The Ocean City Taxpayers for Social Justice says it has collected 16-hundred signatures to repeal an ordinance the authorized paid parking meters in areas that were once free.
And that could freeze the implementation of the ordinance with the Town law calling for a minimum of around 12-hundred signature or 40 percent of the ballots cast in the last city election.
If successful the petition drive would then force a vote on the measure either in a special election or in the November mid-term elections of 2014.
Ocean City expected $115-thousand in revenue from the new parking meters.
Mayor Rick Meehan declined to sign the law, which still takes effect 15 days after the council approved it, even if it does not have his signature.
He told the Salisbury Daily Times that he did so because he held out for a compromise that would have let property owners on Philadelphia decide on any metered parking spaces in front of their properties.
Town Council member Dennis Dare told WBOC that the town needed to generate new revenue.
He said the Council did not want to cut back on lifeguards or cleaning up the beach things that make the resort special.
He said drivers should think of the new parking meters as a user fee.
