OCEAN CITY — After an hour-long presentation by Mayor Jay Gillian and top administrators about the state of Ocean City, city officials spent 90 minutes responding to comments and queries from the public during a Town Hall meting Saturday at the Ocean City Tabernacle.
Gillian and company covered a wide range of issues as citizens raised concerns about the upcoming tax hike and empty storefronts downtown to trash collection, the 34th Street corridor and the future of the Wonderland Pier property. Some of the other issues are covered by other stories in this issue from a capital plan presentation at the Feb. 20 Ocean City Council meeting.
Here’s a look at the meeting, broken down into topics:
Budget: tax hike will be
“at least a couple cents”
When a resident asked if there could be a hiring freeze to offset growing workforce expenses, referencing the tax hike that came with last fiscal year’s budget, the mayor said administrators “look at everything” and don’t “take anything lightly,” but he noted there are a lot of services citizens want provided in the city.
Finance Director Frank Donato responded to a question on how the budget was shaping up and whether there would be another tax increase, saying he didn’t want to steal the mayor’s thunder because Gillian would be presenting his State of the City address and 2025 budget on March 13.
Donato is expected to present the budget to City Council on March 27 and council to officially introduce it April 10 with a public hearing and vote on adoption May 8.
Donato did point out multiple areas that keep rising in expense, including the city being hit with the same rate hikes from Atlantic City Electric, salary increases for the city workforce and pension increases.
“Full-time police and fire is a huge advantage to the city, but it comes at a cost,” he said, adding a lot is required to keep the city’s level of safety, cleanliness and infrastructure, but the city starts at zero each year on budgeting.
“You can expect the tax rate to be up a least a couple of cents,” he acknowledged without getting into specifics.
Trash collection
Resident James Harris questioned why his emailed complaints about faulty trash collection had not been answered for three months and another mentioned the 20 percent to 30 percent “arbitrary” price hike in the city’s contract with the trash collection agency.
City Business Administrator George Savastano said all complaints are addressed but most did not require responses. He said the city checks each to make sure the complaints are legitimate — whether the contractor has erred or if it’s one of the hundreds of residents who don’t put their trash out correctly.
“When we get them, we address them, and if a response is needed, we respond. Not everything needs a response,” Savastano said, noting Harris frequently files complaints.
When Harris asked when he would get a response, Savastano replied he would respond “in due course” because he didn’t want to shoot from the hip. He added that the complaint was “not an urgent matter.”
After the other resident mentioned the “arbitrary” increase in the contract with the trash collection contractor, Savastano said there was nothing arbitrary about it and that the contract was negotiated because terms had changed.
The terms had been changed because the previous contract called for all trash bins to be a maximum of 32 gallons, but many citizens not only have larger bins but also put them in corrals, creating extra work for trash collectors.
Empty storefronts
Asked if the city could do anything about the empty storefronts on Asbury Avenue and how they hurt the appearance of the business district, Mayor Gillian agreed that places including the empty former Ward’s Pastry look terrible, as does the former Hallmark store, but said what happens in the businesses is primarily up to the property owners.
“We do have to clean up downtown,” he said.
Gillian noted that Spinning Wheel Florist, a longstanding business on the avenue, would be closing at the end of February.
As part of the capital plan presentation, he noted the city plans to put new lighting fixtures downtown to help beautify it and install a new speaker system.
The mayor also took the opportunity to say it’s getting harder and harder for small businesses because of what the state Legislature mandates. “Mom and pop business models don’t work any more,” he said, blaming part of that on how youth can find better-paying jobs and how the $15 minimum wage has been harmful, including to his former business, Wonderland Pier amusement park.
Seaspray
Condominiums
Asked for an update on Seaspray Condominiums, now closed and surrounded by chain-link fencing, City Solicitor Dorothy McCrosson said there is an internal legal fight taking place among the condo unit owners.
She said there is pending litigation between owners who want the place sold and demolished and others who want it rehabilitated, with their respective engineers claiming it can’t be repaired and that it can be fixed.
City officials have deemed it is not a safe place for occupation and owners cannot live there until repairs are made, but did allow owners to go in to get their belongings.
McCrosson said until the condo association gets its house in order and decides whether it is feasible and makes financial sense if it can be repaired, it is going to look like it does for the short term.
“I think it will get there,” she said, adding “it’s a private process among the property owners.”
Saving single-family homes
Asked if there were anything that could be done to save older single-family homes, the mayor said that mostly comes down to what families want to do with their own properties and that “seashore towns were built on development.”
He said it is basically up to families to decide if they want to keep them, rent them out, demolish and rebuild or sell.
“I don’t have a magic pill,” he said, but wishes people would be respectful of others when building.
Flood mitigation
in the OC Homes
neighborhood
Savastano said there is $500,000 in the proposed capital plan for an engineering study this year to look at flooding mitigation in the OC Homes neighborhood.
The first step is taking requests for proposals from engineering firms. Once a contract is awarded, there would be meetings to talk to people in the neighborhood to get more information on their experiences on where water comes in from and where people can get trapped by flooding. That won’t occur for at least a few months, he said.
