I am sure most of the readers of the Cape Gazette had a pleasant Christmas Eve in the cozy security of their homes, but not the residents whose homes abut the new Holiday Inn Express Hotel in Midway. We went to bed with the newly installed 30-foot high parking lot lights filling our once private and cozy back yards and rear bedrooms with the glaring light which is on 24/7.
Our yards and our homes are now as illuminated as the parking lot. Our once private backyards are now an illuminated fishbowl visible to all the guests of this hotel. These newly installed lights are secured in stanchions which are two feet from our property lines and tower over our once lovely and peaceful back yards.
Yet another dream destroyed by a lack of proper zoning and building codes established by the GOP-controlled Sussex County Council with their incessant approval of any and all businesses no matter what the negative effects are for the residents.
The pro-business attitude of this council is appalling, and their idea that more is better no matter how crammed and overbuilt things get. The residents of Bryan Drive in Midway now have their turn to suffer the results of inconsiderate and improper zoning and building regulations.
There needs to be stricter codes that take into consideration quality of life for established residents, which is of no concern to the present Sussex County Council and their appointed zoning and planning board. There is an all-too-cozy relationship between Sussex County Council whose members are almost all businessmen, and the developers in and out of the state.
The zoning board people have stated that any barriers such as trees and devices that prevent the parking lights from glaring into the neighboring residents’ homes are not required by the hotel owners. This is just wrong and we need to follow the money as the saying goes and get the current council members out of office if they do nothing to protect the residents.
Ron Nicholls
Rehoboth Beach
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