Land area usable is 23,524 SF and 2,503 SF encroached upon by building and fencing by the Seacrets parcel to the south. Overall parcel is 60,548 SF, including wetlands. The encroachment has an impact on value.

The OPA Board of Directors has known about this encroachment on OPA property for some time.  On 11/20/2008 I wrote to director Les Purcell, "Has OPA done a survey to see if there has been any encroachment by adjoining property owners?" 

Afterward I made a visual inspection of the property and reported what appeared to be an obvious structure encroachment at the southwest corner of OPA's property, and was told by a board member that I did not know what I was talking about.

Finally, six months later on 6/10/2009 at a board meeting held at the tennis complex, the encroachment was somewhat reluctantly confirmed by the General Manager, with the comment it involved some sort of high fence. Even after the GM admitted an encroachment on the property, director Marty Clarke wrote to me in a message dated 6/16/2009, "I still have not been provided with any evidence of the kind of encroachment you are talking about. What do you have?"

Curiously, this followed a 6/15/2009 statement by Clarke saying, "I have visited the subject property with another board member and neither of us saw any so-called encroachment."

Now, OPA's own appraiser and engineer have confirmed the encroachment and describe it as a "building and fencing."

The Shore Progress quoted Tom Olson as saying this with regard to the encroachment on OPA property: "I’m not sure it passes a 'so what' test. Leighton (Seacrets owner) has been an excellent tenant over the years, and we enjoy good relations with him. We want that to continue."

Keep in mind this "good tenant" is paying OPA below market value according to OPA's own appraiser, and the appraisal also states the encroachment by Seacrets has an impact on the value of our property.

What, if anything, the board intends to do about the building and fence built by Seacrets on OPA property remains to be seen. One must also wonder about how the Ocean City building permits department fits into this encroachment issue. Was a permit granted to Seacrets for the construction? If so, under what circumstances? If not, they were constructed without a permit.