKLEY: You could go around and put those on your little things, um, somewhere.

WARD: I mean, if you all want to give me 600 tags, thats fine, I wont have a problem with that, but I mean, its just, thats a lot of BUCKLEY: Understood, understood, thank you sir. Does the Commission have enough information to render a decision from the public hearing? Paul, okay MORRIS: Real quick. BUCKLEY: as long as its something new! MORRIS: Yes, Paul Morris again. I just wanted to comment that City staffs suggestion that the downtown operations with no parking are satisfying their parking in other leased areas. This is the biggest game weve seen downtown for generations, its called (indistinguishable) parking and my good friend Bo Ruggerio, he did a great job of it, bless his heart. You can say yeah, Ive got, Ive leased 6 spots here and 6 spots there, but you never, youre never, licensed as it were, or marked or anything, its just a game. Thank you, I just, I had to say that. BUCKLEY: Okay sir, thank you. Alright, can I, Ill take a motion to close the hearing. TAYLOR: So moved. BUCKLEY: I have a motion to close the hearing STALEY: Second. BUCKLEY: I have a second from John. All in favor? COMMISSIONERS IN UNISON: Aye. BUCKLEY: (gavel) So moved. Dear goodness, okay, alright. Are we ready to, well, we have to deliberate this folks and get this thing moving along, so, um TAYLOR: Lets see. BUCKLEY: lets just start at one end and come down or if somebody wants to raise their hand and start. SHANAHAN: Well, I think when we discussed it two weeks ago, the main thing was the training and the safety and I think Ron and his group BUCKLEY: Right. SHANAHAN: suggested 20 x 50, I think thats in agreement, especially if some of these operators may have to potentially lease this space. BUCKLEY: Its like 5 parking spaces. SHANAHAN: Yeah, to require them a 30 x 80 is going to be more expensive than a

BUCKLEY: Right. SHANAHAN: 20 x 50, obviously so. MILLER: I, and I truly believe that if youre training people, you shouldnt be crossing streets and people, you should train them on your site. TAYLOR: Right. MILLER: Because if you trust Coastal Highway and that person, you find out half way across Coastal Highway they cant ride the thing its too late already. TAYLOR: Right, right. MILLER: So, I think it should be onsite or adjacent to the site. TAYLOR: Right. MILLER: But, I guess first and foremost, I think that we, I like the idea of Conditional Use permit, and that I think most of us agree, but I think TAYLOR: Right. MILLER: thats one thing to get out, I like the idea of having a Conditional Use permit just to put parameters so we are aware of the safety issues and if theres problems we can come back and correct those problems. TAYLOR: Yeah. BUCKLEY: Well, it does give the um, gives us a chance to pay attention to the neighboring, the area, so, I think were probably all in agreement that it should be a Conditional Use. TAYLOR: Right. OTHER COMMISSIONERS IN UNISON: Yes, um hm. BUCKLEY: Lets let, lets let TAYLOR: The 50 feet works for me too. BUCKLEY: Lets just let Chris finish his statements. SHANAHAN: Yeah, I dont know how feasible the onsite training, its going to put some people out of business. STALEY: Absolutely, I kind of followed that SHANAHAN: I mean I think you know STALEY: the area.

SHANAHAN: Im comfortable with the 100 foot situation that Jesse suggested. I mean, I dont know if that would require having some scooters on that leased property where they could walk over BUCKLEY: Walk over and practice. SHANAHAN: and learn to do it instead of actually taking the physical scooter from the business. BUCKLEY: Right. SHANAHAN: I guess theres ways around that but HOUSTON: Thats kind of why I put that in there, because I could see a lot of situations where somebody might not have enough room on their own property but if its someplace within easy walking distance where you could walk them over and lease an empty area for training that might be kind of a compromise. MILLER: So youre saying walk them to the training area as opposed to ride them to the area? BUCKLEY: Right. SHANAHAN: Thats what I envisioned when I read it MILLER: Well thats, I didnt envisioned that, Im watching somebody going across Coastal Highway. SMITH: Um. TAYLOR: Hmmm SMITH: And the fact that its Conditional Use you can weigh case by case, site specific BUCKLEY: Right. SMITH: and see if its, it makes sense in one case it might not in another case, so the one size fits all may, especially compare downtown to uptown, so the fact that its Conditional Use will give you opportunity to qualify it, whichever way its presented. BUCKLEY: Whether or not theyve got public sidewalks to get to that training area, or do they have to go through the middle of the street, I mean SMITH: Yeah. BUCKLEY: exactly, so I think that would be the Conditional Use certainly works in that, in that realm as well.

SHANAHAN: A couple of the pictures we saw last time, it seemed like theres more than a handful of operators that arent gonna, are nonconforming, you know, so we want to be able to accommodate them. How many in your opinion Blaine, do you think are nonconforming at this point? MILLER: Nonconforming to these standards though? SHANAHAN: To the new standards that were going to suggest? SMITH: You may have SHANAHAN: Operators I mean. SMITH: You might have 6 of them that would have trouble for training area. BUCKLEY: Yeah. SHANAHAN: Okay. MILLER: And youre comfortable with the 100 feet if they walk them to the place? SMITH: Well, I think thats where you all would make a judgment call when you make recommendation to the Mayor and Council after the Conditional Use. I think the burden would be on the applicant to show they can provide reasonable training area. And its like when we used to do the watersport, we had 1500 foot separation between operators and stuff, you try to set parameters and then we started losing our waterfront, and I think with these types of operations, you know, you all would have to weigh it I think when you do the Conditional Use permit in a specific neighborhood to see if theres going to be adverse affect and whether the safety is being employed properly with the training. BUCKLEY: So you think that we shouldnt put a, a, SMITH: I think youll probably have some adopted policy and guidelines later. BUCKLEY: Thats what Im thinking too. SMITH: once you get into your Conditional Use MILLER: Let me ask a question, are we deciding to go with Conditional Use permit and were going to work on guidelines at a later date? SMITH: you, you BUCKLEY: No, I think were going to do a Conditional Use with the main things, but then we always have some kind of guidelines later on, you know, type of thing, whereas after we see a few of them, youd hate to put 100 feet in and here it comes it at 101 and it would work beautifully, I guess thats where I am, um, because if it is a Conditional Use we can say well, its 99, its 80 and it doesnt work. MILLER: So in other words, an acceptable parking practice area at 50, minimum 50 by

