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Ocean Pines ARC Committee meets again

By Greg Ellison

Social-distancing measures followed during in-person gathering held on Tuesday

(June 4, 2020) On hiatus since covid-19 restrictions were enacted in March, the OPA Architectural Review Committee played catch-up ball during a lengthy socially distanced in-person meeting on Tuesday afternoon.

Board of directors liaison Steve Tuttle said the ARC Committee addressed roughly eight cases, largely related to variance requests during an extended emergency session starting at 1 p.m.

“It was a three-hour meeting,” he said.

The emergency meeting was held in the Assateague Room of the Community Center, with applicants waiting outside in vehicles until summoned for their individual appearance.

“Most involved lengthy conversation,” he said. “The set-up worked fine and we were very careful to maintain social distancing.”

Tuttle said everyone at the session wore facemasks and maintained more than six-feet of separation.

“We did not exceed more than seven people in the room at any one time,” he said.

Even though other departments and agencies conduct virtual meetings, Tuttle said to the deliberation process undertaken by the ARC Committee requires face-to-face interactions.

“The good thing about this meeting was being able to hear from people that had a request for a variance,” he said. “Try to do that virtually — there’s a lot of give and take between the committee and the person requesting the variance.”

Tuttle said the ARC purview is unique among the numerous OPA Advisory Committees.

“This committee is dealing with a significant number of people form the community who need to have input and hear from the committee,” he said. “It’s certainly a better flow if you can meet face-to-face.”

Tuttle said the emergency nature of the gathering on Tuesday didn’t signify any change in procedure, as the return to the usual bi-monthly ARC meeting schedule has yet to be established.

“There’s some hope that Gov. Hogan and Worcester County may allow a little more freedom in terms of a meeting,” he said.

While the group would normally reconvene in mid-June, that decision would also be dictated by the number of requests received to that point.

“The goal is to get back to regular schedule,” he said. “If there’s a need to meet and we’re allowed to do so.”