Developer Eustace Mita is giving Ocean City one last chance for his proposed $150 million luxury hotel on the Boardwalk.
Ahead of a pivotal vote by City Council on Thursday night, Mita said he is simply running out of patience while waiting for the city to take action on a controversy that has dragged on for months.
“Tomorrow is the seminal vote,” he said.
Mita appeared with a group of city business leaders at a news conference Wednesday to urge Council to approve a resolution considered a critical first step for his proposed hotel on the Boardwalk, at the site of the former Wonderland Pier amusement park.
Mita indicated that he would walk away from the hotel project for good and sell the Wonderland property if Council rejects the resolution.
“A no vote tomorrow says it is a no vote for the hotel,” he said.
The national homebuilding company Ryan Homes and the politically connected Norcross family consisting of brothers George and Philip Norcross have already made separate offers to buy the Wonderland property from Mita for an undisclosed price. Both Ryan Homes and the Norcrosses have told Mita they would want to build townhomes on the oceanfront site.
Under the city’s current zoning laws, only amusements, retail shops and restaurants are allowed at the north end of the Boardwalk that encompasses the Wonderland site at Sixth Street.
The former Wonderland Pier's sprawling facade overlooks the Boardwalk at Sixth Street.The Council resolution, if approved Thursday by a majority of the seven-member governing body, would ask the planning board to consider declaring the vacant Wonderland site as an area “in need of rehabilitation.” The rehabilitation designation would trigger a process that could possibly lead to a zoning change to permit a hotel.
By a 6-1 vote, Council rejected the same resolution on Aug. 21. Instead, Council President Terry Crowley Jr. formed an advisory subcommittee to conduct a comprehensive study of the zoning requirements for the entire Boardwalk’s commercial areas instead of just concentrating on the former Wonderland site.
Mita’s proposed 252-room luxury resort has bitterly divided the city among hotel supporters and opponents, with each side undertaking online campaigns in the past several months to either promote or criticize the development.
Council has moved the location of Thursday’s 6 p.m. meeting to the Ocean City Music Pier auditorium to accommodate what is expected to be a large public turnout and lengthy debate on the Wonderland resolution.
Editor's note: This story will be updated later with additional details from the news conference.
