Some members question timeline, want more information; citizens critique plan
OCEAN CITY — Ocean City Council had enough votes to hire a professional planner specifically for the former Wonderland Pier property during the meeting Feb. 19, but at the last minute decided instead to table the matter to ensure all council members were comfortable with the decision.
The resolution was to award a one-year professional services contract for Jennifer L. Heller of Polistina & Associates LLC “to guide council in the consideration of the future development of the property at 600 Boardwalk.” It would pay $175 per hour, but there was no limit placed on how much Heller could earn over the course of the year. It did note the contract award did not guarantee she would be used.
Heller was hired without competitive bidding and was recommended for the position by John A. Ridgway of Ridgway Legal in Linwood, a firm hired by the city in January as special legal counsel, at $200 an hour, for all matters involving the development of the property at 600 Boardwalk.
Officials decided special counsel for the property was “in the best interests of the city.” Dorothy McCrosson is the general solicitor for Ocean City’s mayor and council, but other attorneys are hired periodically for special matters.
The 600 Boardwalk property is a special matter. It has been the source of controversy since the mid-October 2024 closure of Wonderland Pier Amusement Park, which had operated there nearly 60 years but was purchased in early 2021 by hotelier and developer Eustace Mita.
Mita has been fighting, so far unsuccessfully, to build a $170 million, 252-room, eight-story hotel with 10-12 shops on the site, which is zoned for amusements, not hotels.
The future of the site has been the subject of numerous meetings since the park’s closure, with business groups supporting the hotel concept and other citizens and citizen groups opposing it.
An autonomous Boardwalk Subcommittee named by City Council has been looking at zoning on the entire boardwalk, including that parcel, since the fall. It expects to make recommendations to council before the end of May.
Fourth Ward Councilman Dave Winslow asked for the hiring resolution be pulled from the consent agenda, on which council members vote for a slate of resolutions in one fell swoop. Pulling a resolution provides time for discussion and a chance for the public to weigh in.
Winslow, who heads the Boardwalk Subcommittee, argued there were unanswered questions about hiring the firm headed by Vincent Polistina, a Republican state senator from Atlantic County.
They included why that firm in particular was chosen, why Heller was assigned the task by the firm and the timing of how the planner would work with the subcommittee, given the subcommittee already plans to submit recommendations on zoning for the property to council in May.
“Maybe it’s a little premature,” he said. “What are we hiring the person to do? I don’t know what that is. … There are too many unanswered questions.”
Winslow said he might be able to support it if he got more information.
City Council President Terry Crowley Jr. advocated for approving the contract, saying no member of council is an expert in rehabilitation or redevelopment.
“We’ve been reactive and it’s been emotional,” he said of the ongoing dealings with 600 Boardwalk that’s been before City Council multiple times and the Planning Board once.
Crowley said the city has the subcommittee, has a land use attorney and would then have a three-pronged approach by hiring the planner.
“Rather than wait and be reactive, let’s be proactive,” he said. “I don’t want to wait another three weeks (until the next council meeting). I want to empower the person to begin work so we can marry up the timelines,” Crowley said.
He added it would be an independent report, that the people have no ties to Ocean City and that it would be the most transparent and fact-based way to move forward.
Third Ward Councilman Jody Levchuk said he agreed with some of Winslow’s concerns, but also that Crowley said it perfectly that everything council is doing is fully transparent. He said he was for the contract.
To critics who alleged the Polistina firm could be biased toward redevelopment and would be wasting taxpayer money, he pointed out the city’s own professional planner, Randall Scheule, recommended the Planning Board support a rehabilitation designation for the property. That is something Mita requested in order to build his hotel. (The Planning Board did not heed Scheule’s recommendation, letting the rehab designation die in a 4-4 vote.)
Second Ward Councilman Keith Hartzell said he was confident in Ridgway’s recommendation and did not agree with Scheule’s recommendation.
“I want to wipe the slate clean and have someone come in,” Hartzell said. “They don’t have a dog in the fight … . I don’t see anything nefarious here.”
At-large Councilman Sean Barnes agreed he didn’t see anything nefarious, but was concerned that he wasn’t part of the process and only found out about the Polistina group two or three days earlier.
“It’s not enough time for me,” he said. “If we’re trying to improve public confidence for something this important, I don’t think we have to do it now. Timing is critical We need everyone involved. I’d like to see this tabled for three more weeks to get a better understanding.”
At-large Councilmen Tony Polcini and Pete Madden, the council vice president, said they also were in favor of the contract, providing enough votes to approve it, but after additional public comment largely against the hiring — in addition to earlier public comment at the meeting against the contract — Winslow asked the matter be tabled.
“Let’s get on the same page,” Winslow said.
Levchuk said although he was fully in favor of the hiring, he seconded Winslow’s motion.
“There’s no harm in a couple of weeks so we can all be on the same page,” Levchuk said.
Council voted 6-1 to table the resolution. Madden was the lone dissenter.
Shadow planning board?
During public comment to start the meeting, local citizens and a pair of attorneys representing the Ocean City 2050 advocacy group and the Park Place Civic Association, respectively, asked council to pull the item for further discussion, citing concerns about a lack of requests for proposals, how the hiring decision was made, whether Heller had ties with interested parties, among others.
Resident Dave Hayes alleged council was trying to establish a shadow planning board that could approve a rehab designation.
Jim Kelly, a spokesperson for Ocean City 2050, went further with his allegations, saying some members of council have been “hostile” to the Boardwalk Subcommittee from the start and have been ridiculing it in public. He asked that the subcommittee be allowed to continue its work.
Kelly then alleged conflicts of interest and inappropriate financial ties, that there are “financial exposures” between the city and the developer that has “tainted” the entire process.
He said the planning firm is owned by a Republican state senator “who runs in the same circles as Mr. Mita, a major contributor to the New Jersey Republican establishment which works to support politicians like Polistina.”
“Has this conflict been fully vetted?”
– By DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff