Five years ago, when Eustace Mita purchased Wonderland Pier, he promised to work alongside Jay Gillian to ensure Ocean City’s crown jewel would remain a premier family attraction. Three years later it closed.

Now Mita is using the media to announce that the property he owns, and should have been maintaining, is deteriorating, and he is attempting to use the issue to create pressure in his negotiations with the city for his high-rise resort proposal.

As debate continues over zoning and redevelopment around the future of 600 Boardwalk, a straightforward compromise has emerged that deserves serious consideration: split the parcel. 

Urban planning expert Edward T. McMahon once said, “Growth is inevitable and desirable, but destruction of community character is not. The question is not whether your part of the world is going to change. The question is how.”