BUCKLEY: 20 x 50 within a reas-, you know that we MILLER: thats acceptable to the Board. BUCKLEY: to access from your business. TAYLOR: I mean, you can even say which, um, normally would be assumed to be 100 feet or less. MILLER: Okay. BUCKLEY: Okay. TAYLOR: Just so somebody doesnt come in with something thats half a mile away SHANAHAN: And to finish my comments I would say Im very comfortable with the grace period too, for a lack of a better saying, to give grace period. BUCKLEY: Yeah, I think they probably, that we, they probably made the point of that that it would be tough for us to get all of them through the process (chuckle) so I agree with you there. Okay, Lauren? TAYLOR: Um, yeah, I agree with all of that, and I think the insurance, you just do a million dollar business policy and most of those policies already have under them, you know, multiple and, liab-, and um, damage, and after that its up to their insurance company, their car insurance company or a lawsuit or whatever, I mean theres, all you want to do is make sure these people are, that the people running the business are licensed and insured to protect them, so I think that dropping all, just make it a million dollar business policy is, is sufficient. Other than that, I think most of it works. STALEY: Um hm. BUCKLEY: Okay. HOUSTON: How about the storage question? BUCKLEY: The what? TAYLOR: The storage one is still not HOUSTON: The storage question, the storage of the vehicles? BUCKLEY: Yeah, I was, thats what I was thinking, whether we should put covers on them, or, but you know downtown it does make sense when we were talking about the fact that you build these beautiful streets and then youre going to allow them to STALEY: Cover it up. BUCKLEY: put a tarp on their porch, but, I dont know where we figure that out.

TAYLOR: Well, now that Im thinking it a little more because I wasnt sure, but if youre going to have a training area that thats size, you should be able to have some kind closed, covered area to put them in at night. Because what were trying to get away from are these, you know, a few scooters on the porch BUCKLEY: Right. TAYLOR: right in the street kind of things, and so, um, if you store them in some sort of closed area, it can be a temporary shed, it can be, um BUCKLEY: Okay, what do you feel John? STALEY: Following code. I think the training is the most important, and I think were going to have trouble with the, finding the, training areas. I dont know how youre going to do that, but BUCKLEY: Yeah, what about the storage? STALEY: Yep. BUCKLEY: Alright, Peck? MILLER: Um, oh boy. Training, Im all for the 50 x 20 acceptable in each individual specific one, Im fine with. Scooter storage, to me its inside, out of sight, away. Parking requirements, Im not sure if theres additional parking requirements for these scooters, but I think we need to address that issue. BUCKLEY: I think its addressed TAYLOR: It already is, its one for five. BUCKLEY: its already one for five scooters, or bicycles. HOUSTON: The parking requirement? BUCKLEY/TAYLOR: Yeah, right. MILLER: Are the parking requirements for SMITH: Well, it did change. Its one parking space per 200 square feet of display area. MORRIS (FROM AUDIENCE): With a five spot minimum. SMITH: With a five spot minimum. MORRIS: Thank you. HOUSTON: So that really wont work if theyre displayed inside a building (chuckle). SMITH: No, but the building supposedly has its parking tabulation or

HOUSTON: So is that still going to work? MILLER: If theyre inside its fine. SMITH: Yeah, its only when they put them outdoors that you have additional parking required. And quite a few of them do display outdoors, and they have to get the extra parking. MILLER: I mean, I think if youre going to display them outdoors youve got to have additional parking HOUSTON: Um hm. MILLER: I mean, I hate to say it. Um HOUSTON: Then that would just stay the same as it is in the current code. SMITH: Yeah, yes. The only thing Im still wondering, because we call it guidelines and standards, if you send a recommendation, the Conditional Use recommendation, and you start mandating, or casting it in stone at this stage, you may, you may want to send a recommendation that it will be a Conditional Use, and then do do the amortization on phasing in the Conditional Use, and that these are currently the kind of guidelines that we would expect with a Conditional Use, because a lot of the guidelines are not codified to that degree, or do you think this would be codified? HOUSTON: What, what weve done with some of these kind of issues in the past is, the operational guidelines go into the business license section, so, a lot of what weve discussed in here would be in the zoning code, but in order for them to get a business license then they have to abide by these regulations. I mean, if you think theyre too strict or too specific MILLER: I think they have to be defined, so these people know what theyre getting into. Like the 49 cc or 59 cc thing? I mean, I personally think that if, an operator whos renting these scooters or renting these mopeds, or whatever, and is renting ones bigger than 50, if they dont know it, they should, because theyre the ones operating the business, and if theyre caught doing over 50, they lose their license. I mean, I think theres things like that you need to codify and get in there because theres, this is a safety issue were talking about, we dont want them, first off, its illegal to have the more powerful scooters, and scoot-coupes. We dont need the police to have to enforce it. If it becomes an issue where they go get their license and say, hey I know I shouldnt have anything bigger because Ill lose my license, theyre not going to have them, and that should be in the business license portion of it, not the zoning HOUSTON: Um hm. MILLER: code obviously. BUCKLEY: Right. HOUSTON: Um hm, um hm.

MILLER: But I think we need to put parameters in so these guys know what theyre dealing with BUCKLEY: Um hm. MILLER: so its defined and they know what to expect when they go get their license. SMITH: And it is enforceable. BUCKLEY: Yeah with zero tolerance on the, on the over 50 cc because we cant be, we shouldnt have to second-guess our business owners. You know, if you know what youre renting, and uh MILLER: And you dont have to make, you dont make the police responsible for something like that, you just say hey, youre getting a Conditional Use permit, if you have a scooter thats over 50 and you dont know it, shame on you, youre the one thats operating the business, and if you know it youre doing it willfully and you shouldnt have your license. I mean, were trying to make, its a safety issue, thats why were here, so thats, I mean, that needs to be in, yes, that needs to be in the business license. A Conditional Use permit, we need to set up the parameters, I think things should be inside, I think there should be a designated area thats acceptable to the business, I think it needs to be in the proper zoning districts, um, I think you need to have bathrooms accessible, I think you need to do the tickets and the sales inside the business, so a lot of whats in here that Jesse gave us is right, but I think we also need to understand what were trying to do, and thats to make it a safer town for what were doing period. Theyre here, theyre a good thing, they just need to be, the rentals need to be safely. BUCKLEY: Pulled together. Alright, why dont we do this. Why dont we, I think weve discussed this pretty well, lets put together the Conditional Use and the business license information, and lets take a look at that, and make sure weve got what we want where we want it, because um, and make sure that weve got a way to figure out this parking on that, if there needs to be, um, Im just trying to think if (pause) because if, if they fit inside and then they have to bring them outside to actually get back into the building, its not like theres room for them to be inside and still operating in a lot of places. HOUSTON: Right. BUCKLEY: So theyre bringing them outside, so therefore, theres going to be a minimum of five parking spaces. MILLER: If theyre stored outside. At night time theyll be stored inside, when theyre open for business, they may put them out in a place that meets code. HOUSTON: Right. MILLER: Thats in the zoning code already. BUCKLEY: Right. MILLER: I mean you cant put them on sidewalks, you cant put them

