Ramp was removed to help after fire, but city replacing it before busy summer season
OCEAN CITY – Playland’s Castaway Cove appealed to the city to hold off on rebuilding the ramp at 10th Street fearing it will inhibit the work the big boardwalk attraction has been doing to return to normal after a devastating fire in January 2021.
On Monday, the city went ahead with the work, putting down pilings right through where the business had been able to bring in heavy equipment off 10th Street to finish constructing the building the fire destroyed.
The city said it has been working to accommodate the business since early 2021 and is reinstalling the ramp for access and public safety reasons before Memorial Day weekend, the unofficial kickoff to the busy summer season.
The business believes the move will likely delay reconstruction work or potentially harm Playland’s summer business if it is forced to close and move rides to access the site from another direction.
Playland President Scott Simpson and Vice President Brian Hartley appealed to Mayor Jay Gillian in an email Sunday after being informed the city planned to replace the ramp this week. By early Monday afternoon, the big pilings were already in place on 10th Street, right in front of Playland’s main access point.
On Jan. 30, 2021, Playland suffered the biggest blaze in recent Ocean City history. The fire destroyed Castaway Cove’s offices, arcade, Dairy Queen and property for the tenants. Multiple fire departments responded to the massive blaze and spent hours fighting the fire to keep it from spreading.
Playland quickly began work to rebuild and was able to open for last summer’s season, although construction was far from done.
Monday afternoon, Hartley was standing watching the piling company drill the holes and install the pilings that were blocking access. That was where a crane and trucks with materials had been able to come in.
“To have to come through the park, we would have to disassemble two rides to be able to get a crane through, and we would have to position it where the merry-go-round is which would close off four or five rides,” he said.
“It will either be we have to wait for the fall when we’re closed because we most likely wouldn’t get the project finished for the summer, so then we’d be stalled for another summer, or close off some of the most popular rides in the park to park a crane there and have it sit there as an eyesore all summer long instead of just leaving this open, letting us assist with the site work, and put a staircase in, and when the whole project is done if they want to put a ramp in there would be no problem.
“We made phone calls this morning. I called the engineering department with concerns, I called the solicitor. They haven’t gotten back to me,” Hartley said. “I did speak to the mayor briefly. He said he was going to refer Mr. (Vince) Bekier to call me. We had a brief exchange here. It wasn’t productive. They’re driving pilings and closing off access to our work site. There’s not much we can do about it at this point.”
Asked if Playland has any recourse, Hartley said, “No. The city is entitled to do whatever they want. It’s their property. Again, we’ve done everything we can think of to engage them and work with them and we haven’t been able to get a response the last 24 to 36 hours. Right now with the pilings in, we’re kind of where we’re at for the summer, I guess.
“It’s unfortunate because not having that building constructed without doubt hurts and impacts the other businesses that are right around us. It’s something we were hoping the city would realize and engage us in a discussion, but that didn’t happen.”
Ocean City Business Administrator George Savastano said the resort has been working with Playland since last year, but it was time to get the ramp back in place.
“This is the fact – the city is going to work with the property owner to address this matter, as we have always done with everyone,” Savastano wrote in reply to a request for comment. “To date, the city has been extremely accommodating, in recognition of the circumstances. The fact that an important access point to the boardwalk is being restored prior to the coming Memorial Day weekend should not be a surprise. Frankly, it should be expected, as it is appropriate that this be in place for a potentially extremely busy holiday weekend. The fact is that this access best serves the public’s safety and welfare.
“The city is confident that this matter can be reasonably handled,” he continued. “The city professional staff is also certain that restoration of this access is appropriate and right in advance of the coming holiday. In regard to Playland’s ongoing efforts to restore their damaged property, the administration will continue to work out logistics with the property owner in a logical and professional manner.”
According to Ocean City public information officer Doug Bergen, “Ocean City officials made the accommodation of dismantling a piece of the Ocean City Boardwalk, a landmark and century-old right-of-way, to expedite the reconstruction of a private business. No similar action of this magnitude had ever been taken before. Playland’s Castaway Cove is an asset to the entire seasonal economy of Ocean City, and the decision was made in March 2021 to allow for the removal of a 10th Street ramp to allow for demolition of the fire-damaged building and piling installation over the course of two months before summer 2021.
