CAPE MAY – After 2.5 hours of testimony and discussion, the Cape May Planning Board narrowly approved an application from the La Mer Hotel for a seasonal ice rink in one of its parking lots during the offseason, from November to March. The vote was 5 to 4, with both alternates voting to account for the required nine votes.
Opposition to the application came from neighbors concerned with noise from the outdoor facility and members of the board who did not agree the application was for an accessory use, and thus free from the greater burdens of the site plan requirements of a use variance.
Mayor Zack Mullock, who approvedthe application, was on the other side of the issue from Deputy Mayor Stacy Sheehan, who voted againstit.
Conditions were placed on the application approval, including no use of speakers, no serving of alcohol, and an agreement by the applicant to maintain the noise level at 75% of the city’s code requirements.
The approval was for one year only. Mullock said the limited timeframe of the approval should create incentives to do it in a way that minimizes disturbance for neighbors.
The major benefit cited by some supporters of the one-year experiment is that it adds to efforts to extend the season into the winter.
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