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For the second time in as many months, a Rehoboth Beach commission has been hit with a Freedom of Information Act complaint.
Rehoboth resident and former member of the planning commission Mable Granke has filed the complaint, alleging the planning commission did not give proper public notice for a vote on March 7, regarding property at 507 Lee St.
Granke said if allowed to stand, the planners’ decision sets a dangerous precedent: that the city code can be set aside whenever the planners choose to do so.
On Jan. 17, the commission denied a subdivision application for the Lee Street property due to a crooked side-yard lot line.
The applicant, Lee Street LLC, came back before the commission the next month requesting a reconsideration of the application and a new public hearing, based on a revised side-yard lot line.
City code states that a denied applicant must wait 12 months before submitting a new application.
The commission, by a 3-2 vote, agreed to grant a waiver of the 12-month clause, while the applicant agreed to drop an appeal of the decision to the city commissioners.
In her Freedom of Information Act complaint, Granke said the agenda of the March 7 meeting gave no indication the commissioners would consider a waiver, only reconsideration.
“Based on this information, I saw no reason to attend the scheduled meeting or comment on the same. I strongly object and had I known the subject of a waiver of the code would even be suggested and acted upon, I would have been present,” she says in the complaint.
“Reconsideration means the opportunity to look at a proposal again for discussion and decision. A waiver means the total set-aside of rules and regulations which, I submit, are depended upon for consistency in the administration of our land-use regulations.”
Granke said the decision to waive the code sets a dangerous and harmful precedent. She is asking the Attorney General’s Office to acknowledge a violation of the Freedom of Information Act and void the vote for a waiver.
“The Planning Commission should reissue a public notice and agenda that specifies both the request for consideration and the request for waiver, and also specifies that the application will be considered on the merits contingent on the votes on either or both of the two other preliminary requests (a waiver and the application itself),” she said.
Granke said she had nothing against the property owners and that her concern was about the process by which the commission made its decision.
She said if a waiver of the code is going to be discussed, there should be an explanation how and why.
At the March 7 meeting, city solicitor Glenn Mandalas said the notice on the agenda was broad enough to alert the public that the Lee Street application would be overturned.
Mandalas was not available for comment on this case at press time.
The city will have the opportunity to respond to the complaint and Granke will have the chance to rebut. The decision will then be in the hands of the Attorney General’s Office.
Granke was part of a similar complaint, filed with Commissioner Dennis Barbour and Rehoboth resident James Barnett, against the city commissioners’ decision in October to reduce the planning commission from nine to seven members.
The city filed a response and the plaintiffs have recently filed a rebuttal.
Mandalas said the Attorney General’s Office is now reviewing the matter.
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