Ocean City repeals rental moratorium, avoids referendum

OCEAN CITY, MD. (WBFF) — Ocean City Council members on Tuesday opted to repeal a prior resolution on short-term rentals rather than face a second referendum on the issue, a move that could effectively end more than a year of heated debate.

Petitioners who led a similar effort during the last vacation season had gathered enough signatures to trigger another referendum, giving council members the option to recall their own ordinance or have that done — again — by voters.

The debate has centered on two narrow zoning districts that make up roughly 3% of the resort’s roughly 9,000 rentals, with supporters of restrictions saying they’re needed to protect the sanctity of Ocean City’s few residential neighborhoods and opponents saying those restrictions erode property rights.

Last year, voters overturned a City Council ordinance governing length of stay in short-term rentals. This time, petitioners sought to overturn Ordinance 2025-28, passed in December, which extended a moratorium on new short-term rental licenses in R-1 residential and MH mobile home districts through Jan. 3, 2027.

Read the full story on the Baltimore Sun.