JOSH DAVIS/BAYSIDE GAZETTE
Sitting on an easel during an Ocean Pines town hall meeting last Saturday at the yacht club was this Maryland Department of Transportation rendering of a proposed new traffic circle, on Route 589 near the North Gate entrance.

By Josh Davis, Associate Editor

(April 4, 2019) Ocean Pines officials on Saturday unveiled a proposal for a new traffic circle at the North Gate entrance.

Association Vice President Steve Tuttle said Maryland Department of Transportation officials had asked if Ocean Pines would be willing to give them roughly three-tenths of an acre of land on either side of Route 589 for the circle.

He said the design was preliminary and was at least a few years away from being realized.

Association President Doug Parks said the project has no funding, but part of the state’s process includes finding out whether the association and state could work together.

He said the state could claim eminent domain and take the land, but he would rather work with the state to find something that’s beneficial for both sides.

Homeowner Charlie Walker said he previously lived in the Cherry Hill area of New Jersey, where similar traffic solutions were tried.

“Twice a day I would have to go through the infamous Route 38 circle,” he said. “You’re smiling. You know what the Marlton circle was like and you know what the Berlin circle was like. And God forbid, you knew what the Racetrack circle was … that was an impossible task to get around.

“I traveled them twice a day and, come tourist season and the beach season in South Jersey, it was impossible,” he continued. “The circles in Jersey have been eliminated because of the chaos they caused.”

Walker said he also lived in the Chicago area.

“We had a community where they put a circle like that right in the neighborhood – chaos,” he said. “You think that’s going to solve the problem on Racetrack Road in the summertime? You will not be able to get in, out or around that circle … and I would hope that this board of directors doesn’t allow themselves to be bullied by the county or the state.”

Parks said the association really had no jurisdiction in the matter, but Walker countered Ocean Pines could “strongly object.”

“We can note things but, as I stated earlier, I’d rather partner with [the state] to get any potential benefit,” Parks said. “Again, eminent domain – this is a state issue – it’s not an Ocean Pines issue, it’s not a county issue … we don’t have any authority, nor do we have any leverage.”

“I’ve been conned by the best people – they’re in Chicago,” Walker said. “But I will give you credit – you’re right up there with them.”

Former director Cheryl Jacobs said the issue was discussed after Peninsula Regional Medical Center purchased land near the north gate for a new health center, which she called “a huge asset to the community.”

Jacobs said association officials at the time were approached and asked to give up land so an alternate exit to the center could be constructed. It would have gone into the community and then back out through the North Gate.

“There was a great deal of turmoil in the community and we did what we thought was best, and we said ‘no,’” Jacobs said. “We [didn’t] want that traffic coming in. That would create a terrible mess on the bridge.”

Jacobs said she now laughs when people from other areas complain, “Oh my God, we have to wait for two lights to get out of the North Gate.”

“Should the builder have taken care of this issue before he bought that land and built this complex? Yes, but here we are,” Jacobs said. “And this is the state’s answer to try to fix the problem, because anybody that uses that facility, when you come out of there, you can’t go left … this is the answer to allow that in the best way possible to happen.”

Jacobs, an attorney, said Parks was correct in claiming the state could claim eminent domain, but added granting an easement could be another solution.

“Folks, this is the answer to not giving up our land originally and having them come through the community, and then create a tremendous bottleneck at the North Gate,” she said.

Tuttle invited homeowners to send comments on the matter to board members, which he said would then be passed onto department of transportation officials for consideration.

To do so, email directors@oceanpines.org.