BUCKLEY: Right. MILLER: in parking spaces that exist, and maybe if theyre outside on display, they need to have the five parking, one parking space for every five, onsite, or within what, 600 feet Jesse, is what it is? HOUSTON: Currently, yeah. Okay, well we can do that, we can clean all this up and get it to you within the next couple days BUCKLEY: Yeah, because I think we need to get this thing rolling, I think were all in pretty well in TAYLOR: I think were almost there. BUCKLEY: a couple, and its a consensus of everyone but Joel that, of what weve discussed here, I think weve all got the same, do you want a vote at the moment or can we wait until we see the, can you go with the consensus at the moment? HOUSTON: Oh yeah, sure. BUCKLEY: And then write it up, and then well vote HOUSTON: Yeah. MILLER: Want to motion it to make it a Conditional Use permit, a permit, a Conditional Use permit? BUCKLEY: Yeah, why dont we do that, lets go ahead and do that, I will accept that as a motion. MILLER: Well, I make a motion that scooters and scoot-coupes BUCKLEY: Yeah. MILLER: will come under Conditional Use aspect of the zoning code. BUCKLEY: Okay, a second? TAYLOR: Well, Im confused, I didnt think scoot-coupes were a part of this. BUCKLEY: Oh yeah. HOUSTON: Oh yeah. BUCKLEY: Arent they? Yeah TAYLOR: Okay SHANAHAN: Ill second it.

TAYLOR:

Ill second.

BUCKLEY: Weve got a second by Chris to make this a, to make the, a Conditional Use permit with details to follow. All in favor? COMMISSIONERS IN UNISON: Aye. BUCKLEY: So moved with Joe abstaining, he wasnt here, and Tom absent. And that way thats a good point, well go ahead and get that done, so were going to go Conditional Use route, and then were going to figure out whats going to be HOUSTON: Right. BUCKLEY: codified and whats going to become business operating procedures. Yes, sir. SMITH: Do you want to do a second motion on the amortization? The phase-in? MILLER: Id like to see what the policies are first. BUCKLEY: I dont think were going to have a choice because were not going to be able to get them all through the system. SMITH: Okay. TAYLOR: Yeah, but I think you need to make (indistinguishable) and finalize that. BUCKLEY: We can, we can do that, I dont have a problem with that. MILLER: Im not in favor of that. BUCKLEY: Okay, well the consensus is were not prepared to do that, unless you guys want to do it. I dont have a problem with it. Okay. TAYLOR: I dont either because I think its a practical matter BUCKLEY: Right. TAYLOR: theres no choice. MILLER: Do you know the, you know the time frame and the dates youre willing to amortize it to that, I mean TAYLOR: Just whats here, for a year. SHANAHAN: Well its set BUCKLEY: Just for one year. SHANAHAN: yeah, for a year, until next May 1st.

TAYLOR: Its already the middle of March, I mean BUCKLEY: Alright, let me have one more, Ill take one more motion then, to TAYLOR: But there wont be any new ones, were only talking about the ones that are already here. MILLER: Existing ones. BUCKLEY: Right, yeah. Just the existing ones will have an additional year to operate based on, the time and the procedures needed to get through the Conditional Use process. SHANAHAN: Ill make a motion. BUCKLEY: Alright, Chris has made a motion to MILLER: Can I say something on that, part of the vote BUCKLEY: Once we get it, once we vote, before we vote, give me a second. MILLER: Id just like to add in there if were going to amortize them Id like them to at least try to the utmost ability to comply with what were looking at, whatever those may be when we get them out. TAYLOR: Well, if they want to come back next year and get another license, theyre going to have to, because its going to be Conditional next time. MILLER: Well then we should say that what theyre doing this year will have a bearing on what they do next year. TAYLOR: Right. MILLER: So if they decide not to comply this year TAYLOR: Then theyre not, theyll never get a license again. MILLER: Okay. SMITH: Yeah, and I think with the level of enforcement, especially downtown, we have a lot of scooters that have been put in our rights-of-way and theyve been using our rightof-way; thats a matter of enforcement right now because they dont have an inherent right to do that. I think the parking minimum if thats not complied with we can enforce that right now without any change, so I think we can clean, and thats what your object-, or your hesitancy is for this year that we can do what we can do. BUCKLEY: Well, I think its going to be anything thats within their physical and business purview to be able to comply with, they should be complying with whatever we come up with. Because as Lauren says theyll be back here again for a Conditional Use, and if they are just throwing the, our

MILLER: to the wind. BUCKLEY: Right. SMITH: Right. BUCKLEY: then, thats might be what happens to business license the next year. MILLER: And that was my concern about not voting on the amortization yet BUCKLEY: Gotcha. MILLER: because I want to see what the guidelines are, see what the criteria for the business license are, then I would say, I would vote for it, but I would say, but when its, if its possible for you to adhere to this, sure. BUCKLEY: Right. MILLER: And I dont know what those codes are yet, so thats why Im not BUCKLEY: Yeah, but even, but even with the enforcement of the things that are already, you know, dont put your, dont park your bikes in public streets. MILLER: I gotcha. BUCKLEY: This doesnt even have anything to do with that. TAYLOR: Yeah, because (indistinguishable) in front of the one, and then we say well look, all year youve been abusing it, youve been using the public right-of-way, so no, no Conditional Use. Clearly you dont understand. BUCKLEY: Right, right. MILLER: Well, like I said, add that to it that, if possible BUCKLEY: Alright, weve got that discussion, are you okay, you understand? SMITH: I think, I think both with the police and ourselves, because we now understand the 30 mile speed limits, we understand they can ride by law, we understand that theyre not supposed to be going across the certain bridges with certain types of vehicles, so I think we know we have our job cut out already for enforcement, and if we cant do it now we wont be able to do it later when we get down to the nitty gritty. BUCKLEY: Right right okay, so. TAYLOR: Its like, if you dont put them on notice now SMITH: Yeah. TAYLOR: what, you have to do it now so you can do it next year.

