By DONALD WITTKOWSKI
Are high-rise hotels on the Boardwalk in Ocean City’s future?
The issue has become a hot topic leading up to the May 10 mayoral election amid fears that high rises could dramatically alter or damage Ocean City’s family-friendly image. Even the possibility of a high-rise hotel having a liquor license has been mentioned.
Mayor Jay Gillian said in a statement that he is adamantly opposed to high rises.
“There may be people who want to build hotels or high rises in Ocean City – but I do not, and I never said I did,” Gillian said. “There may be people who want to see alcohol in Ocean City – but not me.”
Councilman Keith Hartzell, Gillian’s opponent in the mayoral election, said he has been approached four times by Boardwalk property owners who want to build high-rise hotels, including at least one that would be Disney-like in scope.
“I don’t want Boardwalk Disney. I want Ocean City just the way it is,” Hartzell said at the April 7 City Council meeting during a discussion on the possibility of high rises on the Boardwalk.
Hartzell added that he was “dead set against” high rises and would do anything in his power to stop them from being built. He has made his opposition to high-rise construction a major theme of his campaign.
In his statement opposing high rises, Gillian noted that those types of projects are currently prohibited by Ocean City’s zoning laws.
Gillian suggested that Hartzell is well aware of the restrictions on high-rise construction and is simply trying to stir up trouble during the campaign by raising it as an issue.
“I don’t want to talk about what other people want to do, especially when those things are not permitted by law,” Gillian said in his statement. “I want to talk about my 12-year record as mayor. My opponent seems to be making up imaginary problems he can solve.”
In response to Gillian’s statement, Hartzell said he stood by what he said at the April 7 Council meeting. At the meeting, Hartzell insisted there is legitimate interest among some Boardwalk owners to build high rises. He said one developer even threatened him when Hartzell told him of his opposition to high rises on the Boardwalk.
“I don’t want it to change one iota in that direction. That’s the truth,” Hartzell said while reiterating his stance against high rises.
Hartzell did not name the developers who approached him.
The high-rise issue has been complicated by suggestions that Gillian and his business partner, Eustace Mita, want to build a hotel at Wonderland Pier, the mayor’s Boardwalk amusement park.
Mita, who owns the Icona Resorts luxury hotel properties in Avalon, Cape May and Diamond Beach, invested in Wonderland Pier last year after Gillian struggled with financial challenges that he blamed on business hardships caused by the pandemic.
Councilman Jody Levchuk, whose family owns the Jilly’s retail shops on the Boardwalk, said Mita and Gillian met with Boardwalk property owners during a private meeting on Feb. 1. Mita introduced Gillian as his managing partner and then outlined plans for a $150 million hotel project in Ocean City.
According to Levchuk, Mita told the Boardwalk property owners that his preferred site for the hotel would be Wonderland Pier, but he would consider other sites in Ocean City, too. Levchuk said he did not recall Mita ever saying that it would be a high-rise hotel.
Gillian did not respond to questions from OCNJDaily.com asking about the Feb. 1 meeting and Mita’s project. Mita could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
During the April 7 Council meeting, Levchuk called on Gillian to explain his position on high rises to Council. Gillian, though, was not at the Council meeting when Levchuk made his comments.
Levchuk stressed in the interview that he is a neutral bystander and independent councilman who has no intention of harming Gillian’s business plans. He added that a hotel project, if that is what Gillian and Mita are truly planning, would be worth judging on its merits.
In a March 14 letter that Gillian sent to his supporters, Gillian contended that Hartzell’s campaign had been spreading “disinformation and rumors” that Gillian was planning to build a high-rise hotel on the Boardwalk.
“Some accounts would even ask you to believe the laughable notion that a liquor license would be included,” the letter stated.
“As most of you are aware, high rises are not permitted in any zone in Ocean City,” Gillian continued in the letter. “Hotels are not permitted along the Boardwalk. And there’s no one more committed to maintaining Ocean City’s alcohol prohibition than me.”
In his remarks during the April 7 Council meeting, Hartzell said what he had been hearing about the possibility of high rises on the Boardwalk was “100 percent factual.”
At the Council meeting, there was also a discussion about the possibility of a 100-room hotel being built in Ocean City that could have a liquor license.
Ocean City’s longtime reputation as a dry town that bans alcohol sales is a centerpiece of its image as “America’s Greatest Family Resort.”
City Solicitor Dorothy McCrosson told Council that there are no guarantees that a liquor license would be included with a hotel having more than 100 rooms.
Although under New Jersey law a 100-plus-room hotel could be granted a liquor license, it would not be “an automatic thing” McCrosson said.
She explained that there would be a number of hurdles for a liquor license. Primarily, City Council would have to approve a liquor license, she said.
“It goes through the governing body,” she said.
Gregg Balin, an Ocean City resident and former real estate developer, said that a 100-room hotel would be “a pathway” to a liquor license under New Jersey law.
Balin, while making public remarks to Council, demanded to know whether Gillian would be involved in Mita’s supposed $150 million hotel project.
“What’s the plan? Who benefits?” Balin said.
Frank Worrell, an Ocean City resident and Gillian supporter, questioned Hartzell why he was warning of the possibility of high rises when he knew that the city’s zoning laws prohibit those types of projects.
Worrell said he believed Hartzell could be more effective in overseeing Ocean City’s zoning laws and blocking high-rise development if he stayed on Council, instead of running for mayor.
