A pivotal decision is expected Thursday night that involves the largest controversy to hit a Jersey Shore town in years. The vote by council members in Ocean City on Dec. 4 centers on the site of the shuttered Wonderland Pier Amusement Park which was a beloved family attraction before it closed last year. The Ocean City Boardwalk Merchants Association president, Wes Kazmarck, sees this as a make-or-break decision for the defunct Wonderland Pier that could ultimately have broader impacts on the future of the boardwalk. “There’s a certain urgency right now,” Kazmarck explained. “We need to keep every option on the table.” Many business owners in Ocean City say that they want city council to approve a resolution that would lead to a planning board study on whether the Wonderland site should be designated as an area in need of rehabilitation. That resolution could lead to a zoning change and help pave the way for a large, controversial 252 room hotel proposed for the property. Councilmembers who say that they plan to vote no on the issue Thursday explained that they want a zoning review of the entire boardwalk by a subcommittee to play out first. “A no vote tonight ends the possibility of a hotel being here,” Kazmarck said. City council is revisiting the issue after initially voting it down in August. “It’s literally zoned one thing: Amusement park, which is never going to happen,” developer, and owner of the site, Eustace Mita said. Mita said that the direction of the Wonderland site will change if the resolution is rejected again. “We’ll move forward but it wouldn’t be with a hotel. It would be with residential,” he explained. ...read more read less