Outdoor dining could become permanent in Dewey Beach

With outdoor seating expansion permits set to expire in Dewey Beach at the end of March, town leaders are seeking a way to permanently keep in place one of the pandemic’s few silver linings.

In May 2020, commissioners voted to temporarily allow businesses to expand outdoor seating areas with town manager approval, expediting an otherwise lengthy process that requires multiple public hearings.

At the Feb. 18 commissioners meeting, Town Counsel Fred Townsend said original legislation allowing for expansions was made when establishments had restrictions on occupancy levels. To support businesses that were suffering from serving just half their usual clientele, allowing them to expand helped replace lost revenue. 

House Bill 290, which Gov. John Carney signed Feb. 16, allows restaurants to continue to sell alcoholic beverages via takeout, curbside or drive-thru, and to continue the use of outdoor seating as long as certain conditions are met.

Restaurants want to keep outdoor seating in place, Townsend said, so something needs to be done soon.

“It’s going to require some action on our part if we wish to extend this period when these expansions are permitted for a period any longer than the end of March,” Townsend said. “Otherwise, as I said, those approvals are set to expire.”

Mayor Bill Stevens said he preferred the safety of eating outside, particularly after reading about the emergence of a new, more severe variant of COVID-19.

“The town could make a decision to have this outdoor seating go away and then find ourselves right back into another state of emergency,” Stevens said. “I’m concerned with the continuity.”

Commissioner Elisabeth Gibbings agreed, saying that last summer, people told her they wanted the expansions to stay.

“Outdoor dining is one of the positive things that came out of the pandemic,” Gibbings said.

Since commissioners had voted to suspend the enforcement of zoning restrictions that apply to restaurants, those establishments that were granted expansions now about to expire would need to be approved via a lengthy case-by-case basis involving the planning and zoning commission, Townsend said. 

Businesses that were granted exceptions could be permitted to operate as legal nonconforming under the condition they don’t change current operations, Townsend said.

Stevens said the businesses that would be impacted represent a significant footprint of the town. He said Ruddertowne, Starboard Claw, Dewey Beach Country Club, Dewey Beer Company, Mama Maria’s, Starboard Raw, Mezcali, The Starboard and Woody’s would all be affected.

Townsend said The Starboard attorney Glenn Mandalas submitted a letter proposing a temporary moratorium on enforcing the zoning code to give the town time to consider the issue.

Commissioners may take possible action in March; a meeting date has not yet been set.