OCEAN CITY, Md. -- Town Council approved plans for a new kayak launch on the site of a former municipal garbage dump, a project Worcester County leaders previously rejected on liability grounds.




"I'm glad that we are moving in this direction," said Council President Joe Mitrecic after the unanimous vote. "I think it's going to be a great thing for the town of Ocean City; it's going to be a great thing for the county -- and it's a shame that [Worcester County commissioners] didn't see that. [They] could have had some input into this project, too."
The project will reconfigure an old dump site off Lewis Road into a spot where kayakers and canoeists can launch into the Newport, Chincoteague and Sinepuxent bays from Ayer Creek. The West Ocean City-based environmental group Maryland Coastal Bays Program has worked for nearly two years to secure the site, which it will oversee.
Coastal Bays Director Dave Wilson had previously approached county commissioners with the same request to assume liability, asking the county to agree to a 25-year lease from Ocean City for $1 a year, with the county assuming the risk of any injury to boaters using the site. The commissioners declined, in a 4-3 vote.
"I have no problem with you guys launching canoes down there," Commissioner Virgil Shockley said at a Nov. 3 meeting. "I would like to see the place cleaned up, but I cannot put the liability, should something go wrong, on the taxpayers of Worcester County."
The 37-acre property along Lewis Road was an Ocean City municipal garbage dump from 1954 to 1980 and is still owned by the town. It has since been cleaned of toxic materials and declared safe by the Maryland Department of the Environment.
While the risk level for Ocean City is "relatively low," according to town attorney Guy Ayres, the town would have to underwrite the expense of any litigation that stemmed from accidents or injuries.
At the site, Coastal Bays will install an entry gate, a parking area, a 120-foot wooden walkway and a launching ramp. Funding comes from a $49,000 recreational grant from the Maryland State Highway Administration. The highway agency wanted the grant money spent immediately, and funding "would have been yanked" had Ocean City not approved the project, said Coastal Bays Director Dave Wilson.
Next, Coastal Bays and Ocean City must draft a written agreement, "then get to work moving dirt," Wilson said, adding he has an outfitter ready to provide kayak and canoe rentals, though that will require a county zoning change because the land is currently zoned for agriculture.