By Greg Ellison

(Sept. 24, 2020) Although not slated for completion until sometime during 2021, additional docks are being installed at the Yacht Club and extra court space at the Racquet Center.

General Manager John Viola said both projects would be included in the upcoming operating budget approval for the pending fiscal year.

“It will be part of the budget process,” he said.

“I have spoken to the board in general about it and we are going to run it by the Budget and Finance [committee].”

Viola said expanded T-shaped dock facilities are in the works at the  Yacht Club.

“It will be for six slips that won’t be leased,” he said. “We are estimating the project will probably be in the neighborhood of $60,000.”

Ocean Pines Marina manager Ron Fisher said the plans call for four additional boat slips on “A” dock and two more on “D” dock.

Fisher said the four slips on “A” dock would accommodate vessels up to 26 feet in length, while the additional pair could fit boats as long as 56 feet.

Viola said the dock expansion is sorely needed.

“There is a big demand for this,” he said.

In fact, Viola said Matt Ortt Companies co-founder Ralph DeAngelus also expressed interest in the proposal to help boost the Yacht Club’s bottom line.

Viola said Public Works Operations Manager Nobie Violante is already contacting marina contractors in the area to provide cost estimates.

“On the docks we want to try and get the marine companies in there so we’ll have them ready for May,” he said.

Viola said in addition to Fisher and Violante, Recreation and Parks Director Debbie Donahue and Director of Public Works Eddie Wells are helping to plan for new boat slips, which are intended as non-rentals for visitors.

“Ultimately, we’ll definitely generate revenue and that was part of the process,” he said.

Tim McMullen, who serves as facilities manager for the Manklin Meadows Racquet Sports Complex, is overseeing the tennis and pickleball court expansion under consideration.

“We are in desperate need of more pickleball courts,” he said. “We average 80 pickleball players a day.”

At this point, Worcester County officials have given tentative approval for both projects to begin the permitting process.

“The county told us we can start the procedure of building four additional pickleball courts next to our existing court number 10, which is a hard surface,” he said.

McMullen said the project will include a “Net Generation” court that could be repurposed for pickleball.

“The new tennis court which would be adjacent to our softball field is called a Net Generation court,” he said. “This is for our USTA instructor Terry Underkoffler to give tennis lessons and we would also hope it would give us flexible space if pickleball is having a tournament and needed temporary space.”

Estimates place the court costs at roughly $125,000, which could be partially offset by  grant funding, if it can be found.

“It’s five total courts but the one can be used for two pickleball courts,” he said.

Site expansions would be ADA complaint.

“Both courts are 60 x 120 feet, which gives you one official USDA tennis courts, and 60 x 120 can give you four pickleball courts,” he said.

McMullen said the additional courts should be completed by next summer.

“We average 120 racquet players per day and hopefully next summer where we have a little bit of normalcy, we can easily have over 150 players with this expansion,” he said.

An informational meeting about the new Yacht Club docks is being held on Sept. 30 at 7 p.m. at the Ocean Pines Community Center.