We are 12-year residents of Rehoboth, with property abutting the current Bay Mart Shopping Center whose owner proposes to develop as BeachWalk. We are extremely pleased that this area may become a residential community, but we are quite concerned about certain aspects of the development as proposed. Our concerns center on safety of those within the development, the surrounding neighborhood, and travelers on Route 1 if the owner is allowed to develop the property as he proposes. We identify three significant hazards.
Currently, there is a traffic light and an entrance from Route 1 to Bay Mart Shopping Center. The traffic light can be controlled by public safety officers, allowing them to stop north- and southbound traffic on Route 1, and turn into the shopping center. The developer proposes to prohibit access to the BeachWalk community from Route 1 and move the development's entrance to Terrace Road, which bounds the shopping center on the south. If this were allowed to happen, fire trucks attempting to enter the development approaching from the north would have to pass Terrace Road, make a U-turn at Robinson Drive, turn right onto Terrace, and then left into the development.
According to the Rehoboth Beach fire chief, the ladder truck would need the entire highway plus the adjoining bicycle lanes and sidewalks to make the turn. In addition, the fire and police department currently can control the traffic light to regulate traffic. Without an entrance to the BeachWalk development at the light, they would have to rely on their sirens alone to negotiate a U-turn across oncoming traffic, creating a dangerous situation for our public safety personnel and all Route 1 traffic.
The extremely narrow streets in the proposed development - only 20 feet wide - pose an additional hazard. The developer proposes 63 houses on seven-plus acres, most with five or six bedrooms and baths. Off-street parking, with few exceptions, will be no more than two cars per house. It is expected that many owners will rent these properties during the summer months, most likely to renters with multiple cars.
Where will they park? If they park on the 20-foot-wide streets, there will be no way for emergency vehicles to pass, and the Rehoboth police will not be able to enforce any "no parking" homeowners' rules. With virtually no yards and no sidewalks, pedestrians, bicyclers and children playing on the narrow streets will be at risk as well.
Finally, with the proposed Terrace Road entrance, people staying in the development who drive to the beach or to downtown Rehoboth will turn left on Terrace, right on Blackstone, left on Robinson Drive, and left again onto Bayard Avenue at the south end of the Silver Lake bridge. During the summer, Terrace and Blackstone (both one-way, narrow, without sidewalks and currently with very light vehicular traffic) are filled with pedestrians, strollers and bicycles. The Blackstone-Robinson intersection is notoriously dangerous, as is the Robinson-Bayard Avenue intersection.
The property could well be developed by designing an entrance at the Route 1 traffic light which accommodates safe access to the BeachWalk community, widening the internal streets, and creating a walking/bicycle path (rather than a vehicular entrance/exit) for residents of the development to access Terrace Road, the beach and downtown. This would be a win-win for the development, the neighborhood and the city.
We urge the city commissioners to uphold the decision of the planning commission: The proposed project is a major subdivision, and to proceed with the project, the developer must submit the required subdivision application.
Peter and Victoria Jennings
Rehoboth Beach
-
A letter to the editor expresses a reader's opinion and, as such, is not reflective of the editorial opinions of this newspaper.
To submit a letter to the editor for publishing, send an email to newsroom@capegazette.com. Letters must be signed and include a telephone number and address for verification. Please keep letters to 500 words or fewer. We reserve the right to edit for content and length. Letters should be responsive to issues addressed in the Cape Gazette rather than content from other publications or media. Only one letter per author will be published every 30 days. Letters restating information and opinions already offered by the same author will not be used. Letters must focus on issues of general, local concern, not personalities or specific businesses.
