Opposition Remains To Proposed Boardwalk Entertainers Ordinance In Ocean City

Ocean City, NJ -- When Ocean City Mayor Jay Gillian asked city council to table a proposed ordinance regulating performers on the boardwalk in March, he did so after two teenagers told officials the proposed $50 permit fee was too much for them.

When proposed legislation governing the performers was brought back to council at its meeting Thursday night, the same teenagers returned to speak.

“When the ordinance was pulled, you said it was because it was affecting the young,” Ocean City High School sophomore Ricky Hardin said. “This is still affecting the young.”

The proposed ordinance introduced Thursday night includes a $25 application fee and a $50 annual license fee. The $50 fee is per entertainer, but there is one flat fee for a band, such as the one Hardin and classmate Andrew Leonetti are involved in.

“We don’t do it for money,” said Leonetti, describing how much fun it is for people coming on and off the boardwalk to have a band they can listen to and dance to.

Leonetti also said that when the proposed ordinance was tabled, it was done so in order for the city to look more closely at the issue, meet with the Boardwalk Merchants Association and with the performers. He said city officials never attempted to meet with the performers.

Boardwalk Merchants Association President Wes Kazmarck said the association met with city officials and discussed all the concerns raised at the council meetings in March.

“We want them to be up there. We like having them up there,” Kazmarck said. “We just didn’t want it to interfere with the businesses.”

Ocean City Councilmen Antwan McClellan and Bob Barr offered to meet with performers and their parents who had concerns, and Councilman Keith Hartzell said all of council would be happy to speak with anyone who had concerns.

There was also a concern about the portion of the proposed legislation that calls for fingerprinting and a background check. No one will be able to perform until their background check is finished.

City Solicitor Dorothy McCrosson said no one under the age of 18 would be fingerprinted. For underage performers, their parents would be fingerprinted and undergo the background check. They would also be the ones licensed.

The ordinance calls for underage performers to be accompanied by an adult.

“If there is one fee for a band and one adult is licensed, is that adult always required to be there?” Barr asked, suggesting that the parents might be able to rotate who accompanies the band.

McCrosson said that was something that would have to be figured out. Community Services Director Michael Allegretto said his office is handling how to do the application process right now, and that it can be modified.

If the legislation is passed, the idea would be to have applications available in the early part of next year for the summer of 2017.

Hardin’s parents said the band is always accompanied by an adult, and they are also well-behaved. Another resident called the proposal a “solution to a problem that doesn’t exist.”

Gillian said the city will work with the performers, and that this legislation is not designed to be a deterrent.

“The tenor is always that this is negative,” Gillian said. “We’re not trying to keep anyone off the boardwalk. We’re just trying to control it.”

While not designed to act as a deterrent, the legislation is designed to protect against professional performers who perform unsolicited on the boardwalk nightly and make thousands of dollars from tourists.

McCrosson said that as far as the application and permit fees are concerned, the city will be willing to work with anyone who has what Hartzell called a “true financial hardship.”

Entertainers will be permitted to perform on the ocean side of the boardwalk, within four feet of the railing opposite the street ends on 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 12th, 13th and 14th streets. They will also be allowed to perform at the oceanfront beach pavilions on the boardwalk between 5th and 14th streets, and on the ocean side of the boardwalk within four feet of the railing between 5th and 6th streets.

If a performer wants a specific location on a given night and there is no one else who wants that spot, they will be able to take it. Otherwise, a lottery system will be used, Allegretto said.

There is no limit on the number of applications the first year, but that will be revisited if necessary, McCrosson said.

Boardwalk performances will be limited to between 1 p.m. and 10 p.m., and no entertainer may stay in the same spot for more than eight hours in a 24-hour period.

The proposal was approved with a 5-0 vote on introduction. Councilman Michael DeVlieger wasn’t present for the vote, and Councilwoman Karen Bergman was absent from the meeting.

The public hearing and final vote are scheduled for the Dec. 29 meeting.