Petition looks to cancel 4×4 event in space of previously proposed public park

Delmar, MD – Dozens of Wicomico County residents have expressed their concern by signing an online petition that seeks to cancel an off-road 4×4 even on land that was at one time a proposed public park. The land in question is on Connelly Mill Road in Delmar.

However after an agreement was signed between Wicomico County Executive Julie Giordano and the company Live Wire Media and Events in 2023 it appears as though that plan is not moving forward at this time.

The Memorandum of Understanding which was signed by the pair will allow an off-road 4×4 event to occur on the space in May.

According to the petition titled ‘Preserve Connelly Park for Public Use, Not Private Profit’ the proposed park project was added to the Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) for the 2022/2023 and 2023/2024 years. Because of that, it can then be presented to the Tri-County Council and the Federal Government for special funding. But when Giordano signed the MOU with Live Wire the project was removed from CEDS.

However Giordano tells 47ABC that the proposed idea to turn the space into a park has been around since before she took office, and that nothing was being done to move that project forward.

“We actually, as an administration, actually 100% agree that we would like to move forward in the direction into bringing it back onto the table of becoming a park.”

But she says seeing as the space was being underutilized it was better to do something with it than leave it idle.

“Our thought was the economic development piece. You know? Delmar is going to Thrive with this. We have potentially 200 jeeps, 500 people staying at our hotels, eating at our restaurants,” says Giordano.

She also mentioned that events like the proposed off-road event are important to Wicomico County, as the area is often overlooked with visitors choosing to instead go into Worcester County for areas like Ocean City.

The petition can be found here.