The development team behind the proposed One Rehoboth Hotel in Rehoboth Beach has submitted an application to the city’s board of adjustment that would allow for a section of a drive aisle in the structure’s underground parking garage to be 8 feet narrower than code allows.

Located at 1 Rehoboth Ave., the proposed hotel is a partnership between Grotto Pizza and Onix Group, a real estate developer from Kennett Square, Pa. The 60-room hotel will stretch the width of the block from Rehoboth Avenue to Baltimore Avenue and front the Boardwalk.

The One Rehoboth team didn’t announce the need for a variance request. Instead, it was brought up during a Rehoboth Beach Planning Commission meeting July 24. Corey Shinko, director of the city’s Planning, Zoning and Development Department, said the developers had submitted a variance request application to the board of adjustment that day. At the time, he said he hadn’t had a chance to review the application.

A few days later, during the board of adjustment’s July 27 hearing, he shared a bit more information, telling the board the hotel’s variance request would be coming in August. The request is related to code requiring a 24-foot drive aisle for circulation, he said.

A week later, July 31, the city issued a public notice for the board hearing. According to the notice, the request is to permit a 16-foot-wide segment of a circulation and turning aisle within the proposed parking garage where a minimum width of 24 feet is required.

Jonathan Silver, Onix Group vice president, explained the request.

“The variance is for one small section of the parking garage used for internal vehicle connection by our valet staff, not by guests,” said Silver, in an email Aug. 5. “It's easier to understand/follow when you see the plans.”

There’s been a lot of action related to proposed hotels in Rehoboth Beach over the past few weeks. First, the development team behind a project at Rehoboth Avenue and State Road said they were no longer moving ahead. Second, the local hotelier looking to build on Baltimore Avenue said he had decided to not pursue the project. Third, the local family behind the Belhaven Hotel announced it was taking a pause. A common thread among all the decisions is how the financial landscape has changed since each project was first proposed years ago.

Silver declined to comment on the future of the hotel if the variance isn’t approved.

The city has an annual moratorium on demolitions that runs May 15 to Sept. 15.

Silver also declined to comment on the future demolition of the two remaining structures that fall within the footprint of the hotel – the former Dolle’s Candyland property on the Boardwalk and Kohr Bros. Frozen Custard on Rehoboth Avenue. The original plan was to have them demolished soon after Labor Day last year. After months of delay, the developer announced in January that it would hold off on demolition until this summer was over.

In addition to the two buildings that are still standing, the footprint of the hotel includes the former Grotto Pizza location next to the Rehoboth Beach Patrol headquarters and the old Sirocco Motel on Baltimore Avenue. Both of those structures were demolished in late spring and early summer of 2025. There's been no work done to the site in more than 12 months.

The hotel has been before the board of adjustment and the planning commission several times.

The original site plan was approved in January 2025 and called for 62 parking spaces on two levels of parking.

Eleven months later, December 2025, the planning commission approved an amendment to that site plan reducing the underground parking to one level by allowing the use of a lift system to stack cars so the required number of parking spaces can be met.

A few months after that, this past April, the planning commission approved another change to the site plan that allowed the underground garage to move farther away from the neighboring hotel’s foundation and added one spot by using more lift systems.

This will be the second time the hotel has gone before the board of adjustment. In April 2023, the board approved a variance request allowing the hotel to have a floor-to-area ratio of 2.76 instead of the code-mandated 2.

The hearing request is set to take place at 1:30 p.m., Monday, Aug. 24, in the commissioners room of city hall, 229 Rehoboth Ave.