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From building a $6 million parking garage to waiving height or density restrictions for new construction, a Dewey Beach committee says it’s serious about negotiating with Highway One LLP.
An ad hoc committee made up of residents and commissioners said it will propose a variety of options to convince Highway One LLP to modify its filed site plans calling for tearing down businesses in Ruddertowne and the Rusty Rudder to put up townhouses.
No representative from Highway One LLP attended the meeting, but the committee discussed how it would like to see the partnership’s property developed – keeping as many commercial operations as possible intact to draw in visitors.
Committee chairman and town Commissioner Mike Eisenhauer said he wants to develop three or four proposals to present to Highway One partners. “There are a lot of ideas floating around,” he said.
The ideas include maintaining most of the businesses and building a public parking garage on Highway One’s parking lot site. Under the plan, Dewey Beach hopes it could get an inexpensive 99-year land lease from Highway One. Other ideas included operating Ruddertowne’s Baycenter as a public convention center.
But those plans, especially the garage, saw opposition.
“The town is talking about building Highway One a $10 million parking garage so they could put up more townhouses,” said David King, co-chairman of the planning and zoning committee.
“I consider Dewey Beach a barrier island and the more weight you put on it the more you’re shoving it into the bay,” said resident Mary Nelson. She said a parking garage would be too heavy for Dewey Beach.
Mayor Dell Tush does not support the garage. She said the town wouldn’t recoup the cost of building one, which is estimated to be $6 million.
She also said parking is only a problem on weekends during the summer. Instead, she suggested easing parking permit requirements to allow visitors to park for free in existing spaces during evening hours.
Eisenhauer said building a garage in Ruddertowne would solve parking problems in south Dewey, but not in the north, where homeowners complain about streets lined with cars. He suggested the town also lease an empty plot of land near the Bottle and Cork to allow for more parking spaces.
Tush said if the town wants to pursue the parking garage project, it should not go it alone. “If you want a garage and we lease it, we could sub-lease the property if we found an investor who wanted to lose money. The town would make money because we would lease it and they could lose from it. There are businesses out there that need losses because their other business make so much,” she said.
Tush called the idea of putting one floor of the garage underground ridiculous, saying it would surely flood.
Rehoboth Beach-Dewey Beach Chamber of Commerce CEO Carol Everhart researched the cost of a possible garage. She said according to builders looking into a garage in Rehoboth, it would cost from $12,000 to $20,000 per parking space for a 300-space garage.
“That’s a drop-in-the-bucket estimation. If Dewey wants to work with businesses and bring some to town, and we’ll spend that kind of money, we should put it toward incentives instead of losing $4 million, $5 million, $6 million on a parking garage,” said committee member and resident Rick Dryer.
He said the point of compromising with Highway One is to maintain a thriving business district, and he suggested the town help new business owners pay for first-year business fees and for new signs.
Tush said the town should encourage new businesses to enter town through a beautification program and by applying for federal grants to pay for small upgrades. “We should start beautification with small things like putting out planters and encourage businesses to come to Dewey,” she said.
Instead, some committee members favor readjusting density restrictions to allow Highway One to build many units in a specific portion of Ruddertowne, leaving the rest for commercial operations.
“What about allowing more density on a smaller plot of land, and we still get to keep the businesses?
“This is out-of-the-box thinking, but you can juggle density and square footage until the town and businesses are happy,” said Commissioner Dale Cooke, an audience member.
To the dismay of some, committee member Commissioner Claire Walsh, suggested considering a wider range of options, such as relieving height or parking regulations to make building the townhouses easier while keeping the restaurants and shops in Ruddertowne.
But King and others said allowing tall buildings would be opening Pandora’s box because the Route 1 corridor would quickly become a valley between rows of condos and homes.
While considering proposals, the committee also wants to maintain rights the town already has. “We need to be guaranteed we have access to the bay. We’ve talked about a bayside boardwalk. If they build townhouses and close access to the bay, then the town loses something that’s very valuable,” King said.
Tush said the state owns the land surrounding the bay as well as the water so the town doesn’t need to negotiate to keep public access.
“We want to guarantee our option to have public access and even a boardwalk one day,” said committee member Vivian Barry.
The committee agreed to meet with Highway One representative to discuss the parking garage proposal and other ideas.
The next meeting is at 6 p.m., Friday, Feb. 16, at the Lifesaving Station on Dagsworthy Street.
Contact Molly Albertson at malbertson@capegazette.com
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