- Walking The Boards
- Posts
- 🛝 Could 6th Street Beach Become a Massive Playground?
🛝 Could 6th Street Beach Become a Massive Playground?
🎡 Ocean City, NJ's only weekly newsletter
James Kratch & Kyle Scott
December 14, 2024
Our newsletter this week is brought to you by Sunrise Cafe
Welcome back! Could the world’s biggest playground be coming to Ocean City? Maybe?
Also, please take our first annual reader survey here. It will help us make Walking The Boards the best possible community for Ocean City lovers in 2025.
In the email today:
☀️ Get Breakfast with Santa All Season Long
Sunrise Cafe* (1200 Asbury Ave.) is offering first-come, first-serve Breakfast with Santa Saturdays and Sundays through Christmas from 9 AM to 11 AM.
You can check out their menu here.
Additionally, Sunrise is having a gift card sale.
• Spend $50, get a free $10 bonus gift card!
• Spend $100, get a free $30 bonus gift card!
• Spend $300, get a free $100 bonus gift card!
• Spend $500, get a free $200 bonus gift card!
• Spend $1000, get a free $500 bonus gift card!
Buy yours here.
*Sponsored
If you’d like to sponsor Walking The Boards in 2025, spots are filling up fast! Just reply to this email and it will go to me (Kyle). I’ll get back to you promptly.
📆 Upcoming Events in (and around) Ocean City
Saturday, Dec. 14-Sunday, Dec. 15
🎅Santa in the Downtown | Mark Soifer Park | 9-11 a.m., more details here
🐴 Horse and Carriage Rides | Boarding at Sixth Street | 12-3 p.m., more details here
🛟 Photos with Santa in a Lifeguard Boat | Ocean City Music Pier | 1-3 p.m., more details here
🎭 Anastasia: The Musical | Ocean City Music Pier | 7:30 p.m. and 2 p.m., more details here
See more local events right here.
You can see the full list of events in all nearby Shore towns with the following links: Ocean City | Sea Isle | Margate | Avalon | Stone Harbor | Somers Point | Wildwood | Cape May | Ventnor
Also note the Ocean City Library has many events for adults and kids alike on their calendar, which can be viewed here.
🛝 Playground at 6th Street?
No matter what happens with the Wonderland site, it will take a while.
City officials aim to move much quicker to fill the void in the meantime.
Mayor Jay Gillian said his administration is working on plans for the 6th Street beach after Councilman Keith Hartzell proposed turning it into a “massive playground.”
Hartzell’s pitch: It would be a free attraction for families, it would not cost the town much and, due to its size, it could become a tourist spot that draws regional and even international attention.
The beach is primarily used for summer volleyball games, exercise classes and one-off events, like the annual sand sculpting competition. Gillian cautioned beach erosion could be a complication, but Councilman Jody Levchuk said he believes the town is capable of developing a plan and having it ready for the summer.
One has to wonder if there are certain permanent installations at that site that might be wanted, or unwanted, by a potential future hotel owner next door.
🏴☠️ Playland’s Pirate Ship Will Be Ready For Summer
The pirate ship at Playland’s Castaway Cove will be back for the 2025 season.
Playland’s VP Brian Hartley tells Shore Local News that a new pirate ship, fabricated in California and trucked to Ocean City, will arrive this month. It will remain in storage until about February, and should be in place by Easter weekend.
The new pirate ship will be stationary, but it will play music and have cannons that fire with bursts of smoke and fog.
“The ship will not move but the cannons will fire to create a little more entertainment and make it more of a show as people are walking by,” Hartley said.
…
“The fabrication company is very well versed in this and it (the pirate ship) is going to look awesome,” he said.
The new pirate ship will be more vibrant, he added.
“The old one was constructed out of wood and built by hand,” Hartley said. “There’s so much more that can be done with the technology at hand now, like 3-D printing and molds. It will be a lot more intricate.”
Arrrrgh. Me looking for me ship.
Meanwhile, Playland’s has been approved for a new family-friendly coaster - something which we first told you about a year ago - but that is still 2-3 years out.
📝 Take Our First Annual Survey
We want you to have a say in Walking The Boards.
Please take our first annual survey— it will help us better tailor future content, plan events, work with local partners, and so much more.
Takes only 3 minutes to complete. All answers are optional.
Take our first annual Walking The Boards reader survey right here.
🎡 Mita Makes Another Pitch
Eustace Mita, who wants to replace the closed amusement park with a luxury hotel, participated in a public meeting at the Ocean City Tabernacle. It was Mita's second time pitching the ICONA in Wonderland to residents.
This event was organized by City Council members Tony Polcini and Dave Winslow after Mita initially appeared at Councilman Jody Levchuk's recent community meeting.
The highlights from the 90-minute meeting, which grew contentious at times:
Mita said the project would boost the local economy and surrounding boardwalk area because "people will come just to see the hotel." He claimed that "fear-mongering" is a strategy by his opponents.
