Ocean City Council rescinds short-term rental moratorium

OCEAN CITY, Md. – The Ocean City Council has made a final decision on the short-term rental moratorium. Councilwoman Carol Proctor made a motion to rescind the ordinance. She believed that because of residents’ outreach and petitions, that they have done more than enough to prove the move as unjust.

The Ocean City Residents Against Short-Term Rental Restrictions group gathered more than 1,200 petition signatures, and after winning a July 2025 special election, pushed for the reversal.

Ocean City Mayor Rick Meehan explains in a statement his opinion. “I believe it is about the makeup of 2 zoning classifications and the quality of life in those zoning classifications. We’re very lucky, Carol and John have talked about this, we are so fortunate to have many classifications for people to live.”

The motion passed unanimously. Mayor Rick Meehan said he hopes lifting the moratorium will not harm the town, as short-term rentals reportedly have in other places.

“If everybody really wants to move on, and that’s the decision today, I understand, but I think we are making a tremendous mistake on not trying to do some things to protect what I think are valuable resources in our community, which is the single-family neighborhoods and the residents who choose to live there.”

The moratorium had been set to run through January 2027 before the petition challenged the council’s decision.