OCEAN CITY – In a new location to accommodate an overflow crowd, Mayor Jay Gillian opened the Oct. 9 City Council meeting with a call for civility by those attending, for the issue that continues to roil the city, the future of the Wonderland Pier site, was coming up again.
On this night members of the city’s business community had turned out to urge the council to reconsider its 6-1 vote in August that refused to send the Planning Board a request for consideration of the site as an area in need of rehabilitation.
That decision led Eustace Mita, chief executive officer of ICONA Resorts, to declare he was ending his long effort to use the site, which he owns, for a 252-room luxury resort hotel complex for which he was prepared to invest $150 million.
Yet Mita and his proposal continue to surface, and he was in attendance at the Oct. 9 meeting to hear supporters of his plan speak out. Mita did not address the council himself.
“We strongly urge council to reconsider its vote,” said Wes Kazmarck, president of the Boardwalk Merchants Association.
Other business owners, particularly those whose operations are close to the pier site at Sixth and the boardwalk, followed suit. John Stauffer of Johnson’s Popcorn challenged the council to decide if the town was to remain a tourist destination or become a location for second homes.
Mark Raab spoke for his family, which he said collectively is among the biggest owners of boardwalk property. Raab argued that businesses in the area of the closed amusement pier were hurting due to the drop in tourist traffic that once was driven by the pier.
“Time is not on our side,” Raab said. He said businesses in the area could not afford to wait years for a master plan reexamination. The closing of the pier has left a “major void,” he added, and the north end needs a new anchor. He urged the council to support Mita’s proposal.
Those speaking in support of Mita’s proposal cited the benefits of a historic level of investment, increased taxes and a boost to local businesses that are already hurting from a drop in foot traffic since the amusement pier’s closing.
But council President Terry Crowley, Jr. stayed with the council’s earlier decision to incorporate the future of the site into a master plan reexamination that would take in the entire boardwalk.
Crowley announced the formation of a subcommittee to consider boardwalk zoning and contribute thoughts to the reexamination process. The new subcommittee would include three council members, Dave Winslow, Jody Levchuk and Sean Barnes.
The city representative on the subcommittee will be Michael Allegretto, an aide to the mayor; Kazmarck from the Boardwalk Merchants Association and city resident Jim Kelly, who has been active in the opposition to Mita’s proposal. Others may still be appointed.
The meeting took place in the Chris Maloney Lecture Hall at the city’s Free Public Library because the council was aware of the plan to raise the Wonderland issue. The pier site was not on the agenda for the meeting.
Mita had made the designation of the site as an area in need of redevelopment an essential element of his proposal for the hotel complex. He argued that Ocean City lacked adequate hotel space and tried to placate those opposed by adding the preservation of the iconic Ferris wheel, along with incorporating rides into the complex, but the sheer size of the proposed eight-story hotel continued to generate opposition.
Following the August vote that went against his plans, Mita said he would sell the land for $25 million. Since that statement went public, Mita said he has received at least two confirmed notices of interest in the site, where potential buyers say they would seek city authorization for building a large residential subdivision.
The discussion at the Oct. 9 meeting took place almost exactly a year after the Oct. 13, 2024, closing of Wonderland.
Contact the reporter, Vince Conti, at vconti@cmcherald.com.
