Worcester County officials have approved a modified sewer capacity request that will allow Diakonia to pursue plans for a thrift store, food pantry and office on Route 611.
Diakonia’s current facility in West Ocean City.
File photo
By Charlene Sharpe, Associate Editor
Worcester County officials have approved a modified sewer capacity request that will allow Diakonia to pursue some expansion plans on Route 611.
The Worcester County Commissioners voted unanimously to approve a request for four EDUs, or equivalent dwelling units, for the proposed Diakonia campus on Route 611. The allocation will allow the nonprofit to advance plans for a thrift store, food pantry and office, but not a housing element initially proposed.
“They’ve considerably changed their development plan,” Bob Mitchell, the county’s director of environmental programs said.
In January, the commissioners voted 4-3 not to approve an agreement between Diakonia and the Town of Ocean City that would have allowed the resort to provide sewer capacity so the nonprofit could construct a new facility on Route 611. Diakonia has provided emergency housing, food assistance and other resources to those in need in the Ocean City area since the 1970s and wanted to expand the efforts. The nonprofit initially planned to have the new structure include housing, as well as a thrift store, food pantry and office space.
As a result of that January decision, Diakonia officials approached the commissioners this month with a revised request. Instead of the 32 EDUs sought before, the officials said they need four.
“We are respectfully requesting that the county either allocated Mystic Harbour EDUs or approve the Town of Ocean City’s offer to provide the necessary sewer EDUs to allow for construction of the thrift store, food pantry and corporate offices (no EDUs are being requested for the housing units as part of this request) in order to allow us to expand the vital services that we provide to our community for those in needs,” a letter from Mike Diffendal, vice chair of Diakonia’s board, to Commissioner Eric Fiori reads.
Diffendal said approval of the request would preserve the nonprofit’s state funding and would mean its volunteers could proceed with fundraising.
“Hopefully the county will have an agreement for additional sewer capacity with the Town of Ocean City in place soon, but approval of this request for a limited allocation would allow for Diakonia to expand our community outreach sooner rather than later during these times of increased community need,” the letter reads.
Mitchell told the commissioners the Mystic Harbour service area had 17 remaining EDUs and would be able to allocate four to Diakonia. The commissioners voted unanimously to approve the request.