OCEAN CITY — With the former Wonderland Pier property still sitting largely dormant and a lawsuit now challenging the city's redevelopment process, Councilman Jim Kelly says Ocean City needs to find a way forward — and he is continuing to push City Council to formally embrace recommendations that leave the door open to a smaller hotel on the Boardwalk.
Kelly said Wednesday on The Don Williams Show on WOND that he remains open to what he called the “right size hotel” on the former amusement park property at 600 Boardwalk.
“If you go way back, all of my work has been consistent that I've always been open to the right size hotel on the right portion of the property,” Kelly said.
But Kelly said both the city and property owner have a responsibility to break the current stalemate.
“There's two groups that have what I would say is the largest responsibility in keeping things moving forward,” Kelly said. “You have City Council. It's our responsibility to decide what can or can't go on any particular property in Ocean City. And then we have the property owner.”
“Both groups have to be committed to moving forward,” he said.
Kelly wants council to adopt subcommittee report
Kelly said he has already tried to take a concrete step toward that goal.
The Boardwalk Subcommittee spent months studying the future of the entire Boardwalk, including the former Wonderland Pier site, before presenting its final report in June. The committee recommended updating Ocean City's Boardwalk zoning and left open the possibility of a “right-sized” hotel at 600 Boardwalk, provided development protects the character of the Boardwalk and surrounding neighborhood.
Kelly said he recently supported formally adopting that report.
“One thing I put forward two council meetings ago, and I wasn't successful, but I'm working with other council members to try to move it forward again,” Kelly said. “And that is adopt the subcommittee report.”
“The subcommittee did all of its work from last October through the spring,” he said. “The chairman of the subcommittee delivered the final report in May of this year.”
Kelly said he believes the recommendations provide a useful framework.
“In general, the public consensus was that that subcommittee's findings and its recommendations were a good resource to move forward,” Kelly said. “And I'm trying to get City Council to adopt that subcommittee report.”
Council came close to doing that earlier this month.
Two resolutions would have formally accepted the subcommittee report and sent its recommendations to the Planning Board for additional review. Instead, council voted 4-3 to table the resolutions amid the threat of litigation concerning the Wonderland property.
Kelly joined Councilmen Keith Hartzell and Sean Barnes in voting against tabling the resolutions, while Councilmen David Winslow, Terry Crowley Jr., Tony Polcini and Jody Levchuk voted to delay action.
Lawsuit adds another complication
The threatened litigation has since become an actual lawsuit.
As South Jersey NewsBeat previously reported, four community organizations and two residents filed suit Aug. 10 in Cape May County Superior Court seeking to overturn City Council's June 25 decision designating the former Wonderland property an Area in Need of Rehabilitation. South Jersey NewsBeat's earlier report on the lawsuit
The plaintiffs include Ocean City 2050, the Plaza Place Civic Association, Beach Watch Motel Condominium Association and Fairness in Taxes, along with residents Harold Atkinson Jr. and William Merritt.
They contend the city did not properly follow New Jersey's rehabilitation law and challenge the basis for the designation. The lawsuit names Ocean City and City Council as defendants.
The rehabilitation designation does not itself approve a hotel. It provides a mechanism through which the city can negotiate a redevelopment plan with the property owner.
ICONA Resorts owner Eustace Mita has been seeking permission to construct an upscale hotel on the former amusement park property. Hotels are not currently a permitted use there. His more recent proposal has been reported at seven stories and 242 rooms, although Mita has said he is preparing a revised plan.
Wonderland Pier closed in October 2024 after nearly a century of operation, leaving a major gap at the north end of the Boardwalk.
‘Everybody's going to have to be a little uncomfortable’
Kelly said Ocean City must protect the character that has made it a successful family resort while also recognizing the economic importance of the property.
“You want anything that's developed anywhere in Ocean City to advance the character of our city and advance the culture — this family-friendly culture that is core to our brand,” Kelly said.
But development also needs to “support the vitality of the city,” he said.
“We want each development in Ocean City to make people want to live here, make people want to work here, make people want to visit here,” Kelly said.
His comments closely parallel the compromise contemplated by the Boardwalk Subcommittee.
The committee did not endorse a hotel of unlimited size. Its report concluded that Ocean City needs additional upscale lodging but recommended that any hotel at a site such as 600 Boardwalk be appropriately scaled, protect surrounding neighborhoods and include public-facing entertainment, dining and retail uses.
Kelly suggested neither side is likely to get everything it wants.
“City Council and the property owner have to come together with a commitment to moving things forward,” Kelly said.
“And what that is going to probably require, Don, is everybody's going to have to be a little uncomfortable.”
“You're not going to be able to please everybody,” Kelly continued. “And nobody should expect to get everything that they think is exactly how they want it.”
Kelly said that kind of compromise is often necessary to produce change.
“That's how companies, that's how cities, that's how groups move forward — with everybody sharing a little bit of the discomfort,” he said. “That's what effective change is all about.”
The debate over 600 Boardwalk has now stretched across multiple council and Planning Board proceedings, a lengthy Boardwalk study and, most recently, litigation.
Kelly's message Wednesday was that the existence of those disagreements shouldn't mean Ocean City stops trying to find a solution.
The question now is whether he can persuade enough of his council colleagues to put the Boardwalk Subcommittee recommendations back on the table.
About the Author
Scott Stephens
Scott has been an on-air personality, producer and newscaster for 30+ years. He has been a mainstay in the South Jersey Community and on the air across many different area stations. Scott can currently be heard on Kool 98.3 and News Talk 1400 & 92.3 WOND.
