OCEAN CITY, Md. - A recent Maryland law now requires local governments to allow ADUs. Newly elected Ocean City Mayor Matt James and Council members met on Tuesday, Nov. 10 to discuss a proposal prohibiting the units from becoming short-term rentals.
George Bendler, the director of Planning and Community Development, gave a presentation to the mayor and council about the House Bill 1466, mandating local municipalities to adopt an accessory dwelling unit ordinance.
“We took this in front of the mayor and council today after having a public hearing with the Planning Commission to discuss this House bill and to move an ordinance for today,” he says. “The Mayor and Council today made recommendations to move this to a first reading with some amendments today, before having this at first reading.”
Currently, if a family member who lived in an ADU moves out or passes away, the law states the ADU cannot be offered as a short-term rental housing unit.
Council Member John Gehrig voted against the motion to advance the proposal, which now goes to a first reading following a 5-2 vote. He says further conversation will be had during the next town council meeting.
“I think we all struggled with all the changes that were made,” he says. “But they involve some height requirements, also short-term rental rules. If I had to bet, a prime discussion is ‘Do we want to turn these into commercial zones?’ The state does not require additional parking for these additional bedrooms and that directly opposes our current short-term rental parking ordinance.”
Ocean City Mayor Matt James says one of the issues that was presented was the height restriction. An ADU is not allowed to be taller than the primary or the preexisting structure.
“A lot of homes in Ocean City are a little bit older and are single-story,” he says. “So if we're trying to build an accessory dwelling unit, a lot of people would think they could build a garage and then an apartment-style unit above the garage. If you have a single-story home and you do that, you won't be able to add that second story to the garage, which sort of takes away the entire intent of the ADU and the intent of the state to have more housing available.”
The next Ocean City Council meeting will be held Monday, Nov. 16 at 6 p.m. in City Hall.
