Unicoaster proposal for Atlantic City Boardwalk voted down

A developer has controlled it for years under an earlier redevelopment agreement, and Mayor Marty Small Sr.’s administration had proposed making a new deal with 2110-2118 ACPB LLC, of Fort Lee, to build a thrill ride called a “unicoaster” there.

But City Council unanimously voted down signing a memorandum of understanding with ACPB last week after residents and business owners complained the developer can’t be trusted. “That Brighton Park property has been held hostage by the very people it would be given to,” said Ben Hunter at Wednesday night’s council meeting.

“For years, there has been broken glass, it’s full of trash — an eyesore in beautiful Brighton Park,” Hunter said. “There has got to be a better project that can actually happen. If it’s given to this developer, nothing will happen again. It will be a brash, loud steel structure next to a beautiful park and war memorial.”

No one from the company spoke at the meeting, and the company could not be reached for comment.

A unicoaster is a round thrill ride that spins and has arms that move up and down.

The Small Administration had put out a request for proposals on redevelopment of the property a few months ago.

In addition to the unicoaster proposal, it also generated a restaurant plan, but Small’s administration chose to pursue the thrill ride.

The Boardwalk Rotunda is next to the Korean War Memorial on the Boardwalk, on the edge of Brighton Park.

Local resident and business owner Sean Reardon had proposed a plan for a barbecue restaurant there, he said Monday.

“This developer has had it 10 years. To award it right back to somebody who leaves the place in such ruins is an insult,” Reardon said at the meeting. “I am a local city resident. I should have been given some preference,” said Reardon, who owns two Boardwalk Billy’s frozen daquiri bars at 2613 and 1537 Boardwalk. “I paid my $1,000 fee, and was never even called to the planning meeting,” Reardon said.

Mayor Small said Monday he is “not sure as of now” whether the city will now pursue an MOU with Reardon for his restaurant idea. Reardon said his idea would fit in much better with the space and area.

“People could sit outside and look over the park, look over the Boardwalk,” Reardon said. “I was trying to get some cuisine on the Boardwalk versus what everybody else does like chicken fingers and a little bit of everything.”

If the city issues another request for proposals he will apply again, Reardon said.

About seven or eight years ago Boardwalk Ambassadors used the Rotunda for an information center, said Councilman Jesse Kurtz.

Kurtz said the developer who proposed the unicoaster also owns all the vacant land between Indiana and Illinois avenues from the Boardwalk to Pacific avenues.

Council on Wednesday also rejected signing an MOU with Waste to Green Energy Solution LLC to build a trash to energy plant on city-owned land in the Venice Park neighborhood.

Dozens of residents came out to the meeting to stress they do not want the project in their neighborhood.

Venice Park is a waterfront area with more owner-occupied housing than is found in much of the city.

Council also postponed a vote on a third redevelopment idea for an apartment tower on city-owned land next to the Enclave Condominiums in the Chelsea section, after Enclave residents expressed concerns about increasing density in an area already densely developed with South Jersey Gas and the new Stockton University city campus.

By Michelle Brunetti