News Briefs 2/16/21
Rehoboth budget discussion set Feb. 19
Rehoboth Beach commissioners will resume budget discussions during a special meeting at 9 a.m., Friday, Feb. 19. This will be their fourth budget meeting.
City Manager Sharon Lynn has proposed a $27.7 million budget for next fiscal year, which begins April 1. The proposed budget includes approximately $4.9 million in capital improvements.
Anyone wishing to speak must preregister with City Secretary Ann Womack at least 24 hours prior to the meeting by emailing awomack@cityofrehoboth.com. A full agenda and meeting materials are accessible at cityofrehoboth.civicweb.net. For more information, call 302-227-6181.
Rehoboth commissioner meeting set Feb. 19
Rehoboth Beach commissioners will hold their monthly voting meeting online at 2 p.m., Friday, Feb. 19.
The agenda calls for a discussion around the creation of a section of code related to parks and recreation, an update on upgrades to the wastewater treatment plant, and a possible vote to continue to pursue a charter change allowing the city manager to delegate all supervisory authority.
Anyone wishing to speak must preregister with City Secretary Ann Womack at least 24 hours prior to the meeting by emailing awomack@cityofrehoboth.com.
A full agenda and meeting materials are accessible at cityofrehoboth.civicweb.net. For more information, call 302-227-6181.
Rehoboth hearings postponed
Public hearings on changes to city code for gross floor area and wireless communications in Rehoboth Beach have been postponed from Friday, Feb. 19 to Friday, March 19. Mayor Stan Mills said the window to post a notice of the public hearings was inadvertently missed.
There are two hearings related to gross floor area. The first ordinance revises the definition of gross floor area by providing specific inclusions and exclusions in the definition of gross floor area for single-family and two-family dwelling units.
The second ordinance excludes underground parking areas in the commercial districts from gross floor area for purposes of calculating floor area ratio and determining off-street parking space requirements.
For wireless communication facilities, proposed changes include additional public notice provisions, and aesthetic and health-related safeguards.
Task force created for streetscape project
During a special meeting Feb. 12, Rehoboth Beach commissioners approved the creation of a task force that will focus on improving the streetscape of Wilmington and Baltimore avenues. According to a document prepared by Mayor Stan Mills and City Project Coordinator Evan Miller, the task force will help in the planning and conceptual design for streetscape improvements along the first two blocks of Baltimore and Wilmington avenues; First Street, between Baltimore and Wilmington avenues; and Second Street, between Wilmington and Rehoboth avenues. The task force will meet as often as necessary until the initial planning and conceptual design have been completed, which expected to be November 2021.
The city is accepting applications from citizens and business owners who are interested in participating. Mills said the application will be available on the city’s website by Tuesday, Feb. 16. For more information, go to cityofrehoboth.com.
Anchors Run revised site plan approved
At its Feb. 11 meeting, Sussex County Planning and Zoning Commission approved a revised site plan for Anchors Run, a 265-single-family-lot subdivision on 132 acres on the east side of Beaver Dam Road near Lewes. Under the new plan, the size of a stormwater pond was changed and some lot widths were altered. Site work is currently underway.
Freeman Stage to increase seating
As work begins on the new 4,000-seat Freeman Arts Pavilion in Americana Bayside near Fenwick Island, Sussex County Planning and Zoning Commission has approved a temporary site plan to allow for additional seating pods – placed to allow for social distancing – at the current stage during construction of the new pavilion. At its Feb. 11 meeting, the commission approved a plan for 559 seating pods to accommodate 2,232 spectators. Last season, due to the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, attendance was limited to 400 people. Freeman staff have reconfigured the property to allow for more seating this season.
Cardinal Grove gets preliminary approval
The developers of Cardinal Grove, a 98-lot cluster subdivision on 49 acres on the west side of Beaver Dam Road near Lewes, received preliminary site-plan approval at the Feb. 11 Sussex County Planning and Zoning Commission meeting. Conditions of approval include sidewalks on one side of all streets with connection to a proposed multimodal path on Beaver Dam Road, a 30-foot vegetated perimeter buffer using as many existing trees and as much vegetation as possible, central water and sewer, a 25-foot buffer from non-tidal wetlands and a 50-foot buffer from Bundick’s Creek. The plan includes 26 acres of open space with 19 of the acres contiguous. The final site plan will be subject to review of the planning and zoning commission.
Sussex P&Z at Delaware Tech Feb. 18
Sussex County Planning and Zoning Commission will meet at 3 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 18, in the Carter Partnership Center at Delaware Technical Community College in Georgetown. Included on the agenda is a public hearing on an application filed by Stratus Estates for a 226-lot cluster subdivision on a 188-acre parcel on the north and south sides of Stockley Road off Route 5 near Harbeson.
Also on the agenda are possible votes on a conditional-use request filed by Bioenergy Development Corporation for a poultry waste recycling facility off Route 13A south of Seaford; a rezoning from AR-1 to HI-1, heavy industrial, filed by Reed Farms LLC for a 67-acre parcel on Gravel Hill Road near Milton; and a an application filed by Pelican Point 4-5 for additional lots in the subdivision along Cannon Road between Lewes and Long Neck. See a complete agenda and meeting materials at sussexcountyde.gov. Meetings are held in person and are also available via telephone at 302-394-5036 and livestreamed at sussexcountyde.gov/council-chamber-broadcast.
