OCEAN CITY — For months, Second Ward City Councilman Keith Hartzell has been proposing a community-built playground on the sand volleyball courts between Fifth and Sixth streets on the boardwalk.
He has gone so far as to offer the city a lot he said is valued at $800,000 to pay for it, all in the effort to provide a draw for visitors to that part of the boardwalk, where foot traffic has slowed considerably to businesses since the closure of Wonderland Pier amusement park a year ago this month.
At the second City Council meeting in September, Hartzell formally gave council his proposal to donate the lot to the city in exchange for the resort pledging to spend the equivalent of that amount on building the playground.
Hartzell’s effort was put on hold at last Thursday night’s meeting after a report from mayoral aide Michael Allegretto followed by a poll of council members, who didn’t show enough support for it.
Hartzell has talked repeatedly about how similar parks he has seen in Florida are extremely popular and the company that builds them uses local input for the design and then volunteer labor to make it a community effort and to keep costs down.
Allegretto’s report came before Ocean City Council unanimously approved a $7.5 million bond ordinance to fund renovation of the Sandcastle Park Recreation Complex at 34th Street and West Avenue. That renovation will be offset by $3.5 million in grants from Cape May County. The renovations will include new pickleball courts, resurfaced tennis courts, new restrooms, a state-of-the-art playground, a small outdoor stage and a basketball court for children with disabilities, according to Mayor Jay Gillian. Because there is an expected supply chain delay of up to seven months to get the equipment, the work on the park won’t begin until next fall.
Allegretto said the administration had been reviewing Hartzell’s idea.
The state Green Acres program would be OK with putting a playground on the beach, between the Fifth Street parking lot and the boardwalk, but the city’s environmental consultant said there could not be any surface put down for it, meaning it would have to stay on sand. No plumbing could be run to it, eliminating the possibility of water-based equipment there.
The consultant said it would cost about $30,000 to apply for a permit to put a bulkhead in the area to keep water running through the park, but didn’t see a good chance of the city being successful getting that permit.
Allegretto said the city estimated a 20,000-square-foot playground would cost between $1.5 million and $2 million. He said the city reached out to neighbors, but most did not want to see anything constructed there and although it was brought up to the Boardwalk Merchants Association, nothing came forward from the group supporting it.
Allegretto said there is no money in the capital plan for it so that plan would have to be amended. He added the administration appreciated anyone wanting to donate money to the city but asked that council advise the administration on whether to continue investigating the idea.
City Council President Terry Crowley Jr. asked council members for their views.
Fourth Ward Councilman Dave Winslow said with four grandchildren, he appreciates playgrounds, but the city already has 31 in town and is embarking on the renovation of the Sandcastle Park.
He said it was a great idea that Hartzell put forward to draw more people to that end of the boardwalk, but given the choice between a playground and spending time in the surf, they would choose the latter. Because playgrounds aren’t open at night, when most people are on the boardwalk, it would not be as much of a draw at that time. Winslow said he might reconsider supporting the idea if additional information came forward.
Third Ward Councilman Jody Levchuk said he wanted to hear Hartzell’s response because it’s a great idea to get something happening in what is now “a pretty dead area. Something needs to ignite there. I don’t see anything wrong with a 32nd playground.”
Hartzell said he has seen many beach playgrounds that don’t have bulkheads and haven’t had any problems weathering storms. He said if Fifth Street residents wanted something smaller, he would look at that.
He explained with a community-designed and -built playground, the city could get a $1 million playground for $800,000.
“You’d get a piece of land from me for $800,000,” Hartzell said. He added there could be fundraising to support the project.
“There are options to raise money, options to use my money. You don’t have to keep my lot. You can sell it,” he said. “I would get a tax deduction and you wouldn’t get any capital gains (tax).”
The most unique part, he said, is that he has $800,000 “sitting there. We could raise $800,000. I’m trying to take the risk out of it.”
When Hartzell pointed out the playgrounds in Florida that he’s seen are packed, he and Allegretto went back and forth on whether that would be the case in the evenings, when the idea is to get more people at the northern end of the boardwalk.
Hartzell said when he rain Main Street, he would get 2,000 people for Evenings on Asbury and a few hundred to see a movie at Stainton’s.
At-large Councilman Sean Barnes said he wasn’t crazy about building anything on the sand. He understood the need for something to draw people to that part of the boardwalk, but didn’t know if there was enough information to keep the city investigating the playground idea.
At-large Councilman Tony Polcini said he’d want to know more about the cost and didn’t know if the city needed something there as an attraction in the daytime.
“I think we’re creating a problem instead of finding a solution,” Council Vice President Pete Madden said. “I don’t think we should move forward with it. I don’t see a ton of support from council or the community. And I don’t think the lot is worth $800,000.”
Crowley said until there was clear intent from City Council, he didn’t want time and money being used toward something that is not approved.
Crowley said if there are three council members who get together and agree to put the playground on the agenda, he would reconsider. It would take four votes on council to move it forward. Until that happens, he said, “we’ll leave it.”
– By DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
