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Thom Harvey has been taking a lot of shots for a proposed 68-foot luxury resort he proposed for the Ruddertowne commercial parcel in Dewey Beach. The Harvey, Hanna and Associates president and Dewey Beach Enterprises principal came out swinging at a Thursday, Nov. 8, forum when he announced site plans have been filed for a 35-foot complex that he said was engineered to the exact specifications of the town.
“I dare you to reject it,” Harvey said.
The plans were filed at town hall the day of Harvey’s announcement. Site plans were filed with the county the next day, according to Dewey Beach Enterprises attorney Shawn Tucker.
The design of the resort was aptly described as a box on stilts. Harvey simply said: “I don’t like it.” He added that he would not abandon the project, especially since he, along with Jim Bauerle and David Sills, plunked down $12.5 million for the stock purchase of Ruddertowne owner Dewey Beach Enterprises.
The new plans cut out some of the amenities offered by the 68-foot hotel/condo hybrid including expanded public parking, a baywalk, public restrooms, a rooftop restaurant with public access for the views and the Baycenter. Bauerle noted that the detractors of the project have yet to come up with a plan to provide these things. Instead, Bauerle said, they have focused solely on the height.
“We’re fixated on 35 feet,” he said. “I want to hear how you’re going to solve these problems.”
Hotel rooms are also gone, because the town does not allow new hotels.
“You’ve got a resort town where you can’t have a hotel,” Tucker said Monday, Nov. 12. “I have never heard that before.”
But Tucker was still optimistic that a compromise could be reached, saying: “At the end of the day, we hope reasonable minds will prevail.”
Commissioners absent
Noticeably absent from Thursday’s forum, sponsored by the Rehoboth Beach-Dewey Beach Chamber of Commerce, were the town commissioners.
Town attorney John Brady issued a letter, Nov. 8, to the council and planners, advising them not to attend. Brady’s letter said the mere appearance of a commissioner could be construed as supporting the project. He was also concerned about the height of the proposed building, although that has since been changed. Brady also pointed out the council was scheduled to vote on the Ruddertowne proposal at its next meeting.
Brady originally advised all commissioners not to attend public meetings in their official capacity, but it was not until the day of the forum that Brady urged them to abandon that particular meeting altogether.
Commissioner Claire Walsh disputed that advice, and she made Brady fully aware of it during her closing comments two days later at the Saturday, Nov. 10 council meeting.
“I think that legal opinion was as close to a travesty as I have ever seen,” Walsh said.
Walsh went on to question why planning and zoning co-chairman David King has been allowed to retain his seat despite the state ethic commission’s opinion that he should not vote on matters regarding the proposed Ruddertowne development. Bauerle had brought up the same point earlier in Saturday’s meeting.
In his defense, King said that the commissioners had previously reached the consensus that he could retain his position. However, that council did not include current commissioners Diane Hanson and Rich Hanewinckel.
King said the planners voted on zoning issues and not the Ruddertowne proposal. However, that proposal was discussed and Ruddertowne was listed on the agenda for the planners rezoning meetings. King was taken aback at the criticism of his participation in the meeting. “I feel that this is an attack,” he said.
King was in attendance at the meeting to deliver the planning and zoning report for an absent Harry Wilson. When King made a public comment earlier in the meeting he introduced himself, on the record, as co-chairman of planning and zoning. Commissioner Dale Cooke, who also disagreed with Brady’s advice, was quick to point out that King should not introduce himself in that manner.
Contact Eddie Phillipps at eddiep@capegazette.com
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