Ocean City planning board deadlocks on crucial vote for Wonderland Pier site

Ocean City’s planning board fell short of the votes needed to recommend declaring the former Wonderland Pier amusement park property as an area “in need of rehabilitation,” leaving the future development of the Boardwalk site in doubt.

Capping a meeting that stretched on for more than 3½ hours Wednesday night, the board was deadlocked 4-4 in its vote on the rehabilitation designation.

“A 4-4 split is what it is. It’s denied,” planning board chairman John Loeper explained to the audience at the Ocean City Music Pier after the vote.

Loeper was the last planning board member to vote. He voted no to knot the vote at 4-4, which effectively killed a planning board resolution that would have recommended declaring the vacant Wonderland site in need of rehabilitation to speed its redevelopment.

Joining with the three other board members who voted no, Loeper said he felt that the Wonderland property did not meet the criteria needed for the rehabilitation designation.

Developer Eustace Mita, who owns the Wonderland property, expressed shock after the vote and was unsure of his next move in his attempts to redevelop the site for a proposed $150 million luxury resort hotel.

“We’re very disappointed,” Mita told reporters afterward. “I am shocked.”

    The planning board members sit on the stage of the Ocean City Music Pier.
  

Mita said he would speak with his attorney to determine how to proceed. He mentioned the possibility of abandoning his proposed hotel and selling the property if there is no hope of City Council declaring the Wonderland site in need of rehabilitation.

In December, Council voted 4-3 to ask the planning board to consider recommending the rehabilitation designation. The planning board vote was considered a critical preliminary step in Mita’s redevelopment plans for the Wonderland property.

“I thought it was an easy vote,” Mita said of his expectation that the planning board would give its approval.

Now that the planning board has rejected it, the issue is expected to come back to Council for its own vote on the rehabilitation issue.

“No, absolutely not. It goes back to Council for another vote,” Mita’s attorney, Keith Davis, said when asked if the rehabilitation designation was dead.

The rehabilitation designation would trigger a process that could possibly lead to a zoning change to permit Mita’s proposed hotel at the Wonderland property at Sixth Street. Currently, the city’s zoning laws do not allow hotel construction in that section of the Boardwalk.

There is no guarantee that a hotel will be built or even given final approval, but the rehabilitation process does create a legal pathway for the project.

    The former Wonderland Pier's sprawling facade overlooks the Boardwalk at Sixth Street.
  

Wonderland Pier had been owned by Mayor Jay Gillian’s family since the 1960s. Despite its history and iconic status, the amusement park closed in October 2024 following years of financial difficulties, leaving a vacant site at Sixth Street. Gillian recently filed for bankruptcy, citing nearly $6 million in personal debts.

Mita bought the Wonderland site in 2021 for a reported $14 million to save it from a sheriff’s sale after Gillian defaulted on an $8 million mortgage. He allowed Gillian to operate the amusement park until it shut down last year. When Wonderland closed, Mita proposed his hotel in place of the amusement park.

Mita’s team of professional planning and engineering consultants testified at the planning board meeting that the Wonderland site has become badly deteriorated and is essentially abandoned without the amusement park in operation.

Those points were part of their presentation to the board in hopes of winning the rehabilitation designation. Mita acknowledged to reporters that he was stunned that the board didn’t agree with his team of consultants.

“I’m looking to do the best thing for Ocean City, and they just denied it,” Mita said of the vote.

The special meeting of the planning board was held at the Ocean City Music Pier to accommodate what was expected to be a big public turnout. More than 200 people sat in the audience, and 35 of them gave public remarks. Their remarks were split nearly evenly both in favor of the rehabilitation designation and against it.

    The meeting was moved to the Music Pier to accommodate the big public turnout.