Bill Barlow

OCEAN CITY — After hours of impassioned comments, City Council voted 6-1 Thursday against a resolution asking the Planning Board to consider naming the former Wonderland Pier as an area in need of redevelopment.

A yes vote could have been a first small step toward a proposal for an Icona hotel, which owner and developer Eustace Mita has campaigned for since last fall. His plans included a 250-plus-room hotel, preserving some rides at the site, to include parking underneath.

Instead, Mita said he would walk away from the proposal and accept the first offer for the property at the assessed value, which he said was $25 million.

“We will immediately put it up for sale, and we will exit Ocean City with the hotel business, and that will be the end of that,” Mita said after the vo

See Full Page