Wildwood Crest Motel Application Could Be Rejected

Wildwood Crest Motel Application Could Be Rejected

As the Wildwoods are gearing up for what will be one of the busiest summers ever, one company is gearing up for a long fight.

Over the past few years, the Ocean Holiday Motel, located in Wildwood has been sitting out in the elements after its owner had to press pause on the project.

ICONA Resorts Chairman Eustace Mita’s purchased the property back in 2019 for 4.5 Million with plans to completely renovate the building.

This motel would be transformed into the first of the Mahalo brand motels called “Mahalo Wildwood Crest.”

The original planning and zoning application said the renovations included the addition of a 6th floor (containing 14 new hotel units), the addition of 5 floors of 13 hotel rooms along Ocean Avenue, the renovation/widening of all exterior balconies, the expansion of an existing 2nd-floor sun deck to include a new pool area, the demolition of the existing surface pool to accommodate more parking, and the construction of a new lobby, on the premises located at 6501 Ocean Avenue.

A pandemic, lawsuits, and funding holds caused the project to be delayed. It wasn’t until the beginning of the year that ICONA was able to resubmit plans to the board to get moving on the project again, but their new application caused an uproar in the community.

In their current application, ICONA wants to add a new building along Ocean Avenue with would remove the view corridors for the motels West of the motel.

Also See: Hallmark Movie Being Filmed At The Jersey Shore

When the motels of Wildwood Crest were built in the 1950s and 1960s, motel owners came to an understanding that all motel rooms shall provide an open-view corridor perpendicular to the water’s edge.

This gave all guests staying at a motel a view of the beach. For decades many owners have preserved the view corridor along the avenues but during the pandemic, ICONA’s plans to block these corridors were passed.

Since it’s been over two years since ICONA’s Mahalo plans were passed, they needed to get approved again.

On April 5th, Wildwood Crest held their monthly zoning and planning meeting and many members of the public turned out to voice their concerns over the project. Most of the public showed they are not happy with the plans to block the view corridor.

(See the photo below of what the proposed view will look like)

Also See: Wildwood Says No to Weed Sales, Addresses Viral Photo

For over four hours testimony was held and was forced to end early due to how late the meeting was running.

While the zoning and planning board is due to meet again in May, this application won’t be brought up again on June 7th.

It is at that time that the board will make its final decision.