|
The Rehoboth Beach Homeowners’ Association (RBHA) is so serious about keeping downtown Rehoboth Beach commerce alive, if not flourishing, that it dubbed a recent agenda item “the Nation’s Capital meets Mayberry.”
To dispel myths that the RBHA does not support resort town businesses, members held a board meeting Saturday, Feb. 18.
“They used to call it the Nation’s Summer Capital. It’s not being advertised as such anymore,” said RBHA President Libby Stiff, noting Rehoboth is a town defined by resident and business-owner conflict.
While no one can pinpoint the notion that RBHA is negligent about supporting local commerce, its members say the perception persists. Some say the reputation began after RBHA members supported recent city ordinances, seen by others as favoring residents – not businesses.
Still, RBHA members say there is a need for tighter and more open relationships between homeowners, private and nonprofit business organizations.
Hoyte Decker, RBHA treasurer, hinted at a proposition that Stiff quickly supported.
“A resolution would offer that the homeowner’s association is pro-business – not just support the business community, but partner with them,” said Stiff.
While no resolution was voted upon, the RBHA invited four local business people to speak to the board: Dale Lomas, Crosswinds Motel owner and former president of the Rehoboth Beach-Dewey Beach Chamber of Commerce; local real-estate agent and former commissioner Joe Hill; Joyce Koos, owner of The Bake Shoppe on Rehoboth Avenue; and Jeff Hamer, Fins restaurant owner.
Hill and Hamer were unable to attend the meeting with last-minute engagements, said Decker, but Lomas and Koos were on hand to provide their perspectives.
Support moneymakers
Lomas, who came to Rehoboth in 1976, was introduced to downtown Rehoboth’s inner workings as a caramel-corn maker at Dolle’s. “I stayed there for 20 years. I learned a lot from the old ladies who ran the place,” he said, “but Rehoboth has changed so much since 1977.”
Although still a fledgling concept when it comes to year-round sustainability, Rehoboth businesses need to make their money by Sept. 15 to remain viable, Lomas said. The city’s forefathers and officials cannot be faulted with the seasonal business cycle or exorbitant commercial rents, but they can be faulted with passing restrictive ordinances that hurt businesses, he said. Those ordinances should be eased, along with a more supportive attitude toward resort town shops, said Lomas.
Lomas bought the Crosswinds Hotel at 312 Rehoboth Ave., in 1998. He later wanted to install a swimming pool but quickly found himself encountering citywide red tape, after spending thousands of dollars in his pursuit. Years ago, he said he was told he could build a 5,000-square-foot conference room, but only a 15-by-15-square-foot swimming pool for his 21-unit hotel.
“That’s a perfect example of a situation where a business person was trying to make a go as a family business,” said Lomas. Because of ordinances implemented since the 1980s, doing business has become increasingly unfriendly in Rehoboth, he said.
Lomas also referred to a vending machine ordinance that prohibited the devices. The ordinance was just the first in a series of laws that hurt downtown commerce, he said.
“As a resident, I was shocked. It was almost like there was a conspiracy,” said Rehoboth resident Marcia Maldeis, in reference to the vending machine ordinance.
“It raised issues about the process,” said Decker.
“It was a slimy sneakiness,” said former Rehoboth Commissioner Mark Aguirre.
Perhaps, the vending machine ordinance was a harbinger of more ordinances yet to come, said Lomas. “I think the business community has been stabbed six or seven times over the years.”
Such obstacles include sign ordinances and the recently passed floor-to-area ratio (FAR), which reduced size and density of Rehoboth buildings, including those in commercial districts.
“Whatever happened to relaxing the commercial FAR?” asked RBHA board member Greg Gause.
Lomas said he found it baffling that residents said Dolle’s Candyland, 1 Rehoboth Ave., was a business landmark that represents Rehoboth’s character, because ordinances today prohibit its very existence. He referred to sign restrictions and tighter parking regulations corresponding to downtown residential units.
While Lomas favored Dolle’s as a befitting architectural example of Rehoboth, he also said it’s a long-gone probability for future entrepreneurs. Aside from new ordinances, which hinder the business community, he said, some city projects have added to their demise.
“You throw in a circle and five years of streetscape, you probably have a business community that is dying,” he said. He said he thinks the residential community, under RBHA, is doing a good job.
“We like you. The problem with the town is that we’re pretty much split,” said Stiff. She said that at times the relationship between businesses and residents is adversarial. “The business community’s economy is based on tourism. The residential community is not.”
Mixed-use entities are the very reason many residents moved to Rehoboth in the first place. “I think people need to take a look at Bethany Beach and say, ‘Why don’t I live in Bethany Beach? It’s dead,’” she said. “There’s a rule in the real estate community that the people who fight development the most just moved into the area themselves.”
Beach business as usual?
Lomas said divisions exist, too, within the business community. Commercial landlord owners are not troubled with restrictions, because downtown location ensure high demand and high rents.
“Many checks are sent to Virginia or Pennsylvania. They’re making a fortune. There’s quite a bit of that in this town,” said Lomas.
Tenants who pay exorbitant rents are exasperated with trying to sustain their businesses. They are too busy to participate in town politics and civic functions because of time constraints, especially throughout the short season, which has yet to become year-round.
Sometimes, faulty business plans may be to blame.
“The tenants are mad as hell,” he said.
Finally, only a few downtown businesses actually own their own space, he noted. Lomas mentioned his own Crosswinds Hotel, Nicola Pizza and Ibach’s Candy By the Sea, as examples, but he said there are too few business-owned properties.
Lomas said that until recently, he was unable to participate politically or civically because of business demands. “The business community says the commissioners are pro-residential,” he said. “If you just look at what’s happened over the past 20 years, the ordinances that were enacted, the commissioners have been anti-business. We seem like we’ve gotten to a point where a lot of ordinances are half-a****,” he said.
“What would you like to see us do?” asked Stiff.
“It would be nice if they did support and were more vocal, if they stepped up during the ordinances,” he said.
Stiff said in an effort to increase membership and work closer with area businesses, the RBHA is going to send a mass mailing within the next couple of months.
Soon she will retrieve a list of all businesses in Rehoboth. After putting them in categories based on the nature of the service each business provides, the RBHA will poll residents.
Along with the RBHA newsletter, she will send a questionnaire that will ask what businesses the locals promote and why. For more information, go to www.rbhomeowners.com.
|