MILLER: Thats why I was saying BUCKLEY: Well, thats why he wanted it. MILLER: Id like to add that to the amortization BUCKLEY: Right. MILLER: youre good for another year, but, see these? TAYLOR: Thats what it says, you have to come back for a Conditional Use next year. BUCKLEY: I have a motion before me TAYLOR: This is the only time thats gonna BUCKLEY: I have a motion before me to approve an amortization of one year which will go until April 31, 2013. With the proprietors that are taking advantage of that, comply with all aspects of the new Conditional Use where they can. UNIDENTIFIED VOICE FROM AUDIENCE: What was the date again? BUCKLEY: April 31st, 2013. Whatever the end of the license period is for that year. May 31st? HOUSTON: Is it May? BUCKLEY: Then May 31st, 2013, I apologize. HOUSTON: One more license year. BUCKLEY: Whatever license, your conclusion is, of 2013, that will be it. Any other questions? All in favor? COMMISSIONERS IN UNISON: Aye. MILLER: Conclusion of 2013? BUCKLEY: The licensure period of 2013. TAYLOR: Spring of 2013. MILLER: Spring of 2013, okay. BUCKLEY: Yeah, whatever the conclusion in that period is. MILLER: Okay, aye. BUCKLEY: Okay, aye, aye with Joel abstaining and Tom absent. Okay my heads ringing enough that I think its time for this to adjourn (chuckle).

STALEY: Second, its a motion. Respectfully submitted by, Karen G. (Kay) Stroud Zoning Analyst March 12, 2012

WORK SESSION -MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL TUESDAY, MARCH 27, 2012 4 Continued Discussion Concerning Supplemental Funding for the Current Street Improvement Program Presented by: Hal Adkins, Public Works Director

To: RichardW.Meehan,InterimCityManager From: HalO.Adkins,PublicWorksDirector Re: AnnualStreetImprovement(Paving)Program ContinuationofDiscussionfromNovember29,2011 FundingLevelforCompletionofEffortsJune30,2012 Date: March21,2012 Asyouwillrecall,wecommenceddiscussionsabouttheannualfundingofaStreetImprovement ProgramattheWorkSessionbackonNovember29,2011.Aspartofthatoveralldiscussion,we discussedthe"currentprogram"thatcoveredthetimeperiodofSeptember2011thruJune30, 2012andtheendofthecurrentfiscalyear. ThoughweopenlydiscussedanyneedforadditionalappropriationduringtheNovember meeting,Iindicateditwasmypersonalhope/feelingthatwouldnotbenecessaryandthatwe wouldbeabletosurviveuntilthenextfiscalyear,withthenextpavingeffortbeingintheFallof 2012,thusmakingitallaFY13discussion.Well,Iwaswrong. Asweapproachthecompletionofthecurrentstreetsthatareunderconstruction,wehave lockedinwithourpavingcontractorforacommencementdateofApril02.Aswepreparedfor thateffort,wehadtofinalizethequantitiesofsidewalkreplacementthatwerenecessaryfor streetgradeadjustments,accesswhattheoverallfinancialimpactthestormdrainageupgrades endedupcosting,andthenhadtocomputethefinalunitquantitiesof"subsurface"patchwork thatneedstobecompletedontheexistingpavedsurfacebeforetheoveralloverlayscanbe completed. Withthatdatainhand,itappearswewillneedaFundBalanceAppropriationof$350,000to finalizethisyearspavingprogram.Asasidenote,forthoseofyouthathavetakentimetoride someofthestreetswehavebeenupgrading,Icanonlyassumeyouhaveafargreater appreciationforwhatthetypicalstreetimprovementprogramentailsandtheamountofoverall infrastructureupgradesthatarenecessary"beforetheactualpavingfinallyoccurs". cc: JennieKnapp DeanDashiell BillBratten

WORK SESSION -MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL TUESDAY, MARCH 27, 2012 5 OC Experience Update Presented by: Donna Abbott, Communication Manager and Interim Tourism Director

MEMO TO: Mayor & City Council FR: Donna Abbott, Interim Tourism Director RE: Update on OC Experience DT: March 21, 2012

At the February 28, 2012 work session, the Council passed a motion to direct the Tourism Department to work with Brad Hoffman of Spark Productions, the Tourism Advisory Board and MGH to develop a final consensus on putting together the OC Experience, an interactive booth that would be used at consumer travel shows and other events to promote Ocean City as a premiere vacation destination. Spark Productions has proposed an estimated total budget of $180,000 of city funding, which would include construction of the booth, management by Spark Productions LLC, travel expenses, event collateral and prizes/giveaways. Spark Productions seeks a twoyear commitment with a fee of $10,000 per event with a schedule of four or five events per year. They are also offering to do four local appearances with the booth display at no cost as part of the arrangement. Within the last 30 days, I have met with TAB, Brad Hoffman and have discussed the proposal with MGH. A survey of Chamber and Convention & Visitors Bureau members also was carried out to determine the interest in doing consumer travel shows. (Survey results attached.) Consensus of TAB members is that consumer shows should be a part of the towns marketing efforts. (TAB memo attached.) I met with Brad Hoffman on March 13 to further discuss and review his proposal. I shared with Brad a cost analysis prepared on four of the five shows he proposes. (Cost analysis attached.) Brad reviewed with me all the steps he has taken in the past year to bring this proposal forward. MGH reviewed Brads proposal for the OC Experience, and indicated that while the exhibit seems interesting and unique the agency cannot predict the impact that this type of trade show exhibit may have on future visitation to Ocean City. MGH said it also cannot predict the number of email addresses that would be gathered at each event depending on attendance. MGH provided the number of impressions garnered by an equivalent spend of $180,000 in media. A breakdown of these impressions, for three different mediums, based on a spend of $180k would be: TV/Cable, 15,388,000 impressions; Outdoor, 71,363,000 impressions and Online, 12,561,000 impressions. I also attended the Washington Travel and Adventure Show at the Washington D.C. Convention Center on March 18 to see for myself how destinations were promoting

themselves. Most of the booths were standard 10 by 10 feet and most had backdrops of photography. Only a few had video monitors or other interactive features. In speaking with tourism representatives in some of the booths, the ability to have flexible and mobile displays was important, given additional charges imposed by facilities on moveins as well as electrical costs. Photos are attached of some of the booths. Based upon review of all comments, discussions and results of the survey, the Tourism Department recommends pursuing participation in a small selection of shows in 2013, both with Spark Productions and TAB and business representatives. A contract would have to be prepared by the city attorney to lay out the responsibilities of the town and Spark Productions and TAB. Display booth prices vary depending upon specifications, from $5,000 to $25,000 and up. The Tourism Department recommends budgeting $10,000 in 2013 budget and including additional funds in future budgets for maintenance and updated photography costs.

