LEFT? RIGHT? or straight ahead?

(April 22, 2011) Ocean City hotels, condominiums and roads are filled by people on a trip to the beach each summer, but in the winter, those buildings and roads are all but deserted as few people choose to call the resort home sweet home.

The 2010 census data released earlier this year revealed that Ocean City was the only locale in northern Worcester County to see its population decline in the last decade, leading resort officials to question whether they should try to encourage more growth, or focus on its role as a tourist destination.

While all other areas in the north end of the county grew substantially during the past decade, Ocean City is now home to 71 fewer people than in 2000, for a current population of 7,102, according to the census data.

Ocean Pines received the most new residents since 2000, increasing from 10,496 to 11,710. West Ocean City grew to 4,375 people, with the highest growth rate of 32.1 percent, or 1,064 people since the last census. Berlin also grew by 994 people to 4,485 residents.

Newly built and existing homes in Ocean Pines have larger parcels of land and are closer to golf courses than Ocean City homes. OCEAN CITY TODAY/TOM RISEN This leaves Ocean City at a crossroads of whether to choose a niche of either residential or tourism development. Florida’s Boca Raton has prospered as a retirement center and Fort Lauderdale has become the quintessential party beach town. When asked whether Ocean City should choose such a focus in this tough economy, resort Mayor Rick Meehan smiled and said, “Why not both?”

During Meehan’s career in real estate with Coldwell Banker, he has observed many purchases people made as investments that would eventually become their retirement homes. Ocean City, he said, could still compete for year-round property owners.

“They started as visitors, decided they liked the area and chose to move here to raise families here and to retire here,” Meehan said. “People have moved to the county since it has larger parcels and more propith erty. But it’s all because of Ocean City that you see this attraction to the area. People in Ocean Pines don’t live in the corporate limits, but they are patrons of our bars and shops.”

Theories abound why people are choosing homes outside Ocean City proper, but Delegate Mike McDermott (R-38B) said, as with many decisions, costs top that list.

“While I was mayor of Pocomoke City, people were buying homes for better value when they decided they could still live only a few miles from the beach,” he said. “Now we might see the value on the beach coming down and there could be people buying in Ocean City more often.”

McDermott and Meehan touted the quality of Worcester County’s school system, though there are no schools in the corporate limits of Ocean City. In addition, the big-box stores, chain restaurants and majority of daily shopping spots are all located in West Ocean City and that is another reason why some speculate that people choose to live there instead of within Ocean City limits.

Mark Fritschle, chief Realtor of the Mark Fritschle Group, added that more affordable real estate, along with space to build new homes, is available outside of the city in Ocean Pines.

“You’re not going to see development for a while because of the economy,” Fritschle said. “Some people in their 70s might think their condo isn’t big enough. Ocean City is a resort town, while Ocean Pines is near a golf course and has more year-round recreation opportunities there.”

Fritschle also noted how people transition from second homeowners to fulltime residents. “We are twice as busy as we have been in the past five years” because of people buying the newer condo developments in this buyer’s housing market, he said. Fritschle pointed to the Gateway Grand residences on 48th Street and Rivendell Condominiums on 81st Street as new developments that have more amenities than housing developments Ocean City offered in the ’70s and ’80s.

Data from the Coastal Association of Realtors shows Ocean City had an average sales price of $378,808 for a unit in December 2010, compared with $360,534 for that month in 2009. Ocean Pines property showed the next highest price under those classifications at $292,405 in December 2010, compared with $270,723 in 2009. The average sales prices for West Ocean City in December were $255,667 in 2010 and a whopping $550,000 in 2009. Berlin had the lowest average sales prices of $213,458 in 2010 and $221,000 the previous year.

Jennifer Cropper-Rines, president of the Coastal Association of Realtors, said the lack of year-round jobs in Ocean City makes the higher housing prices in Ocean City difficult to afford for first-time homebuyers and families.

“After many years of selling real estate, last year I sold to three first-time homebuyers,” Cropper-Rines said. “There are some incentives for folks to buy instead of rent because of the economy, but that is a recent development only because of the market.”

Ocean City Councilwoman Mary Knight argued that Ocean City has the best of both worlds, with a small yearround population and 30,000 non-resident taxpayers that only demand services up to three months a year. She recognized that the number of condominiums and apartments greatly outweighs the number of houses.

According to Ocean City Planning Director Jesse Houston, 82 percent of the residential housing units in the resort are condominiums, 9 percent are single-family homes, 5 percent are mobile homes and 4 percent are townhouses.

“To me, that solidifies the fact that we’re primarily a tourist town, since there are less single-family homes for people to purchase,” Knight said.

Owning a home in a city can be more expensive, since cities charge their own property taxes, over and above the property tax of 70 cents per $100 of assessed value that is paid to the county on an annual basis. Ocean City’s tax rate is 39.5 cents, increasing the yearly tax bill for a $200,000 home to $2,170. Berlin also charges a property tax rate of 73 cents, increasing the yearly tax bill on the same house to $2,860. In parts of the county that are not part of a city, the same house would cost $1,400 in taxes each year. These are the tax rates for the current year and they could change, either up or down, when the governments pass the budgets for the new fiscal year starting July 1.

Ocean City Councilwoman Margaret Pillas said such taxes are to blame for the resort’s stagnant population and advocated lowering the tax rate as much as possible to shift to a year-round resident attraction.

Ocean City might have higher taxes, but it is still not cheap to live in Ocean Pines. The community is a homeowner’s association, which comes with its own sets of fees that are not present in the resort and can add up to a greater cost than the Ocean City tax.

Every Ocean Pines owner must pay yearly assessment dues to the association. The dues are based on the location of their property. For wooded and golf lots, the current fee is $843. For waterfront lots without a bulkhead, the fee is $933 and those with a bulkhead cost $1,308. Property owners also pay a separate fee for trash pick-up of around $184 per year.

Pillas and Meehan said the town is ready to handle a larger population, since its services and infrastructure are designed to handle the massive crowds of the summer.

“I think it’s important that we encourage year-round citizens,” Pillas said. “It would be great for public safety because there would be a lot more eyes and ears watching everything in the winter. And it would be great for the economy, because it keeps taxes down.

“Plus, it makes Ocean City feel more like a community in the winter,” she said.