By Tara Fischer

Staff Writer

Ocean Pines officials this week announced that the association is installing a new HVAC unit at the community center—the latest step in an effort to address water-damage issues that occurred in the recreation building earlier this year.

OPA General Manager John Viola said the association’s public works team is installing a replacement HVAC system at the center at a cost of about $14,000. Slides presented at Saturday meeting of the Ocean Pines Association Board of Directors listed the total price tag at $14,155.54.

“We put in a new floor, everybody knows about that,” Viola said. Before that, it was radiant heating, he said, and that led to so many problems that the decision was made to go with HVAC.

Earlier this year, water damaged the center’s gym floor. The issue occurred when an O-ring in the community center’s radiant heating system failed in February. The break occurred over a weekend, and because the building saw few visitors, the leak went undetected for several days. Water spread across the hardwood gym floor, ultimately requiring a full replacement.

Due to the water damage, in March, the board unanimously approved spending $62,300 to hire Dynamic Sports Construction to implement a new DynaForce System, a poured, padded multipurpose floor designed to resist water damage and provide better shock absorption for the body.

The installation was completed over the summer and helpful when playing sports like basketball, OPA Recreation and Parks Director Debbie Donahue said at the time.

Donahue added that the DynaForce product is seamless and non-porous, making it easier to clean and less susceptible to damage from moisture or chairs dragging across the surface.

The recreation director maintained this spring that the leak did not come from outside the building or from beneath the flooring, as some initially believed, but rather from a failure inside the center’s radiant heat piping.

“There has been some misunderstanding about what happened,” she said during a March meeting of the board of directors. “It was an O-ring in the piping that runs the water to the radiant heat. It was a minor thing that, once in the wall, could not be detected until, unfortunately, the water was on the floor.”

Now, the association is installing a replacement HVAC system, which officials hope will address the issues caused by the radiant heating.

In addition to the community center updates, Viola reported that paver installation at the Yacht Club’s bocce courts is “almost complete.”

The enhancement comes less than a year after the installation of two new bocce ball courts at the Yacht Club. The amenities were created last spring for a total project cost of $50,692.

Upon the implementation of the new courts, residents joined the Ocean Pines Bocce Ball Club’s summer and fall leagues, started by Michael Galello, the club’s director. The leagues are expected to return in 2026.