Share: 

Lewes planners Waterfront Preserve vote questioned

September 20, 2019

On Aug. 19, the Lewes Planning Commission voted to grant preliminary plan consent to the Lewes Waterfront Preserve subdivision (formerly known as the Brittingham property), contemplating construction of 90 townhouses on New Road. Of the nine members appointed to serve on the commission, five attended the meeting.

Upon introduction of the agenda item, the acting chair recused herself and exited the meeting room, leaving four members present to consider the item, possibly form a consensus, and take a vote. 

A temporary chair was then appointed. He asked the LPC’s counsel if it was appropriate for the commission to consider the matter as less than a quorum was now present. Counsel advised that a quorum was present at the outset of the meeting so that satisfied the legal requirement of a quorum.  

The remaining four members in attendance discussed the Lewes Waterfront Preserve subdivision. Upon the conclusion of the discussion, a motion was made to take a vote. At this point, a commission member newly appointed the previous week announced that he would not participate in the vote as this was his first meeting and he was not informed. With this decision, it left three members (of the nine-member commission) present and able to vote. Two of the commissioners voted to grant preliminary consent; one voted against the motion.  

At the conclusion of the vote, the LPC counsel reaffirmed his advice given at the outset of the meeting, declaring that the standard of a quorum had been met.  The motion, he stated, was approved. Counsel did not cite any reference used to support his interpretation of the term “quorum.” 

It is distressing that a decision as important as this one, or for that matter any decision of the Lewes Planning Commission, would be considered valid if approved by only two members of a nine-member commission. This is precisely what rules that define quorums are designed to avoid. In addition to being deficient in common sense and the basic understanding of what constitutes a quorum, an impartial reading of the planning commission’s bylaws shows that the quorum requirement was not met during this meeting.

The bylaws clearly state, “a quorum will always be one more than half of the voting members of the commission.” Even we mathematically challenged would agree that three (of a nine-member commission) does not comprise a quorum as so defined. 

I urge the commission’s permanent chair to bring this very disturbing matter to the attention of the full commission at the first opportunity. The illegitimate decision made Aug. 19 has no validity. A new meeting must be scheduled, and a new vote must be taken.

Also of concern is the fact that while the city mayor and city manager were contacted on this issue by a neighbor shortly after the meeting adjourned, neither individual has acknowledged the correspondence, offered any insight or explanation, acknowledge an error in judgment, nor indicated any interest in correcting an error.  

The matter raised by the vote of a (gross) minority of commission members carrying the weight of the entire commission must be examined and a remedy put in place immediately.

Betsy and Jack Peters
Lewes

 

  • A letter to the editor expresses a reader's opinion and, as such, is not reflective of the editorial opinions of this newspaper.

    To submit a letter to the editor for publishing, send an email to newsroom@capegazette.com. Letters must be signed and include a telephone number and address for verification. Please keep letters to 500 words or fewer. We reserve the right to edit for content and length. Letters should be responsive to issues addressed in the Cape Gazette rather than content from other publications or media. Only one letter per author will be published every 30 days. Letters restating information and opinions already offered by the same author will not be used. Letters must focus on issues of general, local concern, not personalities or specific businesses.

Subscribe to the CapeGazette.com Daily Newsletter