Cost analysis of four shows suggested in the OC Experience proposal: TheNewYorkTimesTravelShow Location:JacobK.JavitsConventionCenter MoveIn:Thursday8am5pmandFriday8am11am ShowDaysHours:Friday,March2TravelProfessionalsOnly8am7pmSaturday(Gen. Public)10am6pmSunday(Gen.Public)10am4pm Distance:235MilesOneWay IRSMileageRate:$.555permileGSAPerDiem:$204.00 Dimensions:10x10Booth BaseRate:$3,400ea.(x2for10x20) Hotel:SiteRecommendsMarriottMarquisGroupratenotavailablelowestrateis$279 pernight. TotalCosts: Travel(roundtrip)470milesx.555=$260.85 PerDiem:$204x2=$408 Booth:10x10$3,400ea.x2=$6,800 Hotel:1room=(2nights)=$558

TOTAL:$8,026.85*Totaldoesnot
includetolls,parking,electricand salaryforpeopleworkingbothdays andhotelisonlypricedfor2days.

ThePhiladelphiaInquirerTravelShow Location:ThePennsylvaniaConventionCenter MoveIn:N/A ShowDaysHours:2DaysSaturday10am5pmandSunday10am4pm Distance:150MilesOneWay IRSMileageRate:$.555permileGSAPerDiem:$137.00 Dimensions:10x10Booth BaseRate:$2,650 MultipleSpaces:$2,500ea. ElectricStandard120VoltServicevaries$100$235 Hotel:SiteRecommendsHiltonGardenInnGroupRate$129/night

TotalCosts: Travel(roundtrip)300milesx.555=$166.55 PerDiem:$137x2=$274 Booth:10x20$2,650+$2,500+$235(electric)=$5,385 Hotel:1room=$258(2night)+$39.22(tax)=$297.22 TOTAL:$6,122.77*Totaldoesnot

includetolls,parkingandsalaryfor peopleworkingbothdaysandhotel isonlypricedfor2days.

TheTravelandVacationShow(Canada) Location:OttawaConventionCentre MoveIn:N/A ShowDaysHours:Saturday10am5pm&Sunday10am5pm Distance:585MilesOneWay GSAPerDiem:$196lodgingrate/$292maxperdiem(USStateDept.) Dimensions:10x10Booth$1,325CDN=$1,339.18USD IRSMileageRate:$.555permile. Hotel:SiteRecommendsTheWestinOttawaGroupratenotavailablelowestrateis$145 pernight. TotalCosts: Travel(roundtrip)1,170milesx.555=$649.35

PerDiem:$196x2=$392.00 Booth:10x10$1,339.18ea.x2=$2,678.36 Hotel:1room(2nights)=$290.00 TOTAL:$4,009.71

*Totaldoesnotincludetolls,parking, electricandsalaryforpeopleworking bothdaysandhotelisonlypricedfor2 days.

TheTravelandAdventureShow Location:WashingtonDCConventionCenter MoveIn:Friday9am5pm ShowDaysHours:Saturday9:30am5pm(10amPublic)Sunday11am4pm Distance:145MilesOneWay IRSMileageRate:$.555permile.GSAPerDiem:$224.00 Dimensions:10x20Booth BaseRate:$6,189.38(multipledisplayoptionspricesvary) VehiclesonDisplay:$100SpottingFee

Hotel:SiteRecommendsTheRenaissanceGroupRate$199/night TotalCosts: Travel(roundtrip)290milesx.555=$160.95 PerDiem:$224x2=$448 Booth:10x20$6,189.38 SpottingFee(vehicle)$100 Hotel:1room(2night)=$398.00 TOTAL:$7,296.33

*Totaldoesnotincludetolls,parking, electricandsalaryforpeopleworking bothdaysandhotelisonlypricedfor 2days.

IndonesiaboothatWashingtonTravelShow

Thailandbooth

CostaRica

AtlanticCity

VirginiaBeach

Memorandum

To:

Mayor and City Council Members

From: Melanie Pursel, TAB Chair Date: March 21, 2012 CC: Donna Abbott, Interim Tourism Director

TAB is in support of attending select trade shows and willing to provide staff and volunteer support (through the Chamber and HMRA Representation). Again they feel that a modest trade show display that is mobile, attractive, and interactive and includes the capability to collect email addresses for future correspondence is key. However, since these displays can vary greatly in price and features, some cost analysis should be performed. In addition, TAB was supportive of a survey to all business to collect their support of this concept. We do feel that Ocean City should have a presence, especially where our direct competition is participating.

Consumer Trade Show Survey

1. Please list the name of your business and/or the type of business that you represent (e.g., golf course, hotel, restaurant etc.)
Response Count 14 answered question skipped question 14 1

2. Do you currently participate in any Consumer Related Trade Shows throughout the year to promote your tourism related business or organization?
Response Percent Yes No 60.0% 40.0% Please list the shows, including date and location Response Count 9 6

answered question skipped question

15 0

3. On average, what is your annual budget for trade shows (booth space, staff time, travel expenses etc.)?
Response Count 11 answered question skipped question 11 4

1 of 15

4. Do you currently have a professionally produced trade show display?

Response Percent Yes No 26.7% 73.3% Response Count 4 11

Would you be willing to disclose what the initial cost was to purchase your display?

answered question skipped question

15 0

5. Do you feel that Ocean City, Maryland should have a presence at Consumer Trade Shows throughout the year as a way to promote tourism? Please explain.
Response Percent Yes No 92.3% 7.7% Please explain Response Count 12 1

11

answered question skipped question

13 2

2 of 15

6. If you are familiar with the following shows or fairs, please rate their level of importance. Keep in mind, we are looking at promoting Ocean City as a destination, not one individual business.
Not Valuable or Important Eastern Sports and Outdoor ShowHarrisburg Average Importance Extremely Valuable and Important 7.7% (1) 16.7% (2) 16.7% (2) 16.7% (2) 16.7% (2) 8.3% (1) 8.3% (1) 23.1% (3) 8.3% (1) 16.7% (2) 25.0% (3) 7.7% (1) 8.3% (1) 7.7% (1) N/A Rating Average Response Count

