Two firms selected for Lewes-Rehoboth water taxi study

A water taxi transporting citizens around the Lewes-Rehoboth Canal is one step closer to reality.

Landscape Architectural Service of Viola and Rummel, Klepper and Kahl of Baltimore has won a bid to provide a feasibility study of a water taxi along the canal.

The study will also examine possible docking areas in Lewes. The banks below the Rehoboth Beach Museum are viewed as the best site in Rehoboth.

In January, the Lewes-Rehoboth Canal Improvement Association received a $25,000 grant from the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Grant program to conduct the study, which will also look into a solar-powered water taxi.

Commissioner Pat Coluzzi, president of the association said she is hopeful for more grant money to help fund the taxi. Funding could also come from possible public/private partnerships.

“I believe it will be, not only a tourist attraction, but actually useful for getting to and from places. And I think there will start to be interconnectivity for the rest of the beach towns. Dewey’s interested, Milton’s interested, so it’s a start,” she said.

Mark Carter, spokesman for the association, said the study will take two to four months.

Carter and Coluzzi both said no businesses have been approached to partner on the project. Carter said the association is waiting for the feasibility study to be completed in order to properly present the plan. He said that Dogfish Head Craft Brewery is on board to contribute funding.

Carter said the actual construction timeline would be determined after the completion of the feasibility study.