NORTH WILDWOOD — Now that Wildwood has given the thumbs-up to an extra hour of bicycling on the Boardwalk, local merchants have focused their efforts on lobbying against the measure with this city's officials, since they have the ultimate say in the matter.

In a July 19 letter to North Wildwood Mayor Bill Henfey, Jim Dipetrillo, owner of the Coliseum Market at 1601 Boardwalk, said he and approximately 100 other Boardwalk merchants were not in favor of extending bike hours to noon.

Signers include restaurants, fudge shops, T-shirt stores, beach gear purveyors, arcades, games and more.

Bikes are currently allowed on the Boardwalk from 7 until 11 a.m.

Wildwood Commissioners approved the change on July 14, but the measure does not take effect unless North Wildwood OKs the additional hour as well.

Owners of bike rental businesses have pushed for the change noting that their customers want to ride on the Boardwalk longer. Four hours isn't enough, they argue, particularly because business really doesn't pick up until around 9 a.m.

Boardwalk merchants countered that their businesses would be hurt by this change because shoppers don't want to deal with a Boardwalk full of bicycles.

Dipetrillo was more specific in his letter to Henfey, citing the following reasons for the storeowners' objection:

• Stores do most of their morning business from 10 a.m. to noon before visitors hit the beach
• Safety concerns because the Tram Car operates between 11 a.m. and noon
• There is no proposed trial period to be followed by evaluation on the effect to Boardwalk businesses
• Senior citizens are avoiding the Boardwalk during bike hours fearing injury
• Operations at bike shops not confined, already interfere with adjacent stores
• Why can't bike traffic be directed to the recently established alternate bike paths

In another letter from July 22, Dipetrillo proposed an alternative to allowing bikes until noon.

He suggested a "stroller hour" on the Boardwalk,

"This concept would bring a wide variety of visitors to the Boardwalk at 11 a.m. – noon, including grandparents, parents, infants in strollers and older siblings, more people than bikers," he wrote.

He said merchants and stroller-pushers he interviewed loved the idea.

According to Dipetrillo, his idea calls for entertainment for the youngsters such as clowns, stilt-walkers and "school carnival" games. The plan would allow bikes to extend their hours on the lower beach Boardwalk in North Wildwood. He also asked that Wildwood accelerate its plans to build a lower Boardwalk so that bike could continue through that town as well.

"I believe this option would be a win, win situation for all," he wrote.

Henfey told the Herald he was in favor of the extra hour, but didn't want to make any changes until more investigation was done and more notice was given to Boardwalk shop owners and leaseholders.

In addition to the merchants' objections, Henfey noted that signage with posted bike hours would need to change on the length of the Boardwalk, and Tram Car operators would need to weigh in on the change.

He noted that Ocean City has a pedestrian walkway painted on its Boardwalk to keep bikes from hindering walkers.

"Maybe we should consider something like that," he said.

Henfey added that the loss of motels had changed the demographics on the island and made it harder for bike rental businesses to stay afloat.

"We need to do something to help these businesses and I don't think the extra hour will hurt other businesses too much," he said.

Regarding Dipetrillo's stroller-hour idea, Henfey said strollers were already allowed on the Boardwalk and bikes on the lower Boardwalk at all times. He didn't see how the proposal would help struggling bike rental businesses.