Town Center Referendum Rumor Control
by Dan Stachurski The OPA Board of Directors received an email from lot owner Bill Dvornicky listing what he said were 10 reasons the community center referendum would fail. He actually provided 11 reasons as there were two number four questions.

Below are each of his reasons and my response to them:
 
1. The Board of Directors are deceiving the residents by not telling them they intend to build a larger building and still intend to renovate the existing one.
 
Response: The Board has not yet decided what to do with the existing Community Hall/North Fire Station building.  The facts are that if we intend to keep the building, we must do significant maintenance on it.  If we elect to demolish the building, we will have to build a new fire station at an estimated cost of approximately $800,000 -- $900,000. 
 

2. The Board of Directors are deceiving the residents by not telling them the assessment fees will increase significantly in the future.
 
Response: We told people last January, in our five year financial forecast for Ocean Pines that was part of our fiscal 2005-2006 budget--making process,  that assessments could increase as much as $75 per year over the next five years just to cover operating costs related to existing operations -- excluding any new facilities or significant changes in operations.  Until this past Wednesday, we did not have an operating cost estimate for a new, 29,000 square foot community hall to consider.  That number is an estimated $121,199 per year.  However, until the building is approved and until the Board goes through our next budget development session in January/February, 2006, we will not know how much of this operating cost will be passed on in the form of increased assessments.  If all of the $121,199 were passed through to 8000 property owners in Ocean Pines, our base assessment would go up $15.00 per year.
 

3. The Board of Directors told the residents that a 20,000 sq. ft. building would cost $ 2.4 Million yet the 29,000 sq. ft. bldg. will cost $ 4.4 Million. $/sq.ft.?
 
Response: The Board of Directors NEVER told the property owners of Ocean Pines that a 29,000 square foot building would cost $4.4 million -- Susan Canfora, reporting in the Ocean Pines INDEPENDENT told you that and she did not report the correct figure.  The Board's estimate for building a new 29,000 square foot building on the Sports Core grounds is $3,900.000.
 
4. The Board of Directors never acknowledged to the residents that renovating the existing hall and improvements to the Fire Dept. were not cost effective.
 
Response: The Board, by comparing the costs of renovation with the cost of new construction, has decided on new construction, primarily because we can obtain the community space we need for about $750,000 less by using new construction as compared to a combination of building a smaller (20,000 square foot) new building and extensively renovating the existing 10,000 square foot Community Hall.  In short, we made the most cost-effective decision in terms of obtaining the community space we need. 
 
4. The Board of Directors have not studied the details of the larger building proposal in order to meet the referendum deadline for the residents approval.
 
Response: (You gave me two points labelled #4).  The Board has been studying building details on 18 different options with respect to meeting community space needs for over a year -- including the option of a 29,000 square foot building.  When did you start paying attention to what the Board has on our agenda and what happens in our meetings?
 

5. The Board of Directors are trying to convince the residents that the commercial lots with no direct access to Route 589 are worth $ 2.6 Million.
 
Response: The Board isn't trying to convince anyone that the Route 589 land is worth $2.6 million.  We have obtained a commercial appraisal of the land that tells us the value of the property is $1,920,000 if sold as one parcel, or $2,112,000 if the property is subdivided into three parcels and sold separately.  This opinion came from the firm of W.R. McCain & Associates, Inc., Salisbury, MD., and was reported to the Board in a public meeting roughly a month ago.  Where are you getting your "facts?"
 
6. The Board of Directors never told the residents that the window of opportunity for selling the Lots ended when the two large professional bldgs on 589 were built..
 
Response: The "window of opportunity" for selling Route 589 property is wide open right now and will continue to be wide open until there is no more property available along 589 anywhere near Ocean Pines.  I have received, personally, two calls from serious buyers in the last month for our 589 property.  If we put it on the market, it will move very rapidly.
 
7. The Board of Directors have not explained to the residents that the operation and maintenance of the new facility will of itself warrant an assessment increase.
 
Response: See my response to your point #2 above.  Again, all of this information has been discussed by the Board in open meetings.  Are you drawing your information from actual attendance, or are you depending on the INDEPENDENT, which has proven to be very unreliable of late in reporting accurately?
 
8.The Board of Directors have not successfully explained to the residents why the newly proposed facility will not have room for an indoor swimming pool.
 
Response: The Comprehensive Plan Advisory Committee has been working for nearly three years now in order to arrive at a solid estimate of how much space the community needs.  That figure is 25,000 square feet of USABLE space.  Design Atlantic, Ltd., our architectural consultant, explained to us that it will take another 4,000 square feet of space to support the 25,000 net usable square feet with things like hallways, storage, mechanical spaces, bathrooms and office space.  Nowhere in this calculation is a pool included, nor did the Board ever intend to include a pool in this structure.  The Comprehensive Plan Committee has also done some extensive study on indoor pools as a separate issue.  They do not recommend a new, enclosed pool at this time for several reasons, the primary one of which is the fact that an indoor pool of sufficient size to serve Ocean Pines needs would have a very large price tag because the structure must be built of the very best materials available in order to withstand the corrosive environment created by an indoor pool.  The rough estimate is $250 per square foot of space for an enclosed pool.  Compare that to our estimate of less than $140 per square foot of space for the structure we are proposing that the community build.
 
9.The Board of Directors were not sincere in saving the residents money because they did not simply drop the renovation and stay with the 20,000 sq. ft. proposal.
 
Response: 20,000 square feet of building will NOT meet the space needs of the community.  The Board very sincerely intends to meet the space needs of the community  -- defined through exhaustive study as  29,000 square feet of building -- and we would have been absolute charlatans had we tried to pass off a smaller building as adequate just in order to build something new.  No, Bill, 20,000 square feet won't get it.  May I also point out that the Board is unanimous in its support of the solution of a new 29,000 square foot building.
 
10.The Board of Directors did not receive favorable representation from the various newspapers by portraying them to the residents as  Waffle's.
 
Response: Waffle's?  Newspapers, plural?  Bill, you're going to have to be specific about which newspaper or newspapers, in which article or articles, published on what dates actually made that kind of commentary.  You provide that information and I will personally get the editor or editors of the newspapers in question to print a public apology.  As I write this email, I am reasonably sure that every editor I know is in support of the OPA Board's approach to the issue of providing for the community space needs of Ocean Pines and supports the solution the Board has decided upon.  I'm also very sure that they all know that the OPA Board has been unanimous in our votes on this issue throughout the long road we've travelled to get to the point of having a referendum question to present to the property owners of Ocean Pines.   Unanimous ain't waffling, Bill.
 

From my perspective, there's only one reason why this referendum might fail:  it will be because Ocean Pines property owners do not want to provide adequate community meeting and recreation space for our community.  Is this your position?
 
Dan Stachurski, President
Ocean Pines Association, Inc., Board of Directors