OCEAN CITY — As of Monday, more than 2,600 people had signed an online petition in support of a new Icona hotel at the former Wonderland amusement park on the Boardwalk.
Icona owner Eustace Mita has presented plans to the public for a 250-plus-room hotel at the site, what would be the largest private development project Ocean City has seen in decades.
But first, the project will need city approval, and opposition to the project has been organizing since it was first presented late last year.
The posting to iPetitions.com shows the gathered signatures are a little over a quarter of the goal.
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“We believe this project will enhance the charm and vibrancy of Ocean City, offering a place where families can gather, friendships can grow, and life’s simple joys can be celebrated,” the petition states.
Mita declined to comment on the petition Monday, promising to share results in the future.
In previous interviews and public statements, he said he intends to ask the city to declare the former amusement park an area in need of rehabilitation or redevelopment, which could ease the approval process, including getting a use variance for the site.
As proposed, the hotel would include 252 rooms, parking underneath and retail space and public areas at the Boardwalk level. Mita has also promised to preserve some Wonderland rides, including the Ferris wheel and carousel.
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Ocean City Council has asked the Planning Board to look at the site of a condemned condo building at 34th Street as an area in need of rehabilitation.
A hotel is not a permitted use in that zone.
Links to the petition were posted last week to the Facebook pages of Icona properties, including Icona Avalon, asking for help bringing “our newest dream to life.”
“First and foremost, please know that ICONA Resorts is not seeking nor accepting donations from our incredible community of revered guests,” the petition states. “Your signature — your continued support and your visits — means the world to us. It’s more than we could ever ask for. It’s a promise of unforgettable vacations and a bright future for our guests and their experiences.”
So far, Mita has met with city officials and held town hall-style meetings, but there has been no formal proposal. To declare an area in need of rehabilitation, City Council would vote by resolution to ask the Planning Board to review the matter and prepare a recommendation.
After that, council could approve the recommendation by ordinance and, eventually, vote on an agreement with a developer for a proposal for the site. Council last week began a similar process for the site of the former Seaspray condominiums, a condemned property on Bay Avenue near 34th Street.
The proposal for a hotel has garnered support from business organizations, including from Boardwalk merchants and from the local chamber of commerce, while there is also organized opposition.
That includes the group Ocean City 2050, which found opposition to the project in a recent poll and has made its own alternative proposal for the site.
Bill Merritt, one of the founders of Ocean City 2050, was dismissive of the pro-Icona petition effort in comments made Monday.
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“Anybody from anywhere in the world can sign it,” Merritt said. “So it really doesn’t mean a lot.”
Merritt addressed council Thursday, defending the results of the census of Ocean City residents conducted by the Eagleton Center for Public Interest Polling at Rutgers University.
The poll showed a majority of respondents opposed to the hotel plans, with a higher percentage of people strongly opposed than the number strongly in favor.
Council member Dave Winslow challenged Merritt’s assertion that the polling showed a majority of residents in opposition to the Icona plan.
“That’s not true; 168 were against the hotel. That’s not a majority,” Winslow said.
Merritt also spoke about a proposal from Ocean City 2050 for a reimagined Wonderland, with some hotel rooms and rides. Merritt described the proposal as an indication that there is room to compromise.
“It can be something new, and it can be something different,” Merritt told council members.
Mita has shown no interest in the proposal, at one point offering to sell the property to the group if they can raise the funds to pursue its plan.
Lights may return to Ocean City’s Wonderland Ferris wheel
An Ocean City group has a plan to shine new lights on the Wonderland Ferris wheel. Developer Eustace Mita says the group has opposed his plans, but also gave an OK.
Mita, who also owns Achristavest home builders, invested in Wonderland in 2021 as the business neared foreclosure. He continued to lease the property to Wonderland until CEO Jay Gillian announced plans to close last summer. Gillian is also Ocean City’s mayor.
Merritt had another proposal for Wonderland, to bring light to the idle Ferris wheel for the remainder of the summer.
Rather than repair the lights on the ride, his group proposed to shine laser lights on the outside, giving the area a livelier appearance.
“We tried to light the giant wheel up, but it just didn’t work,” Gillian said at the Thursday council meeting. “I tried my hardest, and it just didn’t work.”
Merritt received permission from Mita to place the lights at the base of the Ferris wheel. They tested the effort last week.
“I think it looked OK. It lit some of it,” Merritt said Monday. He said it probably could not have been seen from the Ninth Street bridge but was visible near the Ferris wheel.
Merritt said he was at the Boardwalk when the lights were turned on, but then could see them being adjusted. It turned out to be Gillian, moving the lights from inside of Wonderland.
“Can we give it one more shot? Because we have a way to fix it,” Merritt said at the meeting.
“You have to talk to Eustace about that,” Gillian said.
Contact Bill Barlow:
609-272-7290
X @jerseynews_bill
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