Could Ocean City's Sixth Street Beach Become a "Massive Playground?"

Ocean City officials are discussing some big ideas – very big, actually – for transforming an underutilized stretch of beach into a family attraction to help compensate for the loss of the iconic Wonderland Pier amusement park.

The beach at Sixth Street is primarily used for volleyball games during the summer, but members of City Council are proposing ways to maximize its potential by turning it into a major draw for families and tourists.

Councilman Keith Hartzell wants to see the Sixth Street beach become a huge oceanfront playground – something he says would be “very cool, something that we can do that won’t be overly expensive, but at the same time will be free.”

“My idea is a massive playground. The largest one right now, I think, in the world is 55,000 square feet. That’s actually not that big, folks. I think we can do something tremendous there that will be known not only in the Delaware Valley but maybe worldwide, if we do something really great,” Hartzell said during a discussion at last Thursday’s Council meeting.

In response, Mayor Jay Gillian told Council that his administration is working on plans to put “something” permanent or temporary at the Sixth Street beach as a summer attraction.

Gillian, though, indicated that it could be a challenge because of the city’s history of severe beach erosion washing away so much sand in the area of Fifth and Sixth streets.

“We’ve got to be careful about developing that area between Fifth and Sixth streets because of the beach erosion. Like I said before, it would have to be higher. So we’re going to work with everybody, not just on our end of it, to try to get people down there,” Gillian said of creating a tourist attraction.

Hartzell pointed out that a new family-friendly tourist attraction will be needed at the Sixth Street beach now that Wonderland Pier is out of business. The Gillian family operated Wonderland for nearly 60 years, but Jay Gillian closed the landmark amusement park for good on Oct. 13 after suffering financial difficulties.

The fate of the Wonderland property at Sixth Street and the Boardwalk is being debated at this time.

The city is considering a plan by developer Eustace Mita, who owns the Wonderland property now, to build a 250-room luxury resort hotel in place of the amusement park.

Mita, however, is facing public backlash from preservationists who want a modern Wonderland-style amusement park to be built instead of the hotel. They also object to Mita’s request to have the city rezone that section of the Boardwalk to allow for hotel development.

    Councilman Jody Levchuk, left, supports Councilman Keith Hartzell's idea for turning the Sixth Street beach into an oceanfront playground.
  

In the meantime, Hartzell and other city officials want to see the Sixth Street beach transformed into a tourist draw very quickly, while discussions continue on longer-term plans for the Wonderland property.

“I think that’s something we’ve got to get on now. I think we have to have something by the summer,” Hartzell said with a sense of urgency.

“The reason why I say that is because … I’ve listened many, many years to people that say, once you lose a customer, you lose them. There’s no chance of getting them back. Regardless of the circumstances we’re under right now, we can’t afford to lose customers,” he added.

Councilman Jody Levchuk, who said he supports Hartzell’s idea for a large oceanfront playground, also believes that a major facelift for the Sixth Street beach is doable by next summer.

“We’ve got eight months ahead of us,” Levchuk said of the amount of time remaining to prepare for next summer. “There’s duplexes built in this town in eight months.”

Levchuk believes that the city could find a better use for the Sixth Street beach other than volleyball.

“This is prime property. I’ll never argue with an anchor at that end of the Boardwalk that’s going to be desperately needed,” he said.

In the past, the Sixth Street beach has also been used as a venue for special events, including exercise classes, an annual sand sculpting contest and the city’s wacky “Miss Crustacean” beauty contest for hermit crabs.

Hartzell and Levchuk both stressed that City Council and Gillian’s administration should collaborate on giving the Sixth Street beach a makeover, along with input from the public.

“If we offer something beyond what we have now in order to capture people to come down – and I’m sure the Chamber (of Commerce) will do an excellent job of letting people know that it’s here – I think we’ll have a booming year, I really do,” Hartzell said. “There’s just no question in my mind, because I think our administration has the talent and ability to put something together that will blow people away and at the same time look at the cost of it.”

Hartzell gave credit to his domestic partner, Becky Friedel, the owner of the 7th Surf Shop, for coming up with the idea for a playground on the beach.

“She gives me most of my good ideas, by the way, and the bad ones are mine,” he joked. “That’s just one person’s vision, but as soon as I heard it, I was like, ‘Wow, I’m sold.’”

In addition to the possibility of turning the Sixth Street beach into a sprawling oceanfront playground, Hartzell suggested using the city’s public parking lot between Fifth and Sixth streets for family entertainment during the summer.

“We could bring in the circus; we could bring in a carnival. There’s all kinds of things I think that we could do – that we need to do collectively as a town – that we all participate in. It’s going to cost some money, but I think at the end of the day, everybody’s going to get a use out of it,” he said.

    The Sixth Street beach also serves as a venue for an annual sand sculpting contest. (Photo courtesy of Ocean City)