Dewey’s comp plan working group makes history

Not a single member of the public was in attendance, but when the group of volunteers working on Dewey’s next comprehensive plan met June 11, it marked the first time in town history a public meeting was held in a town-owned building on Route 1.

Much of the ocean and bay town is defined by the state-owned, four-lane highway that runs through its heart, and until recently the town has never had a physical presence on Route 1.

The town purchased the single-story structure, painted an unmissable beach-umbrella blue, in March 2015, one of two buildings the town bought on the neighboring lots at 1503 and 1505 Coastal Highway. The other building was in disrepair and demolished in May to make room for an employee parking lot at town hall, around the corner on Rodney Avenue.

Since the late 1980s, most town meetings have been held in the Dewey Beach Life Saving Station on the end of Dagsworthy Avenue. Occassionaly, meetings are held in town hall, the Dewey Beach Lions Club on McKinley Avenue, and the Baycenter or the Best Western on Dickinson Avenue.

The town has completed minor renovations to the building to make it usable for town business, and, in addition to the small meeting room, the building is now home to the town’s parking department. The meeting agenda called the building the Dewey Beach Town Hall Annex. 

Prior to the meeting, Town Manager Marc Applebaum said the building would be used temporarily while the town decides what to do with the property as a whole.

The town’s comprehensive plan working group is charged with plotting how the town will approach development and unforeseen issues over the next decade or more, and, in some ways, it’s appropriate this group was the first to hold a public meeting in the new building.

The room was a little small, because of this group’s size, said David King, chair of the town’s comprehensive plan working group, following the meeting. For the smaller committees, it will work, he said.

Meeting discussion

The 26-member working group, half of which were at this meeting, has completed five meetings of a 14-meeting schedule, with a goal of developing a draft comprehensive plan by the end of October, so a final draft can be approved by town council in early 2017.

King said the group still has a bunch of work to do, but it looks like they’re beginning to narrow their focus on the main issues.

The most recent meeting centered around three topics – the town’s natural environment, the completion of property owner and visitor surveys, and the town’s built environment.

The group understands that part of what makes the town appealing – ocean, bay, beach, marshes – is also going to be part of its demise in the future. The group is wordsmithing an idea centered around how the town, in conjunction with the county and state, will adapt to sea-level rise while preserving what natural environment remains.

The comprehensive plan is a state-mandated exercise all towns in Delaware must go through, and community participation through the process plays a large part in the state’s acceptance of the final document.

Group member Gary Persinger, who also sits on the town’s planning commission, has been tasked with implementing the surveys. He said he’s planning on giving business and property owners the same survey, with a separate survey for visitors.

“Simplicity equals a response,” he said, adding that in addition to mailing and emailing the questionnaire, the plan is to use the online response from Survey Monkey to help compile all the information.

The group discussed ways to get responses from visitors who don’t rent and are only in town for the day. Suggestions included hiring someone to walk the beach with an iPad and ask beachgoers to fill out a quick survey or to ask customers at restaurants.

Group member Jimmy O’Conor, owner of Woody’s Dewey Beach Bar and Grill, said he’s already told his staff they’re going to have to do it.

The discussion on the town’s built environment and possible changes to the zoning map was broad and included topics such as the floor-to-area ratio in residential development, moving town utilities underground, annexation potential and what to do about nonconforming structures that want to address flooding concerns but under current code can’t do anything about them.

T.J. Redefer, local realtor and member of the family who started the land-lease company Rehoboth By the Sea in the north part of town, is the point person for the zoning discussion. He encouraged his fellow members to walk the streets, look at the current zoning maps and make suggestions before the group’s next meeting.

“Look at the zoning code and think forward,” he said.

The comprehensive plan’s next meeting is scheduled for 9 a.m., Saturday, June 25, at the Dewey Beach Lions Club, 115 McKinley Ave.