Park by the Sea, N.J. Part of a plan to restore Funtown Pier, the once-iconic amusement park damaged by Hurricane Sandy in 2012 and a devastating boardwalk fire in 2013, has been approved by the Seaside Park Planning Board.
According to a report in the Seaside-Lavallette Shorebeat today, the approval permits the pier’s footprint to expand but does not currently include any plans for rides or buildings.
The pier’s owner, William Major, suggested extending the concrete pier by 88 by 100 feet and adding a 200-foot-tall Sling Shot thrill ride, an elevated office structure, and a storage facility. The planning board, however, split the application at the request of his lawyer, Stephen R. Leone, authorizing only the pier expansion and postponing decisions on the proposed structures and ride until later. According to Frank Little, a consulting planner and engineer for the project, [Major] must secure local site plan permission for the extension because the current DEP permits for the pier are about to expire.
Earlier this month, the planning board was presented with the idea to reconstruct the pier.
Although the board’s decision makes it possible to build the pier expansion, it comes with a clause that forbids building structures, rides, or other uses on the pier unless expressly authorized at a later hearing. By February 1, 2025, Major must set up a hearing for the project’s building and ride components, failing which those parts of the application could be rejected. Major would have to begin the application process over if rejected, Shorebeat said.
Since local zoning currently restricts ride heights to 100 feet, Funtown Pier will require an exception from the borough’s planning board in order to install the 200-foot Sling Shot attraction. Major, who has previously said that larger thrill rides are required to make the pier financially viable, is still upset about the height restriction, which was upped from a previous limit of 50 feet.
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