Valuable and Important

7.7% (1)

23.1% (3)

46.2% (6)

15.4% (2)

2.75

13

Boston Travel Show

33.3% (4)

41.7% (5)

8.3% (1)

0.0% (0)

1.70

12

Connecticut Fun Fest

41.7% (5)

25.0% (3)

16.7% (2)

0.0% (0)

1.70

12

New York Times Travel Show

25.0% (3)

25.0% (3)

25.0% (3)

8.3% (1)

2.20

12

The Travel & Vacation ShowOttawa

41.7% (5)

16.7% (2)

16.7% (2)

8.3% (1)

1.90

12

Philadelphia Consumer Show

8.3% (1)

25.0% (3)

41.7% (5)

16.7% (2)

2.73

12

DC Travel and Adventure Show

16.7% (2)

33.3% (4)

25.0% (3)

16.7% (2)

2.45

12

Lycoming Fair - Hughesville, PA

30.8% (4)

7.7% (1)

23.1% (3)

15.4% (2)

2.30

13

The Maryland State Fair- Timonium

25.0% (3)

16.7% (2)

16.7% (2)

33.3% (4)

2.64

12

York State Fair

25.0% (3)

8.3% (1)

25.0% (3)

25.0% (3)

2.60

12

Hershey Park

16.7% (2)

8.3% (1)

16.7% (2)

33.3% (4)

2.89

12

North Coast Golf Show- DC

7.7% (1)

15.4% (2)

46.2% (6)

23.1% (3)

2.92

13

Fort Washington Golf Show- Philly

8.3% (1)

16.7% (2)

33.3% (4)

33.3% (4)

3.00

12

New Jersey Golf Show

7.7% (1)

7.7% (1)

53.8% (7)

23.1% (3)

3.00

13

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Toronto Golf Show

16.7% (2)

16.7% (2)

25.0% (3)

25.0% (3)

16.7% (2)

2.70

12

Other (please specify)

answered question skipped question

13 2

7. Would you or a representative from your business be interested and willing to represent Ocean City as a destination at one or more trade shows throughout the year?
Response Percent Yes No 57.1% 42.9% Other (please specify) Response Count 8 6

answered question skipped question

14 1

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8. If so, how much time would you, or one of your staff, be willing to commit?
Response Percent One Day Two Days Three Days Four Days Five Days Six Days A week or more 12.5% 50.0% 12.5% 12.5% 0.0% 0.0% 12.5% answered question skipped question Response Count 1 4 1 1 0 0 1 8 7

9. How far would you be willing to travel?

Response Percent 100-150 miles 150-300 miles 300 miles or more 37.5% 12.5% 50.0% Other (please specify) Response Count 3 1 4

answered question skipped question

8 7

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10. Would you be willing and/or able to absorb any travel expenses?
Response Percent Yes No Partial 40.0% 30.0% 30.0% Please specify answered question skipped question Response Count 4 3 3 0 10 5

11. What type of qualities do you look for in a trade show display? Please check all that apply.
Response Percent Manageable size Technology based Interactive features Overall visual appeal (e.g., photography, graphics) 61.5% 46.2% 76.9% Response Count 8 6 10

61.5%

What other qualities do you look for?

answered question skipped question

13 2

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12. There are a variety of other advertising and promotional media. Based on your experience and professional opinion, how would you rate the following media, including trade shows?
Not Effective At All

Somewhat Effective

Neutral

Effective

Extremely Effective

Rating Average

Response Count

Outdoor- Billboards

7.7% (1)

23.1% (3)

15.4% (2) 14.3% (2) 14.3% (2) 14.3% (2)

53.8% (7)

0.0% (0)

3.15

13

Television- Network

0.0% (0)

14.3% (2)

64.3% (9)

7.1% (1)

3.64

14

Television- Cable

0.0% (0)

21.4% (3)

64.3% (9)

0.0% (0)

3.43

14

Print (e.g. newspapers, magazines etc.)

7.1% (1)

21.4% (3)

50.0% (7)

7.1% (1)

3.29

14

Online/Web

0.0% (0)

0.0% (0)

0.0% (0)

21.4% (3)

78.6% (11) 42.9% (6) 23.1% (3)

4.79

14

Social Media Outlets Trade Shows

0.0% (0) 0.0% (0)

0.0% (0) 23.1% (3)

0.0% (0) 7.7% (1) 35.7% (5)

57.1% (8) 46.2% (6)

4.43 3.69

14 13

Radio

7.1% (1)

21.4% (3)

35.7% (5)

0.0% (0)

3.00

14

Please explain any of your ratings in more detail

answered question skipped question

14 1

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13. Please provide any additional feedback or comments regarding Ocean City's presence at Consumer Trade Shows.
Response Count 5 answered question skipped question 5 10

8 of 15

Q1. Please list the name of your business and/or the type of business that you represent (e.g., golf course, hotel, restaurant etc.)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

Ocean Terrace Family Vacation Apartments Hotel Grand Hotel & Spa - hotel Relay For Life Coconut Malorie Hotel Six Eleven Salon and Gallery Rental Beach House Independent Hotel Francis Scott key motel Clarion Resort Fontainebleau Hotel Rox Weddings & Events restaurant The Hotels at Fager's Island - The Lighthouse Club & The Edge Hotel Hotels

Mar 13, 2012 10:40 AM Mar 13, 2012 10:37 AM Mar 12, 2012 11:24 AM Mar 10, 2012 4:32 PM Mar 10, 2012 3:34 PM Mar 10, 2012 9:25 AM Mar 9, 2012 8:34 PM Mar 9, 2012 7:35 PM Mar 9, 2012 7:26 PM Mar 9, 2012 6:20 PM Mar 9, 2012 6:01 PM Mar 9, 2012 6:00 PM Mar 9, 2012 5:11 PM Mar 9, 2012 5:07 PM

Q2. Do you currently participate in any Consumer Related Trade Shows throughout the year to promote your tourism related business or organization?

