Lawsuit is about the future, not about the amusement park
Originally published by the Ocean City Sentinel
by Dave Breeden
To the Editor:
Filing a lawsuit against your own city is not something anyone wants to do. It is expensive, divisive, and time-consuming. So, when it does happen, it is a sign that something has gone seriously wrong.
That is where Ocean City finds itself today.
When Wonderland closed in 2024, we lost a beloved part of our history. But the city also had a once-in-a-generation opportunity to ask a simple question: What should the next 50 years of the north end of the boardwalk look like?
Instead, the city focused on a different question: What does one developer want to build?
From that point forward, the process largely revolved around accommodating that proposal.
The city waited. It delayed meaningful planning. It ignored opportunities to engage the public. When it finally created a Boardwalk Subcommittee to develop a comprehensive vision, many of us believed the city had finally gotten on the right path. Residents participated. Experts testified. Months of work produced thoughtful recommendations. The report was broadly well-received by the project’s many stakeholders.
But a majority in city leadership have since turned their back on the report they once lauded, despite many residents, community groups and fellow council members urging them not to. It seems, for reasons unexplained, that they’ve dismissed the process and findings of the report—and their promises to us for a lawful, collaborative and transparent redevelopment process along with it.
Rather than using the subcommittee’s work to begin building the future of the boardwalk, the city instead rushed to sidestep Master Plan and zoning protections to wrongfully designate Wonderland as an “area in need of rehabilitation.”
In doing so, the city also sidestepped the traditional zoning process, eliminating many of the public protections designed to ensure transparency, consistency with the Master Plan and meaningful public participation—all without valid or legal reason. And it yielded power to the developer.
Why?
Here’s what the public knows: The developer seeking the approvals has extensive financial ties to the mayor, which are documented in court records. The public has seen the mayor’s involvement. Our complaint chronicles it. Time and again, residents have raised concerns about conflicts of interest and the appearance that decisions were being influenced by relationships that should have required greater independence and scrutiny. Those concerns have never been addressed.
The New Jersey Ethics Commission says that government does not merely have to avoid actual conflicts of interest. It must also avoid the appearance that public decisions are being shaped by private financial relationships.
This lawsuit asks the court to restore that principle.
Those bringing this case hope to ensure that redevelopment laws are used for their intended purpose—not as a shortcut around the traditional planning and zoning protections that exist to properly guide growth and safeguard the public. The truth is: We’ve seen a similar pattern of the city skirting process and public input for many years, from the Glen Cove Marina and the proposed 125-foot cell tower at 33rd Street and Bay Avenue to the proposed dog kennel in the Haven Avenue neighborhood.
This lawsuit is not in opposition to development. We do not oppose a hotel. In fact, we hope the city finally begins the studies, planning and negotiations its own subcommittee has recommended. We are for new development—undertaken through the proper legal process and with a place for the community at the table.
After careful consideration, we all came together to file because we believe deeply that the law matters. Process matters. Public participation matters. And public confidence in government matters.
And to be clear: We continue to support positive and productive progress at 600 Boardwalk. This lawsuit does not in any way prevent the city from moving quickly. But it needs to do so lawfully, transparently, and without sacrificing the rights of the people.
Ocean City deserves a government that plans before it acts, grants special treatment, and that places the interests of its residents above the wishes of any politically connected developer.
This lawsuit is not about yesterday’s amusement park. It is about tomorrow’s city government.
Dave Breeden
Fairness in Taxes Ocean City
