Boggs ‘Town Meeting’
By Bob Lassahn

Even though her most recent Town Meeting fell on a holiday weekend Worcester County Commissioner Judy Boggs still managed to draw a decent turnout for the May 27 gathering in the Ocean Pins library. As she greeted those in attendance she remarked that she was pleasantly surprised at the number of people attending.

A considerable portion of the two-hour meeting was devoted to reviewing local construction projects such as Manklin Station, Southgate Crossing, Pennington Commons, the new Catered Living expansion (Woodlands of Ocean Pines) and summarizing previous actions by the commissioners. While little of the information she provided was politically charged it was obviously interesting to those attending. Mrs. Boggs also fielded a number of questions from the audience, although none were in any way negative toward her in particular.

One item that did draw some audience fire was the entrance to what will become the residential portion of Pennington Commons. Located south of the commercial entrance aligning with the Ocean Pines Southgate entrance at Manklin Creek Road a concrete island projects prominently into Route 589 and according to some in attendance has caused unsafe lane changes by people unfamiliar with the traffic pattern.

Mrs. Boggs advised that according to State Highways the design is acceptable and will not be altered in spite of concerns voiced by a number of individuals. This tied into a later announcement that a citizen group has formed to pursue improvements to the heavily traveled Route 589. Similar in concept to the County Residents action for Safer Highways (CRASH) organization that served to obtain improvements to Route 113 “STAR 589” (Safe Travel Along Route 589) is seeking interested citizens to serve on the committee.

Mrs. Boggs also announced construction of the Route 50 service drive from Holly Grove Road to the WalMart will begin during the fall of 2006. The first phase will stop short of reaching the intersection of Routes 50 and 589. She said the second phase of the service drive will extend to the intersection and provide access from Route 589, negating the requirement to travel on Route 50 to reach the shopping area.

Mrs. Boggs then provided a preliminary artist’s rendering of  the new WalMart to be constructed at the site of the existing store. She commented that the new store will not have the previous “big box” look and that WalMart has been very cooperative in  making the new design attractive. It will not however, be visible from Route 50 since another strip of attractively designed stores will be constructed on the service drive in front of WalMart’s new facility.

Home Depot will not be undergoing any immediate change and she stated that the potential for additional large stores in the area remains an unknown. A Giant store previously anticipated for the area is now out of the picture and although Target has shown some interest in a local store no decisions have been made.

In discussing commercial development Mrs. Boggs noted that commercial design guidelines are presently voluntary, but the county is developing a set of guidelines that could make them mandatory. County staffers have prepared the guidelines and they are currently under review. She says the issue could come before the commissioners in 30 to 60 days for consideration.

Guest speakers at the meeting included Dr. Michael Franklin, CEO of Atlantic General Hospital, who provided information regarding the hospital’s efforts to recruit physicians to the area and some initiatives underway to provide appropriate office space for specialists establishing their practices in the area.

Worcester State’s Attorney Joel Todd was there to provide information on efforts to address crime against senior citizens. His primary focus was on abuse and neglect cases, where he stressed that protection of the vulnerable individual and not simply prosecution of the perpetrator is a driving force. He stated that the county is using a multi-disciplinary approach involving law enforcement, social services and other agencies to ensure the safety of victims and that prosecution of the offender, often difficult to successfully pursue because the offender may be a close relative, is a secondary consideration in the process. He also touched briefly on scams, or deception crimes, often targeting seniors as primary victims.

With regard to the recently completed work on the budget Mrs. Boggs announced that the county has benefited from a significant increase in income from taxes. In the latest round of budget work the commissioners cut only $181,000 from the requested Board of Education budget, coming very close to fully funding the submitted requests.

She also announced that in the budget Ocean Pines would receive a $300,000 grant for the Ocean Pines Police Department, representing a $100,000 increase over the previous year and exceeding the $220,000 originally requested. Ocean Pines Emergency Medical Services and Volunteer Fire Department, along with all other fire companies throughout the county will also see an increase in county funding. As a separate “good news” item Ocean Pines will be receiving a state grant of $50,000 for a fire/rescue boat.

Mrs. Boggs states the commissioners have shaved three cents from the previous tax rate of 73 cents per $100 of assessment, providing some relief to both resident and non-resident property owners. The new 70 cent rate coupled with the previously approved homeowner tax credit (or cap) of three percent represents a considerable savings on the next tax bill for resident owners. She commented that barring any unforeseen issues the budget should gain approval at the commissioners’ June 6 meeting.

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