1 2 3 4 5

OCHMRA Trade Show, Ocean City, Md. Convention Hall March 5 2012 I was a volunteer for Relay For Life with the American Cancer Society Delmarva Bridal Show Wedding, Industry, Event Our primary focus for consumer shows are golf-related. We participate in the DC Golf Show, Philadelphia Golf Show, New Jersey Golf Show, Boston Golf Show, Connecticut Golf Show, and Long Island Golf Show. We send information with the Chamber to the Harrisburg Travel & Outdoor Show. If our staffing would permit, we would participate in more consumer shows. Ocean City Bridal Show 4/15/12 @ Seacrets

Mar 13, 2012 10:40 AM Mar 10, 2012 4:32 PM Mar 10, 2012 3:34 PM Mar 9, 2012 7:35 PM Mar 9, 2012 6:20 PM

Mar 9, 2012 6:01 PM

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Q3. On average, what is your annual budget for trade shows (booth space, staff time, travel expenses etc.)?

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

none 1,500 20K $3800.00 $5,000.00 0 $0-$200 Zero We spend approximately $20,000-$25,000 annually on trade shows & travel. We participate in a co-op for most of our trade shows $6,000 0

Mar 13, 2012 10:40 AM Mar 13, 2012 10:37 AM Mar 12, 2012 2:08 PM Mar 12, 2012 11:24 AM Mar 10, 2012 3:34 PM Mar 10, 2012 9:25 AM Mar 9, 2012 7:35 PM Mar 9, 2012 7:26 PM Mar 9, 2012 6:20 PM Mar 9, 2012 6:01 PM Mar 9, 2012 5:11 PM

Q4. Do you currently have a professionally produced trade show display?

1 2 3

about 5K Ours is old and in need of replaceing but cost was approx. $500.00 N/A

Mar 12, 2012 2:08 PM Mar 12, 2012 11:24 AM Mar 9, 2012 5:11 PM

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Q5. Do you feel that Ocean City, Maryland should have a presence at Consumer Trade Shows throughout the year as a way to promote tourism? Please explain.

1 2 3

Alltough I do not know how it is done. Would Like it to be explained, Have always gotten my rentals through word of mouth and now on the Internet. It was a great show!!! It is imparative that we along with every other city and state in the country who's livelihood depends on toursim have a presence. No one knows you're not there but everyone knows when you are. Let's get it done!! It has been my past experience that most Consumer Shows are attended by people looking for free giveaways (Golf being the exception) - not neccessarily producing results that we able to be tracked. Converseley e-marketing and social networking have proven to be extremely cost effective, efficient, targeted and trackable. Face to face marketing is still better than any type of mailing or social media. Being "out in front" of people will always put us on the map. When we did golf shows back in the early 90's this form of marketing made us the golf destination we grew into. The more people we meet face-to-face, the better our chances of getting them to come to visit our beautiful city! Not sure I know what a trade show is but if it allows publicity that will help our business flourish in OC. It really depends on the type of show, if it is a targeted audience and the proximity of the show. We had great success when we targeted golfers at our property. Since we have defined our market to families and youth sports we have not felt trade shows were a good marketing buy. The town has a much broader target and I am sure our presence is needed for certain segments. I think it would be extremely beneficial to the destination. I LOVE Sparks Productions idea and think it would draw tremendous attention to the Ocean City booth at any trade show. I also feel if we are going to do something on this scale, we should allow the people who created the idea to be the people who implement it. Otherwise, why in the world would anyone bring forth an idea if it's just going to be taken from them. It's intellectual property that belongs to the person who created it. I can't stress enough that if the idea for The Ocean City Experience were my idea and I brought it to the city, it would be my intellectual property and I would expect if the city were to use my idea, I would be compensated for it or allowed to see it through to fruition. That's a pretty vague question. You can't just throw that out there without breaking down the costs. By our not being there as a town sends message we don't want their business. I feel there are some trade shows that are worth the participation. When we had The Coconut Malorie Hotel, we had a professionally created display even though it was smaller and not a floor model, but rather a table top displayl. We did the travel shows in DC, Baltimore and N. Virginia, and some upscale wedding shows but most were for individual travelers, not group travel. Some shows were corporate travel shows, state and national association shows which brought

Mar 13, 2012 10:40 AM Mar 13, 2012 10:37 AM Mar 12, 2012 2:08 PM

Mar 12, 2012 11:24 AM

Mar 10, 2012 3:34 PM

6 7

Mar 9, 2012 8:34 PM Mar 9, 2012 7:26 PM

Mar 9, 2012 6:20 PM

9 10 11

Mar 9, 2012 6:01 PM Mar 9, 2012 6:00 PM Mar 9, 2012 5:11 PM

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Q5. Do you feel that Ocean City, Maryland should have a presence at Consumer Trade Shows throughout the year as a way to promote tourism? Please explain.

small conferences and meetings and smaller room blocks to our hotel. These were deemed acceptable and productive for our purposes. I feel these shows are the most productive for off season and the tour & travel/bus shows will provide good business for the larger hotels. I would not do the group leader shows as I don't think they are as productive or effective as the NBA or other larger bus shows.

Q6. If you are familiar with the following shows or fairs, please rate their level of importance. Keep in mind, we are looking at promoting Ocean City as a destination, not one individual business.

1 2 3

Any shows related to travel in our vast feeder markets. Surfing, Watersports I don't know enough about those I listed as N/A to comment on their importance. I have not participated in any of them.

Mar 10, 2012 3:34 PM Mar 9, 2012 7:35 PM Mar 9, 2012 6:20 PM

Q7. Would you or a representative from your business be interested and willing to represent Ocean City as a destination at one or more trade shows throughout the year?

1 2 3 4 5 6

When do we sign up The golf shows health reasons Can I check maybe? We only have 2 salespeople on staff and are currently overwhelmed Possibly - if it was in the winter and a destination worth seeing. We have a very small staff and not available to be away.

Mar 12, 2012 2:08 PM Mar 12, 2012 11:24 AM Mar 9, 2012 8:34 PM Mar 9, 2012 6:20 PM Mar 9, 2012 6:01 PM Mar 9, 2012 5:11 PM

Q9. How far would you be willing to travel?

Europe

Mar 9, 2012 6:01 PM

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Q11. What type of qualities do you look for in a trade show display? Please check all that apply.

1 2 3 4

Staffed by tourism professionals who know their product Data capture Data collection & dissemination of information about the destinationl Breakability- I don't want anything fragile.

Mar 12, 2012 2:08 PM Mar 10, 2012 3:34 PM Mar 9, 2012 6:20 PM Mar 9, 2012 6:01 PM

Q12. There are a variety of other advertising and promotional media. Based on your experience and professional opinion, how would you rate the following media, including trade shows?