Mita reiterated he would sell the site “tomorrow” if a buyer emerged. He did not name a price, but said the lot was appraised at $25 million and he has spent over $1 million annually on the site since becoming its owner in 2021. Mayor Jay Gillian said he does not believe the city should try to buy the site for an alternative plan.
There remains significant public pushback against Mita's effort to have City Council formally declare the site as a redevelopment zone. Current zoning laws do not permit hotel construction in the area; a redevelopment designation would supersede that. Opponents say Mita is trying to pull an end-around on zoning laws. The developer argues the designation would expedite his ability to build the hotel and that the normal process could take years.
People who live in the nearby Plaza Place enclave expressed concerns the 7 1/2-story hotel would overshadow their community and be a "monstrosity."
Ocean City resident Jack McGinnis -- the former mayor of Tabernacle -- had a heated exchange with Mita, asking if Gillian and his family -- the former Wonderland owners -- would benefit financially from the project. "The mayor has zero gain," Mita said. "The mayor has gone through hell for this city."
Mita recently bought Wonderland's Batman jet and helicopter rides, and he already owns the iconic carousel, Ferris wheel and the Wet Boat rides. The newly-purchased attractions will also be incorporated into the project.
🎠 Wonderland Preservationists Propose Their Plan
A local preservation group and other hotel opponents unveiled renderings for a modernized Wonderland amusement park.
Advocates of the alternative proposal — which would be known as "Wonderland Commons" or "Wonderland Square" — say their plan would make the site a draw for families and children again and stimulate other boardwalk businesses
"It's not just about saving an old amusement park," said Helen Struckmann, a leader of Save Wonderland. "It's about saving the heart and soul of the island."
Bill Merritt, the president of Friends of OCNJ History & Culture, said the group does not have a projected cost figure for the proposal or a developer attached to it. The group has raised over $1 million to "de-risk" the process; Merritt said that money could go toward refurbishing the Wonderland carousel and Ferris wheel.
Mita has pledged at least $2.5 million toward retooling the iconic rides. But Merritt believes the actual work could cost more than double that. Mayor Gillian has said he believes the rides should likely be replaced rather than refurbished.
Also of note: Peter Voudouris, the director of hotel and banquet operations at the Flanders Hotel (a potential ICONA rival), said he believes Ocean City already has enough motel and hotel rooms to meet demand. Mita has argued the city needs more such lodging.
🗣️ Where The City Council Stands
Mayor Gillian pledged the city will "painstakingly" review the Wonderland proposal before taking action.
"Don't think this is a done deal," he said Thursday during a City Council meeting. "Whatever happens, it will be a community agreement. ... Nobody's going to take advantage of us."
Mita bought the lot when Gillian defaulted on an $8 million mortgage. The mayor closed Wonderland for good on Oct. 13 after years of financial woes. He again apologized for the park's failure, but said it was time to move forward.
Gillian rejected any assertion he could financially benefit if Mita builds the hotel and urged residents to "just take a breath and not attack and not come up with just B.S. reasons" to assail the process.
Second Ward Councilman Keith Hartzell has come out against the proposal. At-Large Councilman Sean Barnes said he is against a high-rise hotel on the boardwalk but pledged to review Mita's proposal "as objectively as possible." The other council members have not taken a public stance.
🏨 Occupancy Tax Gets Shot Down
Ocean City will not move forward with a 3% occupancy tax on hotel and motel rooms and online rental properties.
City Council originally introduced the ordinance by a 4-3 vote. But final approval was tabled after pushback from hotel and motel officials. Council President Pete Madden said the members will take a step back and re-evaluate the issue, but he does not anticipate the matter being revisited in the near future.
A local occupancy tax -- which would have been collected by the state and then sent back to the city -- had been considered for two years. It was viewed as an untapped revenue stream given many other shore communities have a tax on the books.
The tax was initially proposed solely for rental properties booked online through services like Airbnb. But motels and hotels were later added. Visitors already pay a 5% state occupancy tax plus a state sales tax of 6.625%.
🔗 News Links
🤳 Recommendations
Walking The Boards is now part of a larger network of local websites and newsletters.
Here are some of our other newsletters (with more on the way). You can subscribe with one click.
Our long dormant, but soon to be revived, Jersey Shore real estate newsletter:
|
For Philly sports fans (sent 5x per week):
For people who live in the Blue Bell, Ambler, and Whitpain areas:
|
For people who live in Central Bucks:
|
For people who live in the Lansdale, Montgomeryville, North Penn and Harleysville area:
|
📊 Poll Question
Should Ocean City try to buy the Wonderland site?Let us know! |
Last week’s question: If you had to choose, which would you prefer on the Wonderland site?
Hotel (63%)
Amusement park (27%)
Retail stores (10%)
Did you take our First Annual Survey? We want to learn a bit more about our readers so we can continue to bring you THE BEST Ocean City content. If you haven’t already, please take our annual survey here.
If you enjoy Walking The Boards, please share it with a friend! Just tell them to go to “WalkingTheBoards.com” to subscribe. Be sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.
Thanks! Enjoy the weekend.
Reply