Savastano added it will take a lot of review and analysis and the city won’t jam its plans down the throats of residents there when determining the work that needs to be done, including pipe replacement and if pumps will help. The actual work is not scheduled until 2027, he noted.
16th Street lot,
suggestions
for capital projects
Asked for an update on the site of the former Chevrolet dealership bordered by Haven and Simpson avenues and 16th and 17th streets, McCrosson said the soil remediation is finished but water monitoring would continue for a few years.
Donato said the city spent a total of $27 million to acquire the land.
The mayor said the next goal is to clean it up and make it look “the best we can” while the city weighs the many ideas citizens have proposed for the lots.
When another person asked if they could have input on what goes into the capital plan and how to go about it, Gillian said the best way is to contact him or any of the City Council members.
“We have seven active city councilmen. Go to them and they can go right to us,” he said, “or walk into City Hall.”
City foots bill for
365 days a year for
the Senior Center
Resident Vic Staniec noted the importance of the Ocean City Senior Center and how it changed dramatically when the city took it over from Cape May County early in 2024. He said the “vigorous” morning stretch may be the only exercise some seniors get, that it appeared the majority are widows “who would be hermits” if they didn’t have the senior center and that a lot of other residents don’t understand the importance of the the center.
Gillian said that is why the city decided to expand the programming and open it up 365 days a year, to accommodate those seniors who did not have other places to go on weekends and holidays. The center used to be open only on weekdays.
He added having a place like that for people who need it is an important function of government. He noted the entire Ocean City Community Center, at 1735 Simpson Ave., should be open the same way.
When Staniec asked how the center is funded, Gillian said it was by taxpayers and that the administration is looking for grants. He noted it does cost money, but as the city has many programs for youth, it is important for the city to also spend money on its senior citizens.
“When I saw how it was run by the county, I thought we could do better,” he said, not faulting the county for its operation. Since the city took it over, attendance has greatly increased.
Eustace Mita and
Wonderland site
The mayor and McCrosson made a point that there wasn’t any news on developer Eustace Mita’s plans for the site of the former Wonderland Pier amusement park at Fifth Street and the Boardwalk.
That didn’t stop several people from weighing in on it in various forms, uniformly critical, both of Mita and his plans.
Gillian pointed out that although Mita has made public presentations, proposing a 252-room, seven-story hotel with 10 to 13 storefronts and a few amusement rides on the property, there is still nothing official.
Resident Jim Kelly said he heard council might consider Mita’s request for a redevelopment zone so he could build the hotel in an area zoned for amusements and wondered if the city was budgeting for extended litigation about that.
McCrosson said there has been nothing put before the council or Planning Board with respect to the project. She added the legal budget “is always interesting” and requires the mayor and council to consider what lawsuits might be on the horizon.
She said it’s hard to anticipate everything, but noted protracted litigation on land use matters do not generally run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars in one year and would be something the city could manage. (Again, there is no litigation because Mita has not made formal application to the city on any plans for the Wonderland site.)
When other criticism of Mita and his proposal arose, Gillian reiterated there isn’t anything officially proposed and when that happens “everyone will get a chance” to weigh in, be it City Council, the Planning Board and Zoning Board or citizens.
“You have to wait until it’s official,” Gillian said, then “let’s see what happens.”
Notice of meetings
and agendas
It was pointed out that agendas for City Council meetings aren’t always posted 48 hours ahead of time, which can make it hard for second home-owners in Pennsylvania to make it to a 10 a.m. Thursday meeting. (Of the two council meetings a month, one is in the evening, the other in the morning.)
McCrosson explained according to the open public meetings act, the city has met its legal obligation because it has published a list of the dates and times of all the council meetings. (They are also available on the city’s website, ocnj.us, where citizens can find the agendas.)
She added they endeavor to have the agenda for the meeting out 48 hours in advance but they don’t always make it.
34th Street corridor
Brian McPeak suggested the 34th Street corridor is one area that doesn’t live up to the city’s standards and noted it is a pivotal time to create a consistent look with an overarching plan.
He noted the former garden center at the corner of West Avenue is vacant, the city is going to redo the playground across West Avenue, a bank building has just been demolished at the corner with Simpson Avenue and “God willing” the Seaspray Condominiums at the corner with Bay Avenue would be demolished or redeveloped.
He said the city should have some aesthetic consistency and that developers are usually happy to work with that. Lacking it, he said, the city isn’t living up to its brand on that major thoroughfare into the resort. He said guidance is needed.
Fourth Ward Councilman Dave Winslow, who has made it one of his goals to improve that gateway into the city, noted the county roadway from the 34th Street bridge is undergoing a major design to raise it for flooding purposes later this year. He added they met with an urban planner on how it would look.
McCrosson said McPeak provided “a good dissertation on what good municipal planning is” and that there are standards in place for the 34th Street Gateway Zone.
She noted some of those style standards are apparent with the construction of the Sturdy Savings Bank, Randazzo’s restaurant and the building across from Randazzo’s.
She said anything that goes on the sites, including the miniature golf course at 34th and Asbury Avenue, is required to do improvements.
Gillian said they plan to clean it up once the county roadwork and flood mitigation work in the Merion Park neighborhood are done.
– By DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff