Avenue Inn project moves to public hearing

For the owners of the Avenue Inn and the Rehoboth Beach Planning Commission, the dilemma is doing what everyone wants to do versus what is legally allowed.

The hotel’s owners brought in new sets of plans Sept. 12 that conform with the city building code for a proposed 28-room expansion of the 33 Wilmington Ave. property. The commission approved moving ahead to a public hearing based on those plans, but both sides would rather use the first set of drawings presented at an Aug. 15 concept review. Those drawings however did not conform to the zoning code.

Chairman Preston Littleton said, “We can’t approve anything that’s illegal.”

“We are trying our best to improve the character of the neighborhood and the pedestrian friendly qualities of the street per the recommendations of the CDP,” said Avenue Inn co-owner Alex Moore. “Unfortunately, we find some very minor but important aesthetic details hard to incorporate as they are in conflict with some specifics of the zoning code.”

Both plans call for an 8,000-square-foot addition that will cover two lots adjacent to the hotel, currently occupied by Planet X Café and the former Cypress restaurant. The expansion would include 28 new rooms, restaurant and retail space and an underground parking garage.

After being granted a variance in July by the board of adjustment from the floor-to-area ratio and lot coverage requirements, building inspector Terri Sullivan found several design elements forbidden by the zoning code.

The expansion needs a handicapped parking space on the street-level, plus, the street parking lot and the hotel were under different limited liability companies.

Plans for the expansion include a stair tower for access to the upper floors; city code only allows one stair tower over 42 feet and the Avenue Inn already has a tower serving the existing building. The removal of the stair tower is the most obvious difference between the two renderings presented to the commission.

Finally, the proposed addition encroaches into city stepback requirements. Per city code, commercial buildings at least 14 feet high must stepback away from the street at a 30-degree angle. A building cannot encroach into that angle, which Sullivan said the proposed expansion does.

Littleton said the problems with the expansion have nothing to do with occupancy but are design elements. He supports the idea behind the project.

“We want to see it done right,” Littleton said.

“We are appreciative of the thoughtfulness and efforts that were being made by the members to get the best plan approved and moving forward but there is no clear direction at this point thus a great deal of uncertainty and a potentially lengthy process could be before us,” Moore said.

He said the hotel wants to have a project that truly improves Wilmington Avenue but that will still be on schedule for opening in Spring 2016.