“After another entire year,” Bergen said, “Ocean City is restoring the ramp to address access and public safety issues.”
Playland appealed
to city to delay
In their email Sunday, Simpson and Hartley said they have been working hard with the city and contractors “to expedite the excavation and construction of a new building.”
However, they pointed out, “Due to nationwide supply chain issues, construction labor shortages, engineer and architect shortages as well as factors beyond our control, this process has been painfully slow and moved our timeframe for completion back significantly.
“Losing access to this site by assembling this ramp will have a profound impact on construction as well as possible devastating impacts to the operation of our business,” they wrote. “Being a landlocked property on the Boardwalk poses the difficult task of maneuvering equipment onto the site for delivery, erection and completion of this project.”
The Playland officials said they don’t plan to do large parts of building reconstruction during the peak summer months of July and August out of safety concerns for the public, but “work could continue to reestablish an access path through the main entrance for this summer.
“We currently still have three contractors driving to the site on a daily basis and performing work. Concrete trucks, cranes, dump trucks and pump trucks would still need access or all work would have to be halted,” they wrote. “Without this access area, a decision would have to be made to either postpone construction until the end of the operating season (which will delay opening well into the 2023 operating season or beyond), close the park prematurely at the end of the season or close off a section of the park for the summer in order to allow large equipment to setup inside of the park.”
They said the closed rides would include the Buccaneer, Double Shot, Merry-Go-Round, Whirlwind Coaster and Bumper Cars, “some of which are iconic to Ocean City,” Simpson and Hartley wrote.
They asked for two possible solutions, either leaving the space open or building a staircase on the south side of the 10th Street entrance to the boardwalk, similar to what exists at Eighth and 12th streets. Then they would replace the existing ramp with a sidewalk and curb cut to allow access for large equipment to the site while still allowing the public to access the Boardwalk via the staircase.
Hartley and Simpson noted they discussed the second option with the city and had been expecting the Gillian administration to allow that for 2022.
They said the existing ramp on the north side of 10th Street would still allow stroller and wheelchair access and they noted there didn’t seem to be a problem with the southside ramp being disassembled in the face of a huge tourism influx in the summer of 2021.
“It is our belief that there has to be an alternative that will work best for everyone to allow for the completion of this project in a timely manner,” Simpson and Hartley wrote. “We do not believe that any party involved would like to continue to see the eyesore of a vacant lot on our crown jewel of a Boardwalk for another two summers. Any delays would prolong this project and certainly have an impact on surrounding business owners.
“In previous conversations with your administrative team, we have offered to pay for the entire cost of the site work for a staircase, sidewalk, curb cut, etc. We look forward to hearing back from you in order to discuss possible solutions as well as how we can assist financially as to not burden the taxpayer.”
City shows timeline working with Playland
Bergen provided a timeline for how the resort has been working with Playland to accommodate it after the fire, starting in February 2021, with the intention for the ramp to be gone for the two months prior to Memorial Day that year to help with removal of debris and doing piling work at the site, but to have it reinstalled before Memorial Day weekend 2021. Through compromises with the mayor, Bergen said, Playland was allowed to have continued access.
After receiving word from Playland that it was on schedule for replacing the decking in late June 2021, the mayor suggested Playland create a piece of boardwalk ramp that could be lifted out as needed for access then replaced, but the city did not require the ramp be restored for the remainder of summer.
According to Bergen, the city contacted Playland on Jan. 6, 2022, asking about plans to restore the ramp, but did not receive a reply and on May 16 informed the business the ramp had to be replaced in time for Memorial Day weekend, either by Playland or by the city.
When Playland responded on May 18 that it would stop construction by July 1 and restore the ramp for the Memorial Day weekend, and take it down for steel delivery, Bergen said the city informed them the installation was already set.
By DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
