Despite appearances, building in Rehoboth is business as usual

It might look like builders in Rehoboth Beach are building like it's 2005, but the city’s building inspector says it’s actually business as usual.

Rehoboth building inspector Terri Sullivan said building permits are down slightly from last year.

Not including December, the building and licensing department has issued 821 permits. Last year, the department issued 894 permits. The city has collected $396,000 in building permit fees this year, compared to last year’s total of $514,000.

Sullivan said November was a slow month, but there are still some permits that have not yet been approved. She said two or three houses should be getting building permits any day.

The trend this year, Sullivan said, has been for smaller projects, such as kitchen remodeling, as opposed to huge home remodeling projects.

Sullivan had no numbers for new construction projects, although a walk through town shows a number of new homes are going up. She said several vacant lots are now set for building, such as 2 and 4 Oak Ave. and 36 Columbia Ave., all of which were recently partitioned by the Rehoboth Beach Planning Commission.

Rehoboth prohibits new construction and demolitions from May 15 to Sept. 15, although interior renovations are allowed. She said this year, most builders waited for the end of the summer season to begin work, so a number of projects have gotten under way in the last three months.

Besides single-family houses, two large-scale housing developments are also getting under way.

Oak Grove at the Beach, a 15-lot major subdivision on Rehoboth Avenue at Canal Street, has not yet sold any lots according to co-owner Paul Lovett. Plans are in place to build a spec house near Rehoboth Avenue to sell and to spark interest in the other lots, he said. Oak Grove was the first major subdivision approved by the city in nearly 30 years.

Lovett said it has been a very active time for building in Rehoboth. He said 29 new homes have been built between Silver Lake and North Shores, with more breaking ground. Sullivan said there have been 14 new homes constructed between January and November.

"The market is active for new construction," Lovett said.

Just outside of town, Schell Brothers has begun work on The Avenue, 11 single-family homes at Rehoboth Avenue Extended and Church Street. Schell Brothers co-owner Chris Schell said one house has already been sold as site work continues.

The Avenue site had been a vacant lot for several years after plans for a townhouse complex fell through.