By Greg Ellison

Virtual format opted for in light of ongoing pandemic

(April 30, 2020) The Ocean Pines Association has postponed an in-person flooding awareness and outreach meeting until later this year, as it becomes the latest scheduling victim of the coronavirus.

Instead, it will offer an online substitute May 12 starting at 5 p.m.

Ocean Pines Director of Amenities and Operational Logistics Colby Phillips said the “Flooding Awareness Live” meeting will feature a question-and-answer segment. and is a joint project of the OPA and the Maryland Department of the Environment.

“This is the first time for us doing this, so we’re hoping it’s going to go smooth,” she said.

After initially asking residents to submit questions by April 21, Phillips said further inquiries could be presented any time before or during the online meeting.

“We’ll take questions up until that day [and] people can even message while we do the live meeting,” she said.

The intent of the earlier request for inquiries was to see which topics were mentioned.

“We just put it out there to see if there was something specific, but we really didn’t get anything specific,” she said. “It was just to see if we had to go one way over another but we don’t.

Phillips said the session’s organizers still intend to hold a public meeting on the topic later this fall.

“This seminar was supposed to be in person with lots of different federal and state government entities,” she said.

Phillips said the drainage topic remains a crucial focus in Ocean Pines, with an ad hoc group delving into the subject beginning last year.

“One of the things that the ad hoc group discussed, which was the drainage group that got together through the summer, was education to the community,” she said. “We’ve been looking at different ways to do that, which is how these seminars came into play.”

The May 12 meeting is divided into three areas: knowing risk, reducing risk and insurance considerations.

“We talked about what are some of the concerns with homeowners, like standing water,” she said.

Flood-related questions can be emailed prior to May 12 to Phillips at cphillips@oceanpines.org.

To sign up for the virtual “Flooding Awareness Live” event, visit facebook.com/OceanPinesAssociation or use event link facebook.com/events/538691630390381/.