Ocean City Council Shares Wonderland Update

OCEAN CITY, NJ — Ocean City officials said a partial collapse of a cinder block wall at 600 Boardwalk led the city to issue a notice of unsafe structure, while council leadership also said negotiations tied to the former Wonderland site are continuing.

The update came during a public meeting, where Business Administrator George Savastano said the municipality became aware of the collapse and had its construction official inspect the property. According to the remarks at the meeting, the notice applied only to a specific area below a deck in the rear of the property.

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"I just want to mention the property at 600 Boardwalk," Savastano said. "We became aware of a partial collapse of a cinder block wall at that property and our construction official inspected the property, issued a notice of unsafe structure and directed the owner to provide an engineer's report with a corrective plan of action to address the matter."

The city expects that report within the next couple weeks, according to Savastano. He added that "the notice was limited to that specific area and which is below a deck in the rear of the property and at this point the city has no involvement beyond that."

Later in the meeting, Council President Keith Hartzell addressed negotiations involving the Wonderland property and said council is "negotiating in good faith." He said council met with the developer in the last week of August and then went into a closed session on Sept. 3 to compile questions, comments and concerns.

Hartzell said council received the developer's questions on Thursday afternoon after learning in a television interview earlier in the day that the questions had been asked. He said the material council received was deemed confidential and said members had not yet had time to review it.

"As I said at our last meeting, we are working on a plan and the plan will include compromise, leading and listening to all sides as well as public input," Hartzell said.

He said the plan would include "guard rails and road maps" and would aim to protect family-friendly entertainment and the historic neighborhood behind the site.

Hartzell also said council was united on two points: "There'll be no condo development at all and there will be no sale of alcohol on that property. I can guarantee that."

Hartzell said the plan is not ready and asked the public for time as council works toward a proposal.

"When the plan is ready, that's the time that we'll be bringing forward and there'll be plenty of time for public input," he said.

He said council hopes to develop a plan that can win unanimous support.