Gillian’s Wonderland Pier property is now under review for possible redevelopment

The saga of Gillian’s Wonderland Pier continues as Ocean City Council voted last night to allow the local planning board to take the next steps in the property’s future.

Councilmembers voted 4-3 to refer the 600 Boardwalk Avenue site to the Ocean City Planning Board to evaluate its possible rehabilitation.

“This is basically a first step in what could potentially be an extensive review process, if it were to continue to move forward,” said Doug Bergen, Ocean City’s public information officer.

City Council President Terry Crowley Jr. and council members Jody Levchuk, Tony Polcini, and Pete Madden voted in favor, while Keith Hartzell, Dave Winslow, and Sean Barnes voted against.

This means the council is requesting the planning board to deem the property “An Area of Rehabilitation,” which kick-starts a wave of inspections, public input, and planning.

In the next 45 days, Bergen said the planning board must assess the site and make a recommendation to City Council on whether the once iconic amusement park property meets the criteria for rehabilitation. If council votes to make that determination, then the site developer and owners can negotiate with City Council to devise a redevelopment plan. “With lots of further review down the road,” Bergen said.

A coalition of various business associations, from restaurants to boardwalk shops, put pressure on City Council Wednesday in a news conference. Both the presidents of the Boardwalk Merchants Association — co-owner of Surf Mall, Wes Kazmarck — and the local restaurants association — owner of Cousin’s, Bill McGinnity — were joined on Wednesday by the property developer, Eustace Mita.

Since the nearly century-old boardwalk amusement park closed last year, plans for the site’s redevelopment have been swirling around town. Mita initially proposed a 7½-story luxury hotel, the “Icona in Wonderland Resort,” but council members refused to send that proposal to the planning board in August.

A month later, Mita announced that he was considering transforming the site into townhouses, after courting offers from Phillip Norcross (brother of South Jersey power broker George E. Norcross III) and from Virginia-based NVR Inc., to redevelop the site.

Now, the site’s future will be in the hands of the planning board’s assessment, which, for some business owners, is the right call. In a video posted to Facebook earlier this week, Kazmarck urged Ocean City residents to contact their council members and ask them to vote in favor of the planning board review.

“This is about City Council being able to make a better decision on what to do with this property. Everyone’s opinion here is a valuable opinion, but I think now we’re at that point where we should bring in experts,“ Kazmarck said. ”That’s the planning board. The planning board hires experts to evaluate the site to decide if the site should be an area of rehabilitation."

While it may feel like redevelopment plans are coming swiftly, Kazmarck reassured residents that local business owners have been discussing these next steps since last year, he said in the video.