1 2

the more Ocean City Name gets out there , the better economics will be for the town. Television works well for selling our destination, not for individual properties. Radio has never worked well for me personally, but again, may do well for selling OC as a destination. Online is cruical Each of these are valuable as a part of the entire marketing/media plan with the exception of print. Each has it's place and is effective if done correctly. When they are not done correctly or not done in concert with each other, the media plan becomes disjointed and ineffective. As for staffing the trade shows with people from businesses in town, in order to make it worthwhile for them, there should be some type of incentive for participation. For example, we collect quote requests at the golf shows and only those businesses who send a representative to work the show, receive those leads. All participants receive the list of names & email addresses of all those who request general information or enter our prize drawing. I'm basing my ratings on "cost effective".

Mar 13, 2012 10:40 AM Mar 10, 2012 3:34 PM

3 4

Mar 9, 2012 7:35 PM Mar 9, 2012 6:20 PM

Mar 9, 2012 6:01 PM

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Q13. Please provide any additional feedback or comments regarding Ocean City's presence at Consumer Trade Shows.

I believe we are strong in all areas & have always, in my 33 years in this business in Ocean City, thought that the City & our various organizations do an extremely good job of selling our destination as a group. I think we have gotten away from it in several areas, Golf especially. We cannot allow the politics of hiring a new convention center manager, city manager or other vacant positions to destroy what has been built up for over 50 years. I had the misfortune to work in Salisbury for a few years & let me tell you, even with some of the devisiveness we have, we are lightyears ahead of cooperation compared to Salisbury. We cannot allow that sort of backbiting to develope here. We need to always "sell the destination first", then each property/entity can go after their fair share. As I stated above, face to face interaction with groups & individual travellers will ALWAYS be our best bet. We have an awesome base of Ocean City devotees that can attend these shows, & we can work together to outshine any of our competing destinations. It is important, but our particular business will not affect visitation to O.C one way or the other. Rodney is a kook Consumer shows draw thousands of people who are interested in traveling. Why wouldn't we want to fish where the fish are? Do it. Stop talking about it

Mar 10, 2012 3:34 PM

2 3 4 5

Mar 10, 2012 9:25 AM Mar 9, 2012 7:35 PM Mar 9, 2012 6:20 PM Mar 9, 2012 6:00 PM

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Spark Productions, LLC would first off like to thank you the mayor and city council for having our team present The OC Experience. In your packet you will see two different booth layouts with their cost, followed by a break down of cost for the booths equipment, travel cost and lastly a letter of support from The Clarion. Over the last month we at Spark Productions, LLC have worked toward getting all cost for the booth and booth addons to give you a clear visual of The OC Experience. We greatly appreciate your time.

Sincerely, Spark Productions, LLC Brad Hoffman Brian Stoehr David Bafford

From $6,945.00 including: Truss backwall hardware Choice of Truss colors (1) counter top with bracket (1) truss cases Graphic panels NOT included Add $1,915.00 for full graphics including header and graphic case. (Center graphic available in Dye-sub fabric and other panels in Inkjet only) Option: Oval designer counter: $1,725.00 (Including case and graphics) Truss display ship in 1 box (440 lbs) Total: $10,585.00 **Doesnt include T.V monitors, Email kiosk, or Audio video equipment

From $4,600.00 including: Truss backwall hardware Choice of Truss colors (6) 3 X 20 watt strip light for soffett (3) truss cases Graphic panels NOT included

Add $2,045.00 for full graphics including header and graphic case. (Large graphics on both sides available in Dye-sub fabric and other panels in Inkjet only) Options: Slatwall option (per section): $300.00 Slatwall colors: Wrinkle black, Silver, Black, White, Red, Gray or Blue Rectangle - designer counter: $1,165.00 (Including case and graphics) Workstation $1,289.00 (Including case and graphics) Truss display ship in 3 boxes (160 lbs each) Total: $8,699.00 **Doesnt include T.V monitors, Email kiosk, or Audio video equipment

Booth Equipment

Email Green Screen Kisok: $12,000.00

46in Sony T.V/Web Access: $1,498.95

Home Theater System: $499.95

4 Sony 32in TVs: 499.95 x 4= $1,998.80

Audio/Video Content: Editing and Production: $3,500.00

Equipment Total: $19,497.70

Total build out with audio/video & booth 1: $30,082.70 Total build out with audio/video & booth 2: $28,176.70

Travel Show Cost Analysis

Donna Abbott has provided travel show cost break down, this is a baseline break down. This break down includes only one staff member, there will be three. Per diem and accommodations are all based off one staff member and will need to be tripled, if paid for by town or used out of Spark Productions, LLC event production fee. Spark Productions, LLC fee per event if town is covering travel expenses including gas, tolls, and accommodations will be $7,500.00 per event. If town decides to not pay for expenses listed above Spark Productions, LLC will request a fee of $9,500.00 per event. Costs for four events are listed in Donna Abbotts information. Event average cost $9,000.00

WORK SESSION -MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL TUESDAY, MARCH 27, 2012

6 Request to Purchase Hurst MOC Combi Tool Presented by: Fire Chief Chris Larmore and Jennie Knapp, Budget Manager


Volunteer & Career United to Serve

ChrisLarmoreChuckBartonRobertDukeDavidHartley FireChief DeputyChiefDeputyChiefDeputyChief

TownofOceanCityCareerDivision VolunteerDivisionFireMarshalDivision

TO:
SUBJ:

Richard Meehan, Interim City Manager

FROM: Chris Larmore, Fire Chief Purchase of Hurst MOC Combi Tool

DATE: March 15, 2012 The Fire Department is requesting permission to purchase four (4) Hurst MOC Combi Tools for the 2012 fiscal year. After a discussion with the Budget Manager during the 2013 proposed budget review, it was suggested that this equipment could be funded in the current year. It is not a budgeted item, but would have been included in the 2013 request for Operational Supplies. The Hurst MOC tool, or JAWS of Life, is a multi-functional cutting tool which assists with extrication. The sole vendor for Hurst products, Specialty Rescue Inc., has quoted a price of $7025.00 for each tool, with a total purchase price of $28,100. I am requesting this matter be placed on the Work Session agenda on March 27th, so that it may be presented to the Mayor and Council for approval.

OceanCityFireDepartment Volunteer & Career United to Serve