By Jack Chavez, Staff Writer

(Dec. 9, 2022) Ocean City officials could only shake their heads in disappointment this week as the Worcester County Commisioners swiftly and unceremoniously killed their hopes of city-county effort to develop a sports complex on the edge of town.

In a 4-2 vote Tuesday with Commissioner Ted Elder abstaining, the commissioners ordered the cancellation of a purchase agreement to acquire a 95-acre site off Route 50 near Berlin and instructed county employees involved in property acquisition and project planning to cease all efforts.

In addition, they refused entreaties to at least hear what the Maryland Stadium Authority had to say about the sports complex study it produced for the Town of Ocean City and why the study concluded that building a $153.5 million complex was financially feasible.

Ocean City Mayor Rick Meehan said in an email Wednesday that he was “disappointed” that the commissioners voted against buying the prospective site, a 95-acre acre property next to Stephen Decatur High School, and “for ending any conversation of the county participating in building a sports complex anywhere in Worcester County.”

“The fact that this was not an agenda item before the commissioners and that the commissioners did not even take the time to have the Maryland Stadium Authority present their study publicly before making this decision is concerning,” he said. “I agree that there are issues pertaining to this project that needed to be discussed and I had hoped that the opportunity to have these discussions would have taken place.”

Tuesday’s commissioner vote, however, should not have caught anyone off guard, considering that November’s election and the arrival of two new commissioners dismantled the 4-3 coalition that had supported the sports complex for the past four years.

The departure of Commissioner Bud Church, who retired from politics, and the election defeat of another supporter, Commissioner Josh Nordstrom, saw to that. With their replacements, Eric Fiori of West Ocean City, and Caryn Abbott of Pocomoke joining sports complex opponents Chip Bertino of Ocean Pines and Jim Bunting of Bishopville, that left only Ocean City’s representative Joe Mitrecic and the Central District’s Diana Purnell to vote in its favor.

Bertino, who became the commissioners’ new president this week, said the move to halt all sports complex-related work was not intended to discourage private developers from pursuing such a project. Bertino and others had said at the outset that they only objected to spending public money on a sports facility of that scope and had no objections to a privately funded venture.

The motion to end all pursuit of the complex was not an item on the meeting’s agenda but was instead brought up by Bunting at the end of the meeting. Still, before the final vote was taken, some of the commissioners gave their thoughts on the issue that has dominated county news over the last year.

“I’ve voted against the sports complex in the past and I really believe Joe’s (Mitrecic) heart is in the right place and I think he believes it’ll be a money-making deal,” Elder said. “But I disagree and the report I got said it’ll be operated under a deficit.”

Purnell countered, however, that “what’s coming down the pike for us” revenue- and tax-wise should concern the commissioners.

“We need to let the stadium authority come in and say what they will and won’t do and make our decision then,” she said.

Fiori said that as an entrepreneur in his private life, he didn’t want to see the county become an entrepreneur with public money.

“(There is) a lot of speculation (with this) but the (stadium authority) report is not favorable,” Fiori said. “I understand what Commissioner Mitrecic is saying but in his own words, we have some tough budget decisions. What happens if this is a losing effort? The problems we want to solve, we’ll make worse.”

In rebuttal, Mitrecic argued that it makes no sense to forego listening to the stadium authority, especially if it’s willing to pay 80 percent of the cost.

“We can’t print money here in Worcester County like they can at the federal level,” he said. “We’re looking at a very, very tough budget season coming up with (education system needs, employee retention and other challenges).”

“That’s going to be on you all.”

Meehan, meanwhile, added that he had hoped city and county officials would be able to work together on developing the project, as the stadium authority’s study indicated that funding avenues exist.

“The study indicated that the increased tax revenue generated would have covered the cost of the debt service to build the sports complex and that the (authority) and the State of Maryland could justify partnering on this project,” he said. “What was yet to be discussed was the level of state participation in the financing of the project and the advertising, naming rights and sponsorship opportunities available to offset the operating expenses.”

Meehan said the city will continue to support sports tourism and the economic benefit that would be derived from construction of a complex, but that officials have not yet had internal discussions about what they are likely to do.

“I would imagine that will take place very soon,” he said.

Councilman John Gehrig said he wasn’t surprised at what happened, given the consistent opposition from three of the commissioners before the last election gave them a majority. But remained optimistic that something could be done.

“I spoke with (Bertino and Commissioner Jim Bunting) and I said they’re on one side and I’m on the other — somewhere in the middle here is common ground — if we’re willing to work together to find it. I’m optimistic that over time this will happen.

“We’re getting some answers to some of the questions raised. We’ll continue to get these answers — funding chief among them. We’ll just keep working. The county has its mandate. We’ll keep providing answers for Ocean City, the county and area citizens and continue to work together.”

Back in Snow Hill, Mitrecic, who had championed the idea from the beginning, minced no words in his assessment of what just happened. “It’s done. Done,” he said.

“We backed out of the property purchase, so even if we had a private entity to come into and take that spot over, they can’t. We were in discussion with someone interested in coming in and doing something, but they wanted to partner with the county. Now they can’t do that, either.”

Staff Writer Mallory Panuska contributed to this report.