Ocean City residents voice concerns over future of Gillian's Wonderland Pier
Gillian's Wonderland Pier will close its doors for good in October due to economic challenges.
OCEAN CITY, New Jersey (WPVI) -- Residents in Ocean City, New Jersey expressed their desire to continue making memories at Gillian's Wonderland Pier at a public meeting Saturday morning.
"It's magic. It's innocence. It's childhood. It's memories," said Helen Struckmann from Ocean City.
About 300 people attended via Zoom and in person at the Tabernacle Baptist Church.
"I've tried my hardest to keep Wonderland going," said the amusement park's owner Mayor Jay Gillian. "You can believe all the stuff you hear on social media, but at the end of the day my grandfather came here in 1930, and it's been a family thing we've done. I've tried everything."
In 2021, Eustace Mita -- who owns ICONA Resorts -- bought the property after it was at risk of being auctioned and gave Gillian a few years to boost business.
However, Gillian announced that Wonderland will close its doors for good in October due to economic challenges.
Councilman Keith Hartzell said Mita has six months to decide what's next for the community staple.
"He's going to go in and totally evaluate everything here," said Hartzell. "What he can keep because he owns everything -- all the rides, everything. What he can keep, what he can't keep, does he need to do other investments? We don't know what any of that is, so any kind of guessing or speculation, I don't want to be held to that."
Local leaders said they do not know Mita's plan, but emphasize the zoning rules and the lengthy public process to change them.
"Anything that's on this boardwalk is what it's zoned for," said Hartzell. "It's not zoned for a hotel or motel, it's not zoned for a condo. It's zoned for boardwalk activity, which is stores, miniature golf, pizza, and amusement parks."
"If they change the zoning of Wonderland, it's not just Wonderland that it affects," said Struckmann. "It's able to then open the door for zoning changes for the rest of the boardwalk and quite frankly the rest of the island."
Meanwhile, residents fear removing Wonderland would hurt tourism and the city's family-friendly foundation.
Struckmann and Hartzell said they would like to see the amusement park stay.
"I would love to see a Wonderland reborn," said Struckmann. "I would love to see the Ferris wheel, the merry-go-round, and some of the iconic arcade games."
"The most important thing to us is that families feel comfortable here, they feel safe here and they have a good time, so the park would be nice," said Hartzell. "I'm hoping he (Mita) surprises us with something where we go, 'Wow, that's going to work for us.'"
Residents said these next six months are critical for them and local leaders.
"Helping Mr. Mita, and this city being his partner to make this an amusement park, helps not only him but helps us. You have to do something in those six months. Please," said one resident who was encouraging local leaders to offer incentives via Zoom.
"All interested people in Wonderland have six months to also prepare ourselves," said Struckmann. "You don't want things to just die down and say, 'Oh, it's all going to be fine. Not a problem. We got six months.' And you come down here, and it's all gone."
Local leaders said Mita has until about March to determine his vision for Gillian's, and then the community can expect more public meetings.
Action News reached out to Mita's company for comment but hasn't heard back yet.
