Ocean City officials unveil plan for Cruisin' special event zone

Less than a day after being signed into law, Ocean City already has plans on using the special event zoning for car shows. 

A special event zone will be deployed from May 15-20 for the entirety of Ocean City during the spring Cruisin' event, Ocean City Police Chief Ross Buzzuro said at the Motor Event Task Force meeting Wednesday.

"Everyone knows what the objectives are, and it’s keeping people safe," Buzzuro said. "We are very optimistic moving forward."

On Tuesday, Gov. Larry Hogan approved State Sen. Jim Mathias' bill to allow the creation of special event zones in Worcester County.

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The zones are for motor vehicle events and can transform part of the road into areas similar to construction zones with higher fines up to $1,000.

The first motor vehicle event in Ocean City for 2018 is Cruisin', which is scheduled to take place May 17 through May 20.

The bill was passed as an emergency bill, meaning it will take effect once it is approved by the governor.

During Cruisin', Buzzuro said that he will have officers from the Ocean City Police Department as well as allied agencies including the Worcester County Sheriff's Office and Maryland State Police on the streets, monitoring traffic for reckless and negligent driving, including the spinning of wheels.

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They will also be monitoring the sides of the roads where people tend to congregate during these events, he added.

"We will have heightened enforcement," he said. "All hands on deck from Ocean City, and we will be ironing out where the signs will be placed and getting the communication out. That is the plan moving forward."

Bob Rothermel, CEO of Team Productions, the company in charge of the two Ocean City Cruisin' events, said organizers have always looked for cars that don't belong at the events because they are not street legal.

He said it is difficult from their perspective, and even if the cars are not allowed to participate in the events because they are not street legal, they are still in Ocean City, and they could potentially lead to problems.

In previous years, he added, the spring Cruisin' event would be sold out by now, but that is not the case this year.

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"But because of these meetings, we looked at other ways to spread the business out rather than concentrating it in Ocean City," Rothermel said. "For example, the Route 13 Drag Strip in Delmar. We are calling it 'Taking It to the Strip' so (participants) can show off what they have, and we will have other activities like that to get them out of Ocean City so we don’t create that logjam in town."

He also said they are working with Trimpers to create family friendly events in the inlet during Cruisin' as well as with Ocean Downs to create an event there.

Every year, Cruisin' organizers use the registration as the warning for participator safety and conduct, Rothermel said, and if the task force taught him one thing, it was that those that participate in the events are not normally the ones causing issues in town.

"The safer the weekend, the better the event will be," Mayor Rick Meehan said.

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