OCEAN CITY — An advocacy group that has opposed Eustace Mita’s hotel plan is taking a wait-and-see approach after City Council’s vote Thursday night to refer the Wonderland Pier property to the Planning Board.
Asked right after the vote at the four-hour meeting if they still planned litigation, as they promised if the former amusement park site is ruled “an area in need of rehabilitation,” potentially paving the way for the eight-story, 252-room hotel, principals Bill Merritt and Jim Kelly wouldn’t rule it out but were cautiously optimistic about the the turn of events.
City Council voted 4-3 in favor of the referral Dec. 4 after voting 6-1 against it at the Aug. 21 meeting.
“I think it’s still on the horizon. We have to see where it goes,” said Merritt, who leads Friends of OCNJ History & Culture and supports Kelly, who leads the advocacy group Ocean City 2050.
Merritt said litigation would wait until after the Planning Board makes its decision and that it wouldn’t necessarily follow a procedural vote taken by council.
“When it comes out of the Planning Board, if they haven’t followed the statute (on rehabilitation), then we can have litigation, or if we believe there’s financial conflicts, there can be litigation,” he said.
Although the organizations have been vehemently opposed to the hotel project, Merritt liked some of what he heard at the meeting.
“You know, what else did we hear tonight? We actually heard something I thought was very positive. They all want to get the subcommittee information as well,” he said.
Merritt was referring to the City Council-appointed subcommittee, comprised of council members, Planning Board members and other citizens, including Kelly, that is working to come up with recommendations about zoning on the entire boardwalk.
Even the council members who voted to send the Wonderland property to the planners said they wanted the subcommittee work to continue and be tied to what the Planning Board decided. The subcommittee plans to have its recommendations ready in early spring.
“If these two paths run in parallel, and they truly run in parallel, and they come together in April, and then they start to put together the redevelopment plan, that may not be such a bad ending,” Merritt said.
He wished the council vote had gone the other way, but based on the council members’ commentary, he saw something good coming out of the evening.
“If this is the way the city can heal, by having these processes run in parallel, and everybody gets something of what they want, you know, we may avoid the litigation,” Merritt said. “We may avoid the conflict.”
However, he said, “if they race a redevelopment plan and ignore the subcommittee, then there’s going to be issues. But look, I think I’m actually hopeful.”
Merritt pointed out the Friends group doesn’t really take positions on the issue, something that is in the purview of Ocean City 2050 group.
The Friends group is “really about education and celebration.”
Kelly agreed that it was a wait-and-see approach for Ocean City 2050 after the evening’s events.
“We’ve got to see where it goes,” he said. “Like Bill said, I think we’re more interested in seeing the subcommittee and these processes come together like they were talking about tonight.”
– By DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
